By By Chandler Myers
It’s a shame that a team can go undefeated, achieve a No. 9 ranking in the BCS polls and not make a BCS Bowl.
It’s pathetic that a team is able to go 10-2, achieve a No. 10 ranking in the BCS polls and they make it to the Fiesta Bowl over the first team mentioned.
What are the point of BCS rankings if they don’t even matter when bowl selection begins?
A playoff is the solution to the problem that the BCS has posed for the college football post-season. The other bowls don’t even need to be canceled to install the playoffs either.
Take the Top 10 BCS teams and put them into a playoff for the BCS National Championship. The rest of the teams put them into the same bowls they would normally play into.
This could solve several problems that the current format causes for determining a true champion. It pits the overall contenders against the underdogs that nobody would normally think could beat the top prestige teams.
Teams like Boise St. and Utah would be allowed that opportunity to fight for their chance to win the BCS championship. They do have a legitimate beef for saying they deserve that chance.
Utah does because they defeated a few teams that were ranked in the Top 15 at some point during the season, and again went undefeated.
Boise St. should get its chance in the spotlight because it went undefeated again, has defeated the team that is playing in the championship game this year and has won 36 games in a row.
Ohio St. does not deserve to be in the Fiesta Bowl this season, but in a playoff they would deserve to take their stab at the title.
This might sound biased, but Alabama also deserves its shot at the championship because of the schedule they played, and they actually beat Ole Miss.
Florida also deserves the opportunity that it is receiving on Jan. 8, but should have to redeem themselves for their home loss to Ole Miss. Yeah, they scored a lot of points, but why did it take a loss for them to get motivated?
Texas has the biggest gripe of anyone because they BEAT Oklahoma. I repeat they defeated Oklahoma 45-35. A playoff would allow them to show they are irritated like Florida was after the Ole Miss upset.
Oklahoma would be given the chance to prove what the BCS polls think now, and that is that they should be in that BCS championship game. Enough said.
Penn St. and Southern Cal would be forced to play each other because their conferences are contractually linked to the Rose Bowl. So they would have to play this game no matter what to advance further in the playoff.
Plain and simple, a playoff system could work without getting rid of the other lower-tier bowls. Take some time and think about it NCAA officials. It would be great, and think of the revenue it could bring in.
Chandler Myers is sports editor of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123.