For the SEC, the BCS is a Media Birthright

The Southeastern Conference just cannot help itself.

The SEC released a new T-shirt this week highlighting its superiority on the football field and six consecutive BCS championships its teams have won.

It's just a blue shirt with the SEC logo and the words, "Home of  5  6 consecutive national champions."

The conference is so arrogant it does not name its championship teams, because they are the magnificent SEC and you should just know. Just to recap: Florida won in 2006 and 2008, LSU grabbed the title in 2007, Alabama won in 2009 and 2011, with Auburn winning in between in 2010.

While the SEC continues to rub in its dominant run, it should be noted they never would have achieved six straight titles without exploiting one of the BCS' biggest flaws. They fooled the voters who are often fools themselves.

In the 2010 book “Death To The BCS,” sports writers Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan lay out an incriminating indictment of the Bowl Championship Series. While they dedicate an entire chapter to the fuzzy math used by the computers in the BCS formula, the authors also focus on the flaws of the human voters.

Starting in 2006 when the SEC's title run began, the conference fully committed to winning the public relations fight. As Wetzel and Co. point out in their book, at halftime of '06 SEC championship game commissioner Mike Slive held at halftime press conference claiming if Florida won, they deserved a BCS-title bid. Again that was at halftime!

A year later the BCS completely changed into a political contest. The reason, LSU coach Les Miles used a line his wife told him, and a full on media blitz convinced the pollsters his two-loss Tigers deserved a spot in the BCS title. That line, “we're undefeated in regulation.”

Now, fans have to put up with unabashed, political campaigns for schools to play for a title.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy made a mistake this past season, saying that Alabama deserved a spot in the title game. Clearly, he should have said the Cowboys were the only team undefeated in regulation and overtime.

Obviously in "Death To The BCS" book, Wetzel's gang come to the conclusion college football needs a playoff. And why that may not have saved most of us from sitting through four SEC schools raising the last six crystal balls, a playoff would give fans a more satisfactory end to the season.

However, the writers make a mistake pushing for a 16 team playoff, with all 11 conference winners getting a seat at the table.

If Division I football were to ever go to a true playoff, not the four team plus-one that is being discussed, the minimum number of teams would have to start at 20.

That would give the 11 conference champions a guaranteed spot with another nine at-large spots up for grabs among the major conferences.

Doing a quick look at last year, we would have been arguing whether the ninth at-large spot should go to South Carolina, Virginia Tech or Houston. There would be no reason to get excited if any of those teams were excluded from a playoff pipe dream.

It is tough to fathom that the SEC will relinquish its spot atop the BCS, especially with the Worldwide Leader in its corner. But we can dream of a day where an SEC team's title game berth was earned and was not a media birthright.

Tide Swells for a Playoff

Alabama's Trent Richardson celebrates the BCS title (AP Photo)

The Bowl Championship Series has its flaws, but for the first time the system truly failed.

In most years, the BCS has benefited from an undisputed champion winning like in 2001 when Miami beat a Nebraska team who did not win their own conference and jumped two other deserving schools.

The BCS did not get that luxury on Monday.

Despite all the talk of the tough, grueling SEC schedule, the SEC was not great this year. Alabama's path to the championship was untested and despite the dominating effort Monday night they don't have a championship resume.

The Tide played just three games (with just two wins) over teams that finished ranked in the final AP poll. No other BCS champ has played fewer than four games against teams in the final polls.

People took notice of the rematch.

The TV ratings for the LSU-Alabama championship game drew a 13.8 overnight rating, among the worst in the history of BCS title games. It ties the Miami-Nebraska game, previously mentioned for also having a questionable participant.

The one possible benefit to a boring SEC title game, it could be the catalyst for change.

The LSU-Alabama debacle may open the door for a four team playoff, that not only fits into the old bowl system but gives fans a "true" champion.

Honestly, four teams is the ideal number for a playoff. With few exceptions since the BCS started, there haven't been more than four schools with a legitimate case to play for college football's ultimate prize. 

And take this year's I-AA playoffs for instance. The I-AA, or FCS division, actually expanded its playoffs from the "perfect" 16 team field to 20 teams, but it was all about four schools.

The top seeded Sam Houston State, North Dakota State, Georgia Southern and Montana made up your semi-finalists, with the Bisons taking home the prize. To get there, they just had to play two superfluous games.

