Current bowl system is good for football

By By Stan Torgerson / sports columnist
Jan. 5, 2003
Would you like to know why the SEC commands so much respect around the country? There were seven SEC teams invited to postseason play. Six of the seven were favored to win by the Las Vegas wizards of odds. Five of them did. The one that was not a favorite, LSU, won the national championship.
Yes Tennessee and Florida played and acted badly. But Ole Miss was magnificent and there is little doubt after Eli Manning's performance against Oklahoma State that he is the best quarterback in the nation. And when you remember the Rebels lost to eventual BCS winner, LSU, by only three points you realize just how good this Rebel team was. Arkansas, Auburn and Georgia also did the league proud.
I, like many others, was greatly disappointed by Southern Mississippi's Liberty Bowl performance. Defensively they were as good as advertised. Offensively, it was their poorest game in years. Nevertheless, a great season for the Golden Eagles, despite the bad ending.
Now for the BCS debate.
If you want to argue about the need to determine a true national football champion and how the BCS is unfair, unwise, and unworkable, go find someone else. You'll get no sympathy from me.
We have just completed the finest bowl season within memory. Granted there were a few dog games but the vast majority of these games were well played, exciting and great television.
How does it get any better than the Ole Miss win over Oklahoma State? Or Georgia's dumb plays at the very end that almost gave their game to Purdue after the Dogs had the win all but locked up. Did you watch Minnesota's last second field goal that beat Oregon? Memory creators, every one.
There was a suggestion made by one of the "We can't live without determining the true national champion" group that the BCS be eliminated. In its place, they said, the NCAA should have a 16 team playdown after the season ended. The eleven conference champions would automatically get a berth and five at large teams should be selected to fill out the field.
Let's look at that.
There were 28 bowl games this year. That means 56 teams participated in post season play. Under the 16 team plan 40 of those teams would have spent the holidays at home. Ole Miss fans should realize that if the playdown had been in effect the Rebels might not have been in a post season game this year at all. Neither would Auburn, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, or Georgia. Memphis, North Texas State, Wisconsin, Boston College, Fresno State nor Bowling Green would not have the adventure of being on national television, nor would their players be wearing watches inscribed with the bowl's name and date as a prized memory of their collegiate football careers. I have a number of such watches from my announcing days. In fact I'm wearing one today. It is 20 years old but still looks great and runs well. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Nor for the experience of being there.
There are those who would argue there could be both, bowl games and the 16 team playdown. That is the ultimate in wishful thinking. Look what's happened to college basketball. The regular season is almost irrelevant. Even conference championships do not carry the clout they once did. The entire season revolves around getting to the NCAA tournament.
Think about college football as it is today. The incentive is to win six games because then you qualify for a bowl game. It is a goal every team sets for itself and they fight hard for it. If the colleges were to go to the 16 team foremat, what would be the motivation once it became apparent your school wasn't going to win their conference and, therefore, would be no opportunity for post season play?
And why do the schools owe it to the public to determine a national champion? The answer is they don't. These kids play an 11 or 12 game season. To go to the playdown format means the final two would be playing their 15th or 16th game of the year. The NFL plays only 16 regular season games and the wear and tear on their players is seen in the weekly injury lists. The pros are grown men. College players are in the 18-22 year old age group. In this era of 300 pound linemen and 250 pound running backs you'll have trouble justifying to me the physical effect on those young bodies.
Finally, under today's system the minimum payout for a bowl game is $750,000 per team. That money is important to all schools large or small. Ole Miss received $3 million for playing in the Cotton Bowl. I believe Southern Mississippi earned about a million. Other schools in their respective conference earned sizeable amounts. It is usually share and share alike. This year the SEC had seven bowl teams. Do you think having just one, two at the max, would generate the same dollars? Of course not.
Leave well enough alone. The system ain't broke so don't try to fix it.