What to do about the Agents?

The most prevalent and daunting problem in college football right now is that of illegal benefits given to college athletes by agents, and the premature contact between the player and agent.  It has led to the controversy surrounding Reggie Bush, and has cost USC scholarships, bowl appearances in the future, and was very close to costing the university its 2006 National Championship.  The university, clearly scarred in a bad way by the scandal, returned its copy of the Heisman Trophy to Reggie Bush in an effort to distance itself from the running back and from that corrupt era of Trojan football.  Now the Heisman Trophy Committee is considering stripping Bush of the trophy altogether.  Why has USC and Reggie Bush incurred such shame?  An agent gave illegal benefits to Reggie Bush while still in college, including the financing of a new house for his mother.  This incident 5 years ago and the recent investigation of this issue brought a dark, secretive, illicit part of college football into the bright lights in the past week.

In the past 5 days, 3 players were accused by the NCAA of illegally accepting money and benefits from agents.  South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders, Alabama defensive end Marcell Darius, and most notably, Florida center and 2010 First Round draft pick Maurkice Pouncey have been accused by the NCAA.  Specifically, Pouncey was accused of accepting $100,000 from an agent, an accusation Maurkice has denied.  Now, Georgia has been informed that it will be investigated by the NCAA this week.

This issue has caused coaches such as Nick Saban and Urban Meyer to address the issue as an “epidemic,” and has led Nick Saban to now infamously refers to these agents as “pimp”-like.  SEC media day was controlled by talk of the agent problem in college football, and football itself was second fiddle.  And for good reason; this problem is extremely important.  These athletes abide by the rules and regulations of the NCAA, the governing body of college athletics.  The NCAA regulations state that any improper benefits taken by players from agents or otherwise will result in the loss of the player’s eligibility.  The loss of a player’s eligibility can also impose sanctions on the university for which he plays, as USC has learned in a harsh way.  Therefore, this pervasive problem needs to be fixed, and offseason media days need to become less focused on corruption and scandal in college football.

Before providing a solution, lets get to the root of the problem itself.  Who is to blame for this problem?  The answer is everyone, including the NCAA, but most importantly and most to blame are the players themselves.  It is comparable to steroids.  In terms of the steroid problem, the manufacturers who made the products too readily available were to blame, the doctors who allowed the players to take them were to blame, the managers and players who knew about it but didn’t say anything were to blame, the owners who knew about it but enjoyed their revenue flow too much to say anything were to blame, and many fans and journalists who showed their apathy with their checkbooks were to blame.  So many people were to blame, and these other people and sources enabled the culture, but who took the steroids?  The players.  Yes, the influences on these players from outside sources were not positive, and there were pressures on the players to take steroids, but at the end of the day, it was the players who stuck needles into themselves.

The same situation exists in college football.  There is no way that Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and Pete Carroll, among others, did not know that something was amiss.  Reggie Bush came from a poor family, and when he began driving Escalades and Corvettes to practice, Carroll knew indirectly if not directly that something was being done that wasn’t quite right, or legal.  The coaches knew.  The athletic directors had to know.  Obviously the agents knew.  However, even though the problem could have been stymied by all these sources, the fact is that the first move was made by the players themselves.  Reggie Bush didn’t need to take the money, the cars, and the house.  He didn’t need to handicap his program for years after his departure, he didn’t need to jeopardize his program’s 2006 National Championship, and he didn’t need to risk his own Heisman Trophy.  He knew it was wrong, he knew the possible sanctions, and HE ACCEPTED THE IMPROPER BENEFITS.   Nick Saban said in his press conference, “How would you feel if someone did this to your son or daughter?”  Nick, the fact is that these college students are adults who can make their own decisions and need to accept responsibility for these decisions.  These players aren’t puppets to whom something is “done” without their control.  Opportunities are presented (some of them illegal) and these players decide to put their interests ahead of that of their university, their coaches, and their teammates.  Therefore, the root of the problem is the players themselves, with the influence of the agents dependent upon the consent of the players themselves.

