For its latest trick, the BCS renders the SEC title game moot
"Is this the year you have to win your conference or the year you don't?" (AP photo)
Q: When is a conference championship really just a exhibition game?
A: When the BCS “system,” whatever that happens to be in a given year, gets its maladroit hands on it.
LSU faces Georgia for the SEC title Saturday at the Georgia Dome. If LSU wins, it will play for the BCS title. If LSU loses, it figures to play for the BCS title anyway.
This is college football, where we’re told Every Game Counts. This year another big fat asterisk gets attached: Every game counts except the SEC championship, which lately has counted the most. And that’s not the worst part.
On Sunday I was speaking with Falcons center Todd McClure, who has a figurative dog in this fight. (He played at LSU.) When I mentioned that I’d rather be Alabama, which is guaranteed not to lose another game before the final BCS standings are announced, than the Tigers, he said: “Do you think that’s fair?”
No, I don’t think it’s fair. The BCS is never fair. Occasionally there comes a year in which the outcry is minimal, and invariably some talking head will say, “The BCS worked this time.” Reality check: The BCS never works. The best the BCS ever can hope is to get lucky.
Case study in inconsistency: In 2007 Georgia was ranked No. 4 in the next-to-last BCS standings. The teams ranked first and second — Missouri and West Virginia — lost on the regular season’s final weekend. Georgia didn’t play. It finished atop the SEC East but was shaded by Tennessee on a tiebreaker. LSU, which had lost its final regular-season game to Arkansas, beat the Vols for the SEC title, and the Tigers got to play for the BCS title.
LSU moved from No. 7 to No. 2. Georgia didn’t play a game and slid to No. 5. Why? Because LSU coach Les Miles kept making the point that his team had “won its conference” and because the many talking heads on ESPN took up the cry. (As we know, what’s said on ESPN has an outsize effect on college football, the only sport in which opinions matter.)
Some of the same voices who’d lobbied for an Ohio State-Michigan rematch in the 2006 BCS title game dismissed Georgia a year later because It Hadn’t Won Its Conference. Never mind that winning your conference isn’t a criterion for BCS title inclusion. Never mind that Michigan hadn’t won the Big Ten the year before. This just seemed like the thing to say at that moment in time, and by golly those ESPN chatterers kept saying it until it became reality.
Georgia wasn’t passed just by LSU but also by Oklahoma and Virginia Tech; see, the Sooners and Hokies had won their conferences. After that season, the BCS considered making a conference title a prerequisite for a berth in the BCS title game but decided against it, which is a good thing if you’re Alabama but another pie in the face if you’re a fan of consistent thought.
If you’re a BCS hater — and who isn’t? — you have to root for Georgia to beat LSU and render this ongoing farce even more farcical. Picture the incongruity: The Bulldogs hoist the SEC championship trophy on Saturday night and trot off to the Sugar Bowl to play this year’s version of Hawaii, and 24 hours later not one but two SEC non-champions get invited to the game that’s supposed to reveal the nation’s best team.
And now you’re asking: Don’t LSU and Alabama look like the nation’s top two teams? LSU has been the absolute best team from start to finish, but the Tigers still have a game to play. The Tide lost its biggest game on its home field and has beaten two teams ranked in the BCS Top 25. If Oklahoma State, which is ranked No. 3 to Alabama’s No. 2, beats Oklahoma on Saturday, the Cowboys will have beaten five Top 25 teams and will be the Big 12 champ. Should Alabama get that nod just because it plays in the almighty SEC and is, you know, Alabama?
The problem with the BCS is that it can tweak its “system” until the cows come home and never be prepared for the vagaries of a given season. And with conferences expanding to elephantine size and schedules growing more imbalanced, this will only get worse. Four years ago Georgia was penalized for not playing in the SEC title game; this time Alabama could be handed a de facto semifinal bye.
Do I think the BCS is fair? Yes indeed. A fairly Big Crock of Sludge.
By Mark Bradley
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810 comments Add your comment
SEC East Champs
November 28th, 2011
4:41 pm
We know the BCS is screwed up, but in this case, it will not matter. LSU will hang 50+ on the dogs. I will be surprised if UGA scores 10 points.
SOUTHGADAWG88
November 28th, 2011
4:41 pm
Hey ESPN loves the SEC and will be all over whatever teams that have a great record coming out of the conference.This year it’s Bama/LSU next year it could be UGA/ARK…they would just jump on the bandwagon like they always do.We will get our turn all we have to do is win.
