The BCS Scam-pionship and How It Affects the Cougars

The BCS “Championship” game was a joke.  It was a dull, boring game, played between the first and second-place finishers in the same division.  Everybody knows that it is much more difficult to beat a team twice than it is to beat it once.  In rematches, if the two teams are remotely equal, the team that lost the first game almost always wins the second game.  That is exactly what happened: ho-hum.

The BCS likes to say that, under the current system, “every game counts.”  This is just a flat-out lie on many levels.  First and foremost, how can anyone say with a straight fact that LSU’s victory over Alabama in the regular season “counted” for anything? 

Secondly, it has become obvious that, after one loss, any game played by any team not in the SEC doesn’t “count” for anything.  Ultimately, Oklahoma State’s 12 wins didn’t “count” for anything.  Neither did Stanford’s 11 wins in the regular season.  Oregon’s season was basically over after the first game, when it lost to LSU. 

The current system is a travesty.  Why is the NCAA’s largest revenue sport still the only one in which a true champion is not determined on the field of play?  The answer, plain and simple, is that it is all about the money, but not in the way one would think. 

The BCS in general, and the bowls in particular, wield an incredible amount of power over the NCAA.  Worse yet, they allow this voluntarily.  Human nature dictates that there must be something in it for the school presidents and athletic directors who continue to vote for this system, because people almost always act in their own self-interest.  To understand this fully, a little bit of background is necessary. 

The “Granddaddy of them All,” the Rose Bowl, was originally created in 1902 to promote tourism in Pasadena.  Soon, other cities followed suit, and by 1937, there were five major bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl Classic, Orange Bowl, and Sun Bowl.  These games were considered to be exhibitions, and had no bearing on who was called the National Champion, as all polls were done shortly after the season had ended. 

Now, there are so many bowls that 6-6 teams are being allowed to play, and 6-7 UCLA was even granted a waiver to play in a bowl this year.  The BCS was created in 1988, ostensibly to create the five “best” bowl matchups, including the “BCS Championship Game.” 

All it has done, though, is to create a “system” that is almost exactly like the old bowl system, but with two teams playing for a paper “championship” while other worthy teams are excluded.  Most teams don’t complain most years, because a major bowl with a payout in the $10 million range is a great “consolation prize.”

Really, though, it isn’t a prize anymore.  A bowl game used to be an exhibition game that would reward the student-athlete for a great year.  While the athletes are still rewarded with a week of activities and a great “swag bag” of gifts like iPods and popular video game systems, it is really nothing more than another road game, another week of hard work, and another opportunity to get injured. 

In other words, bowl games are now exactly what those who argue against a playoff cite as their main reason for arguing against a playoff: more wear and tear on the “student-athlete.”  With the new schedule that plays the “championship game” a full week after the New Year’s Day bowls, and lesser bowls playing the week in between, the other argument that a playoff would take too long is laughable.

So, why do the presidents keep voting against a playoff and refusing to even discuss it most years?  It is because the presidents get too many perks from the bowls.  Basically, too many bowls are a money-laundering operation where money is funneled from the general funds of the athletic departments and turned into vacations for the presidents, athletic directors, various trustees and school officials, and their families. 

Schools are required to “buy” amounts of tickets that they can’t possibly sell, and the difference is “made up” by the school purchasing the unsold tickets themselves.  This money is used to entertain presidents and AD’s, and to buy numerous gifts for decision-makers.  The Fiesta Bowl Scandal of 2011 is laughable, in that those who were fired were only doing what nearly every other major bowl is doing in a de facto sense: bribing school officials. 

Consequently, even though the NCAA is leaving a ton of money on the table by not having a true playoff, most bowl officials believe that a true playoff would diminish the importance of the bowls.  Bowl officials desperately want to retain their power, and don’t hesitate to use the relationships they have built with presidents and AD’s over the years to their advantage.

So, how does this affect the Cougars?  First of all, it is obvious that they need to stay right where they are.  If the Cougars want to play for the “National Championship,” they will have to run the table, but it is possible in a great year.  The trick is to schedule just enough games against high-quality competition to obtain high rankings, but not so many that they risk being knocked out of the running.

Until the system is changed, it just doesn’t make sense for the Cougars to join a conference.  At this point, they have one main competitor: Notre Dame.  If the Cougars are the best of the independent teams, they will probably get a slot in a BCS bowl.  Instead of competing against 10-14 teams for the honor, it is much better leverage to compete against a few independents. 

The Cougars have enough natural rivalries to fill out an entertaining schedule, and enough TV coverage to get ranked highly if they win between 11 or 12 games.   As we guessed last spring, it will take at least 10 wins to get into a BCS bowl, and probably 11.  Until the system changes, it just makes more sense to remain independent. 

If there is ever a playoff consisting of conference champions only, then the Cougars will be forced to join a conference.  In the meantime, though, they are in the best possible situation.  They can continue to grow the BYU brand, take care of business on the field, and set their sights squarely on overtaking Notre Dame as the top independent football program in the country.