BCS Bowls and BCS Busters

BCS Busters?

I wanted to make a quick blog about this issue since I hear it so much on television. For the novice to college football, I will back up just a bit to explain what I am talking about:

In Division I-A (now called FBS, or FCW or ECW or WWE or CBS or something) there are several conferences, and currently 4 Independent schools. The “power” conferences are the big six, which consistently have the best teams in the nation. Those conferences are, not in any order, ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10 and SEC. From these schools come your national champions (in most cases).

But these are not the only conferences in Division IA, there are a few others. I mentioned there are 4 Independent schools, those being Navy, Army, Western Kentucky and Notre Dame (of which many read my blog on “The Fate of ND”)

But as mentioned, there are other conferences. These conferences include Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, The Mountain West Conference, Sun Belt Conference and the Western Athletic Conference. These conferences are known as the “lesser” power conferences, but I do not say that in any ill will to them.

When the NCAA began putting together the BCS, or Bowl Championship Series, it was designed originally to pit the best teams against each other, but initially it did not include the Rose Bowl. The Bowl and their contracted conferences, (Big 10 and Pac 10) didn’t want change, and was from the onset a problem to the BCS. The idea was to try to pit the #1 and #2 teams in a true Championship, but this was a problem if any team from the Pac 10 or Big 10 finished at the top.

But this was soon fixed and it then included the four major bowls, the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl. These bowls now seemed to be in unison that the NCAA could not present the fans of college football with a true National Championship. But the problem was that in doing that, the lesser conferences were left out of the picture.

This was ignored for a few years until teams like Fresno State, Boise State, TCU, Hawaii and others began to put pressure on the NCAA. It forced people to wonder, what if a team like that finished undefeated? Shall the NCAA ignore their success while catering to the “fat cats” of the BCS?

So taking another step, the NCAA created a fifth bowl, thus allowing 10 slots for Division I teams. The purpose for this fifth bowl was to allow room for a non-BCS team to compete in the major bowls instead of leaving them out. Now…having said that, it should be understood that if the NCAA created a fifth bowl FOR the opportunity for a non BCS team to get involved, then it stands to reason that these teams don’t have to “bust” in.

The term “BCS Busters” doesn’t make sense because to “bust” in is to intrude to enter where you were not allowed. To force entry. This is not the situation folks, because the bowl now gives PLACE to such a team that qualifies. If there is a question on this, it is, at this point of the year, WHO will be that team.

“Well why not all the teams that qualify?”

That sounds credible, especially now. If you check the current rankings you will see that currently 7 teams outside the BCS conferences are on the top 25. Of those, we focus more on the top 3, being Utah at #7, Boise State at #10 and Ball State at #14. But if you do the math, you know that with 5 major bowls, there is only room for 10 teams. So how might this play out, and how does this involve the non-BCS schools, or as some call them, “BCS Busters”.

To know how this works, you also must remember that there are certain rules that must be applied first. The first and foremost is that the National Championship game is called the FedEX BCS National Championship Game, which WILL take the #1 and #2 teams. They get the first pick, and if it ended today, we know it would be Alabama and Texas Tech.

But after that, it gets a little different.

You see, many of you assume that the second best bowl will take #3 and #4, in this case being #3 Texas vs. #4 Florida, but that is not quite how it works. There are a lot of sub plots going on that make these selections different, and it does impact the “BCS Busters”.

The order of the bowls this year (which rotate yearly) are: Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and BCS Championship, in reverse order. The greatest games being last. If the season ended today, the BCS Championship must place Alabama and Texas Tech in this bowl.

After that, certain things apply.

The second biggest game would then be the Fiesta bowl, which has a contractual obligation to the Big 12. This means that normally they would have to take the best Big 12 team, as per their contract with the conference. But this would be different, because this year, Texas Tech, a member of the Big 12, is in the National Championship. That means they are no longer obligated to take a Big 12 team….

But they COULD if they wanted to…and with Texas sitting right there at #3, it is very likely that they would take the Longhorns…but would they take Florida?

