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3 Reasons to keep BCS … and three reasons not to – Metro US

3 Reasons to keep BCS … and three reasons not to

3 Reasons the BCS should stick around

1 The title games are usually pretty solid

On its propaganda websites, the BCS pats itself on the back for always matching the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country in the national championship game.

Obviously, that’s disingenuous — those claims are based on the BCS’ very own rankings.
But one thing is true:?The title game is usually a pretty solid matchup.

A playoff system has a problem: Theoretically, the big guns could get knocked off early, denying viewers potentially entertaining football. Because it consistently features great, big-name teams, the BCS final is appointment viewing.

2 National titles are in the beholder’s eye

Sure, TCU was denied a BCS national championship this year. But that’s really all it was denied. And so what?

We’re not that far removed from the days of split titles occurring every so often. One poll would name one team, another would name a different one. Neither brought home an undisputed crown, but both had plenty to crow about.

This year’s Horned Frogs won’t get rings. But they can rightfully lay claim to an undefeated season — not too shabby.

3 Who cares about the mid-majors?

Here are the teams TCU beat this season: Oregon State, Tennessee Tech, Baylor, SMU, Colorado State, Wyoming, BYU, Air Force, UNLV, Utah, San Diego State and New Mexico.
Yippee.

Outside of Utah (and Oregon State, kind of), there aren’t any true quality wins on that list. So sure, TCU didn’t lose. But they also didn’t do a lot of real winning.

Oregon and Auburn, meanwhile, played much tougher schedules. They deserve the prime-time title game the BCS is offering them.

3 Reasons the BCS needs to go — now

1 Small schools have basically no chance

You can debate whether or not TCU deserved a spot in the title game this year. But that’s only a small part of the problem.

Fact is, even if you tossed a few quality wins into the Horned Frogs’ book this year, they still wouldn’t have gotten past Auburn or Oregon.

2 It’s nothing like the other championships

Call us sticklers for consistency, but isn’t there something wrong with every single NCAA sport but one being decided in a similar fashion?

For the most part, it’s pretty simple: Qualify for tournament, win tournament, get championship. That’s how it is in basketball, hockey and baseball. But not football, for some reason.

Yes, it’s all about money. We get that. But how, ultimately, can the NCAA?justify simply selling off what could be its biggest product?

Schools from small conferences are simply at too big a disadvantage in the current system. Unless they’re one of just two unbeatens in any given season — relatively unlikely — they’re all but certain to be left out.

This year, we’re not complaining. But we might be next time.

3 A playoff is simply too good to pass up

Especially in the first few years, who wouldn’t watch just about every single game of a college football playoff?

Four teams, eight teams, 16 teams … whatever. At least until the novelty wore off, even the bad games would be drawing huge viewership — and lining the NCAA’s coffers.

And it would be fun! Teams like Butler and George Mason are the reason March Madness is so popular. For the first time, we’d get real Cinderellas on the gridiron. No way that’s a bad thing. metro