Why I hate...

I don't particularly like Ohio State but how could anybody possibly justify them not being in the championship game?

_{posted this in an earlier thread}

Here is a great article in Stewart Mandel's "mailbag" (Sports Illustrated columnist). Discusses the BCS & playoff scenario and what it would all take to get a playoff system in Division-I football. Good perspective & analogy. Thought I would share a portion.

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Everyone wants to ditch BCS, but here's the reality

If I could sum up the BCS/playoff conundrum using a real-life analogy, it would be this:

Let's say you work in an office and you come into work on Monday to find that the copier has died. There would seem to be one clear, obvious solution to this problem: Replace the copier. After discussing the matter with several of your co-workers, they're all in agreement: the copier is broken and it needs to be replaced. You bring this up to your office manager, and she also agrees that, yes, something needs to be done about the broken copier.

Three weeks later, you walk into work and the same, non-functioning copier is sitting right where you left it. Why? Because your office manager needs clearance from her supervisor before making such a major purchase. And while the supervisor shares everyone's concerns about the copier, he's facing pressure from his supervisor to reduce spending in the office and is going to need a thorough review of company copying needs before determining whether a new copier is truly the best course of action. Finally, your office has a longstanding relationship with Kinko's, and Kinko's has been reminding your boss on a weekly basis how loyal it's been to your company over the years and how it hopes you will keep that in mind when making any future copying decisions.

The end result of all this is that, while nearly everyone involved agrees that something should be done about the broken copier, it will wind up staying there for the conceivable future.

The broken copier represents the BCS.

You and your co-workers represent the vast majority of college football fans and coaches who feel that replacing the current system with a playoff should be a no-brainer.

The office manager represents college athletic directors, who, while firmly in control of their own domains, are largely powerless to make changes to the broader sport.

The office manager's supervisor represents conference commissioners, most of whom are in favor of going to at least a plus-one game. But although they're the ones who operate and administer the BCS, they still need the approval of a higher power before making any sweeping changes.

The supervisor's supervisor represents that higher power: university presidents. They're the ones who have the ultimate say, and they remain unsold on the merits of a playoff, mostly because it's their lone remaining stand in the debate over athletics' place in academia (even though we all know that ship sailed a long, long time ago).

And Kinko's represents the bowl games, whose opposition to a playoff is understandably grounded in their own business interests and whose long-standing loyalty to the sport makes all the aforementioned leaders hesitant to do anything that would potentially hurt the bowls.

I tried to figure out a way to work the NCAA -- which would have to officially sanction any change to the current bowl system -- into the analogy as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of an every-day office equivalent to a large governing body that would likely form a committee, which would then prepare a report to be forwarded to another committee, which would then make its recommendations to a third committee before agreeing to buy the copier.

So as you can see, the situation is infinitely more complicated than any 600-word newspaper column or 30-second television rant would have you believe. "Throw out the BCS," you say. "Give us a freaking playoff, already." Fair enough. All you've got to do is get the thousands of men and women who comprise all the aforementioned parties to agree how to do it.

click here to read the rest of Stewart Mandel's College Football Mailbag

college football, bar none, is the best form of American Football there is.

I wouldn't let the hubris of determining the concensus "National Champion" spoil perfectly good product.

Every year there is the moaning and gnashing of teeth of die-hard fans that feel their team was disrespected......but (nearly) every year...we get some really great Bowl Game matchups that we would not typically get in regular season play.

College Football captures everything that is good about this game.....Student Athletes (recruiting), Coaching determining the majority of games, a broad flavor of offenses and defenses, player development and maturity.Pagentry, Alum support, Boosters, Parental involvement, etc.........

I think if you watch ESPN and the like enough, they will convince you the GAME doesn't matter - that it's all about the scandal and storylines of griping about National Champions.

Until there are legitimate conferences to win in a playoff tier, there will never be a decent playoff system for DI College ball.....and even when there is one, it isn't going to revolutionize the game we are watching today.

Bowl games are great avenues alum, students, fans, and parents can take pride in and participate in during the Holiday season.

this is something to consider, no doubt.

but, other schools have to play in similar 'bad' conditions. plus, doesn't minnesota play in a dome? (i'm not sure)

Big Ten differences?

When was the last time it has been freakishly cold or snowing in the regular season in the Big Ten in the last 6 years?

How many early Miami games are played every year during a pre-Hurricane "Tropical Storms"?

My main gripe about the Big Ten (forgive me) is that they DO NOT have a championship game and seems like there are always Co-Conference Champions every year. Why? because there is no championship games, no division of that conference, so you don't HAVE to play any of the traditional "powerhouses" (@ Michigan, @ Happy Valley, @ OSU) and come out unscathed in November, griping for contention as conference champ.

