Remember when CFB on New Year's day mattered? BCS f'ed it up

[Q, West Coast Style]

The sad irony about the BCS is that not only did it fail in fixing the main flaw with the old system, the inability to consitently crown a clear NC, but in the process it wiped out what was good with the old system, a great New Year's day of football.

Remember 1993 (January 1, 1994 actually)? The day started with 1 loss Notre Dame playing TAM in the Cottom Bowl with the Irish still hoping for a possible share of the title even though they had been passed in the polls by the 1 loss FSU they had beaten. Notre Dame won in a great game. In the Sugar Bowl unbeaten West Virgina played Florida to try and make their argument. They got squashed but they had their chance. And in the Orange Bowl, heavily favored FSU Gatoraded Bobby Bowden before unbeated Nebraska's would have been game winning field goal missed at the horn. Also that day, Wisconsin beat UCLA in a decent Rose Bowl. All on the same day.

So on January 1, 1994 we ended up with a 1 loss FSU winning the MNC instead of Notre Dame even though Notre Dame beat FSU, BUT we had a damn fine New Year's day of football.

Now in 2009 we have a one loss Oklahoma playing for the MNC instead of a one loss Texas even though Texas beat Oklahoma. And we have the whole USC and Florida issues as well.

Is that worth giving up our New Year's day of compelling football?

Under the old system yesterday would have looked something like this . . .

Rose: USC (Pac-10 Champ) v Penn State (Big 11 Champ). Same.

Orange: Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ) v. Alabama (At large)

Sugar: Florida (SEC Champ) v. Texas (At Large)

Fiesta: Utah (At large) v. Ohio State (At large)

Cotton: Texas Tech v. TCU or Boise State

[.m2]

In.














the truth

[Degenerate]

What do you mean? Nothing evokes the passions of CFB on Jan. 1 like VT with Frank the Goiter vs. a Cinictucky commuter school who normally plays in a high school stadium.

Nice attempt by FOX not to show the upper deck of the stadium last night.

[The Seer]

Fuck the BCS. I've had it.

Bama-Utah tonight? Of course I'll watch and of course I want the Tide to win big.

But it means shit.

The pairings Q posted above make sense. The fuckin' old system woulda worked out better than this mess.

Something has got to be done.

I would put a lot of money on the Utes and the points....

[RadioFan]

Nice attempt by FOX not to show the upper deck of the stadium last night.

Exactly.

Last night's Orange Bowl was the most pathetic excuse for a "major" bowl game I have ever seen. Not to mention it was the game's 75th anniversary.

I think about half the crowd left during the halftime show, seriously. The entire club level of the stadium looked empty, along with much of the upper section and large sectons of even the lower section.

The coverage was an absolute joke. Announcers kept trying to make the game out to be something that the viewer should care about, with two teams nobody gives a shit about playing in a half-filled stadium. Fucking sad, really.

I turned it off during the second half to watch the Twilight Zone marathon, literally.

Oh and btw, it wasn't the 75th anniversary of the "FedEx Orange Bowl," it was the 75th anniversary of the "Orange Bowl." I never remembered Miami and Nebraska "doing it on both the ground and in the air" back in the day. The quasi-corporate revisionist history ad nauseum was a special touch.

How stupid does TV/corporate CEOs think we are?

Fucking jackasses.

[indyfrisco]

I actually went to the garage and played Guitar Hero for the first time on my Wii after the Rose Bowl. Did not watch one second of the Orange.

[War Wagon]

Oh and btw, it wasn't the 75th anniversary of the "FedEx Orange Bowl," it was the 75th anniversary of the "Orange Bowl."

Yeah, that was pissing me off too. They said something about the 1942 "FedEx Orange Bowl" being a classic. I'm like, FedEx didn't exist in 1942... but I guess these sponsors who payout millions in fees have a right to demand just about whatever assinine revisionist history they want.

That's what it all comes down to. Money. The BCS teams receive an astonishing $17 mil each, compared to the highest paying non BCS bowl teams get like $4.25 mil each. I'm not sure if they have to split that with their conference, probably so.

We can bitch and moan all day and all night about how "they" fucked up the Bowl system and need a playoff, but "they" is the conference commisioners and AD's charged with bringing in revenue to their respective universities. As long as the money keeps rolling in, "they" ain't changing jack.

