Suspense lacking with BCS system
http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/1644750.html
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009
Football
Suspense lacking with BCS system
Vinny Pezzimenti
- vpezzime@centredaily.com
This was supposed to be a column with a holiday twist, essentially covering what in sports I am thankful for.
OK, I’ll grant you this: The underdog tops the list.
What makes sports so special is that on any given day Chaminade can upset Virginia, Villanova can make an impossible run to a national title and Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger can suit up for Notre Dame.
You can’t make that stuff up.
And it’s all I can be thankful for at the moment because it’s the stretch run of college football season. Heartbreakingly, I’ve come to accept no Cinderella’s or David’s slewing Goliath will materialize anytime soon.
More than a month away from the Bowl Championship Series national championship game, we are destined for an Alabama or Florida versus Texas matchup in Pasadena. Don’t you hate sports when you know exactly what’s going to happen?
Don’t you hate that TCU, Boise State and Cincinnati won’t be afforded the opportunity to prove they are worthy of pulling off sports’ next unbelievable and thrilling victory?
Don’t you hate that the BCS is selecting between Penn State and Iowa to fill out its slate?
After the Nittany Lions put the finishing touches on a 42-14 victory over Michigan State on Saturday, their fans, stationed in a corner of Spartan Stadium, started a roaring chant of “BCS.”
Initial reaction: The BCS is a joke.
Final reaction: The BCS is a joke.
Lasting reaction: The BCS is a joke.
Sorry Penn State fans, the Nittany Lions don’t deserve a BCS invitation. Neither does Iowa, but at least the Hawkeyes won the regular season meeting between teams — not only in convincing fashion but in Beaver Stadium.
Following Saturday’s victory, Joe Paterno was asked about the injustice of Penn State possibly being selected to play in the Orange Bowl over Iowa.
His response: “Don’t get me started with the ethics of college football.”
Why not? One would assume Paterno, a robust advocate for a playoff system in college football, would like to create more equality in the game. After all, he claimed it wasn’t fair when three heavyweight teams — Southern Cal, Oklahoma and Auburn — finished unbeaten in 2004 but only two could play for the title.
Now that Penn State might be the Orange’s pick because its passionate fan base equals dollars and cents for the Miami economy and Paterno’s presence means TV ratings for FOX, and not because the Nittany Lions are a better football team, Paterno doesn’t want to talk about it.
But that’s college football. The name on the front of uniform means more than what’s inside of it.
The knock on Penn State is that it hasn’t defeated a top-25 opponent. The rebutting argument is that the Nittany Lions only played one such foe, Ohio State. Thus, we really don’t know the true fabric of the team.
Who’s fault is that? Penn State’s, for scheduling a dessert cart of a non-conference schedule.
Then again, the Nittany Lions might very well be rewarded for their cupcake eating. One more loss would have eliminated them from BCS contention.
Why play anybody when you don’t have to?
Which brings us to the national title game. Are Alabama, Florida and Texas really the three best teams? Maybe. Probably. But not certainly.
Sure, desire for a college football playoff is old news. But every year the push is ratcheted up because it is becoming more and more obvious that the BCS system manufactures more laughs than a Dane Cook standup routine and more tears than a chick flick.
Yet, it somehow prevails. Because the bowl tradition is significant, because a playoff would take the student-athlete out of the classroom, because regular season games would become less momentous, but mostly because it gives the elite programs the best chance at winning while pouring millions of dollars into their coffers.
But face it. Penn State, a team with exactly zero signature victories, or Iowa, a team that had to pull half of its wins squarely from its behind, versus anybody offers little intrigue to even a devout college football fan.
Time to abandon the BCS once and for all. There has to be a playoff system that appeases college football’s big wigs and also, at the very least, provides the underdog at least one shot at glory.
For that, we could all be thankful.
Vinny Pezzimenti is a sports writer for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4629.
Read more:
http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/1644750.html#ixzz0XsxFUXiw
hno: IF Pitt wins out & Cincy is 11 & 1, they could edge Hawks, but I doubt it. Right now one of the teams I'd least want to play is Stanford. They'll demolish ND. S/B in the Holiday.
<<
