Nice article about the BCS

[untateve]

Bianchi: BCS mess needs to be fixed

Published December 4, 2006

 

Orlando Sentinel

 

The Florida Gators get to play for the national championship.

 

Good for them.

 

Bully for them.

 

Hooray for them.

 

An unbelievable climax to an inconceivable season.

 

The Gators earned it. They deserved it.

 

But you know what?

 

So did Boise State. So did Louisville. So did Wisconsin.

 

And so did Michigan.

 

That whining and whimpering you heard coming from Michigan is the

same whining and whimpering you'd have heard coming from Florida if

the Gators had been left out of the BC-Mess Championship Game.

 

On his weekly TV show, Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr took a swipe at the

way Florida Coach Urban Meyer postured and politicked to get into the

championship game.

 

"I don't care who gets selected," Carr said, "because I just think

that based on some of the comments the Florida coach has made in the

last two weeks -- campaigning strenuously for a berth in the

championship game -- and making some statements about Michigan that I

think were inappropriate. That certainly is going to stir a

controversy, and who knows what that's going to lead to."

 

Hopefully, it will lead to the downfall of a system that every year

creates more chaos than it answers questions. And, hopefully, it will

be the Gators who are the vocal proponents for change -- just as they

were last week when it appeared they would be the ones on the outside

looking in.

 

It was just a few days ago when it looked as if the Gators would

finish behind both USC and Michigan. That's when Meyer said the

system should be "imploded" and "blown up." That's when Florida's

Bernie Machen said he would begin lobbying other Southeastern

Conference presidents to do away with the BCS and move toward a

playoff system.

 

As late as Saturday night, after Florida won the SEC title with a

scintillating 38-28 victory over Arkansas, Machen again showed his

disgust with the system.

 

"We should be talking about going home tonight and packing," he told

reporters. "Instead, we're talking about style points and polls. It's

ridiculous."

 

Just because the Gators were lucky enough to get voted in doesn't

make it any less ridiculous. Just because a Hog named Fish --

Arkansas return man Reggie Fish -- turned into a goat doesn't mean

the system suddenly and miraculously worked.

 

The BCS remains so flawed that Meyer was blasting it again Sunday --

even though it worked in favor of his team.

 

"It's an imperfect system now," Meyer said, "and it's going to be

imperfect next year, too. If you want a true national championship,

you have to let the teams go play it on the field."

 

Most every year, it's the same sad scenario -- a deserving team (or

teams) gets left out of the championship mix, and the following

season the system is "tweaked" in order to make it better. Except

it's futile. The system has been tweaked more than Cher's cheekbones.

They can tweak it all they want; it's never going to get better.

 

It's like putting red lipstick and a pink teddy on a pig. Guess what?

It's still a pig.

 

The only thing missing from the inane process this year was hanging

chads, butterfly ballots and Katherine Harris in charge of counting

Harris Interactive votes.

 

The BCS advocates claim all this annual conversation is good for

college football. Yeah, right. Just because somebody is talking about

something doesn't make it right. There has been a lot of talk

recently about nuclear missiles in North Korea. That doesn't make it

a good thing.

 

It's a shame that Michigan won 11 games this year and is being made

to feel like a loser today. It's a shame it feels as if the

Wolverines are going to the Residue Bowl instead of the Rose Bowl.

It's a shame when great college programs get stiffed because of

convoluted computer programs.

 

So relish this opportunity, Florida.

 

Revel in it.

 

But, remember, there were other teams just as deserving.

 

There but for the Grace of God -- and three random variables in the

Colley Matrix computer formula -- go the Gators.

[detlef]

Good stuff here. Just curious, I've read that Lloyd Carr quote a few times. Does anyone have a quote of the "innapropriate" stuff that Meyer said?

[wiegie]

Good stuff here. Just curious, I've read that Lloyd Carr quote a few times. Does anyone have a quote of the "innapropriate" stuff that Meyer said?

 

I'm guessing that anything Meyer said that indicated Michigan didn't deserve to play in the NC game would be deemed "inappropriate" by Carr.