2008 Woodie Awards
BCS gets it right for once
Chris Martin
Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: Sports
Purple and gold confetti rained down from the top of the Superdome as Louisiana State University quarterback Matt Flynn hoisted up the BCS National Championship trophy after his Tigers put a 38-24 schooling on Ohio State to become the champions of college football.
But for some reason people have been questioning LSU's claim to the championship. Why? The Bowl Championship Series of course. Now, everybody's heard all the problems with the BCS and how so many times it doesn't crown the true kings of the gridiron, but for once, the debate for who should be the true national champions does not have much credence.
Since there is no playoff, everyone wants to say that their team should be the national champion, and after this season's parity-laden outcome, everyone thinks they have a good argument.
That does not mean everyone has a good argument.
Coming into the title game, there were only three teams with one loss or fewer: Kansas, Hawaii and Ohio State. All three of these teams built their records on a cupcake schedule. Of the two loss teams, Georgia didn't win its conference. USC lost to heavy underdog Stanford as well as Oregon State. Oklahoma lost to a Colorado team that only won six games. And so on.
It may be painful to hear, but this season the BCS got it right. You can argue that LSU and Ohio State didn't even deserve to play in the championship game but if they were excluded Buckeye and Tiger fans would be phoning in on talk radio staking their claim to play for the title. Just like USC fans. And Kansas fans. And Georgia fans, ad nauseum.
Of course, a playoff would be a better solution, but it is going to materialize as slowly as Washington legislation handled by the most meticulous bureaucracy. First, the NCAA gave us the BCS, which was supposed to eliminate multiple teams having stakes in the title. Next it looks as though the NCAA is going to implement a "plus one" game that will add another game after the bowls are played. Then people will complain, as they do now, that the top two teams didn't make it to the championship game.
But for some reason people have been questioning LSU's claim to the championship. Why? The Bowl Championship Series of course. Now, everybody's heard all the problems with the BCS and how so many times it doesn't crown the true kings of the gridiron, but for once, the debate for who should be the true national champions does not have much credence.
Since there is no playoff, everyone wants to say that their team should be the national champion, and after this season's parity-laden outcome, everyone thinks they have a good argument.
That does not mean everyone has a good argument.
Coming into the title game, there were only three teams with one loss or fewer: Kansas, Hawaii and Ohio State. All three of these teams built their records on a cupcake schedule. Of the two loss teams, Georgia didn't win its conference. USC lost to heavy underdog Stanford as well as Oregon State. Oklahoma lost to a Colorado team that only won six games. And so on.
It may be painful to hear, but this season the BCS got it right. You can argue that LSU and Ohio State didn't even deserve to play in the championship game but if they were excluded Buckeye and Tiger fans would be phoning in on talk radio staking their claim to play for the title. Just like USC fans. And Kansas fans. And Georgia fans, ad nauseum.
Of course, a playoff would be a better solution, but it is going to materialize as slowly as Washington legislation handled by the most meticulous bureaucracy. First, the NCAA gave us the BCS, which was supposed to eliminate multiple teams having stakes in the title. Next it looks as though the NCAA is going to implement a "plus one" game that will add another game after the bowls are played. Then people will complain, as they do now, that the top two teams didn't make it to the championship game.
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