Forget The BCS (Great Article)

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Taken from http://theherald.pickens.net/sports/side12804.htm...

Forget The BCS

By Kevin Strickland

BCS. It might as well stand for Broken Championship System. Or as one fan’s sign at the SEC Championship Game succinctly put it: Bull!&!$% Championship System. No matter how you slice it, no matter how you spin it, the system simply does not work. Any so-called championship system that excludes a legitimate contender and offers no opportunity to compete for the championship has zero legitimacy. It’s no more valid than elections in Cuba.

When three major-conference teams finish the regular season unbeaten, one of them -- USC, Oklahoma or Auburn -- has to be denied the chance to play for the title. No matter who was left out of the mix this season, the system failed. This year, the system failed Auburn. The exclusion of the Tigers is maddening because of the three primary contenders, Auburn had the better credentials. No matter. The Tigers were boxed out of the Bogus Championship Series game. They have every right to feel slighted.

Why is Auburn’s slight greater than were it USC or Oklahoma standing at the door? That’s easy. You cannot seriously contend that a USC team that played in the sandbox otherwise known as the Pac-10 is inherently better than an Auburn team that survived the minefield known as the SEC. You can’t rationally justify how a bumbling win over a pathetic UCLA team or last second prayers against shoddy Texas A&M or Oklahoma State shows championship mettle, while a gritty win over a defensively strong Alabama team shows flaws. And you certainly can’t equate whipping up on a weak Colorado team that would struggle against Ole Miss or a referee-aided sneak past lowly UCLA to an epic SEC Championship Game battle against 9-2 SEC East Champion Tennessee. Yet that’s exactly the fetid brew the media and in turn the BCS expects you to swallow. And you’re supposed to like it.

Almost every year since its inception, the BCS has railroaded at least one team. Last year it was USC who took a BCS beaning, shut out of the so-called championship game by an undeserving Oklahoma. Two years ago, one-loss Georgia was hosed by Miami and the BCS. The year before that, 10-1 Oregon took it on the chin from a biased BCS in order to give Nebraska another shot. In 2000, five one-loss teams were bunched. Fifth-ranked Florida State got the BCS nod and Virginia Tech, Miami, Washington and Oregon State all got the shaft. The year before that, one-loss Kansas State and one-loss Nebraska were ditched in favor of one-loss Virginia Tech. The system is a sham. It was supposed to make things better. It’s only made things worse. It’s time to get rid of whole impotent concept. And while you’re at it put the guy who invented the thing in charge of elections in Cuba.

The BCS mandate was to eliminate controversy and give college football a “true” national champion. It is an abject failure in this mission. In the pantheon of failures, the BCS makes the Edsel look like the Mustang. It’s the Gigli of college football. It’s pets.com, but without the sock puppet dog to provide comic relief.

Sorry. Who cares who wins this year’s Orange Bowl? If the Auburn Tigers win the Sugar Bowl, they’ve got the right to call themselves national champs. They won every game. They did everything they were asked to do. They met every challenge. Their claim to the national title will be equally legitimate and should be validated.

Can the BCS. Scrap the whole ignorant, unfair process. It would be better to go back to the old system. Let USC play in the Rose, Oklahoma in the Orange and Auburn in the Sugar. Sort it out when it’s all over. Then if an unbeaten Auburn doesn’t get the votes, so be it. At least the team had the chance. Thanks to the stupidity of the BCS, all a 13-0 Auburn has the chance to win is a “thanks for playing” consolation prize and a Sugar Bowl Trophy. If that’s “progress”, let’s regress instead. A split national title is preferable to a bogus one. The failure of the BCS is that is hasn’t eliminated the controversy. All BCS has done is make sure that at least one team gets shafted in the interest of setting up its big-dollar payday. This year that team is Auburn. And it stinks.

The rationale for shutting the Tigers out of the process is that Auburn didn’t play as strong a schedule as OU or USC. There’s one word for that notion and it was contained in the Atlanta fan’s sign. There are more Top 25 teams in the SEC than in either the Pac10 or the Big 12 -- and Auburn beat them all. There are three nine-win SEC teams, more than either the Big 12 or the Pac10 -- and Auburn beat them all. Take a look at the Pac10. Other than USC and Cal -- which showed its true might by getting outplayed by Southern Miss -- there isn’t a quality team in the league. There’s not a single other Pac10 team that could beat Arkansas, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama or any of the middle-of-the pack SEC teams. Not a single one.

