On the heels of last night's thrilling BCS National Championship Game between the Auburn Tigers and the Oregon Ducks, it would seem the BCS computers made the right choices, and pitted the two best teams in the country against one another. A 22-19 final with a 19-yard field goal to win the game as time expired would certainly suggest that. But lost amidst the excitement is the fact that another undefeated team, the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, will go into the off-season without a chance to prove their worth as the best college team in the country. This is strikingly unfair and screams for a resolution to be made.
The TCU Horned Frogs finished the season 13-0 for the first time in school history, winning the Rose Bowl over the Wisconsin Badgers in the process. A nice feat for sure, but not the equivalent of winning a National Championship. The Horned Frogs can take solace in the fact that they are not the only team in the history of the BCS to get the National Championship Game snub. In 2004, Auburn, Boise State and Utah were left out of the title game after going undefeated during the regular season. In 2008, Utah was snubbed again after going undefeated, and even finishing with a better record than the eventual National Champions, the Florida Gators! In 2009, Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, Boise State, and...you guessed it...TCU finished the regular season undefeated but were ignored in favour of more prominent schools, Alabama and Texas. After two consecutive years of being snubbed, TCU is facing the reality that it may never get a chance to participate in the National Championship Game.
Which begs the question...What is the purpose of having a team participate in Division 1-A football if they are not going to be rewarded with a chance to be crowned the best team in the country? There is not one facet of life where an individual, a group, or a team feels comfortable playing for second place. Competitive drive is a by-product of human nature, and TCU is being robbed of their competitive spirit year-in and year-out.
Not only does human nature suggest that TCU should be discouraged by their recent plight, but the BCS system may also affect the quality of their football program in the future. The talent that makes up a college football program comes from the recruitment of high school players. These high school players have criteria that they look for in a given school before making their decision. Some look for academics, some look for student life, but many football players look for prestige. The number of National Championships a school has won could go a long way in determining the quality and talent level of that school's recruiting class. For example, if a Texas kid is being heavily pursued by both the Texas Longhorns and the TCU Horned Frogs, but that kid knows that TCU is unlikely to ever get to the BCS National Championship Game, if that kid holds prestige in high-esteem, it's likely he would accept the invitation to play at the traditional, more prestigious school in Texas. Thus, the BCS system is curtailing both the present and future football potential of smaller, less traditional schools like TCU.
So what's the alternative? A traditional playoff system in which eight or 16 teams will do battle to determine the best team in the country. Of course, like with any fundamental change, there would be some negative consequences of switching to a playoff format. School administrators argue that long-standing traditional rivalries would suffer, more "playoff" games would create academic issues for the athletes, travel would likely be more difficult, and attendance might suffer. But it's ridiculous to assume that the bright minds at the NCAA wouldn't be able to work out the logistics so that a playoff system could work. After all, the credibility of college football programs are at stake. The reputations of schools are at stake. When football programs suffer, schools lose money. The BCS should not be about making tons of greenback for the big-time schools, by rewarding them with appearances in the BCS championship game every year. Sometimes it's okay to reward the little guy too. So lock the heads of the NCAA in a room and tell them not to come out until they've figured out a legitimate playoff system. Only problem is, after last night's title game, you might have trouble getting them into the room in the first place.
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