To ESPN: Why The BCS Is BS in FBS College Football

After watching "BCS countdown" on ESPN, once again the debate over which team deserves which ranking is a heated one.  What's new?

What the heck is BCS anyway?  For everyone out there who needs to know, here is a brief explanation.

According to a mock BCS ranking conducted by ESPN today (BCS system uses 6 computers, ESPN only used 5), Boise State is now ranked first. 

Now I could go over all the debate that ensued on "BCS countdown", and what I think about the rankings, and even go as far as telling you my personal rankings etc. etc.

But that is what "BCS Countdown" is for, so if you'd like to hear what the "professional analysts" had to say, google it.

Now the BCS is a ranking tool, nothing more, and in my opinion it shouldn't be used to decide national champions.  And this is why: football is a sport played by humans, and won or lost by humans.  

BCS is a hybrid voting system of statistical human polls mixed with computer algorithm systems to ultimately decide which teams (only 2) will be playing for the national title game. 

So in other words, at the end of a season, after all the wins and losses, a bunch of computer geeks and math nerds have more of a voice in deciding who has bragging rights to a national title game in college football rather than actual players and teams. 

Sure, the players can play their hearts out during the season, and win every game. But if the BCS doesn't give them a #1 or #2 ranking in the end, then they are stuck on the outside looking in.

One can argue it was the team's fault for not having a tough enough schedule.  But here's my argument with respect to teams like Kansas State, Utah, and Boise State (to name a few) who have gone undefeated in all their season games in the past, yet failed to even get close to a BCS ranking worthy of a national title bid. 

How good is good?  How do you know how good a team is and what they are capable of when they only played lower-tier FBS teams (and slaughtered them) from their failing conference (Cough, cough, WAC), and did not have the opportunity to play a higher tier (e.g. SEC or a PAC 10) team all year? 

Do teams choose their schedules?  Yes, and no.  They can try to schedule non-conference games, but ultimately they are stuck in individual, separated conferences.  So in other words they are required to play certain teams each and every year.

On the other side of the equation select polls have a voice as well, contributing to the ultimate outcome of who #1 and #2 will be at the end of the season. But this is not valid and accurate to me, because votes are not always sincere. The factor of money and bribery can sway voting results.

And if you don't think NCAA football is capable of corruption with money and bribes, think again. Remember Reggie Bush's headline?

But if BCS is invalid, what do we do?  Where do we go from here? How do we determine who truly is the better football team out of a top 10 list?

Well, what about the NFL? What do they do to decide who the best is?

In fact what does NHL hockey, MLB baseball, NASCAR racing, NRL rugby, CFL football, and NFL football do for crowning their champions? 

Ranking systems, and voting polls?  Hell no. College Football is the only sport that uses a system of polls along with various computer formulas for crowning its champion.

Correction: Division 1-A (FBS) college football is the only sport that uses this BCS (or what I like to call BS) system. Division 1-AA (FCS), Division II, and Division III college football use a playoff system. As do all of the sports mentioned above!

Duh.

In sports how do you ultimately decide "Which team is better than this one?", when you throw 10 of them on a list?  By theory, and analysis, and formulas, and predictions, and voting, and opinion?  No.

By letting the teams play against each other in a playoff bracket.  Yes. 

What about bowl games? If we go to a playoff system, what will happen to bowl bids, and the "Rose Bowl" tradition?

Why can't we have both?

Why can't we have an FBS College Football National Championship 10-team playoff bracket (top 2 teams get a bye in the first round), and bowl games to follow after?

Why cant the BCS and the Playoff System coincide with one another? Every other sport uses playoffs.

I'll tell you why: because right now the moneymakers in the market of College Football have a system that they control, and they want to keep it that way. 

College football should be more about football, and less about money.