Myrtle Beach Sun News: Face it, the BCS works fine

[TopFrog]

Myrtle Beach Sun News: Face it, the BCS works fine

By Ron Morris

The silence is deafening. Millions of Bowl Championship Series critics have found hibernation for another winter and summer. Once again they were silenced by a system that worked.

No one who has watched any college football this season would argue with the BCS results: The two best teams in the country - Auburn and Oregon - will play for the national championship.

In case you have forgotten, the sole purpose of the BCS is to match the two best teams in the national championship game. After that, the BCS is charged with attempting to get the most interesting matchups in four other bowl games, but that is a secondary responsibility. ...

 

[dweller]

Yet another journalist who was not paying attention in his Language Arts class back in Middle School, who does not know the difference between FACT and Opinion. His stated FACT that the two best teams are playing for the MNC is only an opinion. hmy:

 

[HToady]

The Myrtle Beach Sun News? Surely a Pulitzer Prize winner!

 

[stevestamp]

So I guess Butler didn't deserve a shot at the
title last April since in your opinion Ron they
weren't as good as Duke.

 

[Gringo1873]

BCS #1 and #2 get to play in the National Championship. The system works!

 

[NetFrog2]

Yet another journalist who was not paying attention in his Language Arts class back in Middle School, who does not know the difference between FACT and Opinion. His stated FACT that the two best teams are playing for the MNC is only an opinion. hmy:

I completely disagree with this column, but it's a COLUMN. Not an ARTICLE. Columnists are paid to share their opinion, and there should be no expectation on the part of the reader that anything in a column is a specific fact unless the columnists specifically calls it that.

Unfortunately, fewer people seem to know the difference between a column and an article these days, in part because online media (and others like Fox News and MSNBC) have further blurred the line between the two.

 

[Delmonico]

Really, though, the BCS and its success should only be judged since 2006. That is when an additional BCS game was added to match the No. 1 and No. 2 teams. The system has worked without a hitch in all five games since.

Seriously? Like last year when we had FIVE undefeated teams? Yeah, system worked like a champ.

 

[ShreveFrog]

And forgetting whether the Auburn Cheatahs and Oregon Ducks are 1 & 2, how about an unranked 8-4 UConn and an ACC Champ finishing well out of the Top 10 with a loss to a dead president playing in BCS bowls. GMAB!

 

[dweller]

I completely disagree with this column, but it's a COLUMN. Not an ARTICLE. Columnists are paid to share their opinion, and there should be no expectation on the part of the reader that anything in a column is a specific fact unless the columnists specifically calls it that.

Unfortunately, fewer people seem to know the difference between a column and an article these days, in part because online media (and others like Fox News and MSNBC) have further blurred the line between the two.

"Please. Stop. Let the facts speak for themselves. Let the detractors - who far outnumber the proponents - scream from the beginning to end of the regular season about the inequities of it all. Let them cry for a playoff system that not only would not work, but will not happen. Let them shout about how the bowl system stinks"

Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/12/10/1860978/face-it-the-bcs-works-fine.html#ixzz17keB6bdI
Read the articla again, this is where he refered to his stated opinion as FACT.

 

[ectofrog]

This season-long "playoff" he speaks of is a curious one. TCU has been "eliminated" from said "playoff" two years in a row without ever losing a game. I guess the regular season retroactively resembles a playoff for some teams...but others haven't been as fortunate...teams who have been "eliminated" from these "playoffs" without ever losing include:

1998 Tulane (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2004 Auburn (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2004 Boise State (11-0, no chance to play for title)
2004 Utah (11-0, no chance to play for title)
2006 Boise State (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2007 Hawaii (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2008 Utah (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2008 Boise State (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2009 TCU (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2009 Boise State (13-0, no chance to play for title)
2010 TCU (12-0, no chance to play for title)

So in the 13 years we've been having this "playoff," ELEVEN teams have been eliminated from the national championship without ever losing a single game. In the case of TCU this season, they went undefeated in impressive fashion, beating teams by 32 points per game, and still only managed to move from #7 in the preseason polling to #3 in the final polls, while Oregon moved from #11 to #2 and Auburn moved from #22 to #1 (even though they struggled mightily to vanquish several unimpressive teams).

When you try to tell fans of this team that the college football season is a playoff, please understand when we tell you you're full of [Craig James].

 

[DannyAdelante]

Good post by ectofrog there. I hate that "the season is a playoff" argument. Two years ago Boise State and Utah won all of their "playoff" games. Oklahoma and Florida lost one each. Yet OU and UF proceed to the national championship game. Utah slaughter Alabama, and nothing is proven.

The BCS does not "work fine". No one complains about the NFL Playoffs, NBA Playoffs, NHL Playoffs, Champions League Soccer. I can't think of any other sport that would decide "you know what, this "teams playing each other on the field" thing is taking away from our season. Why can't we just play our own schedules and use opinion polls and a computer system to choose who plays in our championship games?" It's ridiculous.

If the NFL used this system, the 2008 Steelers, 2007 Giants, 2006 Colts and 2005 Steelers would never have made it to the Super Bowl.
If the Champions League had used this system, 2010 Inter Milan, 2007 AC Milan, 2005 Liverpool, and 2004 FC Porto would never have made it to the final.

If it works fine, why was there a split title in 2003? If it works fine, why did TCU still receive No. 1 votes last week? If it works fine, why did 2007 Kansas get in over 2007 Missouri, despite Missouri beating Kansas a week before the season ended? It doesn't work fine.

 

[gdu]

This season-long "playoff" he speaks of is a curious one. TCU has been "eliminated" from said "playoff" two years in a row without ever losing a game. I guess the regular season retroactively resembles a playoff for some teams...but others haven't been as fortunate...teams who have been "eliminated" from these "playoffs" without ever losing include:

1998 Tulane (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2004 Auburn (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2004 Boise State (11-0, no chance to play for title)
2004 Utah (11-0, no chance to play for title)
2006 Boise State (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2007 Hawaii (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2008 Utah (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2008 Boise State (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2009 TCU (12-0, no chance to play for title)
2009 Boise State (13-0, no chance to play for title)
2010 TCU (12-0, no chance to play for title)

So in the 13 years we've been having this "playoff," ELEVEN teams have been eliminated from the national championship without ever losing a single game. In the case of TCU this season, they went undefeated in impressive fashion, beating teams by 32 points per game, and still only managed to move from #7 in the preseason polling to #3 in the final polls, while Oregon moved from #11 to #2 and Auburn moved from #22 to #1 (even though they struggled mightily to vanquish several unimpressive teams).

When you try to tell fans of this team that the college football season is a playoff, please understand when we tell you you're full of [Craig James].

you left off 2009 Cincinnati