A four team playoff would likely mean higher quality championship game. This year, LSU had a 37-day layoff and Alabama had 44. Even larger, Ohio State had a 51-day break before it played for the 2006 title, which it badly lost.

Momentum is building for a playoff, albeit a small one. It would be a much needed remedy for a system that's starting to really fail.

Players love playoffs, until they think about it

Playoffs?! We're talking about playoffs?

Yes. BCS or playoffs, the debate will again be a huge theme in major college football, which has a fun (albeit contorted) bowl system. Plus, college football pundits need to something to occupy their talking time since Tim Tebow has graduated to the NFL.

ESPN got the ball rolling on this debate this week, by polling 135 players from across the country, for its ESPN Magazine preview. What they found was that players want a playoff, until they thought about it.

When asked do they want a playoff, an overwhelming majority, 62.2 percent or 84 of the 135, said yes. But things dramatically changed when players were asked about the specifics.

Asked if they'd rather have an I-AA (FCS)-style, 16-team playoff (no bowls) or the current system, 70 percent took the current system. Then asked if they'd rather have a career with three bowl trips or one playoff trip, again more than 70 percent said bowls.

One Big 12 star who voted for a playoff (suggested starting with 16 teams) wavered big time, "if you put it that way, I'd rather have the bowl trips."

As a fan, I'd rather have the bowl trips, except bowls don't mean as much as they once did. But neither does the BCS for that matter.

It's all about scamming the system. Teams use what I call the Texas-model, try to get a high preseason ranking, play one tough game and win, go undefeated and play for the BCS title. That produces a watered down season. Would it really get better if you cut the football season by one game for a coveted 16-team playoff?

I love the idea of a college football playoff, until I start thinking about the reality of it.

Who's the BCS Champ? Flori-Duh

One thing is certain after the BCS national championship, the media loves a good pun. From “Chompions” to “Gators take a bite...” puns sprung up “Sooners rather than later”.

To give credit where credit is due, Real Clear Sports blogger Robbie Gillies came up with the title for this post. There's a few more good puns to check out.

What's not certain following Florida's 24-14 win over No. 1 Oklahoma is which school can claim they are college football's true champion. Sure, the Gators are the BCS champions, but a handful of other schools have legitimate gripes.

The game itself was sloppy and choppy, but one glaring thing stood out. Sooners coach nicknamed “Big Game Bob Stoops” continues to suffer paralysis in the biggest games. Again, when it mattered most Stoops mentally imploded.

It's not as if Oklahoma failed to show up as Sportsline's Gregg Doyel writes. The Sooners had ample chances to bury the Gators in the first half, but questionable, conservative play calling doomed OU in a pair of red-zone visits.

Then in the second half, Oklahoma failed to exploit its main advantage. You can blame the coaching staff. The Sooners huge, NFL-caliber offensive line was limited to just pass blocking. OU didn't stick with a ground game, netting just 107 yards.

Oklahoma is now 2-5 in the BCS under Bob Stoops. It's unbelievable they've made seven BCS trips, including four to titles games, but in these situations too often Stoops has called plays not to lose the game rather than call plays to win the game. It's inexplicable that the Sooners didn't continue to pound the ball at Florida. OU failed to play football at its best.

The Gators won the BCS title game as much as the Sooners lost the game.

So who really should be No. 1? We can all talk until we're blue in the face, but who knows for sure. Here's my final rankings, with style-points deducted for jump passes.

1. Utah (13-0)
2. Florida (13-1)
3. USC (12-1)
4. Texas (12-1)
5. Oklahoma (12-2)
6. Penn State (11-2)
7. TCU (11-2)
8. Alabama (12-2)
9. Ohio State (10-3)
10. Texas Tech (11-2)
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Next In: Oregon (10-3)

Game!? What game?

ESPN's talking heads are lounging in Miami analyzing every aspect of tomorrow's college football title bout between Florida and Oklahoma. But columnist everywhere don't seem to care. They've already crowned a champion.

Rick Reilly says the undefeated Utah Utes (13-0) are national champions, because the BCS has no credibility. The End.

Yahoo's Dan Wetzel writes that Utah can score and tackle with anyone, but was cursed by lack of overall attention. "ESPN, the 800-pound gorilla of college football hype, is notorious for promoting the games and teams that it broadcasts. This past season that meant lots of Big 12 talk."

