Why the Big Ten Loves the BCS System

Each and every year, there are a handful of subjects that dominate the water cooler conversations: the weather cooling, plans for the holidays, and the demise of Big Ten football. The final one has become a running joke for college football fans and pundits everywhere (except for a few states in the upper Midwest).

The joke is on us however.

While the majority of college football fans clamor for a playoff system, (I like one featuring the six BCS conference champions plus two at-large teams) the Big Ten is again taking advantage of the current BCS system and has no plans to stop.

A look at the current BCS standings gives us our first clue. What's the best conference? The SEC? The Pac-10? Surprisingly not.

Based on the combined ratings of clueless voters, who act as if Bo and Woody are still coaching, and the computers, the Big Ten is the best conference. It has two teams in the top ten (Ohio St. and Iowa) and three of the top 11 when you factor in Penn St.
   
What is the big non-conference win by one of these three teams to earn this prestigious national ranking? It would have to be Iowa's 10-point home win over Arizona; a team that, should it lose to USC on the road this Saturday, will finish sixth in the Pac 10.

History gives us our second clue.

Following the 2007 season, Ohio St. dubiously earned another trip to the BCS title game. USC could have been matched up against a West Virginia team which had just missed out on a trip to the title game, (by virtue of an upset loss to Pitt) or the Rose Bowl could have picked a Missouri team that was the second place team in a strong Big 12.

Who did the Rose Bowl pick? A mediocre Illinois team from the Big Ten that had just squeaked into the top-14 to be BCS eligible. They received a 49-17 whooping that wasn't even that close.

(The Rose Bowl did this to preserve the "Pac-10/Big Ten tradition." Never mind the true Rose Bowl tradition is the CHAMPION of the Pac-10 against the CHAMPION of the Big Ten.)

It seems that no matter what the bowl results prove every year, the Big Ten gets to send off a second team to be humiliated in a BCS bowl, (not forgetting the first place team also gets to enjoy this humiliation), and then have that team return with a second huge payday for the conference.

It will happen again this year.

The debate has been whether Iowa or Penn State should receive one of the at-large berths. The honest answer however is, neither.

Check out these comparisons: Who’s better? Pitt or the team that needed two blocked field goals to beat Northern Iowa? Penn St./Iowa or one of the high-scoring second place teams in the Pac-10? The team that beat Coastal Carolina or a Virginia Tech team that almost upset Alabama?

Naturally, we will hear the argument that the BCS is about money and putting butts in seats. So the bowls (most likely the Orange or the Sugar) will take Iowa or Penn State because they will generate ratings and sell tickets.

Based on the projected matchups, this shouldn't be a cause for fear by either the bowls or the BCS. The Orange Bowl will feature either Georgia Tech or Clemson. The fan bases for either one of those teams will fill most of the seats in the Orange Bowl. No need to send a second Big Ten team there.

How about the Sugar Bowl, where a Big Ten team is likely to end up (at the expense of undefeated Boise State) should Nebraska upset Texas this week? There they would be matched with the loser of the Alabama-Florida SEC title game.

They would not need a team like Iowa to fill their seats. Mobile, Alabama is less than 200 miles from the Superdome and does anyone doubt Alabama could scrounge together 72,000 crimson-and-cream-clad fans to fill it?

An honest analysis shows the Big Ten does not deserve a second BCS team. No one (outside of Des Moines) thinks Iowa is better than the second place team in at least three other conferences, or for that matter, Boise State.

The idea that a bowl needs to take Iowa to fill its ticket allotment is a myth.

And finally, who wants to watch the Big Ten on TV anyway, unless you have a fetish for watching Terrelle Pryor throw incomplete passes all over the field?

Why will we not see a playoff in college football in the near future? The Big Ten conference fills its pockets each year off of the current system, it will fight any type of change, and a playoff will need to have these historical teams in it to be considered relevant.

Thank the Lord for March Madness.

You can follow my random thoughts on the sports world and other matters on Twitter at @plh55.