BCS to explore modified playoff

When the BCS was first introduced, longtime fans in the Big 10 and Pac 10 were pissed that the SEC, BIg 12, and ACC heirarchy that controls college footbal would go about and force this crazy system onto college football... It took away and further complicated more than a hundred years of tradition of a debatable #1 taking on debatable #2 to conclude a season.
This lack of tradition, forced the Rose Bowl's hand in selecting an not so BSC-calibur Illinois team to face USC and get manhandled in order to maintain the more traditional matchup they're used to.
If college football were to return to the way it was back before the BCS, people would probably be better satisfied with the results than they are with the current BCS.
Unfortunately, the BCS has become a cash cow.
Much so, they are considering to include the Cotton Bowl for the BCS... a bowl traditionally for the #3 teams in the Pac 10 and Big 10... but has been around for a long long time b/c the Big Ten likes flexing its muscle in the BCS politics game... like how they somehow snuck Texas into a BCS game by having one coach vote them #2, so they would leapfrog Cal (anyone remember that?)
So why can't we just forget about milking SEC, Big 12, and ACC fans for all the money they've got, and just return to the good old days when marching bands can march onto the field in the middle of the final deciding play of the game?

yes...FOX is awful. i hear ABC wants back in with the BCS when the FOX deal runs out (as much as ppl may not want to hear about another BCS deal).

but i think something to remember is that it isn't always the best team that wins at the end of the day. that's the beauty of sports. think about it, if the best team always wins, then Stanford deserves a chance at the Championship more than USC does because they beat USC. Beating someone doesn't always make you the better team. Sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces, u know?

And I'm sorry, there's no way I can allow USC into the Championship game after losing to Stanford, I just can't. You lose all credibility once that happens. What's sad is Michigan went from 5th to not ranked when they lost to App State but USC loses to Stanford as like 40-pt favorites and stays ranked. At the time, App State had a higher Sagarin rating than Stanford and I would bet money on App State against Stanford any day of the week.

In the end, what people need to accept, is that no system actually determines who the best team is, altho many times the best team does win out. Whatever format u choose, the best team might lose. A game between two teams shows who was better at that time on that field in that place under those circumstances. But they're fun to watch and it's fun to root for your team. It's also fun to say your team is the best.

gongus - you just summed it all up perfectly. Scheduling is for the most part, a joke. I was thrilled to see Michigan lose to App St this year mainly to send them a message.

It's easy to say, well, this a 2-loss team, etc... but if the only *real* competition teams play is in conference, then what good is it? Now, teams certainly can't control up & down years for their conference - its completely out of their hands. Just like in the NFL. Some years the AFC West is really strong...others..mmm, not so much (like this year). If the Chargers pull a miracle out of their collective arse, no one will talk about their easy road to the playoffs via their "easy" AFC West schedule. They'll only talk about how incredible their run was through the BEST teams like Indy and New England. That's why we have PLAYOFFS! To prove which team is really the best. To separate the contenders from the pretenders.

I had no problems with LSU playing that game last night, but it should have been against Missouri (I don't care if they didn't win their conference which they only lost in the stupid conference championship game that not all conferences have to play) or USC.

looey - I'm happy to see that we can agree on our hatred for Fox. I think Fox is a great reason to boycott the BCS.

In the end the Championship game sucked. I don't deny that, but I was interested in it and I was happy with the matchup and the teams selected. The fact that Ohio State proceeded to go out there and destroy itself with really stupid personal foul penalties and an inability to tackle is unfortunate but even in the Superbowl and the NCAA Hoops championship game u don't always get a good game. A playoff will not guarantee a good game.

You can't say that just because Ohio State blew it they didn't deserve to be there. And Georgia and USC (ranked what 5 and 7 b4 the bowl games???) have NO right to say they deserve to be there. USC's oh so great season was comprised of playing will in the last 3 or 4 games of the year, with UCLA putting up a decent fight considering they have NO offense. Georgia grew up a lot during the season, but u can't say that just cuz u're an adult come the last week of the season u deserve to be at the adults table for dinner. Plus, they didn't even win their conference. Should it have been Georgia vs. LSU in the Championship game? HA! Yea right.

The real disappointments of the BCS bowls? Hawaii clearly not being worthy, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops going retarded with the decisions he made against WVU, and FOX's awful, awful coverage and broadcasting teams.

In the end, many of the most exciting games were the non-BCS games between teams that had not shot at the Championship (e.g., Meeeeeeeeeechigan vs. Florida, Florida State vs. Kentucky with FSU hanging in there minus 33 players, etc.). I'm tired of everyone's complaints about a true champion. The way Meeeeeeechigan played against Florida they could have hung with anyone. But u don't hear me saying that they deserve to be in the hunt just because they're playing so well now. The regular season should mean something in college football, a playoff system will completely take away from that and in the end take away from what makes college football just that, college football (and not the NFL).

I thought LSU definitely deserved to be there.

Ohio State... maybe.

This year's Championship could be considered an anomaly with all the craziness that happened from week-to-week.

The biggest problem in college football, I think, is the scheduling. With so few games, the quality of completion varies so much that it is many times still hard to tell exactly how good a team really is at the end of the season.

I'll throw this out on the fire.... Were you satisfied with the Bowl Series this year, namely the Championship game? I definitely was not.

USC is good... not questioning that.

However, when you lose two games with a strength of schedule ranked 73rd, I think it is hard to justify a spot in the top four or an opportunity to play for the national championship.

What's a joke is how this season played out. What's a joke is Michigan losing to App State (and I'm from Ann Arbor), SC losing to Stanford, Georgia losing to South Carolina, and a multitude of other teams blowing it when they reached #2. What's a joke is the fact that Oregon loses Dennis Dixon and suddenly can't function, the only reason 'SC "got hot" and anyone had any love for them was because Oregon blew it and couldn't lock down the Pac 10 top spot.

I think u've completely devalued the regular season in college football, the one sport where it means something. College football is different than college hoops, the seasons are so different. Once you get to an 8 team playoff, the #9 team will complain it didn't get it's chance, and so on and so forth.

The only reason there is any controversy over this is because every year 1 school feels it got robbed. Which school it is rotates each year. But in the end, 1 school got robber in all thes years: Auburn the year 3 teams went undefeated.

Go undefeated and then complain to me that u didn't get ur chance at the Championship. This is college football. Go out and win 12 games.

How often does the #1 seed win the championship in the NCAA basketball tourney? What about pro sports playoffs? Not very often.

A tournament style playoff settles once & for all who the best team is. In that scenario, wouldn't it pay to get hot at the end of the season?

As much as I despise 'SC, can you really tell me they wouldn't have had a great chance to beat LSU last night? C'mon.

And Missouri not getting into the BCS after being ranked #1, then losing to BCS team Oklahoma? And for that they didn't get in? The whole thing is a joke.

A four team playoff would be much better... not really "an attempt to suck even more"

As for Georgia and USC.

Georgia didn't even win their division, so why should they deserve a shot at the Championship?

USC lost to Stanford... they shot themselves in the foot.

Why is there no playoff system in college football? Is it entrenched media and institutional financial interests? Control? No clear organizing body? Why do sports writers get to determine outcomes? I have only lived here since 1991 and never went to college so maybe someone can explain this.

I agree. Lets make it a good tournament please. Enough complaining.