And then there's John Feinstein who in an open letter to the 65 members of the media who vote in the AP Poll, implores them to cast their final ballot of the season with one team and one only team ranked No. 1: the University of Utah.

So does anyone care there's a game tomorrow night?

I for one will be watching, and I think Sportsline's Dennis Dodd will be too.

After all, Dodd summed up the Sooners-Gators battle into one succinct matchup. Take a look...

Buckeyes loss was a win

An old football axiom held true last night, Ohio State feasted off their blitz for 59 minutes. But that same blitz betrayed the Buckeyes in the waning seconds.

Texas QB Colt McCoy read the defense and delivered a strike to wide receiver Quan Cosby for a 26-yard touchdown putting the Horns up 24-21 with 16 seconds left in the game. The Cosby catch provided yet another dagger in hearts of Buckeyes everywhere.

Following the game McCoy had a message for the pollsters: "I don't think there's anybody in the country who can beat us at this point."

The Buckeyes nearly did, and in losing the game they won.

The football factory in Columbus has been much maligned after a string of high profile losses. Ohio State was crushed in consecutive national championship games first by Florida (41-14) after the media had coronated them champs before kick off. Same story second verse as they fell to LSU (38-24) last year and then in a September game at USC the Buckeyes looked overmatched in another lopsided loss (35-3).

Last night was a different story. Ohio State's defense that quit in other big games limited Texas' potent offense to three first half points. In the third quarter, with fans and announcers waiting for the kill, the Buckeyes "D" was stout coming up with a pair of stops.

Coach Jim Tressel responded by tossing his standard offensive Big Ten playbook, opting for a variey of formations using both freshman QB Terrelle Pryor and senior sub Todd Boeckman. And Tressel was rewarded when Boeckman tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Pryor.

In the end a missed tackle was all that separated national championship-caliber Texas and the "undeserving" Buckeyes.

This year's Fiesta Bowl was an instant classic and a sign that Ohio State is still a relevant football program.

Red River shout out

I should probably save this hot topic for another day, but the airwaves from Bristol, Conn. are already smoldering.

Chris Fowler, Scott Van Pelt and Kirk Herbstreit are leading the debate over who should represent the Big 12 South in the conference title game, if Oklahoma wins out (defeating Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) creating a cluster of one-loss juggernauts.

As it stands the BCS rankings would decide who goes to Kansas City, which means it would essentially be up to the voters. Picking up the cause for the Longhorns, Fowler and company cannot comprehend a scenario where the Sooners would jump Texas, a team OU lost to in early October.

However, if the talking heads stopped pontificating for mere moments and listened to what else they were saying, they would have their answer.

Kirk Herbstreit has been boldly proclaiming that Florida is the best team in the country right now, despite being ranked No. 4 in the most recent BCS standings. And there's the magical answer.

The voters must decide which of the three squads (Texas, Texas Tech or Oklahoma) is the best team, who is playing the best football right now. Sure pollsters should take into account the outcome of the Red River rivalry, but in this 'imminent' scenario they should only keep Texas ahead of Oklahoma if they truly believe the outcome of their October game would be the same in late November.

Of all the top Big 12 teams, Oklahoma has the strongest full season resume right now with quality non-conference wins over TCU and Cincinnati. Texas Tech took down two I-AA (or FBS) schools and Texas ran over four I-A featherweights.

Again, this is just a relative debate right now, all contingent on an if. After all, the pundits have never, ever been wrong about pre-picking an outcome. Think about it, they nailed the 2002, 2005 and 2006 National Championship games.

BCS sharpens focus

Barring complete disaster and utter chaos, ESPN college football researcher Brad Edwards says the national championship chase is down to two. Two conferences that is, not two teams.

Three teams from the Big 12 South and two teams from the SEC form the glut atop the BCS standings. So rather than playing what-ifs with four weeks to go in the season (I'll leave that up to ESPN's talking heads), I want to focus on the non automatic-qualifying conferences for a fleeting moment.

An interesting storyline is developing between two previous BCS-crashers, Utah and Boise State. The Utes from the Mountain West Conference stayed perfect with a dramatic last-minute win over TCU. But more importantly, they grabbed command of the one automatic at-large BCS bid for the non-power conferences.

