BCS

I have, annually, expressed my opinion that the BCS, Bowl Championship Series, is an inaccurate label for what transpires in college football at the end of the season.  It is not a championship series. It is a series of meaningless exhibition games.

The last two nights there have been some close contests. Tonight in the Cotton Bowl Missouri beat Oklahoma State in a back and forth game that was not decided until the last minute. At the same time Clemson defeated Ohio State in a tight game. And last night Alabama succumbed to Oklahoma--again a closely contested battle.

All three of these have had nothing to do with any championship, yet are part of what is called the Bowl Championship Series. The alleged championship game will be played on Monday night. If Alabama, or Ohio State, or Oklahoma State--the losers of the three exhibition games these past two nights, had an opportunity to compete for the championship, all three would have had a legitimate chance to be victorious. But they will not get to play for a championship because two other teams were selected to compete.

There is another factor that dilutes the value of these games.  In college football every play is reviewable. That is, whenever there is a referee's decision that could be in doubt, the game is stopped so a review of a recording can determine if the call on the field is accurate. This makes the games interminable.  The Cotton Bowl tonight began airing at 8 pm Eastern. It ended at 1230 a.m. One hour of actual playing time, four and a half hours from beginning to the end.

Big time college football has to change. There will be a four game playoff next year which is better than the current circus, but still there needs to be some reconsideration of rules.  All plays should not be reviewable.  The clock should not stop after every first down.  The referees should not have a summit meeting to determine if two or three seconds went off the clock in the first three quarters.

The point is that in the last two nights we have had some very closely contested games between excellent teams. And they were (a) interminable and (b) completely meaningless in terms of determining a championship. A Championship Series it is not.