The BCS System: College Football's Version Of Premature Ejaculation

The Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama have won the BCS National Title, capping a long and ultimately successful season.

But let’s face it: the supposed final game of the college football season has once again generated far more questions than answers in the minds of college football fans everywhere.

Granted, no one could have predicted that Colt McCoy would be done by the fifth offensive play of the game. It is truly a heartbreaking circumstance where the winningest-player in college football history does not have the chance to fight for that elusive National Title. Such a victory would be an appropriate final etching on an already sterling record. But let’s give credit where credit is due: Alabama’s Marcell Dareus’ hit was totally legal. McCoy himself was surprised he got as hurt as he did, saying, “I’ve taken hits like that my whole career… I guess it just caught me the right way.” As McCoy was walking off the field to be attended to, you could feel the air being squeezed out of the entire Texas side – everyone involved in the game knew that without McCoy, the Longhorns were going to be operating with two-fifths of their normal playbook, and with a true freshman running it, no less.

You knew Saban would pounce on the opportunity, and Tide responded forcefully to McCoy’s exit. The ‘Horns rallied, particularly once Garret Gilbert started settling down, but Ingram, Upchurch, and the ‘Bama defense were just too much. But as I watched Saban lift the Coaches Trophy, I think everyone around the country (save for Tuscaloosa, AL) was reciting the same lament: “Congratulations, you beat a freshman… There should totally be a playoff!!!” Then proceeded to swill whatever was left in the beer case in boozy frustration.

I only hesitantly agree. My hesitation stems from the fact that I LOVE the regular season of college ball, and I feel the hallowed playoff system everyone is clamoring for would serve only to marginalize the current drama and the impact underpinning each and every game. In the current system, each week is a playoff. Also, consider the recent uproar surrounding Week 17 in the NFL. Fans in Indianapolis are enraged because head coach Jim Caldwell sat most of his starters with a perfect season on the line, just as fans in New England are equally enraged for head coach Bill Belichick keeping his starters in and losing Wes Welker for the rest of the playoffs.

Really, I think what upsets college ball fans is the fizzle of the Bowl Championships following the pop! of the regular season. It’s like a firecracker exploding backwards. What we college football fans need is a satisfying conclusion to the drama of the regular season, and the BCS is not currently tailored to meet that need.

So what to do?

We could hope for a rematch of Texas and Alabama, but it would be two different-looking teams than the one’s that played last night.

We could replay the game on our Xbox 360’s, with Colt McCoy starting the entire game. But sadly, however satisfying that result would be, it is forever locked in virtual reality.

We could pull a Skip Bayless and become apoplectic about the same sad, shopworn argument against the cash-mongers in the BCS.

Or, we could simply wait. It sounds like waving a white flag, but if college football fans continue to pressure the BCS committee as they have been, eventually a change will come. The men in charge would hate to lose all their dollars. But I don’t think a playoff system is necessarily the right move.