BCS National Championship Game Thread

[Slayer 0]

Besides, in an 8 team bracket, which would probably be determined by a vote anyway, numbers 9, 10, 11 and whatnot will be complaining anyway.

This always comes up as an argument as a playoff and I always have to call bullshit on it.

 

The dropoff between a #8 and #9 is a lot less marked than the dropoff between #2 and #3... essentially a "9th seed" (most likely a 2 or possibly 3 loss-team) on the outside-looking in has a lot less to bitch about than, say, a third undefeated team who got locked out of the top two

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

So Notre Dame have dropped like 8 Bowl games in a row, this season got stomped by Michigan, and last season lost to USC...when exactly was the last time they won a big game?

 

'88 Fiesta Bowl, upon looking it up.

 

WAKE UP THE ECHOES CHEERING HER NAME

[snuffbox 0]

I fail to see how a 3 week tournament in December, followed by a fat slate of Bowl games, then the finals of the Championship tournament will do anything but make MORE money for the NCAA. I dont think any of the 'prestige' of other bowls would be compromised or that there even is such a thing as an overabundance of football. I doubt ratings or attendance would suffer.

 

GO IRISH!

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

The issue I have with a playoff, especially a 8 team one, is the fact that you'd have to include all the champions of the six big conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big Twelve, Pac-10 and SEC), leaving only two spots for at-large bids. Those bids aren't going to be given to the Boise States of the world, so you'd still have the same problems you have now with the BCS format.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

The issue I have with a playoff, especially a 8 team one, is the fact that you'd have to include all the champions of the six big conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big Twelve, Pac-10 and SEC), leaving only two spots for at-large bids. Those bids aren't going to be given to the Boise States of the world, so you'd still have the same problems you have now with the BCS format.

Then make the mid-majors a separate division, since they essentially are right now anyway. Might as well formalize it.

[snuffbox 0]

Either a seperate division for mid-majors or let the two best playoff for the #8 seed in the tournament.

 

Conference champions dont necessarily have to be seeded into the tournament. It shouldnt be mandatory. If a conference is bad during a season and the champ ends up with a couple losses on the record, they might not get in. But they would still get a bowl game to make cash & give the kids the opportunity to play in a different locale.

[JHawk 0]

The biggest argument against a playoff system is how long it would take. Another bullshit reason.

 

Ohio State's last game before last night was November 18. Conference championships ended December 1.

 

Assuming a playoff featured 32 schools, had it started the weekend of December 8 and ended with the special Monday night championship, the championship game would have still been last night anyway.

 

Not to mention that more people would have tuned into a playoff game than a bowl game between two random 7-5 schools that wouldn't have otherwise been in contention for a postseason game.

 

And this way Boise State would have at least had a shot at a national championship. And if finishing undefeated doesn't give you that opportunity, why the fuck are you on the field playing the games in the first place?

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

There is no one who can justify to me that any team with a loss should be ranked ahead of Boise, other than "Oh, those teams are just supposed to be better than Boise" or something equally inane.

 

 

Uh... You ever heard of a little thing called strength of schedule?

 

 

SEC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WAC

[snuffbox 0]

I dont know about a 32 team tournament format.

 

With 8 teams it can be down to the finals in 3 weeks (a playoff for a mid major inclusion could be the week before or something), the finals and semifinals could be on neutral fields to make more cash, leaving time for the vaunted Bowls to still take place, and the finals after they're done. Plenty of time to hype the finals, still get to play and talk about the Bowls, kids still get their opportunities, more money is made, no traditions or whatever are lost, and the National Championship looks more legitimate.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Either a seperate division for mid-majors or let the two best playoff for the #8 seed in the tournament.

 

Conference champions dont necessarily have to be seeded into the tournament. It shouldnt be mandatory. If a conference is bad during a season and the champ ends up with a couple losses on the record, they might not get in. But they would still get a bowl game to make cash & give the kids the opportunity to play in a different locale.

 

I thought about that but really, who's going to tell the Big Twelve commissioner that one of his schools isn't going in and that they're taking a WAC team instead? It'd cause a shitstorm. Mandatory entries would only placate the heads of the six conferences into letting a playoff happen.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

There is no one who can justify to me that any team with a loss should be ranked ahead of Boise, other than "Oh, those teams are just supposed to be better than Boise" or something equally inane.