Translated, if Utah wins out they should clinch their second major bowl berth, even if the Broncos also finish with a unblemished record. In that senario the WAC's gem Boise State would have to hope to be selected for another at-large spot. And there's fat chance of that happening with Ohio State eyeing at-large consideration as well.

Boise fans should start feeling as blue as their turf.

So what would an undefeated Boise State BCS snub prove? Only what I've been saying for a long time. That the Broncos are a bunch of frauds and really need to beef up their non-conference schedule.

This year, the Broncos "best" win was a 37-32 upset of then-No. 17 Oregon at Autzen Stadium. The win would be much more impressive had Boise not given up 19 fourth-quarter points with the Ducks playing their 13th string quarterback. Actually, Oregon rotated two sub-third string freshman at QB. Also, it was Boise State's first win ever on the road versus a BCS-conference team, hardly something to cheer wildly about.

Then there's the fact only three of the eight Division I-A (or FBS) teams the Broncos have beaten currently have a winning record.

Unlike ESPN's Bruce Feldman, who projects the Broncos to get a berth in the Sugar Bowl, people in southern Idaho should start sweating. Time to look for something red and black!

The REAL Politicking begins

Now that we've elected our 44th president, we can turn our attention to the real political landscape. The '08 BCS Championship campaign is officially underway.

The most recent successful campaign dates back to 2006, when Flordia's Urban Meyer excessively whined.. I mean lobbied.. his way into the championship game, throttled Ohio State and took home the ultimate prize.

The current battlegrounds are taking shape. In Pennsylvania, things aren't so happy in Happy Valley where Penn State coach Joe Paterno was quick to question the wacky BCS formula.

"Is it the BCS or the BSC? I don't know," Paterno said in a recent press conference. JoePa is launching a sarcastic campaign, but the 81-year-old is probably harboring some resentment from being left out of the championship picture during four undefeated seasons (1968, 1969, 1973 and 1994).

Then yesterday, USC coach Pete Carroll launched his BCS Championship campaign from the perpetually 'blue' LA area. During his weekly press conference Carroll insisted he doesn't understand the BCS system. But then went a little further.

"I think it stinks. I don't think it's the way it should be," Carroll said.

What stinks is USC's performance during games they're heavily favored to win. There's a litany of haunting losses from Oregon State (in '06 & '08) to Stanford last year to UCLA in 2006. What really stinks though is the Trojans' aura in the post-(Reggie) Bush years. Just take care of business Pete.

Concern is growing with how college football crowns its champion, especially with a glut of elite teams in the Top 10. But even if college football had a playoff, coaches would still politic jockeying for position.

There's no cure-all for college football, so lets just tee-it-up and play some games. The dust will settle, just like the real political season that ended this morning.

"The" Ohio State: America's Punching Bag

Senior ESPN.com writer Pat Forde has concocted a plan for the 2008 college football season. Make sure the Ohio State Buckeyes aren’t invited to the BCS National Championship Game.

Forde writes “if you've ever seen lions maul a water buffalo, you've seen the last two title games.” A pair of superior SEC teams blew out the vulnerable Buckeyes. Forde and the rest of the country are already pouring the hate Ohio State’s direction.

As the article continues Forde says “...when an SEC team shows up on the other sideline it should be ‘O-H-N-O.’ And “they're also fond of calling their school The Ohio State University. It might also now be called The Overmatched State University of the BCS.”

This backlash really stems from the disappointment after the media’s coronation ceremony leading up to the 2006 season finale.

Honestly, the cumulative performance of the Buckeyes in the last two BCS Championships has been poor. But for those thinking they shouldn’t bring that weak Big Ten stuff back to the national stage, you have selective memory.

Ohio State is 4-2 overall in BCS bowl games, which more than respectable. While LSU has a better record at 4-0 in BCS games, the Tigers haven’t been as consistent and haven’t played a BCS bowl outside their backyard in New Orleans.

I’m not going to try to defend the Big Ten and say this was a great year for them, it wasn't. The conference went just 3-5 in bowl games. In its last four BCS game Big Ten teams have lost by 14 points (Michigan at USC), 27 points (Ohio State to Florida), 32 points (Illinois at USC) and 14 points (Ohio State at LSU).

Before the slamming of Ohio State and the Big Ten gets out of control, step back and consider looking at the bigger picture. There may be a little more than first meets the eye.