Q: This is the final year of the BCS. Is the sport moving to a better system or worse and why?
Walters: Worse. I stress that this is an opinion and that there is no objective truth here.
First, I prefer the idea that every game, every week, matters. What the "Death to the BCS" crowd fails to appreciate is how difficult it is for an undefeated team to keep winning as the season moves into its final month. The pressure builds, the motivation for the opponent, even a subpar one, is tremendous (see, Oklahoma State at Iowa State, 2011).
The "Death to the BCS" crowd, I find, is populated by a lot of media who are actually bigger college basketball fans. They love March Madness and consciously or unconsciously want to create one for football, too. Where I find them disingenuous, or just plain illogical, is that they point to the corruption in bowl games to illustrate the flaw in the BCS system and then say that we need a better system that crowns a true champion.
My counter-argument is this: the NCAA basketball final rarely showcases the two best teams over the course of a season. It does showcase a pair of teams who, over the course of a 35-game plus season, put together a five-game win streak. The BCS Championship Game, at worst, showcases two of the three or four best teams in the land.
You want to make the argument that it doesn't give an undefeated MAC team a chance to win the championship? I've got news for you: That MAC team still doesn't play in a 4-team playoff and, moreover, it's NOT one of the four best teams.
Finally, that MAC school and its similar non-AQ brethren could break off and form a league for schools their size, but they choose not to because they covet the TV money. So I'm not about to weep for them.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...ls-college-footballs-moving-to-a-worse-system
Walters: Worse. I stress that this is an opinion and that there is no objective truth here.
First, I prefer the idea that every game, every week, matters. What the "Death to the BCS" crowd fails to appreciate is how difficult it is for an undefeated team to keep winning as the season moves into its final month. The pressure builds, the motivation for the opponent, even a subpar one, is tremendous (see, Oklahoma State at Iowa State, 2011).
The "Death to the BCS" crowd, I find, is populated by a lot of media who are actually bigger college basketball fans. They love March Madness and consciously or unconsciously want to create one for football, too. Where I find them disingenuous, or just plain illogical, is that they point to the corruption in bowl games to illustrate the flaw in the BCS system and then say that we need a better system that crowns a true champion.
My counter-argument is this: the NCAA basketball final rarely showcases the two best teams over the course of a season. It does showcase a pair of teams who, over the course of a 35-game plus season, put together a five-game win streak. The BCS Championship Game, at worst, showcases two of the three or four best teams in the land.
You want to make the argument that it doesn't give an undefeated MAC team a chance to win the championship? I've got news for you: That MAC team still doesn't play in a 4-team playoff and, moreover, it's NOT one of the four best teams.
Finally, that MAC school and its similar non-AQ brethren could break off and form a league for schools their size, but they choose not to because they covet the TV money. So I'm not about to weep for them.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...ls-college-footballs-moving-to-a-worse-system
