Congratulations to the TCU Horned Frogs and Boise State Broncos for completing undefeated regular seasons.
What’s their reward? A trip to the consolation, uh…Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., while two other undefeated teams, Alabama and Texas, contest for the Bowl Championship Series National Championship in Pasadena come Jan. 7, 2010.
But that’s to be expected when the sport relies on a complicated series of human and computer polls to determine that only two teams are worthy of playing for a national title.
Neither school is a member of a BCS conference (Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pacific-10, Southeastern) that gains automatic entry into one of five lucrative BCS bowl games (BCS National Championship, Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl); meaning, they are not part of the status quo.
The Mountain West Conference champion Horned Frogs and Western Athletic Conference champion Broncos had to finish their regular seasons unbeaten to even be considered for a BCS bowl. And even that was not enough to earn a shot at the national title.
Not allowing non-BCS schools their opportunity would be like college basketball taking away NCAA automatic bids from champions of schools outside the six BCS leagues. Purge the 65-team field of automatic bids and there would be fewer underdogs to pull for.
Meaning, the Big West favorite Long Beach State men’s basketball team — a non-BCS school like TCU or Boise — would face long odds of qualifying for an NCAA Tournament.
Fortunately, college basketball realizes that fans love seeing the underdogs, which is why the sport includes a representative from every conference regardless of stature. College football just doesn’t get it.
All season long, the two Fiesta Bowl participants have faced their share of skepticism because they do not play in a “big six” conference. So how does the BCS address this issue? Pit them again each other.
Matching TCU with Boise does nothing to show whether these schools are capable of playing against the “big boys.” Arranging such a matchup, however, risks the possibility of one of these upstarts embarrassing the BCS’ beloved cash cows on national TV.
How unflattering would it look for the SEC if Boise State stuns Tim Tebow and Florida, or if a Mountain West school flattens Alabama in a BCS bowl for the second straight season?
Why is the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision the only NCAA sport that refuses to host a playoff? The current cartel system only ensures that blue-blood BCS conference schools continue to fill their pockets.
According to BCSFootball.org, the five non-BCS conferences that play FBS football are guaranteed only a 9 percent share of BCS revenues. That amount jumps to 18 percent if a member of those conferences manages to qualify for one of the five BCS bowls.
Then again, who cares about doing what’s right when the BCS can match two teams with large fanbases and watch the money come flowing in?
Sadly, money is why the bowl system is so diluted and won’t be replaced by a playoff anytime soon (we now have a Little Caesars Bowl AND a Papajohns.com Bowl). Traditionalists in favor of the bowl system argue that 34 bowl winners will get to finish their seasons on a positive note.
Let’s see if the Horned Frogs and Broncos find any consolation in that.