And as for who gives a fuck about an Orange Bowl with Cin - VT... degenerate gamblers and those trying to win their office pool (s'up, me). I needed VT to win that game and enjoyed it immensely.

[RadioFan]

We can bitch and moan all day and all night about how "they" fucked up the Bowl system and need a playoff, but "they" is the conference commisioners and AD's charged with bringing in revenue to their respective universities. As long as the money keeps rolling in, "they" ain't changing jack.

True. Though I can't believe the ratings were anything to brag about last night. If that continues, something is bound to change.

Btw, 16,000 no-shows at kickoff last night amid discounted ticket prices for the first time ever, according to the Miami Herald. There were 2 to 3 times that many gone by halftime, I'd be willing to bet.

Oh, and I'm with Mace. Wasn't in a pool and had no idea what the score was, nor do I care.

[SunCoastSooner]

Fuck the BCS and fuck the old system as well. Give me the playoffs...

[GreginPG]

I actually went to the garage and played Guitar Hero for the first time on my Wii after the Rose Bowl. Did not watch one second of the Orange.

Me too. Watching the Orange Bowl I mean. Was playing on Wii but not Guitar Hero.

[Terry in Crapchester]

The sad irony about the BCS is that not only did it fail in fixing the main flaw with the old system, the inability to consitently crown a clear NC, but in the process it wiped out what was good with the old system, a great New Year's day of football.

Remember 1993 (January 1, 1994 actually)? The day started with 1 loss Notre Dame playing TAM in the Cottom Bowl with the Irish still hoping for a possible share of the title even though they had been passed in the polls by the 1 loss FSU they had beaten. Notre Dame won in a great game. In the Sugar Bowl unbeaten West Virgina played Florida to try and make their argument. They got squashed but they had their chance. And in the Orange Bowl, heavily favored FSU Gatoraded Bobby Bowden before unbeated Nebraska's would have been game winning field goal missed at the horn. Also that day, Wisconsin beat UCLA in a decent Rose Bowl. All on the same day.

So on January 1, 1994 we ended up with a 1 loss FSU winning the MNC instead of Notre Dame even though Notre Dame beat FSU, BUT we had a damn fine New Year's day of football.

Now in 2009 we have a one loss Oklahoma playing for the MNC instead of a one loss Texas even though Texas beat Oklahoma. And we have the whole USC and Florida issues as well.

Is that worth giving up our New Year's day of compelling football?

Under the old system yesterday would have looked something like this . . .

Rose: USC (Pac-10 Champ) v Penn State (Big 11 Champ). Same.

Orange: Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ) v. Alabama (At large)

Sugar: Florida (SEC Champ) v. Texas (At Large)

Fiesta: Utah (At large) v. Ohio State (At large)

Cotton: Texas Tech v. TCU or Boise State

Q,

Understand and appreciate the sentiment, but your history is a bit off.

Point One: the example you cited (1993 season) was not played under the old system, or at least, not under what we oldtimers would consider the "old system." It was played under the Bowl Coalition, the original predecessor of the BCS. The Bowl Coalition maintained the traditional bowl tie-ins (SEC champ to Sugar, Big 8 champ to Orange, SWC champ to Cotton), then provided a method by which the remaining bowl slots were filled out. The Coalition consisted of six bowls (Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, and second tier bowls Gator and Hancock -- now Sun). The teams included in the Coalition were the top 2 teams from the ACC, Big East, Big 8, SWC, #1 and #3 teams from the SEC, Pac-10 #2 and Notre Dame. Noteworthy exclusions from the Coalition were the #2 team from the SEC (matched up in the Citrus Bowl, now the Capital One Bowl, vs. the Big Ten #2), the Big Ten, and all non-BCS teams.

In between the Coalition and the BCS was the Bowl Alliance, which was basically the original BCS minus the Rose Bowl, Big Ten and Pac-10.

Lots of flux in college football during the 90's. We went from the original system (90 and 91 seasons) to the Coalition (92-94 seasons) to the Alliance (95-97 seasons) to the BCS (since 98).

It's also worth noting that one thing the BCS has done right, if you're a fan of the mid-majors, is to increase the access those teams have had to the big bowls. Prior to the BCS, one of those teams appearing in a New Year's Day bowl was a pipe dream. Remember the 1984 season? BYU finished unbeaten that year (the only team to do so), but instead of a New Year's Day Bowl, they wound up in the Holiday Bowl vs. a 6-5 Michigan team. If we were still under the old system, Utah or Boise State would have been in the Holiday Bowl against, I dunno, Rutgers or N.C. State.

