Wise Words from Billboards

“It's all about the Benjamins baby
Now, what y'all wanna do?
It's all about the Benjamins baby
Wanna be ballers, shot-callers
It's all about the Benjamins baby”

-Puff Daddy (P.Diddy/Diddy/Sean Combs)

Puff Daddy probably had no idea how relevant his hit single would be to the world of college football when he wrote the above lyrics. The shot callers of college football clearly only care about one thing: the Benjamins (AKA “money” for you old timers). While this fact is hardly breaking news, it is becoming harder and harder to swallow as we continue to see injustice year after year in college football. We cannot simply point fingers at the BCS and claim that all problems would be solved by its elimination. We have to fight for a reform of the sport in several aspects, including the postseason/bowl process.

BCS:

Since its inception in 1998, the BCS has continually produced controversial results. Whether leaving out undefeated teams or including eventual champions with multiple losses, there has not been a single year where at least one team did not have a legitimate gripe about how the BCS Bowl Games were chosen. Smaller schools have no chance of making it to the national championship game.

Demonstrated Exclusivity:

In 11 years, there have only been 11 teams to appear in the BCS National Championship Game: Oklahoma (4), Ohio State (3), Florida State (3), Florida (2), LSU (2), USC (2), Miami (2), Texas (1), Tennessee (1), Nebraska (1), and Virginia Tech (1). There has never been a team play in the national championship game that was not one of the six conferences that are affiliated with the BCS. In fact, of the 94 total BCS Bowl bids that have been handed out to date, only four teams who were not affiliated made an appearance (excluding the 3 appearances from Notre Dame who receives an automatic BCS bid by finishing in the top eight).

Statistics alert: 4.25% of the teams who have played in these bowls were not conference affiliates. That number is astounding. There are 66 schools in the BCS conferences receiving 95.75% of the bids which equates to 7.66 bids out of the 8 per year. That leaves .34 bids per year for the 54 at large teams.

What does this mean in terms of whole numbers?

It means that only one team which is not affiliated with the BCS will make a BCS Bowl Game roughly every 3 years.

Of course that is speaking from a numbers standpoint only, since parity has become more and more widespread since 1998. It looks as though there will be at least one non-BCS team in the bowl games this year. But that just shows the extreme bias that BCS inflicts on college football.

As if it weren’t bad enough to exclude 45% of the teams that play D-1A football from competing in the cherished post-season competition, the BCS has also had several instances of screwing teams that are affiliated with the conference. I couldn’t possibly discuss all of miscues caused by the BCS over the years, but for a complete listing, as well as how they affected the system, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCS_controversies

The system doesn’t work for its affiliates or for the outsiders. So who exactly does it work for? The BCS is a money making machine for the conference affiliates, but not the specific teams in those conferences. It benefits the television networks who get to air these over-hyped, meaningless (all but one) games. It does financially reward the teams who are selected to participate, but I’ve already demonstrated how exclusive the selection process is. In a nutshell, the BCS is a system which benefits very few and harms the vast majority of schools, fans, players and teams. But the people calling the shots see nothing but dollar signs as they select the same teams over and over again to compete for their highly coveted awards.

Now that I’ve made clear the inadequacies of the post season system in college football, it is time to consider other flaws which are harming the sport.

Preseason Rankings:

As early as June or July, college football fans rush to newsstands across the nation to pick up a copy of their favorite season preview magazine, sometimes as early as 3 months before the season begins. Gaming fans pre-order their copy of the yearly college football video game weeks in advance and stand in line at midnight of its release. ESPN runs is programming specials during the middle of summer, while no students are on campus, predicting how each conference will play out. Media days are held across the nation so that reporters can interview players on their thoughts and predictions.

What do all of these events have in common? They are fueled by arbitrary preseason rankings. The magazines can’t be sold without the opinion of the expert writers as to who should be ranked #1 before a minute of college football is even played. The talking heads on ESPN have to dissect the rankings. The video games have to have a hierarchy to tell which teams should be better than others: all based on undignified predictions.

Before the season begins, certain teams are given an unfair advantage through their preseason ranking. Think about the end result: in December, the BCS committee has to decide between several undefeated, one loss, or two loss teams. How do they pick who gets in and who misses out? Rankings! And how did these teams arrive at their rank at the end of the year? Either they climbed from the bottom and fought an uphill battle all year, or they rode the free ride of their high preseason ranking. Guess which team is more likely to get picked, even if both have teams have the same record and strength of schedule? You guessed it- the team with the higher preseason ranking.

Why not just wait until the third or fourth week and then decide which teams are actually playing the best instead of guessing and then having to stick with those predictions until they make you look stupid? Money, that’s why! The pundits have to have something to talk about on their shows, the magazines and video games have to have something to sell, and the BCS needs to kick start its agenda months before preseason camp has even begun. Preseason rankings are simply the match which lights the BCS fire.

Weak Schedules

Why play 12 games if you are going to fill the schedule with teams like Charleston Southern or Louisana Monroe (sorry, Bama)? No one is excited to see Tim Tebow destroy a D-1AA team for one half and then watch the second and third teamers continue to dominate. With the occasional exception, wins are a foregone conclusion in those types of games. Yet, teams like Ole Miss schedule two D-1AA opponents this year. Fans aren’t excited, TV networks aren’t excited, and the schools aren’t impressing the BCS- so why do it? Ticket revenue and money spent traveling, that’s why. The money is important to the towns, the schools and the programs.

The broken system currently employed by college football is ruining one of the country’s greatest sports. The game day experience across college campuses is unmatched in any other sport. My love for college football will always be strong, but the ongoing injustice that we see on a yearly basis is causing it to waver. Simply steps can be taken to right the wrongs. But who will step forward and lead the charge for change? It certainly won’t be anyone affiliated with the BCS, and the reason is simple:

“It's all about the Benjamins baby”