Breaking News- The BCS Sucks

“Under the double hosting format, the champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conferences will continue to play annually in one of the BCS bowls through the post-season following the 2007 regular season. In addition, one conference champion from among Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and Western Athletic Conferences will automatically qualify to play in a BCS bowl if it is: (1) ranked among the top 12 teams in the final BCS Standings; or (2) ranked among the top 16 teams in the final BCS Standings and ranked higher than the champion of one of the conferences whose champion has an annual automatic berth in a BCS bowl.”

It reads like an internal joke that accidentally got distributed instead of the final copy. Under this new rule set, football fans were 1 regular season loss away from seeing Notre Dame battle TCU in last year’s Fiesta Bowl instead of #4 Ohio St.

Not that TCU was a bad team mind you. But, would they really have deserved a nod over Ohio St.? Ohio St. lost to #1 Texas and #3 Penn St. by a combined total of 10 points. TCU lost to Dallas’ own SMU by 11 points. The road of competition doesn't even compare.

Under the old rule structure, a non-BCS school had to be ranked in the Top 6 to automatically qualify for a BCS bid. This makes much more sense. Even though your games bring in ratings lower than a rerun of The Benefactor, we’ll throw a bone your direction every now and again to let you match up against the Big Boys of college football. For a non-BCS team to be ranked that high they needed to be really good or the dominoes had to fall really hard. In fact, it has only happened one time since the formation of the BCS. (2004 Utah) It’s a pity pairing…if you will.

But, now college football went ahead and made itself a much more watered down process. Instead of seeing a 1-loss Texas or 2-loss Ohio St. fighting their way into an automatic bid they will have to peek over their shoulders at what the mid-major conferences are up to. It’s as if the NFL eliminated an NFC wildcard spot to allow the best college football team to have a shot at the first round. It robs a hard working team of a large audience and an even larger payout.

I call shenanigans.