Defending a BCS berth
By Jason Thompson
Notre Dame Law School
First, I would like to thank Mr. Leach for his compliments to Notre Dame in his Dec. 5 letter. In the same spirit, I would like to applaud the University of Iowa for their terrific football season. I feel, however, that Mr. Leach has chosen the wrong target in his effort to ensure that Iowa plays in a major BCS bowl.
The first target that Mr. Leach misses is the Bowl Championship Series itself. The premise of Mr. Leach's article is that the best college football teams should play in the major BCS bowls. That is arguably a fine idea, but it is not the system that the conferences and Notre Dame established. The system could have sent the top eight ranked teams in the BCS standings to the major bowl games, but instead decided to have automatic bids for conference champs and at-large bids left largely to the discretion of the individual bowl games.
Perhaps Mr. Leach should be writing to the Florida State school paper, and imploring a four-loss Seminole team to decline their automatic bowl bid. No matter how the at-large bids are distributed, Florida State will be the least deserving team in a major BCS bowl.
The second target that Mr. Leach misses is the Big Ten. The Big Ten conference has an automatic berth in a major BCS bowl. Iowa did not receive this berth for two reasons. First of all, they lost to a 7-6 Iowa State team. Second, and more importantly, the Big Ten schedule this year did not have Iowa play Ohio State. Had the two teams played, the whole situation would be averted. If Iowa had won, they would go to a major BCS bowl. If Ohio State won, Iowa would have two losses and would not go to a major BCS bowl.
Mr. Leach also fails to note that Notre Dame played one of the hardest schedules in the country, playing five teams ranked in the top 25, to Iowa's two. He also fails to mention that the Big Ten is currently trying to bribe the Orange Bowl into selecting Iowa. Were Notre Dame to engage in such behavior, I am sure Iowa fans would be the first to criticize.
Iowa had a very good football season. If they don't end up in a major BCS bowl, it will be because of the system their conference agreed to, and because of their conference's poor scheduling. Notre Dame is responsible for neither, and should accept an invitation to a major BCS bowl if it is offered.
Jason Thompson
Notre Dame Law School
off-campus
Dec. 5
All Viewpoint Stories for Friday, December 6, 2002
