The BCS is Terrible, or, Why Jayhawks Should Hate Ohio State

By Tim Slovik

Note: If both West Virginia and Missouri win out, them my argument is only half-valid. However, the valid portion was valid last year, is valid this year, and will be valid until there is no more BCS stupidity, so read on.

Ah, my poor fellow victims of BCS madness. Struggling through a season, accomplishing goal after goal, never truly believing that it would happen, yet poised to take that step to National Title triumph, the Kansas football program will take the BCS shaft up the rear.

I know what that feels like. Last season, I screamed my lungs out watching my Number 2 Wolverines lose to the Number 1 Buckeyes. Only, it wasn't for the national championship. It was the final regular season game, and it was for all the marbles. Despite the fact that Michigan and Ohio State were easily proving to be the best two teams at the time, the voters considered Michigan's one and only loss (since it was late in the year) enough to push them down in the rankings, and let another one-loss team - Florida - rise up for the spot in the title game (and in searching their hearts, most voters would tell you that the reason to put Florida ahead in the rankings was to avoid a UM-OSU rematch for the title game). Looking back it might seem foolish to suggest that Florida didn't belong there... but if not for the ridiculous BCS system we would never be having such foolish discussions in the fist place.

Like many a team before them, Kansas has played a great season but will not be playing for the national championship. Sure, if they could have proven it on the field by beating out the competition they'd definitely be there. And if monkeys had wings, there'd be a witch with a pretty big army of the damned things looking for some ruby slippers. But we're talking about reality. And THIS reality has NO undefeated team which will play for the ultimate in Sears' glass football trophies.

Let's not take this opportunity to discuss how Hawaii is undefeated. I don't understand how a team can do MORE than win every game they play. However, I DO understand that if your schedule includes the prep school down the road, or some really tall eighth graders, you don't get to play in the title game. Not yours.

This situation only further fuels the argument of which I'm about to make, that the system is broken.

Back to the title game. As it stands, West Virgina and Missouri will play if they win out. They are both "1 loss" teams, and if playing for the championship, will have won their respective conference championships. So... okay... I guess we could live with that sort of title game. Two teams that have only lost once, and through attrition have gotten to the top of the heap. We'll think of them as teams who've not screwed up yet... except for the one time they each already lost...

But the real problem begins when one of these teams loses. And in a year where the top two rankings have been squandered repeatedly, a year where Appalachian State wins at the Big House, and a year where Kansas is even in the title hunt to begin with (no offense)... you KNOW that one or both of those teams will lose, and the BCS will prove to be the gigantic sham that everyone knows it is.

WVU has a relatively easy road in beating Pitt, so let's assume for a moment they win. That leaves Missouri to beat the one team who already knocked them out, who is favored, and who had the tradition of smacking them around year after year in general dominance in the Big 12 - the Sooners. I don't watch a lot of Big 12 games - I'm a Big 10 man - but if I learned anything from Drew over the years... it's that Missouri Sucks. They'll lose and that makes me want to cry.

Because that means Mr. Sweater Vest and Co. will be returning to the title game.

The Ohio State Buckeyes will play West Virginia for the title. Why? Because they are a one loss team. Through attrition, they've stuck around long enough to be at the top of the heap. Sounds a lot like West Virginia, Missiouri... and... oh, wait a second. There's another one-loss team? Who?

Yep, the Jayhawks.

"But the Jayhawks haven't beaten anybody," I keep hearing. That's amusing. Who did the Buckeyes beat? The Big 10 underacheived as it's been doing the last few years. And a strangely disheartened (and thoroughly injured) Michigan didn't put up any fight, so just who did the Buckeyes beat to deserve to play in the title game? I say OSU-KU push on this one.

How about losses? Kansas loses a rivalry game, on a neutral field, under intense pressure, to the current NUMBER ONE team in the country. Ohio State lost at home, to Illinois, to Ron Zook for God's sake. 'Nuff said.