And don’t try to peddle the ridiculous non-conference argument. A win over Bowling Green is no different than a win over The Citadel or Louisiana Tech. There was never any doubt Oklahoma was going to beat Bowling Green, just like there is no doubt Auburn would do the same. Swap Bowling Green for Louisiana Tech. What changes? Not a thing. Unless you’re playing Florida State or Miami or some other highly ranked team one cream puff is just as good as another.

Okay. That’s enough. Forget the BCS. Put it out of your mind, because it simply does not matter. It is meaningless. It is no more valid than your opinion or mine, because that’s all it is -- a popularity contest. It reflects the opinion of a bunch of doughnut-eating schlumps in places like Charleston, WV, Decatur, IL and Lawrence, KS. It no more measures which team is truly the nation’s best than American Idol determines the country’s best vocalists. Actually, the American Idol format would be better -- or at least fairer -- than the travesty that is the BCS.

Vent today. Say your piece. Complain about the unfairness of the BCS. Gripe one last time about the manner in which the Auburn Tigers got jobbed in favor of a USC team that was awarded an undeserved free pass. And then let it go. Never mention it again. Because to continue to dwell on the BCS is to do a grave injustice to this Auburn football team and all it has accomplished. These Auburn Tigers did everything they could on the field. They won with class and dignity. They triumphed over adversity. They defied expectations. They represented Auburn well and Auburn fans should never forget it. Let Tommy Tuberville, his coaching staff and these players know just how much the effort and unity they brought to Auburn is appreciated. Instead of pining over a plastic crown Emperor No-Clothes BCS is going to award to his phantom bride, the Auburn family should savor the magnificence of this champion Auburn football team.

The Tigers ultimately could not control the BCS. That’s a shame. But it does not take away from the fact that this is one of the most dominant teams in modern SEC history. It is the 1992 Alabama team with an offense. It is the 1996 Florida team with a defense. It is the most complete team the league has seen in decades. It is the greatest team in Auburn history. It stands above the Sullivan to Beasley teams of the 70s. It has done things as a team that the Bo Jackson, Brent Fullwood, Randy Campbell, Tracy Rocker teams of the 80s were unable to do. It has gone farther than the 1993 Tiger team. Jason Campbell, Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, Courtney Taylor, Carlos Rogers, Junior Rosegreen, Stanley McClover, Bret Eddins, Jay Ratliff, Jeremy Ingle and the rest of this Auburn team -- all of them -- deserve a place in paintings that adorn the walls of Tiger fans. They deserve to have their images on the murals that surround Jordan Hare Stadium. It may not have as much individual talent as some of the great Auburn teams of the past, but this Tiger team has a unity that few other teams can claim. In time it will be regarded as not just one of the best in Auburn history, but one of the greatest teams in the annals of the SEC. It is the measuring stick by which all future Auburn teams will be judged.

Forget the BCS. Ignore the asinine, uninformed comments about the SEC being “down”. Boycott the bogus national title hype of the Orange Bowl. Don’t attach that disappointment to this team. Don’t let the opinions of a bunch of wanna-be-but-never-been jocks who vote in a poll color your perception of this Auburn team. To do so only compounds the BCS injustice.

Regardless of what anyone says, the Auburn Tigers are champions. They played like champions. They showed the heart of champions. And they won like champions. They won their titles in the only places that matter -- on the field and in the hearts of their fans. Auburn fans, celebrate your champions. Revel in their success. Be proud. Enjoy. They earned that right for you.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

That was the best article I have read about this whole mess.

I, Known By The Company You Keep, do hereby pledge not to bitch, whine, complain, or even discuss the BCS from this point forward until at least January 15th, 2005. If I break this pledge, I hope the mods ban me from the boards for a week.

[AuNuma1 1]

Wow, kinda reads like the ending of Gladiator...good find!

[AUloggerhead 2,252]

I read this and immediately fired off an e-mail to Kevin Strickland congratulating him for writing the conscience of the AU nation. This isn't the first time he's hit the nail on the head. WDE 12-0