How can this problem be fixed?  First, the player needs to be addressed.  However, at this point, the player already faces heavy sanctions if discovered during his college career.  He loses his eligibility immediately and is unable to resume college play.  The only problem with this strong sanction is that most players engaging with agents are planning to move to the NFL, and therefore their eligibility isn’t extremely important to them.  The next and more important step is to heavily penalize the schools themselves.  For example, in the USC case, if a precedent was set in the form of a vacated National Championship and, say, a 10 year ban from bowl play, a message would be sent to coaches and athletic directors that this behavior and acceptance will not be tolerated, and that heavy, program handicapping penalties will ensue.  If these type of penalties are established, there will no longer be coaches and AD’s looking the other way on these cases the way Pete Carroll and Urban Meyer appear to have done.  These coaches will instead seek out the problems in order to quell them before the NCAA can find out and impose sanctions on the program.

The next way to address the problem is to address the agents.  If an agent is caught with a player in college, his license should be suspended for five years.  Players in the NFL who have hired these agents will have to find new agents if their agents are caught with college players.  This solution will do two important things.  First, it will discourage many agents from attaching to college players, because while the rewards will still be there, the risks will be significantly higher, and because of the steps I defined in the previous paragraph, the chance of being caught will be much higher.  In addition, agents would be much less likely to associate themselves with college players because their existing clients will be likely to switch agents if they knew of their agents’ dealings with college players in the past.  These NFL players will not want to face the possibility of their agent being taken from them without their control, and thereby some will leave their agents on their own terms in order to find a more stable option (ie. an agent who will not get his license suspended at an arbitrary time because he does not deal with college players).  These two consequences of this proposed regulation will invariably force the corrupt agents from the sport and will quickly clean the image of the college football stars, and that of college football itself.

ON THE CLOCK Draft Analysis: New York Jets

Yesterday, I began my NFL draft analysis with the New York Giants.  Today, I will analyze the New York Jets 2010 NFL draft.

NEEDS ENTERING THE DRAFT: The Jets are not a team with any big needs at this point.  The team had the best defense and best running game in the league last year, and the only thing holding the team back was the quarterback, Mark Sanchez.  However, Sanchez was drafted in the First Round last year and appears to be the future at quarterback in New York.  The Jets do have some holes to fill, however.  After the departure of CB Lito Sheppard and RB Leon Washington, the Jets could use servicable players at these positions to supplement Darrelle Revis and Shonn Greene, respectively.  The Jets did pick up LaDainian Tomlinson as well this offseason.

STRENGTHS ENTERING THE DRAFT: CB, RB, LB

NEW YORK JETS PICKS:

1st Round: Kyle Wilson- CB Boise State

2nd Round: Vladimir Ducasse- OT Massachusetts

4th Round: Joe McKnight- RB USC

5th Round: Joe Conner- FB Kentucky

For a draft in which the Jets had both few needs and few picks, the team did a good job.  A good cornerback to line up across the field from All-Pro Darrelle Revis was necessary given the departure of Lito Sheppard (released March 4th, 2010), and the drafting of Kyle Davis was a great pick for the Jets.  Some analysts have said that Wilson is the best pure corner in this year’s draft, even above Florida’s Joe Haden, who was drafted in the Top 10.

The drafting of USC running back Joe McKnight is the other pick that I liked.  McKnight is a speedy, shifty, potentially electrifying running back who can replace Leon Washington last year.  In addition, with the acquisition of LaDainian Tomlinson, one of the best running backs of all time, McKnight will have the chance to be mentored by one of the best of all time.

MY GRADE: C+  The Jets did what they could with only 4 picks, but did nothing too significant.

NCAA Coaching Update

It has been a busy day and past week in the college basketball coaching realm.

First, Al Skinner was fired from Boston College today, after interviewing for the St. John’s coaching vacancy.  However, Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo asserted that the interview with St. John’s was not the reason for the firing, as it was for former Boston College head football coach Jeff Jagodzinski prior to last year’s season.

Regarding the St. John’s head coaching vacancy, ESPN analyst and former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin will become the next Red Storm head coach.

