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Pondering a playoff amid another BCS controversy
With Oklahoma getting the edge over Texas in last week's coaches and Harris polls, and No. 12 Oklahoma State still left on the Sooners' schedule, this shouldn't have been a shocker. The computers were bound to give Oklahoma the nod over Texas with a win in Stillwater, regardless of what the Longhorns did to Texas A&M on Thanksgiving. Heck, I wrote about this exact scenario playing out last week.
Of course, on top of the Austin faithful (who have every right to be furious), columnists and talking heads from every corner of the country — many of whom don't follow college football at all — are now screaming from the highest mountain tops over this one, as well. There are catchy acronyms using the letters B, C and S slighting the system in newspaper headlines nationwide, words like "injustice" and "unfair" being tossed around on talk radio shows, and "demands" for change. None of this is anything new. The same writers and screaming talking heads did this last year for Georgia, in 2006 for Michigan, in '03 for Auburn, and so on and so on. It's not exactly the hardest column to write or talking point to make.
"Team X got screwed, the system is flawed, and we, the fans, deserve more!"
Yeah, and Heidi Klum's attractive. Got any other earth-shattering news, Edward R. Murrow?
The brutal truth is that this is the system we've got, the cards we've been dealt. And as long as TV networks are willing to pay a gazillion dollars to air the BCS, it ain't changing anytime soon. An all-around crummy situation? Sure. No one's arguing with that. But is there anything Longhorns fans can do about it? Sadly, no. How about the national columnists and talking heads screaming on cable TV? Even less.
And when we all come to grips with this inconvenient truth, we'll have a lot easier time accepting and enjoying the next two months of football that await us.
But ... what if?
What if there was some sort of playoff system in place? And forget the "plus one" compromise NCAA coaches and officials have tossed around in recent years. That's like being given a nickel when you need a dollar. What if college football had a full blown December-January 16-team tournament? Winter Madness! A selection show, brackets, office pools, "bracketologists" coming out of the woodwork, "One Shining Moment", the whole shebang.
Bowl season roundup
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Bowl recaps and analysis:
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EagleBank: Wake 29, Navy 19 | CFN
New Mexico: Colo. St. 40, Fresno St. 35
St. Petersburg: S. Florida 41, Memphis 14
Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21 | CFN
New Orleans: SMU 30, Troy 27 (OT) | CFN
Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise St. 16 | CFN
Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii 21 | CFN
Motor City: FAU 24, Cen. Mich. 21 | CFN
Meineke: W. Virginia 31, UNC 30 | CFN
Champs Sports: Fla. St. 42, Wis. 13 | CFN
Emerald: Cal 24, Miami 17 | CFN
Independence: La. Tech 17, NIU 10 | CFN
Papajohns.com: Rutgers 29, N.C. St. 23
Alamo: Mizzou 30, N'west. 23 (OT) | CFN
Humanitarian: Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Texas: Rice 38, W. Michigan 14
Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma St. 31 | CFN
Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air Force 28
Sun: Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0 | CFN
Music City: Vandy 16, BC 14 | CFN
Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3
Outback: Iowa 31, South Carolina 10 | CFN
Capital One: Georgia 24, MSU 12 | CFN
Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Rose: USC 38, Penn St. 24 | Analysis
Orange: Va. Tech 20, Cincinnati 7
Cotton: Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34
Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17
International: UConn 38, Buffalo 20
Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio St. 21 | Analysis
GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball St. 13
BCS title: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
Photo gallery:
Shopping:
How would it be set up?
Well, I've been tinkering with a hypothetical system that could work and satisfy all possible parties for a few years now, and here's what I've come up with:
Sure, there is a short list of potential "cons" to such an ambitious proposal. Some that I could imagine an old curmudgeon sportswriter somewhere listing off in a deep baritone voice (I'm thinking Robert Duvall plays this role in the Hallmark movie):
In truth, most of it involves money. Some of it involves the kids. And that ugly T word — tradition — is a nice safety net to fall upon when those first two arguments don't suffice.
Ignore all those potential negatives for now, though. And for the simple fun of it all — let's just SEE how a 16-team tournament would look if Sunday, Dec. 7 was some sort of snazzy selection show.
For argument's sake, let's ASSUME the current higher-ranked teams win each of the upcoming conference championship games. How would a 16-team bracket look using this week's BCS standings? Something like this ...
Left side of bracket
1 — Alabama (SEC Champion)
16 — Troy (Sun Belt Champion)
8 — Penn State (Big 10 Champion)
9 — Boise State (WAC Champion)
4 — Florida (At Large #2)
13 — Cincinnati (Big East Champion)
5 — USC (Pac-10 Champion)
12 — Ball State (MAC Champion)
Right side of bracket
2 — Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion)
15 — Tulsa (Conference USA Champion)
7 — Texas Tech (At Large #3)
10 — Ohio State (At Large #4)
3 — Texas (At Large #1)
14 — Boston College (ACC Champion)
6 — Utah (Mountain West Champion)
11 — TCU (At Large #5)
Take some time to absorb all those first-round matchups. Umm, are you kidding me? Downright amazing games left and right. How about the intra-state battles between the big boys and the little guys in those Alabama-Troy and Oklahoma-Tulsa matchups? Or a Utah-TCU — arguably the best game no one saw this year — rematch out in Salt Lake City? Texas Tech-Ohio State? Tremendous. Whitlock's Ball State Cardinals trekking out to the LA Coliseum? That's pretty cool. Penn State-Boise in Happy Valley is loaded with intrigue, too.
As you'll see, whereas the ACC, Pac-10, and Big East only got one bid apiece, the Mountain West scored two. The little guy has a fighting chance.
Go round-by-round with those brackets and it only gets better as you go. A potential Texas Tech-Oklahoma rematch in the second round? USC-Florida at a neutral site? An Alabama-Florida national semifinals? An Oklahoma-Texas national semifinals? It's almost too much to take in at once. Sensory overload.
Yes, it sure is fun to imagine.
But in the end, imagine is all we really can do.
All the burnt orange tears in the world aren't going to change the BCS. Perhaps our President-elect steps in, as many college football writers have so nobly suggested. Personally, I'd rather him focus on things like the economy and foreign affairs.
In truth, this year's BCS bowl matchups will — across the board — be as intriguing as they've been in recent years. Sure, fans of Ball State, Boise State, Texas Tech, and Texas will probably be a bit peeved in the coming weeks. But that's how the cookie crumbles.
The system's not perfect. We know that going in. And once we all come to grips with that, we can enjoy the great college football action up ahead. College football bowl season is as good as it gets. And that's regardless of format.
But man, sometimes it sure is hard to not just think, "What if?"
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