Over the last two years controversy has been swirling about the process that decides the national champion in NCAA Division-I football - and with good reason.
The system, called the Bowl Championship Series rankings, is an appalling method that often leaves deserving teams on the outside looking in. It was developed in order to eliminate bias by sportswriters who used to determine what two teams played for the national championship through polls. Now it's all up to a computer.
Most of the problems occurred last season when Oklahoma, Florida State, Miami and Washington were one through four in the BCS standings, respectively. Oklahoma was the undisputed No. 1 because they were the only undefeated team. Florida State had one loss, to Miami. Miami's only loss was to Washington, who lost to 10th-ranked Oregon. But in the BCS standings, Miami fell behind Florida State and Washington trailed Miami.
Why should Florida State be able to play for the national championship and not Miami, when Miami had already beat them?
This year it is Colorado that is getting the shaft. In the last two weeks, they have knocked off second-ranked Nebraska and third-ranked Texas. This should mean that they are one of the top three BCS teams in the country right? Nope.
Colorado is currently No.4 in the standings ... and Nebraska is No. 3! The worst part about it is that if No. 2 Tennessee loses this Saturday to Louisiana State University, Nebraska will play for the national championship and not Colorado. What kind of a system is this?
The standings are based on data that is entered into a "magical" computer that takes into consideration record, strength of schedule, coaches' polls, and quality wins. This system works in theory, but there are many other things that should come into play.
What about momentum? The champion should be the team that is playing the best at the end of the year like it is in all other sports in the country.
And what about the teams who are not in the power conferences that go undefeated, but don't get recognition. This season Bringham Young University has gone 12-0, and they are No. 12 in the BCS standings. It's not their fault that they have not played a strong schedule this year. Don't they, the nation's only undefeated team, deserve a chance to play for the title?
What the NCAA needs to do is develop another system because obviously the current one does not suffice. How about playoffs? Would it be so hard to extend the season two weeks and have the top eight teams actually play for the title instead of a computer throwing two teams into the championship game? They could even have the top four teams enter into a playoff series. Anything beats a one game playoff that might not even feature the best two teams in the country.
With the current system there can be no Cinderella team. No sleeper that comes up from the basement and wins the national title in a miraculous finish. There can be no team that goes on a hot streak at the end and wins it all after a less than spectacular regular season.
I thought college football was supposed to be exciting.
