College Football 2011: Should the BCS Waive Two-Big Limit for SEC and Others?

Under the current BCS guidelines, no more than two teams from any one conference can be deemed as “BCS eligible” and therefore receive a BCS bowl bid.

This arrangement is obviously a huge stumbling block for teams who are members of big, two division conferences which have multiple perennial powerhouse members such as the SEC, the new Pac-12, the new Big Ten and now to a lesser degree the new Big 12 (though historically the Big 12 has certainly been adversely effected by this limitation).

To further frustrate programs in the super conferences the BCS is set up in such a way that there is no provision for AQ conferences that do not have a champion that is “BCS worthy.”

Though this sounds harsh, it’s actually quite true; the BCS is designed to give an underperforming champion of a smaller AQ conference a nod over a “third best” team in a conference such as the SEC.

A perfect illustration can be found as recently as last year’s BCS selections where in Big East champion Connecticut garnered a bid to the BCS Fiesta Bowl to face Oklahoma.

UConn, on its way to BCS glory, lost five games in 2010 and the Huskies finished completely out of the BCS rankings (meaning they were not even in the top 25).

Of the 11 other teams that received BCS bids, the highest loss total was three (Virginia Tech) and the lowest BCS ranking was No. 13 (also Virginia Tech).

Left out in the cold in the BCS mix was Michigan State (11-2) who finished No. 9 in the final BCS standings but were ineligible only because conference companions Wisconsin and Ohio State received bids. Behind Michigan State were 12-1 Boise State at No. 10 and then 11-2 LSU at No. 11.

A similar, but somewhat less blatantly unfair situation occurred two seasons ago when 9-4 Virginia Tech won the ACC but finished No. 19 in the BCS standings, leaving No. 7 Texas Tech (11-1) out of the big dance by virtue of Texas and Oklahoma receiving BCS bids.

This hardly seems even remotely equitable.

The problem seems clear enough, so what’s the solution?

Actually, regardless of the fact that the BCS selection guidelines read like the Health Care Reform Act, the fix could in fact be quite simple.

The BCS should adopt a revision that states that:

“No team that is the conference champion from an Automatically Qualifying (AQ) Conference will receive an automatic bid if they finish below No. 15 in the final BCS standings. In the case that this occurs, the bid that would have gone to the said conference champion will immediately revert to the next highest ranking BCS finisher regardless of their conference affiliation.”

This change would do nothing to affect other “automatic” or “at large” bids and would only need to be utilized if a conference champion did not manage a “BCS-caliber” season. 

Not only would it raise the bar for BCS bids, it would give high-ranking third place finishers from the super conferences an opportunity to garner a BCS appearance instead of a team that in reality belongs in another non-BCS bowl game.

This scenario would also work in the case of a team not in an AQ conference that finishes next in line in the BCS standings. For example, in 2010 if No. 10 12-1 Boise State would have finished above No. 9 Michigan State in the final standings, then they would have been the next in line to take UConn’s spot, regardless of the fact they came from the WAC.

Instead of Oklahoma vs. UConn in the less-than-intriguing 2011 Fiesta Bowl, we now have Oklahoma vs. Michigan State, and in the case of the 2009 Orange Bowl, we pit Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech in an all-out score fest. 

Additional value to this plan is added when we consider the fact that over time conferences will gain and lose strength, so, this scheme would not need to be readjusted as would say just giving the SEC or another super conference an automatic third bid based on recent performance and assumed future superiority. 

Moving swiftly back to reality the argument against this solution will surely be “revenue sharing.”

Yes, once again it will come down to cold hard cash. 

A key element of the Bowl Championship Series is that each of the AQ conferences are guaranteed a certain piece of the huge BCS financial pie, and, on the other hand no conference is assured too big of a slice (one that would presumably make them throw up all over a bathroom stall at the Orange Bowl).

Ah yes, if we could ever convince the powers that be in college football that the greatest team sport in these United States is not all about money.

Indeed my friend, on that historic day, on that blessed morn, we shall fix everything!