Why the AP Poll Can't Declare a Legitimate National Champion

I am a traditionalist in that I do not approve of the two team playoff that was created in 1998. I am in favor returning to the way things were prior to 1966, when the final polls were published in early December before the bowls.

While I am against the two team playoff, I approve of the reform the BCS made to the polling system. It represented an honest attempt to resolve the problem of the split championship and it was constructed in an entirely fair and reasonable manner.

Also, while the the NCAA doesn't officially sanction a champion in Division 1-A football, the BCS system is one agreed to in writing by all eleven Division 1-A conferences. Ever since 1984, when the Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA in an anti-trust lawsuit, the power in 1-A football has resided with the conferences, not the NCAA. Therefore, any championship formula to which the eleven conferences agree is legitimate.

It may need some tweaking here and there, but the concept behind the BCS polling formula is solid. A composite poll that computes an average of more than one human poll and more than one computer ranking is clearly a superior polling method to a single poll of writers or coaches or any other one group of people.

The BCS also had a legitimate reason to create this poll. College football had been plagued for a generation by discrepancies between the two major polls, the AP Writer's Poll and the UPI/ESPN Coach's Poll. The BCS polling system was put in place to ensure an undisputed national champion and end the problem of the "split" championship.

However, the AP writers arrogantly rejected this excellent solution. They refused to allow themselves to be blended into a composite poll, because this would undermine their status and power as kingmakers.

In doing so, they relinquished their status as a venerable traditional poll and became a rogue poll intent on preserving the split championship institution for the sake of their own glory.

Therefore, I view any team that accepts the number one AP ranking as a legitimate national champion as a rogue champion.

To prove that I am not a whiny sore loser like many college football fans, consider that I am a Florida fan. I would be perfectly happy to end the season right now and declare Oklahoma the National Champion based on Oklahoma's number one ranking in the BCS poll. This is despite the fact that the AP poll has Florida ranked first and that I agree with the AP writers that Florida is a better team than Oklahoma.

OK, I wouldn't exactly be happy, but as an adult I don't try to change the rules of the game after I've lost.

I discussed this in a post on my blog a couple of weeks ago when the final polls were published.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/90356-congratulations-to-the-oklahoma-sooners-2008-national-champions