As the BCS Fight Turns
by Year2 on Apr 22, 2009 8:00 AM EDT
in SEC Football
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The BCS, summed up in one picture. But it was supposed to be fun, we swear!
The BCS meetings are going on right now, and it's the MWC's turn to present a playoff proposal.
Florida president Bernie Machen presented one to the SEC after the 2006 season, and Georgia president Michael Adams called for one after the 2007 season. The BCS committee shot down a plus one scheme last year as well.
The BCS is under more fire than it ever has been, what with vocal opposition to it coming from coaches, administrators, and elected officials. It has an antitrust lawsuit coming against it as well, courtesy of (surprise!) the attorney general of Utah.
ACC commissioner and current BCS coordinator John Swofford says the Mountain West's proposal won't be "dismiss[ed] out of hand," but I don't know anyone who expects anything to come of it. The conference wants an eight team playoff with the participants chosen by a basketball-style selection committee. Good luck with that in a world where change only comes incrementally.
Rep. Joe Barton of Texas feels the time is right to press forward with his anti-BCS bill in Congress, and President Obama has personally guaranteed three times that he'll sign it into law if it passes. (H/T: the OS).
I personally think he's right since at least right now, I expect Florida and Texas to run the table and play for it all. Nothing is a more effective antidote to BCS controversy than having the nation's only two undefeated teams meeting in the national title game. To keep the flames a burnin', we'd need at least one other team (USC? Boise State?) to run the table too, and it's not a great idea to count on having more than one or two undefeated teams in a season
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have been for an eight team playoff for quite some time. The pragmatist in me has lately been drawing me towards supporting nothing more than a plus one though. Regardless, you can also plant me firmly in the category of believing that at least a plus one is inevitable. It's only a matter of time.
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I Find It Hillarious...
Why is it that the teams/conferences/states only push for playoffs when their drunk on some pretty heavy whine distilled from some mighty sour grapes? Takes big brass ones to do it like UF did in the same year they won the thing. As a BCS-supporter, I know the time for playoffs will come, but I hope it isn’t born of this pettiness.
"The mystic chords of fandom, stretching from every trade and signing to every active account and guest all over this broadband, will yet swell the chorus of union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature". ~ Abraham Lincoln-ish
"The tree of victory must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of quarterbacks and coaches". ~ Thomas Jefferson-ish
True
But we see things like this all the time in regular society. Few people ever take up a cause against an ill until they personally are affected by it. Just look at how many celebrities start foundations for medical research when a family member comes down with a disease. I’m not even bothered by that either because this world is so complex, it sometimes takes a drastic wrong to find clarity (and no one can take up every cause).
Granted, the BCS is less important than disease research on nearly every level. Even so, there are serious problems that need to be addressed whether a playoff comes or not. The occurrence of terrible games each year is probably the biggest one of them, and that can mostly be addressed by simply having the top ten teams play in the games. That won’t guarantee an end to the blowout problem, but at least it provides for the lowest probability of them occurring.
And yes, I know that is about as likely to go into effect anytime soon as the MWC’s playoff proposal is.
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