Oregon has gone after 2 Big 10 coaches in Tom Izzo of Michigan State and Tubby Smith of Minnesota.  Neither coach has commented on the possibility of coaching at Oregon, but Izzo has denied communication with Oregon.

UTEP hired former USC head coach Tim Floyd to fill the program’s coaching vacancy.  Tim Floyd incurred several NCAA regulations violations for USC before his resignation, which was likely due to the punishments facing him as well as the USC program.

Last week, Iowa has hired former Siena head coach Fran McCaffrey (graduate of La Salle College High School) to be the next Hawkeye head coach, and he will replace former Iowa head coach Todd Lickliter, who was the Butler head coach before leaving for Iowa.

The Trickle Down Effect of Jim Mora Jr.’s Firing

On Friday, January 8th, 2010, Jim Mora Jr. was fired after only one season as Seattle Seahawks head coach.  After compiling a 5-11 record, Jim Mora Jr. was hastily replaced by USC head coach Pete Carroll.  Pete Carroll had led the USC program to be one of the best in the country, and was in a prime location for recruiting and coaching, among other things.  So one may ask, “Why would Carroll leave a prime college coaching position at USC to coach in the pros at a mediocre Seattle Seahawks organization that just fired its first year head coach, and prior to that did not fire, but had been pressuring long time head coach Mike Holmgren to resign for years?” 

There is no doubt about it, the USC head coaching job is a better job than the Seahawks coaching job.  Carroll did not leave the USC program to upgrade.  Instead, Carroll was escaping the bad situation that he created at USC.  The USC football program is currently under investigation for the Joe McKnight controversy, which concerns running back Joe McKnight’s illegal use of an SUV.  This action is considered an illegal benefit of being an NCAA athlete and is a major NCAA violation.  If the allegations are proven, USC could be forced to vacate wins and relinquish future scholarships, which could have negative impacts on the program many years down the road.  Therefore, Pete Carroll left a top job in the country to be the head coach at Seattle in order to escape possible NCAA sanctions.

How can the NCAA prevent coaches from escaping these situations and leaving all the problems with the university they left?  The most effective solution would be to have the sanctions tied to the coaches even if they leave their program.  In the Pete Carroll case, any sanctions issued by the NCAA would be issued to both USC and Pete Carroll.  Therefore, if Carroll were to return to the NCAA level as a head coach, his sanctions would be applied to that university. 

This solution would do three things.  First, it would limit the amount of NCAA violations that do occur, as head coaches would now be held personally responsible for any and all violations that occur within the program.  Second, this solution would limit the amount of coaches that would leave the university in order to escape the violations incurred, because the coaches would still remain responsible.  Third, it would limit the amount of coaches who have committed violations from returning to the NCAA.  College football programs would be much less likely to hire coaches like Pete Carroll because of the effect the sanctions would have on their football programs.  This trend would make the college football coaching ranks much cleaner and would result in less violations and subsequent sanctions.  This solution is the best way to clean up college football recruiting and the treatment of its players.

After the Seahawks’ hire of Pete Carroll, the USC coaching job was open.  After consulting with a few big name head coaches, including Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio, USC decided to pursue Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin, who served as an assistant at USC from 2001-2006 before becoming the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2007.  Lane Kiffin spent one year at Tennessee, and helped to rebuild the program after the departure of long time head coach Philip Fulmer.  He caused controversy in the SEC, as he called out Florida and head coach Urban Meyer multiple times on his recruiting, his lack of maturity, and the annual Florida vs. Tennessee game.  However, Kiffin decided that it would be in his best interests to return to USC, this time as the head coach, as he said that he would have stayed at Tennessee if any job was offered to him other than USC. 

This development was not well received at the University of Tennessee.  There were many students, players, and alumni who were rioting in downtown Knoxville.  Freshman Philadelphia native Matt McCullough has first hand accounts of the mass chaos on the Tennessee campus.  Let me first say that Matt had NO part in the illegal riots.  He noted that students were burning mattresses, football players were burning t-shirts with Lane Kiffin pictured on them, and students gathered around the athletic department building in hopes of keeping Kiffin from leaving campus.  He also noted that the “Rock” was filled with profane message directed at Kiffin that cannot be expressed on this blog.  Tennessee is a place that revolves around its football program, and such a major decision and betrayal by the coach prompted these riots and chaos.