 

 

Uh... You ever heard of a little thing called strength of schedule?

 

 

SEC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WAC

Win is a win, friend.

[snuffbox 0]

I'll make Jack Nicholson the commisioner of my playoff format.

 

Seriously though, the image of college football and its championship are given no help by coddling presidents and commisioners. It can either be about the game or the money. If its all about the money then the game will always suffer. But if more attention is payed to the actual game and its importance, by having both a tournament and Bowls, then more money actually stands to be made. If a big conference champ didn't make the 8 team tournament, they would still get into one of the top bowls.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

There is no one who can justify to me that any team with a loss should be ranked ahead of Boise, other than "Oh, those teams are just supposed to be better than Boise" or something equally inane.

 

 

Uh... You ever heard of a little thing called strength of schedule?

 

 

SEC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WAC

Win is a win, friend.

 

 

Not when your opponent is not as good as some high school teams.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I don't recall Western Carolina being good either.

[snuffbox 0]

Yeah, but, Western Carolina is different!

[JHawk 0]

I dont know about a 32 team tournament format.

 

With 8 teams it can be down to the finals in 3 weeks (a playoff for a mid major inclusion could be the week before or something), the finals and semifinals could be on neutral fields to make more cash, leaving time for the vaunted Bowls to still take place, and the finals after they're done. Plenty of time to hype the finals, still get to play and talk about the Bowls, kids still get their opportunities, more money is made, no traditions or whatever are lost, and the National Championship looks more legitimate.

I didn't say I was advocating a 32-school format, I was just using it hypothetically to prove my point.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

Sat, Sep 2 Southern Miss W 34-7 * Audio

Sat, Sep 9 UCF W 42-0 * Audio

Sat, Sep 16 at (13) Tennessee W 21-20 * Audio

Sat, Sep 23 Kentucky W 26-7 * Audio

Sat, Sep 30 Alabama W 28-13 * Audio

Sat, Oct 7 (9) LSU W 23-10 * Audio

Sat, Oct 14 at (11) Auburn L 17-27 * Audio

Sat, Oct 28 Georgia W 21-14 * Audio

Sat, Nov 4 at Vanderbilt W 25-19 * Audio

Sat, Nov 11 South Carolina W 17-16 * Audio

Sat, Nov 18 Western Carolina W 62-0 * Audio

Sat, Nov 25 at Florida State W 21-14 * Audio

Sat, Dec 2 (8) Arkansas W 38-28 * Audio

 

Thu, Aug 31 Sacramento State W 45-0 --

Thu, Sep 7 Oregon State W 42-14 --

Sat, Sep 16 at Wyoming W 17-10 --

Sat, Sep 23 Hawaii W 41-34 --

Sat, Sep 30 at Utah W 36-3 --

Sat, Oct 7 Louisiana Tech W 55-14 --

Sun, Oct 15 at New Mexico State W 40-28 --

Sat, Oct 21 at Idaho W 42-26 --

Wed, Nov 1 Fresno State W 45-21 --

Sat, Nov 11 at San Jose State W 23-20 --

Sat, Nov 18 Utah State W 49-10 --

Sat, Nov 25 at Nevada W 38-7 --

 

 

How are those schedules even close to being on the same level?

[2GOLD 0]

Right now, Division I college football doesn't settle it all on the field. There is NOTHING the mid major teams can do to get a sniff of the National title because they are told they aren't good enough. No matter how many times they knock off a major team from a "power" conference, they are told they aren't good enough. That means there is a flaw somewhere when you have ZERO shot at the big game.

 

When you cannot do anything to get your team a shot at the title, something is wrong.

Right now, those conferences can do nothing to get a shot. They could schedule USC, Michigan and Florida, beat every one of them by 10 points or more, go undefeated and they would STILL be told they aren't good enough because they didn't play in a strong conference. That means you have a problem.

 

My simple playoff formula is this

Major conference champions are in, all six of them, unless champion NOT in the top 15 of the BCS (yes, you keep the BCS)

The top two mid major conference championships (Notre Dame is a mid major until they enter a conference, if they are behind two mid major conference champions then Touchdown Jesus can go enjoy the Tire Bowl) are in unless said teams are not in the top 15 of the BCS

If the Mid Major or Power conferences champions are not in the top 15 (Wake barely makes it), they are not eligible for the title. Then the next best teams in the BCS rankings, regardless of conference, are in.

