Red_Skin_Pride;737863 wrote:Your statement right here is proving my exact point. No bowl game wanted to "take one for the team" and have them both in seperate bowl games because the ratings would have suffered, so what they did was pushed those two teams into the fiesta bowl, which traditionally gets shit on anyways in terms of matchups (OU/Uconn, Boise/TCU, Utah/Pitt) so that the ratings of all the other games wouldn't be affected. That to me directly contradicts your statement down below that it isn't about money for the sake of money. I don't want to get into politics on here, but if there's a system that a lot of people are wanting to see changed or re-tooled because it could work better, shouldn't it be? I'm not claiming college basketball's tournament is the perfect system, but it is sure a hell of lot more open and fair than the BCS is. College football likes to claim that 119 schools start out the season with a chance to win it all...yeah, like hell they do. Even in theory they don't. At least in a tournament format, all the schools in college basketball at their respective levels DO have a chance to win it all, without subjectivity deciding who that is.
The Fiesta Bowl gets equal treatment when it comes to picking their teams. The fact that they have ended up with most of the crappy match-ups is more coincidence than anything else.
There are a few money angles and when I say it isn't "just for the sake of money", what I mean is that where that money goes ends up being the most important thing. From the Bowl Committee's standpoint, I'm sure a lot of people would argue greed drives the selections. The Fiesta Bowl debacle is going to enhance this perception. I'm not a huge fan of how that money was spent either and every bowl probably has its share of lavish, unnecessary spending. But, they are also footing the bill to begin with and taking all of the upfront risk. If the bowl loses money, it doesn't impact the NCAA or the schools. As for the schools, the amount of money, the way it is distributed, and how it is used to support non-revenue generating sports are all considerations when you talk about this system.
I absolutely do NOT believe that a change should be made just because a bunch of people with no financial risk, no business sense, and no solid business plan want to see it work a little bit differently. And that difference in how we view the topic is why we'll never convince each other to change opinions. You go on to mention what playing for a national title would do to boost TCU (as an example). Well, it isn't about TCU. It is about the good of all schools and like it or not, overhauling this system HAS to be about more than giving TCU a shot at the title. And depending on how far you go with expanding into a playoff system, you run a distinct risk of damaging the earning power of far more schools and for what? So one or two teams can maybe win a trophy and/or improve their standing? Not worth it.
Although you'll use this point as some evidence of the corruption and the anti-mission of the whole NCAA, I'll remind you of the fact that the BCS conferences and their schools created this system and it has benefitted everyone (even the small schools). So again, you can talk about the wonders a playoff might do for TCU but unless you have a plan that is not going to negatively impact Baylor/Indiana/Vanderbilt/etc, there's really no point in trying. If your boss asked you to take a pay cut to help fund an employee of the year award, you know, because it'd be good to give everyone a chance at a single recognition would you do it?
The thing about a playoff is that the handful of elite programs wouldn't suffer, a handful of ready-to-break-out middle-tier schools would make a little more every once in awhile (and might even win a championship), but there's a high likelihood that the remaining 75-80% of schools would at a minimum be taking a risk on making significantly less money and more likely a large number of schools would see their overall athletic health suffer. It is funny because you're demanding equality for an arbitrary title but willing to give up the relative equality (with a FAR greater impact and a much larger pool of impactees) provided by the current system.
Red_Skin_Pride;737863 wrote:Because best is only a perception. I don't want the basketball tournament or the BCS to crown the best in perception, I want them to crown the team that's the best on the field or court. If college basketball were set up like the BCS, you would have had Ohio State and Kansas end the regular season and play in the NC game. We saw how far that actually was from reality, as neither even made it to the semi-finals, let alone the championship game. I don't know what else you want to "prove" that there is more and more parity in college sports every year, that the BCS continues to ignore. There have been a ton of midmajors making elite 8 and final 4 runs over the last decade in basketball, and as I said in my last post, since 03-04, 7 midmajors have finished the regular season undefeated and made BCS bowls. That's showing proof in both sports, yet college football is the only one that continues to ignore them and leave them out. College football is in NO WAY like it was in the mid-1990's when the BCS system was being organized and implimented. Basketball has accomodated that change several times over it's history with the expansion of the field and giving auto bids to the tournament for every conference regardless of size. The BCS added the NCG on to the other 4 BCS games, but it didn't do anything to make it open to everybody. All that did was allow more spots in Fiesta or Orange bowl...while prestigious and a good payday for midmajors, care to guess how many 4* and 5* recruits don't even consider a midmajor football school because they know they'll never have the chance to win a national championship there? I love TCU, but if I was a top level recruit coming out of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area I wouldn't bother looking at TCU because I know if I want to win a NC, it'll never happen there. If they had a legitimate shot to win a NC like Texas/A&M/TT/Baylor, you'd be surprised how many looks they'd get by top recruits.
You keep talking about these undefeated seasons by midmajors...and keep forgetting that they achieve those by playing inferior competition. It just doesn't mean anything. Yes, I know that we're leaving the selection in the hands of humans. I'm okay with that. It is a highly selective process and not everyone is going to make it. Kind of like life. Are you going to become a CEO by touting your management experience at McDonald's? Some resumes are better than others.
But now look what is happening. The schools who are serious about trying to better their programs stature are joining major conferences or going independent. It has never been a secret that it has to be done that way and that is why I have never bought the "they did EVERYTHING they could".
And you keep going back to the basketball comparison. That system works for that sport. That sport had to find something to generate money and the tournament did that. The expansion was never about giving more schools "a shot", it was about the fact that they could include more teams and make more money in doing so. So, when you get down to it the same question remains - how would a playoff make more money for everyone? Develop a business plan that is going to far-and-away outdo what they have now and you might be onto something. In absence of that, you are still arguing the wrong point by appealing on some emotional level for TCU get more recruits or to play in a title game.
Red_Skin_Pride;737863 wrote:Was it about the resume when LSU lost 2 games to two of the best teams they played, won 10 games against patsies and decent SEC teams and still got in? Or OSU beating NO ONE that year, losing to a 9-3 Illinois team that had ZERO interest in being in the Rose Bowl, and getting in? That "strong" resume that Nebraska posted, getting trounced in the Big12 championship game by Colorado 63-36 and still getting in, despite other teams having an equivalent record and WINNING their conference championship games and still being left out? Or for that matter, OU getting rolled by K State in the same conference championship and "earning their way" to a 40 point beatdown by USC? Or Auburn's 13-0 regular season somehow not being good enough, while the whole country slept through the national championship game that year? If you look back on the years since the BCS's inception, you can see that they get it wrong about as often as they get it right. It's been fairly easy the last few years (aside from Boise and TCU), and in years it's EASY the BCS works well. But it's the years where stuff isn't so clear, and there's teams with similar records, you CAN'T, you just CANNOT have a subjective system. It's playing favorites plain and simple. It's who's going to benefit US the most.
Quite simply, yes it was about the resume in those situations you mentioned (btw, OU didn't lose to K State and then get blown out by USC - OU lost 21-14 to LSU when both had 1 loss in 2003 and both OU and USC were undefeated in 2004 when USC blew them out). The teams you're talking about who made it had still beaten a better overall schedule than the other schools vying for a spot. I just don't agree that they've gotten it wrong (other than maybe USC in 2003, but that is based on
who they put on the field not necessarily how they did on the field). There's two spots and I don't feel anyone who deserved to be one of those two has ever been left out of that format. Would it have been nice to see a couple extra teams? Sure. But that doesn't mean the two teams were "wrong".