Tidomonkey
November 28th, 2011
4:41 pm
Even if UGA beats LSU it has zero standing to claim a BCS Championship shot. They still lost two games. The only team getting jobbed is Houston. You can claim their schedule wasn’t tough enough all you want, nobody has proven they can beat them on the field.
JJ Jones
November 28th, 2011
4:43 pm
My idea for a playoff:
Top 6 ranked teams using the BCS method now
Week before Christmas: Orange Bows: 3 vs 6 Fiesta Bowl: 4 vs 5
(top 2 teams have a bye)
New Year’s Day: Rose Bowl: #1 vs winner of 3/6 Sugar Bowl: #2 vs winner of 4/5
Week after New Year’s: Championship Game
Every year the bowl games rotate playoff games.
Reality
November 28th, 2011
4:44 pm
The BCS should match the 2 teams who’s fans think they are perpetually better than everyone else. Therefore the BCS Nat Champ game should be Notre Dame vs UGA.
JJ Jones
November 28th, 2011
4:44 pm
5IML:
Duly noted.
Joseph Allen McWhorter
November 28th, 2011
4:45 pm
Mark, I see your point and it is a very good one. If Georgia were to beat L.S.U. next Saturday in Atlanta and win the SEC title, it would be insane to still automatically put L.S.U. and Alabama in the BCS title game. Granted, those are two outstanding teams, Georgia, as well as many other teams in the top ten, would definitely have a very good argument for the need for the BCS committee to install a playoff system to settle it. This is a problem every year. The system is totally unfair. Any team with two losses is autotmatically eliminated from the national championship game. They could have playoffs. College basketball does it, high school football does it, and so does the NFL. And it is only logical that a playoff system is the only way to get a true national champion. If L.S.U. loses to Georgia and still goes on to win the national title, Georgia would claim that they beat the number one team but what good did it do them. The system totally is unfair and it stinks!!!!
Calhoundawg
November 28th, 2011
4:46 pm
JJ, I see your point, but two years ago it was unranked (?) Nevada, and this year TCU (9-2). Sounds rough, but those teams (even Okie State) obviously have to go unbeaten to remain in contention. From a purely football perspective (no BCS), there is no way to disparage a once beaten-in OT-by three points -to an undefeated (conference/divisional)- foe Alabama being #2 in the country. Why would #2 not play #1 ?? Why ??
Kelly
November 28th, 2011
4:46 pm
this time Alabama could be handed a de facto semifinal bye.
Mark, it’s already happened. I mentioned it on another blog, but this afternoon on the ‘Heismanology’ segment of Palmer/Pollack, the guy said that Richardson has the edge “because he’s playing for the BCS title.” In other words, according to the powers that be, this is a foregone conclusion (not that we didn’t see it coming). For all the folks here complaining about Georgia fans “whining,” it isn’t about the two teams who will play for the title, but more about the lemmings who put them there. And that’s a legit complain. Get it over it.
tyler
November 28th, 2011
4:47 pm
You guys are the biggest bunch of whiners I have ever seen in my life! UGA lost to Boise ST for God’s sake and a team that got beat by AU. Seriously, shut up already. You guys will finish the year 11-3 and that may get you in the top ten. It’s not just ESPN that doesn’t give you any respect, it’s every coach that votes in the USA today too- what are you guys anyway- 13th? Wow- you would think UGA was in the Top 5 listening to you morons talk about who the best two teams are. Feel sorry for dawg fans- hadn’t been good in 4 years and then you are gifted the easiest schedule in the SEC and now all of a sudden you are the best team in the country. Please! LSU by 28….
Steve
November 28th, 2011
4:48 pm
I have never heard so many whining Bulldogs in all my life! Your whole argument is dependent on both Ok St and Georgia winning this weekend. I doubt either of those will happen. And the two scenarios don’t compare. Georgia had two losses. Bama has one loss to the best team in the country in OT, and could have easily won the game. The BCS was setup to pit the two best teams in the NC game. Was the Georgia one of the two best teams in the country in that scenario? Is Ok St. one of the two best teams in the country this season? I don’t think so. Do you really think Ok St. could stay on the field with LSU or Bama? Alabama is the only team in the country who can stay on the field with LSU this season, that is why there will be a rematch and why Alabama deserves to be in the game.