 

If you didn't win your conference, so sad, you don't get a shot at the title unless one of the mid major conference champions don't meet the requirement. Sorry, it happens. Go enjoy the Emerald Bowl. This isn't top 8 gets the title, it's the top conference winners, the teams that took care of business getting their title shot. That way, guess what? Regular season STILL matters! Scheduling can still kill you because you keep the BCS intact and unless you are willing to put all your cards on winning your conference, you'll need a back-up plan. Plus, mid majors have to go basically undefeated to even CRACK the top 15. It's not like they are "stealing your two loss team spot". They still have the incredibly hard path of having to win EVERY game with zero slip ups.

 

So it would have been

Florida

Louisville

Ohio State

Notre Dame (should force these bastards to enter a conference)

Boise State

Oklahoma

USC

Wake Forest

 

Match-ups would have been

Ohio State #1 vs #8 Wake Forest

Florida #2 vs #7 Notre Dame

USC #3 vs #6 Oklahoma

Louisville #4 vs #5 Boise State

[Guest Princess Leena]

There is no one who can justify to me that any team with a loss should be ranked ahead of Boise, other than "Oh, those teams are just supposed to be better than Boise" or something equally inane.

 

 

Uh... You ever heard of a little thing called strength of schedule?

 

 

SEC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WAC

That's not a good enough answer.

 

Boise played who they played. Including a win over Oregon State, who beat USC, who is somehow ahead of Boise in the rankings with TWO losses.

 

And then they beat Oklahoma, who had as good of a record as anyone Florida beat.

 

If they played, I'm sure Florida would win. But, we don't know that.

[Vern Gagne 0]

According to si.com via the LA Times.

 

The changes in the BCS would be a plus one format. Four teams. Winners of those games play a week later for championship. The other idea is a return to the old format. Than after the bowls, the Top 2 teams are decided and they play for the championship.

[iggymcfly 0]

I already gave the perfect playoff format earlier in the year. Top 6 conference champions are in regardless of conference. If Boise State's better than Wake this year, then the Deacons get bounced. Notre Dame and all other independents must be in the Top 8 to qualify. If they're in, they get in automatically. Otherwise, no shot. Then, the remaining spots are filled by at-larges. Only two teams can get in from one conference, at-larges can't get home games, and at-larges can't be on the same side of the bracket as their conference champion.

 

Quarterfinal games are played in early December, semifinal games are played at BCS bowl sites, and the championship's played the same date as it is now. The top conference champion and at-large that don't make the 8-team playoff get to play the worst conference champion and at-large that lost in the first round of the playoffs in BCS games. This year, that format would have given us:

 

(1) Ohio State vs. Oklahoma

(4) Louisville vs. LSU

(2) Florida vs. Boise State

(3) USC vs. Michigan

 

Not sure it would have been a lot better this year though. We still would have probably ended up with Ohio State vs. Florida, and Boise would have crashed down to earth hard having to play a quarterfinal game at the Swamp instead of getting their shining moment against Oklahoma. For all the talk about "a George Mason having a shot at the title" in basketball, does a George Mason ever win the title? No. It would be an improvement to have an eight-team playoff, and I hope they put it in at some point, but this year, I'm glad we had the old system.

[Cartman 0]

If they scheduled Boise St. vs. Florida for a game next week it would be the highest rated game of the year...for the first quarter.

 

After that when the score is around 42-3 noone would care and people would be whining about how crappy of a game it was.

[Guest Princess Leena]

But, eventually, a mid-major is going to win the NCAA title. Infact, I'd say the PCAA/Big West UNLV teams were around the same level as the WAC now. Even if a mid-major is dominant in football, they'll never sniff being #1.

 

There should at least be a "Plus One" game.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Boise St. wouldn't be in that game either.

[CanadianChris 0]

For all the talk about "a George Mason having a shot at the title" in basketball, does a George Mason ever win the title? No.

But at least they get a shot. How demoralizing must it be for a great team in a shitty conference to KNOW that you have ZERO chance of making it to the championship game? George Mason at least came within one victory of doing just that. And for anyone who says "schedule better teams," no good team is going to schedule a Boise State. It won't happen. It's the same mentality that existed in basketball up until a few years ago, where teams don't want to risk a loss to a mid-major.