Also, the trend toward f-ing up New Year's Day began with the Alliance. It used to be that no college football was played after New Year's Day, or January 2 if New Year's Day fell on a Sunday. The Alliance f-ed that up, in the interest of avoiding TV competition between the bowls.

Here's what we would have seen under each of the previous systems, imho:

Alliance
Orange (assumes that Orange Bowl had the championship game): Oklahoma (Big XII champ) vs. Florida (SEC champ)
Sugar: Alabama (at-large) vs. Virginia Tech (ACC champ)
Fiesta: Texas (at-large) vs. Cincinnati (Big East champ)

Non-alliance bowls of note:
Rose: Penn State (Big 10 champ) vs. USC (Pac-10 champ)

The Alliance matchups look somewhat similar to what we saw, except that the '06 expansion of the BCS added tOSU and Utah to the mix, and altered the matchups slightly.

Coalition
Orange: Oklahoma (Big 8 #1 -- tie-in) vs. Texas (SWC #2)
Sugar: Florida (SEC #1 -- tie-in) vs. Oklahoma State (Big 8 #2)
Cotton: Texas Tech (SWC #1 -- tie-in) vs. Cincinnati (Big East #1)
Fiesta: Oregon (Pac-10 #2) vs. Virginia Tech (ACC #1)
Gator: Georgia (SEC #3 -- tie-in) vs. Pittsburgh (Big East #2)
Sun: Georgia Tech (ACC #2) vs. Notre Dame

In determining these matchups, I presumed: (a) that the Big 8 and SWC still existed, with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State #1 and #2 in the Big 8 respectively, and Texas Tech and Texas #1 and #2 in the SWC, respectively); (b) that each bowl chose its at-large selections in the order of rank of available teams, subject to the Fiesta Bowl taking a conference champ (Virginia Tech) over that conference's runner-up (Georgia Tech) and subject to minor adjustments being made in the bowl selection process to avoid regular-season rematches (i.e., Texas Tech - Oklahoma State, Georgia - Georgia Tech and Pitt - ND; I didn't adjust Texas - Oklahoma due to the fact that the drop-off in at-large selections available after Texas was too significant).

Non-Coalition Bowls of note:

Rose: Penn State vs. USC
Capital One: Ohio State vs. Alabama

Old system
Rose: Penn State vs. USC
Orange: Oklahoma vs. Alabama
Sugar: Florida vs. Texas
Cotton: Texas Tech vs. Ohio State
Fiesta: Oklahoma State vs. Cincinnati (speculative, since the Big East didn't really exist in football prior to '91, otherwise, Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech, maybe Georgia)

Non-New Year's Day bowl games of note:

Holiday: Utah or Boise State vs. Rutgers or N.C. State

[Dinsdale]

Fuck the BCS and fuck the old system as well. Give me the playoffs...

If they stick with the current system... I'm OK with it.

If they go to an 8-team or whatever playoff... I'm OK with it...


And then we can bitch about the #9 and #10 teams getting the shaft over auto-bids and whatnot, instead of the #3-#6 teams bitching about getting the shaft.

I mean that would be a HUUUUGE departure from the current setup. :yup,they'rerolling:

[Vito Corleone]

I gotta agree with this 100%

I am currently finishing my basement, everything is done except for tiling the floor well my schedule was to binge on football on New years day and use the rest of the beginning of the month to work on the basement.

I sat down to watch what amounted to two games on Thursday and then I had to basically miss the Cotton Bowl just so I could watch the Sugar bowl.

I'm pissed cause I have to get this work done and I still have to make time to watch my own team on Monday. The chances of me getting to watch the MNC are almost zero since I have to be at CES next week. I'm extremely pissed

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Fuck the BCS and fuck the old system as well. Give me the playoffs...

If they stick with the current system... I'm OK with it.

If they go to an 8-team or whatever playoff... I'm OK with it...


And then we can bitch about the #9 and #10 teams getting the shaft over auto-bids and whatnot, instead of the #3-#6 teams bitching about getting the shaft.

I mean that would be a HUUUUGE departure from the current setup. :yup,they'rerolling:

People care about the top 3-4 teams, and that's about it. For example: OU, Texas, USC, and Florida...and maaaaaybe Utah. Nobody gives a flying fuck if #10 gets the shaft.