Way too much ink has been spilled in vitriol against the BCS. I am usually the optimist who will feel bad for the underdog, the picked-on, trying to find something good in what everyone else sees as bad. Not possible with the BCS. I don’t have to convince anyone that it is (insert rage here) ridiculous. I want to look at the other side here. Everyone wants a playoff because the BCS system more closely resembles a beauty contest than athletic competition. But let’s think for a minute about how futile bowl games are.
Let’s begin with the obvious - how can we take seriously a game which is played on blue astroturf, features 2 teams from mid-major conferences, and is called the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl? ESPN tries to get us to care but I don’t even think most Toledo fans watched. Games played in half-empty stadiums named for whoever shells out the big bucks to put their name on the game by players who have practiced for 4 weeks since their last competition don’t really do it for me.
But its not just the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl (Ball St. vs. Central Florida in case you care, which I’m sure you don’t) that is frivolous - they all are. Yes, that includes you too Rose Bowl. I know Keith Jackson calls you the granddaddy of them all but you mean nothing. I grew up in Pac 10 country and then lived in Big 10 country after college. How funny is it to see Buckeye fans wearing t-shirts which read “Rose Bowl Champions”. Congratulations. You are the champion of a game between 2 schools who may or may not have won their conferences and if they did it means their conference wasn’t the best in the country or else they would have been playing in a different bowl game. But if it makes you feel good to call yourself champion then you go right ahead.
More evidence for the meaninglessness of bowl games is the games themselves. If you need more plays for the back of your playbook then watch more bowl games. The reason college coaches not named Les Myles don’t do onside kicks in the 3rd quarter and fake punts 50% of the time in the regular season is because the regular season matters and coaches really want to win those games. Bowl games on the other hand - who cares if you win or lose, so you might as well try out all of your fake field goal plays. Remember the famous Boise State vs. Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl? BSU forced overtime on a hook and ladder, and won in OT on a Statue of Liberty play - the same plays we drew up on the playground in 6th grade. It is the same approach I take when I play video games - never kick a field goal - always go for it, never punt - 4th down is never too long, never kick off - always go onside. Why? Because who wins a bowl game matters about the same amount as who wins the video game in my living room.
I actually saw 2 guys on the sideline of the Arizona game today (the Gildan New Mexico Bowl vs. Nevada - I didn’t watch it I just saw the highlights) punching each other in the face. You usually don’t see teammates comes to blows in the middle of games that matter.
And here is the reason why I wrote this article - if the coaches don’t give a rat’s patoot about these football games then why should I. It happens every year. December is the month in which college coaches take new jobs. Wait a minute...THE SEASON’S NOT OVER YET! The Wisconsin Badgers will be coached in their bowl game this year by Barry Alvarez. Why? Because their coach took the job at Arkansas (in my opinion that was a ridiculous professional decision but that is another post). And oh by the way, Wisconsin is playing in the Rose Bowl this year! What if Jim Leyland would have retired in between the ALCS and the World Series? That would be ridiculous...right? And why would that be ridiculous? Because the World Series is not an exhibition, it matters.
Having said all that, I will watch as many bowl games as I can this year. I am a sucker. I will watch the onside kick fests coached by interim head coaches by adolescents who haven’t played in over a month. I will watch them and be entertained, but will mostly watch them asking the question at the end of each impressive win by a quality team, “what could have been.” I will watch the Rose Bowl and think how much better it would be if it was a national quarterfinal between the Pac-12 champs and the Big-10 champs only to play next week in the semifinal game against the winner of the SEC champs vs. A Wild Card team.
Since you asked, here is my solution:
Champions from the 6 “BCS” conferences (of course they wouldn’t be called BCS conferences because the BCS would be taken out back and given what it deserves) are automatic bids. The 2 highest ranked non-BCS conference champions are also in as are the 2 highest ranked non-conference champions. The first round is 4 teams, the other 6 get a bye. Then let ‘em have at it.
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