 

Congrats to Florida for their "national championship."

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

What's worse than bias against mid-majors like the WAC is the bias against an actual conference within the BCS, and that is the Big East. If Rutgers went 12-0,there is no way that they would have been able to climb high enough to get to the title game, because of a "weak conference" yet they play in a BCS conference and virtually the same schedule as Louisville (Who got at high as 3) and West Virginia (Who got as high as 5).

[UZI Suicide 0]

If they scheduled Boise St. vs. Florida for a game next week it would be the highest rated game of the year...for the first quarter.

 

After that when the score is around 42-3 noone would care and people would be whining about how crappy of a game it was.

 

Shit like this is exactly why we need a playoff. Nobody knows what would happen. It seems like every national title game has a team that is a dead on stone cold lock to win and nobody gives the other team a chance to win.

 

2002 Miami was a team full of NFL players who were going to wipe the field with the "slow and overrated" Ohio State who struggled to defeat every opponent they played. Ohio State won.

 

2004 Oklahoma is supposed to be the greatest team ever led by all-everything freshman Adrian Peterson and returning Heisman winner Jason White, they proceed to get assraped by USC in the title game.

 

2005 USC is the new greatest team ever with the greatest offense ever. They get beat by Texas.

 

2006 Boise State over Oklahoma and Florida over Ohio State, both teams weren't given a chance in hell of winning by any fans or anyone in the media.

 

I realize Boise State is a lot less likely to pull off the upset than teams I listed from previous years, but we don't know - maybe they would. We'll never know though, because this system is a piece of shit.

[Hawk 34 0]

Things aren't ever going to be right with the NCAA regarding football. We've been begging for a playoff for years now and while the BCS system works if you get lucky and there are two undefeated undoubted contenders at the end of the season but that obviously doesn't happen enough. It annoys me that other leagues and sports are wise enough to adapt to changes or make things better. Hell, even nascar of all people sat back and went "well, that gave us better ratings but let's tweak it to be fair to the drivers" and changed their playoff system for the better. All the NCAA does is add more games and more debate while still cashing in.

 

They'll modify it again but on January 8th, 2008 we'll still be complaining that it wasn't done right.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

ESPN has been whining in favor of Ohio State, saying that they had too much of a layoff from the Michigan game to the Florida game. Fair enough. But I'd chalk it up to the fact that they play in a very traditional, smash-mouth style of football in the Big Ten where there are virtually no surprizes as far as playcalling goes. Then they go up against a faster, more athletic, and frankly, more hungry, team in the Gators, as it seemed that the Buckeyes believed too much in their own hype that Florida would just roll over for them. They were frustrated by everything the Gators threw at them, and went into full-on panic mode when Tressel went for it on 4th and 1 on their own 29 yard line in the second quarter. Ohio State got outplayed and outcoached in every way. They had 51 days to study this team, and still got embarrassed.

[Vern Gagne 0]

If they scheduled Boise St. vs. Florida for a game next week it would be the highest rated game of the year...for the first quarter.

 

After that when the score is around 42-3 noone would care and people would be whining about how crappy of a game it was.

 

Shit like this is exactly why we need a playoff. Nobody knows what would happen. It seems like every national title game has a team that is a dead on stone cold lock to win and nobody gives the other team a chance to win.

 

2002 Miami was a team full of NFL players who were going to wipe the field with the "slow and overrated" Ohio State who struggled to defeat every opponent they played. Ohio State won.

 

2004 Oklahoma is supposed to be the greatest team ever led by all-everything freshman Adrian Peterson and returning Heisman winner Jason White, they proceed to get assraped by USC in the title game.

 

2005 USC is the new greatest team ever with the greatest offense ever. They get beat by Texas.

 

2006 Boise State over Oklahoma and Florida over Ohio State, both teams weren't given a chance in hell of winning by any fans or anyone in the media.

 

I realize Boise State is a lot less likely to pull off the upset than teams I listed from previous years, but we don't know - maybe they would. We'll never know though, because this system is a piece of shit.

 

 

Who besides you know who thought Oklahoma was the greatest team ever? Oklahoma was picked by more people, but it was hardly a monumental upset.