Calhoundawg
November 28th, 2011
4:49 pm
Tidomonkey, yeah, Hawaii got “jobbed”, too — in the arse!!! Just sayin’ …
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
4:49 pm
“I have never heard so many whining Bulldogs in all my life!”
They’ve been whining since 1980.
IT AINT FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR!!!!!!!
GTBob
November 28th, 2011
4:51 pm
JJ Jones, I would love your plan or any similar plan. The biggest problem with it is the bowl games themselves. They like the tradition of their bowls. The Rose Bowl wants a Big 10 – Pac 12 matchup if possible in any way. The sugar bowl wants an SEC team. etc., etc. I cant see any of the BCS bowls agreeing to a system where they are basically forced to accept two random teams.
JJ Jones
November 28th, 2011
4:52 pm
Calhoundawg:
I think you mean last year instead of 2 years ago? Nevada beat BSU but Nevada was ranked 14th when that happened.
My point is that a 10-1 team playing against a 6-6 team in the Never-Heard-Of-It-Bowl on is wrong. Especially when you’ll have a UCONN type 6-5 team playing in the Orange Bowl every year.
For Boise specifically, take the same team and same schedule, put the team in California or Oregon or Washington and they’d be “respectable”. But in Idaho they’re the red headed step child. The reaction after the Week 1 a$$ kicking of UGA was almost universally “it was a fluke”. Just like last year after the Week 1 win over Va Tech.
Kelly
November 28th, 2011
4:54 pm
I have never heard so many whining Bulldogs in all my life! Your whole argument is dependent on both Ok St and Georgia winning this weekend.
Actually, it doesn’t. It’s simply pointing out the inconsistencies in the criteria for the bid for who goes to the NCG. Legit complain. See ya’.
2010: Wasn’t long ago that AU was crying and whining because it got passed over. And it’ll be another 50+ years before your sorry barnyard ass will be playing for a relevant spot in the BCS, so back to your livestock romancing, hay baler.
STFU
November 28th, 2011
4:55 pm
The difference between 07 and now is fairly obvious. Bama doesn’t have two losses. They also didn’t get blown out by an opponent. When you lose more than one, you lose the ability to state hey we are good. Lsu moved ahead of you because they won the sec but also because they didn’t get blown out by tennessee as you did. Not sure why the facts and logic are so void with some of you ga fans. And you know damn well that if you had just the boise loss, and you beat lsu, you would have no problem playing bama for the nat champ game. Of course boise would say they beat you and should go. I guess if you did beat lsu, then boise can say they are sec champs like you did to the acc in 09.
lookin for a good story
November 28th, 2011
4:55 pm
if ga wins then who is best team in country? LSwho,alabamer,or the dawgs? thats is what a playoff will determine. bcs is BullCrocaS**t.
JB
November 28th, 2011
4:55 pm
If a 12-1 LSU and 11-1 Bama play for it, we know the fix is in. If a 13-0 LSU plays a 11-1 Bama again, we know the fix is in. This pre arranged title game. like a Old Country fixed marriage, should finally break the BCS mafia up. Another 11-1 team ought to play LSU.
Gary
November 28th, 2011
4:56 pm
Everyone needs to stop crying, LSU will Destroy Georgia and go on to win the National Championship. Georgia is not ranked high because the play teams like New Mexico State, not to mention lose to Boise instead of shutting the Boise State talk up. Win your games and maybe you guys will have a shot at Title.
PJohn
November 28th, 2011
4:57 pm
Steve,
No, Alabama does not deserve to be in the BCSCG. You failed to win all your games. You failed to win your conference. You failed to even win your division. There are other teams out there that may yet win their conferences and only have one loss. They deserve it more than you.
It’s called the common sense rule. Everyone else abides by those rules. Why shouldn’t you?
Zing
November 28th, 2011
4:59 pm
They really should just take the conference winners of the top 8 conferences and have 8 “wild cards” selected by a committee (or via the BCS formula or whatever), then play a damn playoff. 2 teams end up playing 4 extra games, 4 play 3, 8 play 2, and 16 play 1. Big deal. Those that don’t make it to the semi-finals get to play in a bowl game (if they want to).
tony martin
November 28th, 2011
5:00 pm
Great article Mark. You covered all the bases. I am going to make a copy of this article and save it for my Grand Children. I am a die hard Ga fan and just hate to see Coach Richt and those coaches and players who have worked so hard to climb up that mountain get screwed again.