USC is getting a coach in Kiffin that is extremely intense and fiery when it comes to football.  While he may not always be politically correct, Kiffin is a coach who will revitalize interest in a program and get the student body excited about football.  He has shown himself to be a very good recruiter, although it is still to be seen after an investigation whether or not Kiffin did his phenomenal recruiting job within NCAA standards.  USC is getting a coach who knows the program and is genuinely excited about college football.

Where can Tennessee go from here?  It is actually a difficult situation for Tennessee.  Most of the hiring in college football took place about 1 month ago, and many of the top coaching options for Tennessee are already settled for next year.  Assistant Kippy Brown will take over as interim head coach, but Tennessee is trying to reach out to some big name coaches.  Long time Philip Fulmer is a potential candidate to return, and some sources suggest “coach in waiting” at Texas Will Muschamp will be contacted.  However, it appears that Tennessee may have a hard time finding a big name head coach quickly, and this development, along with the potential NCAA sanctions headed Tennessee’s way, may negatively affect the strong recruiting class that Lane Kiffin produced.     

Only 4 days after Jim Mora Jr. was fired in Seattle (which at the onset did not appear to be a big story), has now led to the resignation of Pete Carroll at USC, the resignation of Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, and the head coaching positions of the Seattle Seahawks and USC to be filled by Carroll and Kiffin respectively.  The future of USC is fairly uncertain due to the impending Joe McKnight investigation, and the future of Tennessee is even more uncertain due to potential recruiting violations and the head coaching vacancy.  It will be interesting to see how the future of these two reputable programs will be affected by the major changes, and how Pete Carroll will perform as head coach in Seattle.

Lane Kiffin

BREAKING NEWS ALERT:  Tonight, Lane Kiffin has agreed in principle to become the next USC head football coach.

Christmas Weekend Bowl Preview

The first of three bowl’s December 26th is the Little Caesar’s Bowl (1PM), which will pair Marshall of Conference USA and Ohio from the MAC.  Ohio is 9-4 this season and won the MAC East.  Marshall started the season strong, but struggled in Conference USA play and finished the season 6-6 after going 1-3 to end the season.  Marshall is playing without a coach, as Coach Mark Snyder resigned after the Herd’s final regular season game.  Defensive coordinator Rick Minter will coach under the interim tag for this game.

Ohio is led by quarterback Theo Scott and talented running back/kick returner Chris Garrett.  Marshall will need to key on Chris Garrett in an effort to make Ohio a one-dimensional team.  The defense will need to eliminate Garrett’s impact make slightly nicked-up Theo Scott be the one to beat them.  This will be the only way Marshall will be able to stay in the game.  Marshall’s offense is led by quarterback Brian Anderson and running back Darius Marshall.  Anderson has solid passing numbers, but has a mediocre TD-INT ratio.  The Ohio defense will look to exploit Anderson in the passing game.

This game will come down to turnovers and which team’s running back can impose his will on the other defense.  Ohio is just too talented of a team for Marshall to compete with for 60 minutes.

My prediction:  Ohio 31-Marshall 14

The 4PM game is the Meineke Car Care Bowl, which pairs Pittsburgh and North Carolina.  This could be one of the best bowl games of the season, and a very difficult one to predict.  Pittsburgh has an extremely explosive offense, and North Carolina has one of the top 10 defenses in the country.  North Carolina has struggled at times on offense, but Pittsburgh’s defense has not been very consistent this year.  Every time I think about this game, I switch from picking Pitt to picking UNC, and then back to Pitt.  Will Bill Stull and Dion Lewis impose their will on the North Carolina defense, or will UNC’s defense stop the explosive Pitt offense?  The other big question is whether or not the UNC offense will show up and play well.

