Looks like the BCS may finally be ready for a playoff format
Comments (...)So, Alabama is the newest National Champion as determined by the Bowl Championship Series. This came about after the then No. 2 ranked Tide defeated the No. 1 ranked LSU by a 21-0 score.
According to the BCS, the No. 1 and 2 rankings have now switched as a result of the outcome of the game, though the Associated Press, which is not part of the BCS, had some sportswriters vote differently. Oklahoma State, which many feel got cheated out of a shot at the title game, got four AP votes for No. 1 and one rouge had the Tigers at No. 1. This despite the decisive win by Alabama on Monday night.
As far as aesthetics go, it was not the greatest of all "title" games. The fact that the Tide had to use a record five field goals from Jeremy Shelley, and the fact that LSU got shut out — another BCS bowl record — should attest to that. I asked a co-worker what he thought of the game and he said "disappointing." While I would agree with that, it was certainly not unexpected, either.
It was only disappointing in the fact that LSU's offense stunk up the joint in front of the entire nation on Monday. This was after all, a Tigers team that scored 35 points or more in 11 of its 13 games this year. Only Mississippi State (7-6) held them to under 20 points with, of course, the other game being the first time LSU and Alabama met. That game was 9-6 in overtime and won by LSU, so though the game itself was disappointing, it wasn't unexpected, either.
Don't get me wrong now. There's nothing wrong with a defensive-oriented game, but the ineffectiveness of the LSU offense takes it to another level. Jordan Jefferson was 11-of-17 for a whopping 53 yards and the Tigers also ran for just 39 yards in 27 carries.
Perhaps even more significant was the news to come out after Monday's game. No sooner had the game ended than it was leaked that the BCS was going to consider a "playoff format" starting in 2014. That is, of course, what most everyone in the entire nation has been clamoring for since the inception of the BCS in 1998. Actually, what it sounds like they are considering is the "plus-one" game at the moment, but that is still a step in the right direction. For those that don't know, the "plus-one" game amounts to a Final Four for football.
This season, that would mean that Oklahoma State would be playing Alabama in a true title game. In the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl this year, the Cowboys beat Stanford 41-38 in overtime. At the time, Oklahoma State was No. 3 and Stanford No. 4 in the BCS standings. Oklahoma State finished the season 12-1 with its only loss to Iowa State (yeah, I know what's that?) and would be meeting 12-1 Alabama in the plus-one game. Alabama, of course, lost in Week No. 9 to LSU by a 9-6 score in overtime.
"I think there will be some change," Bill Hancock, the executive director of the BCS told the New York Times on Monday. "Now will it be seismic? No one knows."
That has to be considered positive news for those of us out there who have been clamoring for a playoff system.
"Everyone knows that the winds of change are blowing through college football's postseason," Robert Shelton, executive director of the Fiesta Bowl told the New York Times.
This is a step in the right direction should the BCS decide to go forth with this. For years the BCS resisted any thought of a playoff, but I think if they do go through with this, the BCS will find an even bigger windfall than the bowl system already enjoys.
Right now, ESPN is shelling out $125 million a year for the next two years of the current contract, according to the Times. Speculation has it that the number could double if a playoff is created — at least the plus-one kind. Years from now, those numbers could blow up well beyond that if they implement an extensive playoff format.
"There's a real concern about a slippery slope and what a playoff means to college football," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney told the New York Times.
An untold fortune for the NCAA, no doubt.
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