The BCS: A Playoff in Disguise

Georgia could have played for the BCS title.

USC could have played for the BCS title.

If Oklahoma wins just as big, throw them in, too.

LSU and Ohio State are playing for the BCS title.

You know what, all of those teams are—or have just finished—playing for the BCS title. No, I haven’t officially lost it, even after suffering through two of the worst New Years Day games ever. In fact, I’ve just had a moment of clarity unlike any other. The 2007-08 BCS games are a playoff, a weird, demented playoff—for the 2008-09 BCS title that is.

In college basketball, tournament seeding is everything. If a team is seeded No. 1 or No. 2, they have a decided advantage over the lower-seeded teams. And while basketball actually allows teams to play their way to the title, each team’s position going into the tournament has everything to do with their chances of getting to the title game.

Now, look at the BCS. Georgia just blew out an undefeated Hawai’i team, and USC obliterated Illinois. If you want to take it one step further, Missouri pantsed Arkansas. And if Oklahoma tears apart West Virginia, they’ll be in this same boat. Sure, none of those teams moved closer to playing for this season’s title, but they vastly improved their chances for making it into next season’s. More likely than not, Georgia will roll into the 2008 preseason rankings somewhere in the top-5, along with USC and the winner of the LSU/OSU game—or both if it’s a close came. Missouri will round it out somewhere in the preseason top-10, and if Oklahoma wins, count them into the top-10 also, if not No. 1 or No. 2. Had Georgia, USC or Missou played poorly or lost, they wouldn’t get the preseason accolades they’re in line for right now. If the BCS title game turns into it’s 2007 predecessor—for either team—the loser will have a long climb up the polls, come the 2008 season.

However, this sounds a lot like the old poll system. Scary stuff, considering the BCS taunts itself as the be-all-end-all answer to college football’s age old question of “who’s number one.” Back then, if a team won it’s bowl game, they would have to wait and hope the pollsters chose them as worthy enough for the title. The only difference between then and now is that the decision is postponed until August, and the title is actually the following season.

Preseason polls are too powerful, too influential in college football—a sport in which “each week is a playoff.” Those polls are the very life blood for most title runs. In 2004, Auburn was buried by the AP at No. 17. USC and Oklahoma both began the season ranked No. 1 and No. 2. In 2004, Auburn defeated No. 4 LSU, No. 8 Tennessee in Knoxville, No. 5 Georgia, No. 15 Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game, and then No. 10 Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl. Oklahoma defeated No. 5 Texas in Dallas, No. 20 Oklahoma State away, No. 22 Texas A&M in College Station, and got blown away by USC. USC defeated No. 7 California, No. 19 Arizona State, and blew away Oklahoma. The only reason Auburn was kept from playing for the 2004-05 national title was their low preseason ranking. The Tigers’ schedule was tougher, their wins more impressive and their performance more consistent, week in and week out.

Fast forward to August 2007, when USC was ranked No. 1, LSU No. 2, Oklahoma No. 8, Ohio State No. 11, Georgia No. 13, and Missouri receiving 128 votes in the AP poll, placing them just below No. 25 Texas A&M. You already know where I’m going with this one. The two teams playing for the 2007-08 BCS national title also happened to be the second and fourth highest ranked of those the teams claiming they’re deserving of this season’s title. USC lost to Stanford, which validates their exclusion outright and at Oregon. Oklahoma lost at Colorado and at Texas Tech. Georgia lost to South Carolina and Tennessee. Missouri lost to Oklahoma, twice. All of those teams lost twice, and Ohio State lost once, to Illinois. So Ohio State is essentially omitted from this argument. But if you look at LSU, which lost to mediocre Kentucky and Arkansas teams, and barely got by Tennessee in the SEC title game, the major factor propelling that team to the title game was its lofty preseason ranking.

The voters wanted LSU in the title game. They hated Missouri at No. 1, and despised South Florida and Boston College at No. 2. Even California and Oregon were sketchy at No. 2, in the pollsters’ minds. What about Kansas at No. 3? Forget about it, they found a reason to throw them back down after their single loss of the season.

So the next time someone tells you “In college football, every week is a playoff,” you tell them “Yeah, for next season’s title.”

I want to see a playoff, and I want to see the polls count for nothing until the first week of October. However, I also want to see Notre Dame join a conference, and FBS (D-1A) drop about 50 teams to FCS (D1-AA). But unless the SEC realizes it’s not “faster,” Charlie Weis loses about 200 pounds, or Penn State is rightfully given the 1994 National Championship, nothing will change any time soon.