My prediction may change by gametime, but I think the UNC defense will stop the Pitt offense, and the UNC offense will do just enough to win the game.  My prediction:  UNC 27-Pitt 21 

The final game of the day is the Emerald Bowl, where USC will battle Boston College.  The game will be played at San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park.  This game is an interesting matchup in that both teams have not played to their potential this  year.  USC looks to erase the disappointment of a 5th place finish in the Pac-10 with a bowl victory.  It is not certain whether or not Joe McKnight will be cleared to play yet, but he would be a big part of USC’s offensive attack.  Another key to the game will be quarterback Matt Barkley’s response to his first career bowl appearance.  Boston College will rely on Montel Harris, who set the school rushing record this year with 1,355 yards and 13 TDs. 

My prediction:  Boston College’s Montel Harris will run free on the USC defense that has struggled against the talented runners this year.  BC 30-USC 17.

The only game Sunday, 12/27 is Clemson vs. Kentucky in the Music City Bowl.  This game will be a matchup of the ACC runner up and a middle of the road SEC team.  Kentucky has played many solid games this year; with a few good wins and a few tough losses against good teams.  This game comes down to if Kentucky can stop Clemson running back CJ Spiller.  Kentucky’s defense has not looked stellar this year against the run, and I think that will be the difference in the game.

My prediction:  Clemson 28-Kentucky 21

The Mountain West?

The Mountain West has 5 teams playing in bowl games this season:  Wyoming, BYU, Utah, Air Force, and TCU.  The Mountain West has been the conference that many people think is simply the best mid-major conference, but not competitive on the national scale.  TCU’s undefeated record has been called out by many college football fans on account of little or no competition.  However, before someone passes judgement on the talent of the Mountain West, one must look at the success the conference in the recent bowl games.  Wyoming played the first bowl game of the season and shockingly defeated Fresno State, who was highly favored in the game.  Then BYU crushed Oregon State 44-20.  Finally, last night, Utah defeated Cal, 37-27 in a virtual home game for Cal at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium.

Air Force will play Houston December 31st at 12 PM.  TCU will close the Mountain West bowl season January 4th against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.  If the Mountain West wins at least one of its last two games, it would be time to consider the possibility that the Mountain West in better than at least one of the major conferences.  The Mountain West has arguably 3 upsets already, and Air Force looks to be an underdog against Houston.  TCU will be the lone Mountain West team that is favored in its bowl game, but that is only because the BCS tried to save itself by pairing the two non-BCS conference teams against each other, TCU and Boise State.  If TCU played any other team in one of the BCS bowls, the Horned Frogs would be underdogs.  Therefore, one more bowl win by the Mountain West would put the conference at 4-1 in the bowl season with at least three upsets.  With this postseason resume, the Mountain West would deserve consideration as one of the top 6 conferences in the country. 

Compare the Mountain West with the Pac-10, which is currently 0-2 in the bowl season with two losses to Mountain West teams.  Cal lost to Utah by 10, and Oregon State lost to BYU by 24.  As mentioned, both Mountain West winners were underdogs in the games, but these teams beat two Pac-10 opponents by a combined 34 points.  There is certainly something to be said for that.  The Pac-10 was extremely down this year, as USC finished 5th in conference.  The Pac-10 struggled mightily as a conference on defense this year, and that weakness was exposed by Utah and BYU. 

The Pac-10 has 5 remaining bowl games.  USC will play Boston College, UCLA will play Temple, Stanford will play Oklahoma, Arizona will play Nebraska, and Oregon will play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl Game.  The Pac-10 would be doing well if it went 3-2 in these five games, and it is probable that the conference will go under .500 for its remaining games.  USC and Boston College is a toss up, but I think USC will win that game.  UCLA v. Temple will be a good game, but I think Temple will win that game.  Stanford has no defense, and that will hurt the Cardinal against Oklahoma.  Nebraska has one of the best defenses in the country, and Arizona will have trouble moving the ball against the best defense it has seen this year.  Oregon has not played a defense as strong as Ohio State this year, but when Oregon played Boise State, granted it was early in the season, it Duck offense could not move the ball well against the Bronco defense. 

So even if the conference went 3-2 in its remaining games, which would be arguably the best case scenario, that would only put the Pac-10 at 3-4 for the bowl season.  That would mean that the Pac-10 would have less wins in 7 games than the Mountain West does in 5.  Couple that with the fact that the Mountain West gave the Pac-10 2 of its losses, the games in which both Mountain West teams were underdogs, and one must consider the possibility that the Mountain West is a better football conference than the Pac-10.

