B(C)S magic fails, takes Huskers where sun shines
Joe Licandro
Inside College Football
Will someone please stop the BS — ahem, the BCS?
For the second straight year, the Bowl Championship Series "magic" mathematical formula has failed to do what it was designed to do — pit the two best teams in college football against each other to decide the National Champion-ship.
On Jan. 3, the undefeated Miami Hurricanes will take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers (the luckiest team in college football over the last decade) in the annual BS, pardon me, BCS game.
No one is disputing Miami's right to compete for the title, but the real problem with this scenario is that Nebraska has no business playing in the national championship game. Everyone in their right mind knows that any team who fails to win its conference — and gives up 62 points in a single game — does not deserve the opportunity to compete for the national championship.
Last year, Miami was robbed of playing in the national title game against Oklahoma. The wacky BCS formula determined that the Florida State Seminoles were more deserving to play against the Sooners, even though the Hurricanes had already defeated the 'Noles earlier in the season. Miami's only blemish was an early season road loss to eventual Pac-10 and Rose Bowl Champion Washington Huskies.
But this loss was enough to keep the 'Canes out of the championship game even though they had an identical record to the Noles.
The defenders of the BS — I mean BCS — will argue that the formula worked because the only undefeated team in the country won the national championship.
Try telling that to the Hurricanes, who went on to trounce the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl.
After the Sooners defeated the 'Noles in last year's title game, even FSU coach Bobby Bowden admitted after the game that his team did not belong in the title game.
When Bobby Bowden makes the statement that his hated arch rival, the Miami Hurricanes, deserve to play in the national championship game over his beloved 'Noles, then there is something completely wrong with the BCS.
This year, both the Oregon Ducks and the Colorado Buffaloes have legitimate claims for competing in the national championship game. All the Ducks did was win a tough Pac-10 Conference championship.
No team is hotter right now than then the Colorado Buffaloes. Two and half weeks ago, the Buffaloes, without the services of their starting quarterback and starting running back, crushed the Cornhuskers, 62-36.
Anyone who has a brain knows that Colorado is better than Nebraska.
Things got ugly in a hurry as Colorado jumped out to an insurmountable 35-3 lead in the first quarter, thanks to relentless defensive pressure and an incredible offensive line who made the Huskers defensive line look like a Pee-Wee football team.
If you need further testimony to the Buffs' recent dominance, just ask Chris Simms and the Texas Longhorns. A week after crushing the Huskers, the Buffaloes won the Big 12 Championship game by defeating the No. 3 Longhorns, 39 to 37.
How ridiculous is this? By defeating Nebraska, Colorado gained an automatic bid to the Big 12 Championship game, but somehow did not earn a bid to the BS — sorry, BCS — Championship game. Thanks to those damned BCS computers, Nebraska could become the National Champion while not even being the champions of the North Division of the Big 12 Conference.
Colorado lost two early season games against surprising Fresno State and Texas, but they atoned for these disappointments by defeating the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country in back-to-back weeks.
Colorado played the second toughest schedule in the country according to the BCS, yet they were still denied an opportunity to compete for the national title.
Need more proof? The Buffs defeated five ranked teams during the regular season, while the Huskers defeated only two, one of which was Notre Dame, and we all know what happened to Notre Dame this season.
The two most glaring of the many problems with the BS system are that it does not reward teams for improving as the season rolls along, nor does it take into account head to head match-ups.
Even worse, the BCS does not place an equal emphasis on a team's margin of defeats with its margin of victories. Otherwise, Oregon would be in the championship game over Nebraska.
There is no disputing that Nebraska is a good team, but they do not deserve to play in the NCAA Title. Sure, they beat defending National Champion Oklahoma at home when the Sooners were forced to play their third-string quarterback. Then again, Oklahoma State also defeated the Sooners later in the season.
Yes, the Huskers finished the season with an 11-1 record, but they played eight home games this season against such cupcakes as Troy State, TCU, and Rice. In fact, the Huskers' entire non-conference schedule was at home this year. The Huskers lucked out by not even having to play in the Big 12 Championship game.
Tennessee's and Texas' title hopes were dashed because they failed to win their respective conference championship games at the end of the season.
So just how did the Huskers make it into the BS game even though they were ranked behind Colorado and Oregon at the end of the season in both the AP and ESPN Polls? I'm not sure if anyone really knows for sure. Understanding the BCS's mathematical formula is like trying to understand quantum physics. Apparently, the Cornhuskers qualified to the championship game when Nebraska's first game opponent, TCU, defeated Southern Mississippi on a last-minute interception. TCU's victory raised Nebraska's "strength" of schedule rating just enough to place them in the BS game.
By scheduling a few pushovers at the beginning of the season to prepare themselves for Notre Dame, the Huskers "earned" their way to the BS game.
What if both Texas and Tennessee had both won their games? Who would then deserve to go to play Miami? For that matter, why doesn't ACC Champ Maryland or Big Ten Champ Illinois deserve to play in the BS game? After all, the ACC and the Big Ten are tough conferences and both teams finished with 10-1 regular season records.
The BS — sorry, my spell check just doesn't seem to be working, the BCS — is a travesty of justice. It is time for college football to adopt a playoff system where the national championship is decided on the field.
How a playoff system would work is another story for another day, but we are all sick and tired of the BS. Well, except if you are a Nebraska fan.
E-mail Joe Licandro at licandro.1@nd.edu. The opinions in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, December 11, 2001
