2008-09 BCS Discussion/Projections

[Roy Tucker]

Mike Leach thinks ties should be broken by the respective programs' graduation rates.

http://www.doubleazone.com/2008/12/t...s_oklahoma.php

I heard Texas Tech was #1, Texas was #11, and Oklahoma #12.

[Roy Tucker]

The way I see it, if Florida beats Alabama and Oklahoma beats Missouri, you're going to have 7 11-1 teams (Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, USC, Penn State, Texas Tech) and 2 12-0 (Utah, Boise State) teams that have pretty legit claims to playing in the BCS NC game. Ho ho.

The BCS will have to apply all kinds of computer algorithms (on one hand) and polls governed by some tortured and flawed carbon-based unit logic (on the other hand) to come up with its 2 top teams. Accompanied by much wailing and gnashing of teeth of the excluded teams.

I think a playoff system would be more fair than the existing system. But I also have to say, all the BCS opinion-laden discussions are pretty interesting and impassioned and may be more entertaining than a playoff system.

[*BaseClogger*]

A +1 system would go a long way towards figuring out if Boise State and Utah are for real...

[Roy Tucker]

I thought the plus one system just seeded the top 4 teams. #1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3 and then the top 2 re-seeded teams play in the +1 game. Which would leave out Utah and Boise St.

But then, I could be mistaken.

[*BaseClogger*]

I thought the plus one system just seeded the top 4 teams. #1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3 and then the top 2 re-seeded teams play in the +1 game. Which would leave out Utah and Boise St.

But then, I could be mistaken.

I think you're right. The +1 system I am referring to, and the one I prefer most, is going back to the classic bowl style tie ins. Then, a week after those games are played, a separate National Championship at a rotating BCS Bowl site...

[dougdirt]

I really hope Florida beats Alabama.... just so we can have two undefeated top 10 teams and neither will be playing for the National Championship. Thats always fun.

[BuckeyeRed27]

I have always leaned away from a playoff system mostly because of the cheapening of the regular season argument. However I think as long as it was limited to 4 or 8 teams you could still have a great season with lots of do or die games and have a championship system that is a little more fair.
This year if you had an 8 team it would probably be the six conference champs and that leaves 2 spots for SEC loser, Texas, Utah, Texas Tech, and Boise State. Now the conversation is going to shift to well does Cincinnati or BC really deserve a spot over Texas or whoever, but the point is that almost all of the games that really mattered this season still do. It might take a little heat off of the SEC game since I think they would both still make it this year but that's it. Ohio State vs. Penn State still huge. All of those great big 10 games still huge. Oregon State losing to Oregon would be even bigger as before they were only playing for the Rose Bowl and now they just lost their shot at a National Championship.

[Highlifeman21]

I really hope Florida beats Alabama.... just so we can have two undefeated top 10 teams and neither will be playing for the National Championship. Thats always fun.

But would you want to see Boise State play Utah for the NC?

[MWM]

The BCS as a whole would work a lot better if the pollsters stuck to trying to figure out who is the best team, while the computers decided who most deserves to make the BCS title game.

Very well put. I agree. It would still be a mess, but it would be less so.

[MWM]

I think it's a bigger flaw in logic to say, Texas Tech is out of the discussion, so let's focus only on the head-to-head between OU and Texas. It's a three-way tie, not a two-way tie, and they all have identical records, they lost to each other in round-robin fashion. So you have to go somewhere other than head-to-heads to figure it out... but if you did choose a head-to-head to consider, "biggest butt-whooping administered" isn't a bad place to start.

Great summation. I agree.

[dougdirt]

But would you want to see Boise State play Utah for the NC?

I am not sure, buts its entirely possible that we will see three undefeated teams in the top 10 at years end and not a single one of them will have played for the national title. Something needs to be done though.

[Highlifeman21]

I am not sure, buts its entirely possible that we will see three undefeated teams in the top 10 at years end and not a single one of them will have played for the national title. Something needs to be done though.

Who would be the 3rd undefeated team?

[Caveat Emperor]

Who would be the 3rd undefeated team?

Ball State.

[MWM]

Yeah, it is complete rubbish that a team like Utah or Boise State have zero chance whatsoever to ever play for the national title. Would they win? Probably not very often, if ever. But every once in a while, one of those teams might just pull off a major upset and win it all. But it irritates me to all end that they really have no chance. Why not just separate the 6 BCS conferences from the rest of college football? That's effectively what they're doing. Utah won in Ann Arobr (yes, not a great accomplishment this year), beat Oregon State, beat TCU, and beat a darn good BYU team by a large margin. What more could they possible do? Nothing. They scheduled a big time OOC game on the road. It just so happens that this is about the only year where beating Michigan in the Big House doesn't mean a whole lot. It's totally unfair that the national title is limited to 6 conferences.

[Cyclone792]

Yeah, it is complete rubbish that a team like Utah or Boise State have zero chance whatsoever to ever play for the national title. Would they win? Probably not very often, if ever. But every once in a while, one of those teams might just pull off a major upset and win it all. But it irritates me to all end that they really have no chance. Why not just separate the 6 BCS conferences from the rest of college football? That's effectively what they're doing. Utah won in Ann Arobr (yes, not a great accomplishment this year), beat Oregon State, beat TCU, and beat a darn good BYU team by a large margin. What more could they possible do? Nothing. They scheduled a big time OOC game on the road. It just so happens that this is about the only year where beating Michigan in the Big House doesn't mean a whole lot. It's totally unfair that the national title is limited to 6 conferences.

I absolutely agree.

This is another reason why it continually irritates me to see power conference schools constantly schedule weaker schools. There's a disconnect here that I just don't like. If the power schools want to play the small schools, then it's only fair to give the small schools a viable chance to play for and win the national championship. If they want to make the national championship available to only BCS schools, then all the non-conference schedules should be 100 percent BCS schools.

Until college football can come up with a viable playoff solution to this, their postseason system will always be well behind college hoops and March Madness.

If the NCAA hoops tourney took the BCS route, then they'd effectively eliminate programs such as Memphis, Gonzaga, and Xavier from even having a chance at the national championship (and up until a few years ago, teams such as Cincinnati, Louisville, and Marquette fell into this category too). It's absolutely absurd to think about that happening, which is why it's more mind boggling how a football program such as Utah or Boise State has no chance to play for their own national championship.