Does The BCS Championship Have an S.E.C. Bias? If Not Maybe It Should

It is that time again. We will have six win teams this week that are already bowl eligible. Now its officially time to discuss the BCS Championship Game once again. Here are some thoughts, rumors, exaggerations and outright conspiracy theories to contemplate.

First up is the perception that the BCS Championship game has an SEC Bias: While I can find no evidence that this is true, it probably should be. There have been eleven national championship games since 1999. The SEC has fielded teams in five of these. Three different SEC teams have appeared Tennessee, LSU, Florida. The SEC has won all five of these games and won the last three by at least two scores. They have beaten teams from the Big 12, Big 10 and ACC. So while there may be bias it is certainly justified until some team manages to beat the SEC representative.

The BCS Championship Game is already decided and its going to be between Florida and Texas: Now while this is certainly a possible match up someone forgot to tell Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Kansas, Nebraska etc... . You must win your conference to get there.

An SEC team will go to the BCS even if they have lost a game: While this may be true at times due to the inevitability of the SEC championship game being between two highly ranked teams this is not always the case. In 2004 the likely sixth BCS title for the SEC did not happen. Undefeated Auburn beat Tennessee for the SEC championship and was left out of the championship game between USC and Oklahoma. USC won this game 53 to 19 over a highly over hyped Oklahoma team. It is likely a USC Vs. Auburn game would have been much more competitive. Again maybe there should be bias for the SEC.

The BCS is rigged: While in some ways this is true. It is highly unlikely any outside force other than wide spread Bias has any effect on the BCS.

The BCS discriminates against the smaller conferences: This is just plain true. Teams like Boise State, Utah, TCU, BYU do not get a fair shake in the current system. Something needs to be done about this. I expect we will see a plus one or some arrangement in the next years.

The Old Poll System was better than the BCS: If you are old enough to remember the Poll System then you know this is not true. Even if it was what poll would be used. There are thousands now. Every one of them is biased to some degree. 

The BCS is biased against Ohio State: While this is far from the truth I wish it were. Ohio State and Oklahoma are by far the worst performing BCS teams. Most of us want a good competitive championship game. Ohio State has delivered once in three tries.