What is the sixth best college basketball conference?

It is a commonly held belief that the top six college basketball conferences are the six major conferences: Big East, ACC, Big 10, Big XII, SEC, and Pac-10.  However, there is one conference that has seemed to go under the radar over the past few years.  This conference consistently has solid teams at the top and gets 2-3 teams in the NCAA tournament each year.

This is the Atlantic 10 conference (A-10).  Teams such as Xavier, Temple, Dayton, and George Washington have had recent success on the national scale.  Considered by many to be a “mid-major,” the A-10 has consistently competed with power conferences.  Sean Miller, now the coach at Arizona, built the Xavier program to be a annual contender.  Fran Dunphy has led Temple to 2 straight A-10 titles and 2 subsequent NCAA tournament appearances.  Coach Dunphy hopes to return the program to the prominence it had under John Chaney.  Dayton has consistently provided quality teams with trouble, and won its opening round game last year against West Virginia of the Big East, which was supposedly the best conference of all time.  George Washington was ranked as high as 6th in the 2005-2006 season  and made three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 2004-2005 to 2006-2007.  St. Joseph’s was a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and reached the Elite 8 in the 2003-2004 season.  These are just a few recent highlights of the A-10′s success on the national stage.

This year, the A-10 looks to be as deep as ever.  There may not be the one dominant team, such as  Xavier recently and Temple in the 90s.  However, the conference has 4 potential NCAA tournament contenders, and 10 of the 14 teams appear to be solid this year.  Teams that most years are  bottomfeeders in the conference, such as Richmond and La Salle, are talented this year and have chances, with strong conference play, to make an NCAA tournament run.  Richmond beat #13 ranked Florida Saturday, December 19th and is 8-3 this season.

Another impressive win for the A-10 December 19th was UMass over Memphis.  In addition, Xavier lost by one on the road at Butler, which was decided by a controversial call at the end of regulation which prevented Xavier from having a last second attempt at the win.  The week before, Xavier beat Cincinnati in a rivalry game on the road.  That same week Temple beat third ranked Villanova in a classic Big 5 matchup.  These are only a few examples of A-10 victories over perennial big name schools. 

The A-10 doesn’t just schedule cupcake games during the non-conference; these teams try to schedule strong opponents to prove themselves in big games in front of the whole country.  Temple schedules one of the tougest non-conferences schedules in the country each year.  The rest of the conference follows Temple’s lead.  For example,  this year, Xavier’s non-conference schedule includes Marquette, Baylor, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Wake Forest, LSU, and Butler.  La Salle plays Villanova, Kansas, and Oklahoma State non-conference this year.  Dayton plays Georgia Tech, Villanova, and Kansas State. Finally, Temple plays Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Villanova, Seton Hall, and Kansas in the non-conference.  The A-10 has shown that it can handle these types of non-conference schedules and is a viable conference, as 12 of 14 teams are over .500, and 11 of 14 teams are at least 2 games over .500.  The Atlantic 10 Conference is the sixth best conference in the country.

If the A-10 is the sixth best, which major conference is to be knocked from the sixth spot? The Pacific 10 Conference (Pac-10).  The Pac-10 includes classic college basketball powerhouses such as Arizona and UCLA.  However, these two teams currently own the two worst records in the Pac-10 this year.  The Pac-10 only has one ranked team, which is Washington, ranked 24th in the AP Poll.  The rest of the conference has been very inconsistent.  Washington and Washington State are the only two teams who have less than 3 losses.  The best team in the Pac-10 may be USC, who was abysmal in the beginning of the season, but defeated Tennessee Saturday to extend its win streak to three games.

Therefore, with the depth of the A-10 this year, and the lack of firepower in the Pac-10, the A-10 has become the sixth best conference in the country.  This change did not come out of nowhere, however.  The A-10 has steadily improved recently.  The conference now provides substantially competition, produces solid teams and programs, and draws recruits to these strong programs.  College basketball fans need to take another look at power and strength of the A-10.  While it may not be the Big East, it is the farthest thing from a mid-major.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my updated College Basketball Top 25 rankings.