Whose to say Boise State would not have defeated both the teams who will hopefully not play for the national championship if the Dawgs prevail Saturday. Go Dogs. I hope you play way over your head Saturday and win by 12.
Kelly
November 28th, 2011
5:02 pm
Did you Georgia naysayers even read the article? I don’t think so, or else you’d see the criticism of the system. Gary, you’re right. UGA didn’t take care of business early on, therefore they’re paying the price now. But it doesn’t change the value of Mark’s article, which has nothing to do with Georgia winning or losing early. If Bama were held to the same criteria as UGA was, then they wouldn’t be playing in the foregone conclusion bowl. However, they aren’t. Folks..the point of the article is pretty easy to divine…if you actually read it.
This blog and the comments on it attest to how the BCS is BS.
JJ Jones
November 28th, 2011
5:03 pm
Georgia deserves to be #1. After all you guys beat such powerhouses as NM State and Coastal Carolina. Oh and of course the team feared by all of college football Kentucky….which you beat by a whole 9 points. LOL.
Steve
November 28th, 2011
5:04 pm
@Kelly
It is only a legit complaint if it is against the rules. There is no BCS rule that says a team has to win it’s conference championship to be in the title game. The only “criteria” is the #1 and #2 teams in the BCS poll.
Reality
November 28th, 2011
5:04 pm
WAA WAA WAA…we should be #! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tidomonkey
November 28th, 2011
5:07 pm
The problem really is that a team like Houston could (not saying it would) beat LSU or Alabama, but that will never happen. There is too much money in it for the big football conferences to ever let that happen. Of course they support a system where they can play for a National Championship regardless of the records of other schools. One victory of a lowly school like Houston over a SEC powerhouse like LSU and the whole house of cards comes down. For the record, I don’t think Houson would beat either team, but to think they couldn’t is just naive, much bigger upsets happen every year.
bucket
November 28th, 2011
5:08 pm
@ Steve – actually the situation is exactly the same. UGA finished the season ranked #2 just like Alabama did this year. UGA was bypassed because they didn’t play for the SEC championship and LSU did and won the game. As an ardent Dawg supporter I still think that was the RIGHT decision in 2007. UGA didn’t win their conference so they shouldn’t have been allowed to compete for a mythical national championship. In the same way, Alabama should not be allowed to play for the mythical national championship this year because they will be watching the SEC championship game Saturday, just like UGA did in 2007!
South Carolina DAWGS
November 28th, 2011
5:08 pm
Well written Mark – it is amazing that BCS just “blows in the wind” to make us supposeably understand their position every late NOV. It will always stink BUT no change because of MONEY and the need to have 34 sponsored bowl games. Remember Mark when there were only 4 !!!!!!!!
DP
November 28th, 2011
5:08 pm
“It finished atop the SEC East but was shaded by Tennessee on a tiebreaker.”
Translation: Tennessee shaded Georgia by 3+ touchdowns earlier in the season.
This column is a direct ripoff of a column at ESPN.com. Why not just direct everybody there?
And when did SEC championships come to mean nothing? If the only games that matter are the ones that potentially impact the BCS championship probably 90% of college football games are meaningless.
We need a great system like the NCAA basketball 68 team tournament that last year produced a champion that went 9-9 in its own conference during the regular season.
Festus
November 28th, 2011
5:09 pm
LSU beat Bama because their Field Goal Kicker was better. No touch downs. Should National Championships be decided by kickers? Bama is the best team that could play LSU. So why not a rematch? Of course, this is all off if Georgia beats LSU. Ain’t likely but it could happen. In which case Mrs. CMR is going to need a new pair of lips.
JJ Jones
November 28th, 2011
5:11 pm
@Tidomonkey
Well said. If the BCS ran the NFL, the Super Bowl would be won by Green Bay, Chicago or San Francisco every year.
Bob
November 28th, 2011
5:12 pm
Mark, good point, but unfortunately, it’s all about the money…just like everything else. An LSU/AL game will command a lot more ad money and “promotional considerations”. But, when my Dawgs teach the Tigers the meaning of the word RESPECT, the BCS game will be tarnished. Just my opinion.