You’d think they would…but then there’d be another problem. Just as the Big 12 as a contract with the Fiesta Bowl, the SEC has a contract with the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar bowl has the right to the best SEC team UNLESS they are in the National Championship…and guess what. Alabama is an SEC team. So that then frees up the contractual obligation. On paper, it might seem that the Fiesta Bowl could indeed have the #3 and #4 teams compete.

Now keep in mind that with these 5 bowls, ALL of the power conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, SEC and Pac-10) MUST be involved. Right now we have two bowls, and four teams, but ironically they both pit the SEC vs. Big 12. So let’s just assume that for a moment and look at the third bowl and see how it plays out and how it involved the BCS Busters.

So the third bowl would then be the Sugar Bowl. As we mentioned, this bowl has an obligation to the SEC, but Alabama is in the National Championship. Normally we’d think that it would then select Florida, but we are not sure if the Fiesta Bowl will select them or not…I assure you, many fans would LOVE to see that matchup. But let’s assume that Florida goes to the Fiesta Bowl. Who then would the Sugar Bowl take?

If you go to the next team on the BCS Rankings, that would be Oklahoma at #5. The Sugar Bowl could have Oklahoma face the next team on the list, that being #6 USC, right?

Wrong.

This creates a problem, maybe two problems. To this point we still have not satisfied the ACC, Big East, Big 10 and Pac 10. Those four teams have to be in the BCS. While the Sugar Bowl could pick Oklahoma, it could not pick USC because the Rose Bowl has contractual obligations to both the Pac-10 AND the Big 10 conferences. And since neither is in the National Championship, they have the rights to both…meaning #6 USC and #8 Penn State.

We’ll get back to that in a sec, but that means the Sugar Bowl must select another team. THIS is where the non-BCS teams come in because Utah is currently ranked #7. This means that it is clearly possible for a non-BCS team to compete in the BCS bowl, that being the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Oklahoma vs. Utah…quite possible.

If things go as me mentioned, then the fourth bowl on the list is Orange Bowl, which is contractually obligated to the ACC. This means they must take the best ACC team into their bowl. This is interesting because right now, the best team in the ACC is UNC, way down there at #16. But the Orange Bowl would have to take them, and would also have the option of another team.

Now notice what just happened. IF this plays out like we mentioned, then the BCS bowls would then NOT be guaranteed to the top 10 teams, since UNC is ranked 16. This means that somebody in the top 10 will NOT be going to a major bowl. The Orange Bowl can’t drop UNC because they are obligated to the ACC, so they must now pick one of those top 10 teams. And since the highest ranked team left is #6 USC but we know they must be given to the Rose Bowl. #7 is taken (Utah) and #8 is Penn State, which is likely obligated to the Rose Bowl. This drops us down to #9 Boise State,

But that creates a problem.

Remember folks, the power conferences must all have a representative in the BCS. The ACC has UNC in the Orange Bowl, the SEC has a rep in the BCS Championship and likely the Fiesta Bowl. The Big 10 and Pac-10 will meet in the Rose Bowl. The Big 12 will be in the National Championship and a Fiesta Bowl…that leaves out one conference…

The Big East.

They HAVE to be involved, so they there may be no choice. And according to the BCS rankings, Pittsburgh is ranked #21...but likely the candidate to play UNC in the Orange Bowl…leaving Boise State out of the picture.

And actually they would not be the only team snubbed. The #10 team is currently Georgia, and would be left out of a major bowl. But you also add undefeated Ball State. We know that #17 and #18 are BYU and TCU but with Utah being in, nobody is going to argue. This still makes it difficult for more than one non-BCS team to enter the bowl series, but it does acknowledge that at LEAST one can get in.

So….BCS Busters? Not really. This isn’t about allowing 2 or more non-BCS teams in the major bowls, this is about giving the BEST non-BCS team a chance to play against the best teams in the nation. I am not saying it is a perfect system, but hey, it certainly is better than it was a few years ago, when these same teams had NO chance.

You gotta start somewhere.