This Time, The BCS Went Too Far

Chris Petersen, the head coach of Boise State University's football team, finally came out and said it. Forget all the niceties and being polite. Forget being politically correct and being careful not to burn one's bridges. After having just explained to his football team how it shouldn't be disappointed to have come within a field goal of another undefeated football season, only to be burned by the Powers that Be and banished to the Las Vegas Bowl (again), Coach Petersen just came right out and said it: Everybody is sick and tired of the BCS.

The BCS - the Bowl Championship Series - keeps telling the fans that it's a fair system that shouldn't have to defend itself against antitrust violations. It must be fair, they tell us, since all 11 conferences in college football are on board. What they don't tell us is that the six power conferences put a virtual gun to the heads of the other five conferences: "Sign this agreement or lose for your league champion any chance of getting to one of our filthy rich bowls!" It must be fair, they tell us, since schools from the WAC and the MWC have gone to a BCS bowl for seven years running, prior to this year. What they don't tell us is that none of those undefeated schools has played in the BCS championship game.

This year, they said, would be different. Boise State began the year high in the polls. If the Broncos had a great year, they could really get there, to the BCS Promised Land. What Boise State got was the shaft, pure and simple. Even by BCS standards, this was a low blow, but the national media does nothing and says nothing, after shamelessly rooting for - and getting - a rematch of LSU and Alabama for the mythical national title.

The BCS is an inequitable and unfair system, and if you look at this year's final BCS standings, there is rampant unfairness and inequity. When an unbeaten team like Houston, which rolled through the regular season and scored points like it was going out of style, loses a game, it gets dropped like a piece of red hot coal. Before losing its conference championship game to Southern Mississippi, the Cougars were poised to possibly finish in the BCS top six and claim a spot in a lucrative bowl. After that loss, Houston was dropped to 19th in the BCS standings. Compare that to Alabama, which lost its regular-season matchup with LSU, dropped only a couple of spots in the BCS rankings, and was quickly elevated back to the very top. Arkansas of the SEC was riding high at third in the BCS, with its only loss to Alabama, before being ambushed by LSU in its regular-season finale. The Razorbacks conveniently dropped only to number six.

This was convenient to the BCS because Boise State, with its only loss by 1 point to a fine TCU squad that also finished in the BCS top 20, couldn't be allowed to make it into the top six, where it would have to be included. Thus, Arkansas and Oregon, each with two losses, both finished ahead of Boise State. Even so, with five BCS bowls needing 10 slots filled, even with the champions of the Big Six conferences and allowing for Alabama, that still meant three slots remained for the Powers that Be to find a place at the table for Boise State.

SEC champ LSU and its chief SEC West division rival, Alabama, were chosen for the BCS Championship Game. The Big 10 and Pac-12 champs, Wisconsin and Oregon, are Rose Bowl bound. The titlists of the ACC and the Big East, Clemson and West Virginia, were placed in the Orange Bowl against each other. Big 12 champion Oklahoma State was matched with Stanford, a worthy at-large selection, in the Fiesta Bowl. That left the Sugar Bowl to select both teams in its matchup from the remaining at-large squads. Arkansas (BCS #6) could not be chosen because there were already two SEC schools in the BCS, which is the limit. This rule also eliminated South Carolina (BCS #9) from consideration.

The right thing for the Sugar Bowl to do would have been to match BCS #7 Boise State with BCS #8 Kansas State. These schools had played by the BCS rules and posted excellent seasons. To finish ranked that high amongst the 120 teams that play major college football is a great achievement. A fair and equitable system would have rewarded these two outstanding football programs.

But, the Bowl Championship Series is neither fair nor equitable. The Sugar Bowl was allowed to look past Boise State, Kansas State, and Baylor (BCS #12), reaching instead for BCS #11 Virginia Tech and BCS #13 Michigan. Virginia Tech had just been beaten by Clemson for the second time this season. Michigan had lost to Michigan State and Iowa during the regular season. These schools were picked because they have fan bases that travel well and spend a lot of money. When you get right down to it, money is the bottom line that this is all about. This bypass of its own system by the BCS, a deal that smacks of back-slapping cronyism, is nothing short of shameless.

The message sent by the BCS to the Boise States of the world is, "Sure, you made BCS bowl appearances in the past. But, you are not one of us, and we can screw you any year we please." You can bet the Boise got the message: Today, it joined the Big East Conference, along with Houston, SMU, San Diego State, and Central Florida. These schools finally figured out that, when it comes to the BCS, you can't beat 'em, so you'd better just join 'em.