The now-departed BCS gets a bad rap from a lot of college football fans. While I'm excited about this season's four-team playoff (and hoping the greedheads of college football don't decide to expand that sucker past eight), I think the BCS didn't do all that badly in its history. Remember, the only goal of the BCS rankings was to select the top two teams to meet for a championship game. Well, it was a de facto championship game between 1999 and 2006, but from 2007 on it became an official non-bowl championship.
By my own personal count, I say the BCS got things right in eight of the 16 years. In four other seasons (bowl/championship games of 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008) they didn't have a clear choice for the top two, but I think they could have done a better job. Four times (2004, 2005, 2009, 2012) they got things miserably wrong.
Let's look at the history:
1999 - Tennessee over Florida State.
Tennessee and Tulane were the only undefeateds (and you're not going to see Tulane in a BCS bowl).
Florida State had one loss, along with Kansas State, Ohio State, UCLA, Arizona and Wisconsin. Kansas State was the only one of those teams ranked close to FSU in the BCS.
I say the BCS got this one right.
2000 - Florida State over Virginia Tech.
FSU and VT were the only undefeateds left, except for Marshall.
This was an easy one. The BCS got it right.
2001 - Oklahoma over Florida State.
OU was the only undefeated team.
FSU, Miami, Washington, Virginia Tech, Oregon State and TCU all had one loss. Only Miami was ranked anywhere near FSU.
The BCS had to basically flip a coin between FSU and UM, but heck, I won't count this one.
2002 - Miami over Nebraska.
Miami was the only undefeated team.
Nebraska, Oregon, Illinois and Maryland all had one loss. Even a two-loss Colorado was ranked close to Nebraska and Oregon.
I won't give the BCS this one either. Who knows if Oregon or Colorado might have given the Hurricanes a better game.
2003 - Ohio State over Miami.
These were the only two undefeated teams.
Again, a no-brainer, but the BCS didn't mess this one up.
2004 - LSU over Oklahoma.
Everybody had a loss this season, including USC, Miami (Ohio), Boise State and TCU. USC is the only team that might have a real beef with the BCS.
Chalk it up as a miss.
2005 - USC over Oklahoma.
This was the Auburn/Utah year, where all four of these teams were undefeated, as well as Boise State.
Can't give this one to the BCS, although three teams are gonna be ticked off regardless.
2006 - Texas over USC.
These two were ranked 1 and 2 for the entire season.
Give this one to the BCS.
2007 - Florida over Ohio State.
Ohio State was undefeated, as was Boise State. Florida had one loss, along with Michigan, Louisville and TCU. Michigan really couldn't complain, since they lost to Ohio State.
Could Boise State have beaten Ohio State in the championship? Was BSU better than the Gators? We'll never know ... I guess that's why I can't give the BCS this one, although it's close.
2008 - LSU over Ohio State.
Ohio State had one loss, LSU had two. A one-loss Kansas team got left out.
Again, could Kansas have knocked off Ohio State? Was Kansas better than LSU?
Too many questions to give the BCS full credit.
2009 - Florida over Oklahoma.
Utah and Boise State were undefeated ... what a BCS title game that might have been, huh?
Florida and OU were part of a one-loss parade that included Texas, Alabama, USC, Texas Tech and Penn State.
This is a year where you should have had the last two unbeatens face off. BCS Fail.
2010 - Alabama over Texas.
In addition to these two, Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State were all undefeated. Given those five, I think the BCS chose well.
Give the BCS this one.
2011 - Auburn over Oregon.
Both undefeated. The only other unbeaten was TCU.
The BCS gets this year.
2012 - Alabama over LSU.
The rematch year. The SEC/SEC/SEC BCS game. I hated the fact that the BCS rankings put these two on top.
The only other one-loss team that was ranked close to these two was Oklahoma State, and in my opinion they should have gone to the title game (thanks a lot, Cyclones!). Other teams with one loss were Stanford, Boise State and Houston.
BCS Fail, big time.
2013 - Alabama over Notre Dame.
The Irish took a lot of flak for making the title game this year, but they were the only undefeated team. Other one-loss teams were Florida, Oregon, Kansas State and Northern Illinois, and only Florida was even close in the BCS rankings.
Yes, I give the BCS this one.
2014 - Florida State over Auburn.
FSU was the last undefeated team in the rankings.
Other one-loss teams were Alabama, Michigan State, Baylor, Ohio State, Central Florida, Louisville, Fresno State and Northern Illinois. Ohio State could have made this all moot by, you know, winning the Big Ten championship game, but ... they didn't.
Given the outcome of the Big Ten and SEC, I think the BCS ended its time by choosing well again.
So, you could say the BCS "only" got things right half the time. Or ... you could say the BCS only screwed things up four years out of 16. Either way, I wouldn't call it an utter failure, as some critics might.
But I don't miss it. This season's four-team playoff ought to be a blast. Can you imagine the TV ratings? That's the reason, I fear, the bigwigs in charge are going to be champing at the bit to expand to 8 or 16 or (heaven forbid) more playoff teams in the near future. Four is pretty much ideal. How many of the seasons listed above had more than four teams who you would say had a real, valid, legitimate claim to being the best? Not very many. Eight teams would be okay, but a bit messy time-wise. I would not be in favor of going past eight, no way, no how.
Unfortunately, I don't think anyone is going to be consulting with me about it.
Four weeks away from football! Catch the pigskin fever!
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