Sports Byline USA Insight

There’s Nothing Champion About The BCS

For a long time I was against a college football playoff, of any kind.  My thinking was it would make the season too long, take away classroom and academic time and it would “professionalize” college football even more.  Also, I heard from a number of my football-coaching friends that adding playoff games would also add injuries and physical hardships for the players.  Another long held reason for my resistance to a college football playoff was my displeasure with the current college sports system that generates billions of dollars in football and basketball revenue, but none of which falls into the pockets of the athletes that generate that money.  For a long time I’ve been the proponent of providing all college scholarship athletes, male and female, with a yearly $1,000 stipend to help them with daily expenses.

About two years ago I changed my thinking about not having a college football playoff.  What changed my mind?  The stupidity and the force feeding by the BCS that their one game system had successfully found college football’s true National Champion.  What a crock.  The fact that the BCS tells me that one loss Florida is the national champion over one loss USC or one loss Texas, or even undefeated Utah offends me.  The BCS is saying that because we say it’s true, it is true.  That kind of edict and dictatorial attitude enrages rational thinking sports fans like myself.  Also, try telling that to any “red hot” fan of a team that has the same record, or better, then the team the BCS says is the Champion.  Make sure your health insurance is paid up when you do.

The problem with the BCS is its ignorance and arrogance. Its ignorance is displayed in their belief that a fair and impartial system, based on computers and human voters, can definitively pick two teams to play for college football’s national championship.  Team schedules are different, opponents are not the same, injury factors, officiating errors, the lack of impartiality by voting coaches and others, and an overall lack of a common criteria in evaluating all teams makes it impossible for the BCS to say college football’s National Champion will come from these two teams (pick any two) playing each other. 

The BCS’s arrogance is encased in it’s belief and prejudice that only teams from major conferences, that can draw a big television audience, can play for the National Championship.  God forbid if Utah, TCU or any team from a non-BCS conference was to play one of the “big boys” for the championship.  The BCS is still smarting over the disappointing television ratings from last year’s BCS Sugar Bowl game between Hawaii and Georgia.  Yes, they do allow the BCS “outsiders” like Utah to go to one of the big games, but they only allow one team, even if others are also deserving to go to other BCS bowl games. They’ve thrown the non-BCS schools and conferences a bone with the hope they won’t make too much noise, or legal threats, about the way they currently do business.

The Utah Utes have had two undefeated seasons in the last five years, but have never had the chance to play in the BCS National Championship game.  Maybe they wouldn’t win the title, but they should, along with other teams with similar records and voted in the top 8 in the BCS poll, have the chance to find out.  The only way that can happen is with a playoff.  Ignorance and arrogance always leads to a downfall.  The Utah Attorney General is looking at investigating and possibly taking legal action against the BCS for violating anti-trust rules.  The BCS better be careful and smarten up because the Utah A.G.’s action can either be a pep rally for change, or a mob, and they better hope it ‘s the former rather then the later.

I’m Ron Barr.

Ron Barr is an Emmy award winning writer and the host of the nationally and internationally syndicated sports talk show, Sports Byline USA.

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