The Inadequacies of the BCS

In this entry I will explain how the BCS bowl system does not give all teams a fair chance to win the National Championship.  In addition, I will evaluate the system based upon how the current playoff system affects the college football regular season negatively.

The college football postseason system that is currently in place does not meet the expectations of college football fans.  First, not all teams have an opportunity to win the National Championship.  For example, teams from non-BCS conferences, meaning those from conferences other than the SEC, Big XII, Big Ten, Big East, PAC 10, and ACC, may go undefeated and still not even have the opportunity to play for a National Championship.  Only three seasons ago, the Boise State Broncos, from the Western Athletic Conference, or WAC, went undefeated.  However, the team was not placed in the BCS Championship Game but the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.  Boise State played one of the most flawless games in college football history and defeated the mighty Oklahoma Sooners to cap a perfect season.  The BCS Committee decided that Boise State did not deserve a chance to play for a National Championship, instead of letting the teams decide that for themselves.

Last season, the Utah Utes, from the Mountain West Conference, also played an undefeated regular season.  The team was assigned to the Sugar Bowl against the formidable Alabama Crimson Tide, who had lost in a nail biting game in the SEC conference championship to the eventual National Champion Florida Gators.  Utah outplayed Alabama in every aspect of the game, even though nearly every expert thought that Utah could not match up with Alabama’s size.  The BCS Committee decided that Utah did not deserve a chance in the BCS Championship Game.

These examples of small teams defeating some of the country’s best teams are numerous.  However, these teams enter spring practices knowing that they can not become National Champions.  That is not was the NCAA is about.  The NCAA claims to focus on giving all student athletes the opportunities to succeed.  This is not the case in college football.  The injustice does not end there.  Extremely talented teams, often with one loss, do not have a chance to prove that they are the best team in college football.

For example, nearly every year, the USC Trojans have one loss, often against a lesser foe that the team seems to “look past.”  Each year, there are either two undefeated teams from BCS conferences, or one loss teams from the SEC or Big XII that play in the National Championship instead of USC.  Last year, Penn State was beaten by one point, in one game, by a field goal made with one second left, on the road against Iowa.  Why does Penn State not have a chance at the National Championship? Why does USC not have chance at the National Championship?  Because the way the BCS bowl system is arranged, only two teams enter the postseason with a chance to become champions.  The system in place today does not meet the high standards demanded by such an entertaining sport.

While most college football fans realize that the BCS does not give all teams opportunities to win the National Championship, most do not realize that the BCS affects the regular season negatively as well.  The poor setup of the postseason affects the quality of play in the regular season.  Teams know full well going into each season that one loss can end their BCS hopes.  Therefore, teams often lighten their schedules in order to eliminate the chances of losses.  For example, Penn State’s 2009 out of conference schedule included the following: Akron, Syracuse, Temple, and Eastern Illinois.  Those four teams are horrific, and the team that had the closest point differential against Penn State was Syracuse with 21.  Why does Penn State do this?  The athletic director and coaches know that if the team plays Florida and Oklahoma out of conference and loses to either one of those teams, another one loss Big XII or SEC team would still top Penn State’s bid for the BCS National Championship Game.  Why should Penn State take such chances?  Realistically, they should not.  Therefore, Penn State focuses solely on going undefeated in regular season play and hopes that other big name teams lose so that Penn State can sneak into the title game.

Who loses when teams soften their schedules in this way?  The fans.  The reason college football is considered the most entertaining sport with the most entertaining regular season is because fans can watch marquee games every week with big name programs squaring off.  That trend is changing.  With the scheduling the way it is now, it is rare to see a non-conference game between two highly ranked teams.  Therefore, in college football today, the BCS system is even affecting the regular season in a negative way.

The answer to this problem is to create a college football playoff system.  For my take on what type of playoff system is best for college football, see my December 2^nd blog entry, “Why College Football Needs a Playoff System…And Why an 8 Team System is not the Answer.”