Northwestern, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, and for the most part Minnesota have been the whipping boys for Iowa, Michigan, PSU, and Ohio State. Until that conference is split into divisions then square off in a championship game, "successful" teams can duck and hide with soft schedules, cruising into National Title games or the Rose Bowl.

like the original topic hinted at:

you don't play your way IN to the BCS Championship game ... you play your way OUT

i.e. preseason rankings, etc. essentially give a handful of teams the championship game for their taking way back at beginning of the season. those that "trip up" during the season play themselves out.

Hey... hey... hey...

Slydaddy... don't start dissing the Zookster... he's doing a hell of a job recruiting for the talent dead Illini... he puts together a couple of more recruiting classes, like the previous two... and Illinois will soon be a power...

But to a certain extent I agree... Ohio State, is where they are, because of last years team, where they were ranked in the preseason, and the weakness of their schedule. That formula could have had a lot of teams undefeated, and prime for a national championship.

I hear ya JD...

And I'm an Illini tried and true...

But the bowls are speaking for themselves... Big 10 - o'fer... The SEC... undefeated... with an unranked Georgia beating #14 Virgina Tech?

O-states big wins were against a very young Texas... Freshmen at all the skill positions... and Michigan...

How good is Michigan? We don't know... there biggest victory was over overhyped ND...

Iowa... ended the season below .500...

I'm not saying the SEC is better... more so, I'm agreeing with you... the current structure does not allow for objectivity... and thats why i'm disgruntled.

I don't mean to hijack the intent of the thread.....though I can think of nothing to hate CFB....maybe the BCS process, but not the institution of college football......

The Nation's top athletic football talent.....where is it coming from?

Primarily....Florida, Texas, California, and the Gulf South...... Mid west, NW Pacific, and NE Atlantic......it's sporatic.

I believe that is at least the crux of why the Big Ten hasn't fared so well (and I've been a lifelong Big ten backer).

Great arguments guys, I am just an SEC homer. OSU is undefeated and should be in the BCS championship. The great thing is that nobody's argument on here is going to win, because we will never know unless there is some type of playoff for the championship. But I tell you guys, I get excited just hearing people sound off about college football. I think it is great, and as long as they have the BCs and bowl system in place, these arguments will take place. So I can live in my SEC dreamworld and think that the Big Ten are a bunch of momma's boys. I may get disgusted with the end results, but i can never say I hate college football.

Were the Conference Championship games brought in to get a 'true conference champion' or were they brought in to bring in cash - in the form of Tv revenue and endorsements?

Chicken/Egg arguement to me.

But I think the truth of the matter is the Big Ten does tend to play more of a ground game <b>historically </b> even though Global Warming seems to be playing havoc with that theory. Historically there have been alot of cold weather games in the Big Ten over the years - rightly or wrongly they're still based in the ground game and its a mentality.

Just to throw a wrench into the playoff works:

1) What happens if the two 'best' teams come from the same division in a conference?

Even in the SEC the schedules aren't equal - you still 'duck' someone. Does the Conf Champ and the 'runner-up' get the playoff bid or the two 'best' teams?

Either way you've still got a BCS style selection problem in WHO goes.

2) Who gets to HOST playoff games?

You've got travel considerations and plans for 'alumni' to make that happens during bowl season - would the same numbers of fans travel and shell out the bucks for say 4 straight weeks on the ROAD?

To be fair they should be placed randomly over the country OR have Conf Champs host.

So we'd see the Big Ten hosting and I can see some pretty nasty weather in late November - early December. It might be fun to see a Texas Tech for example playing in Madison Wisconsin in December. Or Florida coming into Ann Arbor in late December for a semi-final match with the Wolverines.

For example LAST year... our JV final was played in the 2nd last week of November - in a blizzard (16 inches of snow) - and we're about 20mins from Ann Arbor (which is technically NORTH of my location in Canada).

In college I played on the West Coast - and I can tell you the weather DOES make a physical & mental difference when we'd go from 55 and raining to -10 and dry as hell to play our conference playoff!

I agree with Brophy. College football is outstanding. The "ranking" and "bowl" systems of the BCS aside, there is nothing like a pure college football game.

I do believe they should have a playoff system but with only 12 teams.

ZOOK is a horrible coach, he can recruit talent, Illnois will find out 2 years from now when they are 7-4 every year with Top 10 recruiting classes.

I beleive all conferences should go to a a once a year challenge, like Basketball.
Big Ten vs. ACC
Big 12 vs. SEC
Big East vs. C-USA
WAC vs. MAC

Everybody says that kind of crap...1 stop at a school with ridiculous expectations and the guy sucks. How many championships did Spurrier win? Only 1, right? Isn't he God there. I'm not trying to attack you coach, just trying to point out that that argument is so overused. Didn't people say that about Pete Carroll?

College coaches are usually in that position for a reason. If Zook fails at Illinois, if they have top 10 talent (which still won't be that way for a couple more years- the upperclassmen are pretty poor) then the argument may have some validity. If he does well, then what to say?

I don't know, I get sick of hearing that garbage. I also get sort of territorial since I coached a couple of kids on the Illini squad.