Fans Must Endure BCS Despite Playoff Agreement
The BCS and all its glory are finally upon us again. Remember earlier this year when it was announced that college football would be adopting a four-game playoff? Unfortunately, we have to wait two more years until we get to experience a much needed change.
I love college football and all the importance each and every game possesses, but the BCS seems to leave a lot of room for error in crowning the best team in football.
Alabama and LSU were two of the best teams in the country last year, but it was very clear Alabama was way more deadly with a month to prepare for the game, especially after seeing them once already during Southeastern Conference play.
This year, I believe five teams have a real shot to compete for the national title. In order of the chance I think they have of playing in the title game, those teams are Alabama, Notre Dame, Kansas State, Oregon and LSU.
I hate knowing that only two of these teams can compete, when at least three other schools have a shot to play for their own chance to make a statement against formidable opponents. There is a lot of grey area in ranking the BCS, and I can’t wait for that to be alleviated starting with the 2014 football season.
I also believe that automatic bids for schools from the top conferences to BCS bowls should be done away with.
Those conferences won’t agree with me due to all the money that would be lost, but BCS games should follow the rankings of the BCS or AP poll (whichever they decide upon).
Teams that play their whole season and only lose two or three games are sometimes replaced by a team who barely finishes with a .500 record in a top BCS bowl.
If you’re not going to be the top one or two in your conference, there’s no real incentive to bust your tail to only lose two to three games, and not make the top tier bowls.
This isn’t really a feasible option that schools and conferences will consider, but it is more fair for top teams of non-marquee conferences.
Despite all of the flaws the BCS possesses, we still must live with it for the remainder of this year along with the next.
With the loss to Ole Miss Saturday, the Hogs’ chance of even making a low-tier bowl is very slim. The playoff system that will be used beginning in 2014 will benefit many teams not named Alabama. As long as Nick Saban is at Alabama, it doesn’t matter what system is in place, they will be in contention for the title.
So, for now, we will continue to wait for every Sunday afternoon to see who jumped and who fell in the BCS rankings. We may hate it, but it is always captivating to see how things shake out.
The encouraging news out of the whole situation is that we only have one more season to endure the madness that is the BCS.
Zack Wheeler is a staff writer for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every Tuesday. Follow the sports section on Twitter @UATravSports.