TOo Tough44
November 28th, 2011
5:13 pm
DAWGS WIN! DAWGS WIN! Im just sayin! so, when the Dawgs win, LSU has one loss, Bama One LOSS, so if they do play for Natl Champ. And Bama wins..they should have to play another game because it would still be a tie of the those two teams..know whut I mean?
Baddabing
November 28th, 2011
5:13 pm
Right on Seth.
JJ Jones
November 28th, 2011
5:14 pm
“LSU beat Bama because their Field Goal Kicker was better. No touch downs. Should National Championships be decided by kickers? ”
This argument is ridiculous. Kicking is part of the game. You can’t just discount field goal misses as “not really counting”. A kicker missing an easy field goal is no different than a QB missing a receiver wide open in the end zone from 10 yards out. You can’t just pick and choose which parts of the game count and which parts don’t.
TOo Tough44
November 28th, 2011
5:15 pm
ANd it is all about the $…just look at the lousy job NCAA did last season with Ohio state’s violations! Still makes me aggravated they allowed no immediate consequences when NC, UGA, Bama had immediate consequences.
Nub
November 28th, 2011
5:17 pm
Mark, this is your BEST article EVER…. !!!! It’s all about the money !!! Only the fans that pay the bills care about a playoff system which would decide a TRUE national champion ….. BCS is like a Beauty Contest run by ESPN….
Kelly
November 28th, 2011
5:18 pm
It is only a legit complaint if it is against the rules. There is no BCS rule that says a team has to win it’s conference championship to be in the title game. The only “criteria” is the #1 and #2 teams in the BCS poll.
So you’re fine with the BCS and how it is molded by the media, i.e. how it’s pliable from year to year based on rules made on the fly? It’s is a legit complaint. Seems most people are commenting to deride fans who legitimately point out that the BCS is a flawed system which is based on opinions in flux under the influence of dollars and perceived tradition. If you can’t see the incongruity from year to year and the criteria-at-convenience of the BCS, the problem isn’t with those who critique the system. Those points are plain and simple, and to miss them means you are too.
Peter
November 28th, 2011
5:19 pm
Hey all top teams play cupcakes…who did Alabama play off SEC schedule ?
Reality
November 28th, 2011
5:20 pm
Stupid article. The National Championship game WILL be played between the 2 best teams in College Football…Bama and LSU. Enough said, so quit your bitching UGA fans. If you think you are NC material, show it on the field by winning all of your games.
Reality
November 28th, 2011
5:22 pm
Thanks for blocking that last post d*ckh*ad!
BCS=NASCAR
November 28th, 2011
5:22 pm
yall know what i’m talking about.
Kelly
November 28th, 2011
5:23 pm
Furthermore, Steve…you talk about rules and totally ignore the fact that, by naming number one and number two, you’re begging the question as to how they got there in the first place? I’ve said a number of times over the last week that, by all outward appearances, Bama and LSU seem to be the two top teams. Operative words: outward, appearances, seem. By pointing that out, I’m not saying Georgia should be playing for the national title. I’m saying that the BCS is a horribly flawed system (ruse). You can substitute other teams. Poor AU…they were crying louder than anyone a few years back. So save it. The BCS blows.
football fan
November 28th, 2011
5:24 pm
ESPN is pure evil.
North ave. faithful
November 28th, 2011
5:25 pm
Good thing people and computers dont decide all sports, or the packers and cardinals would have been screwed.
USMC
November 28th, 2011
5:27 pm
Kirk Herbstreit is a Doosh!
Bob
November 28th, 2011
5:30 pm
Just a thought…how would LSU fair with the pollsters if they lost by 21 to UGA? Perhaps Alabama would be shamed into playing Houston.
Kelly
November 28th, 2011
5:30 pm
North ave. I’m not so sure this has anything to do with computers. I’ll be devil’s advocate.
Computers aren’t tainted with perceptions of tradition and bias. I’m not so sure that, if we were to continue with farce called the BCS, it wouldn’t be better to abandon the human element altogether and dispense with those human factors that spoil the sample. Withhold all rankings until the season is at least 5 or 6 weeks old, then calculate rankings based on consensus criteria such as strength of schedule based on wins during current season and other variables etc. I think the human element is more to blame here than the computer element. But as long as money is the bottom line, the results are always bound to be corrupted. So a playoff is the best path forward.