College Football: Non-AQ Conferences are BCS Second-Class Citizens

If you log onto the BCS website www.bcsfootball.org  you will see proudly displayed atop the home page the logos of the eleven FBS conferences (plus Notre Dame).

The ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 10, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC logos represent the conference homes of the 120 teams that in theory compete for a place in the BCS Bowls and the BCS National Championship Game.

Though the visual inclusion of all eleven FBS conference logos infers a certain degree of equality among the conferences (which are displayed in alphabetical order) we all know that in reality the playing field is far less than equal amidst the eleven members.

Indeed, the way the BCS works in reality has little to do with equality and has created a system that has definite shades of elitism and exclusion. 

It is a scheme that declares justice but in truth and by design represents gross inequality.

Currently, six of the eleven conferences have earned annual automatic qualification (AQ) to the BCS postseason while five have not.  This guaranteed access was secured through a four year evaluation period which occurred from 2004 – 2007and lasts through the 2013 - 14 season.

Much has been made of an additional, seventh conference being granted “AQ” status (the Mountain West?) which in fact could qualify for inclusion for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 BCS bowl seasons based on performance from 2008 – 2011.

In terms of revenue, only the AQ conferences are guaranteed an automatic piece of the huge BCS financial pie.  A whopping $18 million dollar (net) prize is awarded to each conference that has a team automatically qualify for a BCS bowl with an additional $4.5 million available for any conference that can qualify two of its members.

So, what are the non AQ conferences and schools in the BCS for?

Are they merely punching bags for the AQ schools that need to play other FBS teams but who shy away from playing squads from other AQ conferences?

Are they there so it would seem that 120 teams compete for the Championship when in reality only 66 teams do?

Are they there just in case an AQ conference falls apart and needs to be replaced in the BCS mix?

Are they there so it is so confusing that most people don’t even care to understand the details?  And is this mystification process in reality just a defense mechanism to keep the BCS alive and well, earning money for the already money laden?

Or are the non AQ programs existent so it would seem that the BCS really does pit the two best teams in the country against each other in the title game (when in reality it would appear that the best two teams with the most national media draw and wide spread fan support equaling TV dollars play in the big game for the whole enchilada)?   

The non AQ schools have been termed “mid majors” or “subprime” or “non BCS” conferences.  In reality we should term them “second class citizens” or SSC’s if acronyms are your game.

By the numbers 120 teams are in the FBS but only 66 of these programs possess the golden egg of an “automatic qualifier” label while 54 FBS schools are left out in the cold both competitively and financially.

This means that 45 percent of FBS teams are competing for the limited number of at large bids to the BCS money dance.

The BCS, at the very least in terms of the two tiered “AQ” and “non AQ” scheme, is not unlike our beloved USA that lived under a constitution that boldly guaranteed god granted individual freedoms for “all” but did not deliver on the “all” part until almost 200 years after its initial declaration.

The BCS proudly exclaims that it “ensures the two top-rated teams in the country meet in the national championship game” and self rates itself as “undeniably successful” with one hand while they use the other to stick wads of cash in their greedy pockets, all in the name of what is “best for football”.

Who among us will become the patriots that declare this system unjust and unacceptable?  Who will put an end to this money driven tyranny?

Conferences should either be in the BCS or out of it.  Extend full membership benefits to all or stop the AQ/non AQ sham and set up a division that lives just below the FBS but just above the FCS.

If we are forced to be burdened with a Bowl Championship Series at all sorting out the AQ/non AQ fiasco would solve a huge amount of the controversy that currently swirls around the BCS system.