But Kansas isn't the Big 12 champion, so they shouldn't play for the national title, right? Nebraska got to do it a few years back. They got the shit kicked out of them by Miami, but that's not the point - they got to play. The argument of the BCS has always been "the best two teams" not the "best two conference champions." In a season where everyone loses ONE game, shouldn't the teams with losses to better opposition be considered ahead of those who lost to lesser competition? What does it matter if the loss was the last game of the year or the first game? If you're better than everyone else 11 out of 12 games a year, you should probably be playing for a championship.

Having said all that, if Missouri or West Virginia lose, Ohio State will get the spot. So WHY SHOULD THE BUCKEYES PLAY AND NOT KANSAS?!?!?

WHO FREAKIN' CARES!?!?! It could all be settled with a GOD-DAMNED PLAYOFF!!!

College football doesn't need ridiculous matchups on the field for the sake of supporting this system designed only to line the pockets of the athletic directors. College football needs a playoff now more than it has EVER needed one before.

I don't want to hear ANY excuses about the difficulties for the schools or the athletes. Division 1-A (or whatever the hell they are calling themselves now-a-days), Division II, and Division III HAVE PLAYOFFS. They determine which team is champion on the field amongst the top teams. ALL the top teams.

I don't want to hear that a playoff will reduce the significance of the regular season. Are you kidding me? If you've ever been to a college football game, you know that for the three and half hours you watch that game, it IS the season. A loss that would devastate a team by knocking them from contention for the title would only motivate them to up their game and keep themselves in the hunt for the playoffs. Essentially, the football could IMPROVE.

I don't want to hear that it could be unfair for the unbeatens to be forced to play some teams who've already lost. C'mon... seriously? We rarely have the nice package of two undefeated teams. Either there are three undefeated squads, or there are 5 one-loss teams. Is it fair for an undefeated team to lose to a one-loss team in the finale and despite losing the same number of times, NOT be a champion? None of it makes sense.

I also don't want to hear that the same arguments about getting the top two slots (and hence a chance for the title) will just be reiterated for getting into the top 4 spots, or 8 spots, or 16 spots. No one will care that the 9th best team in the country got shafted. WE DO CARE that one of the top two teams gets shafted.

And I certainly don't want to hear that the full season is really like one big, long playoff. Bullshit. If it was, then the best teams would play on the last game of the year. And we wouldn't be left wondering, what if this team played that team, etc., etc., etc.

College football needs the best teams to play one anther in a post-season tournament. Keep the bowls, use them as part of the tournament, do whatever you have to do, but let the top teams play against one another to determine a freakin' champion. I'm sure the revenue in doing so could offset the loss of the current stystem if the NCAA marketted the thing correctly. Not that I'd expect them to do that.

And what if BOTH Missouri and West Virginia lose this weekend? Ohio State will play one-loss Kansas right? Wrong! They'll face two-loss LSU! I won't go through the explanation... but if the voters don't let a "non-conference champion" play in the big game, they'll have to move down the list to VTech and LSU, and since LSU destroyed the Hokies, they'd get the nod. This ASSUMES they win their conferences. Oh, I DID just go through the explanation. How ridiculous is this getting? And how much easier would it be to just have a playoff?

Why not let the two teams with the best uniforms play for the national championship? How about the teams with the best quarterbacks? Hottest cheerleaders? What standards are we using to rank teams anyway? How many rules and sub-rules and unwritten considerations need to be placed? The BCS has changed itself over and over again to get it right. The AP Poll isn't even considered in the numbers any longer. We've heard about too much power to computers, too much power to humans...

WHEN? OH WHEN are we going to have ALL the power with the players... on the field?

Be upset Jayhawks. Be very upset that your season has been lost in a broken system, and the Buckeys might steal your moment in the spotlight. But more importantly, when recalling this season, and wondering if you could have beaten West Virginia or Ohio State or Oklahoma for that matter... remember that there could have been a way to see those games, and there could be a way to have true champions.