What You Shouldn’t Like About the BCS

By this point, I think it’s pretty clear that I, like most people, don’t like the Bowl Championship Series. I stated most of my case last season, when I suggested a 12-team playoff replace it. I’m more onboard with a 16-team variation now than I was then, but that’s not necessarily original and doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation.

But when someone, in this very space, deigns to point out any good things about the BCS, well, then it’s my turn to chime in and refudiate those notions.*

*What’s that? Sarah Palin jokes are also unoriginal and gratuitous? My bad. Change that to “repudiate” then.

Every Game Counts…Week 13

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After 12 weeks, 110 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including, finally, Virginia Tech.

Now that we’re in the final full week of the regular season, we can see the math really cutting away at some teams that were alive last week. This is because TCU cannot finish with more than one loss, and either Alabama will finish as the best-ranked team with two losses, or Auburn will not lose two games. So, that gets rid of Virginia Tech, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. By the same logic, Michigan State, which is just marginally ahead of Alabama in the BCS, would almost certainly be passed by the Crimson Tide were it to knock off the No. 2 team in the country.

Here’s what needs to happen for the 10 remaining teams to make the title game:

Every Game Counts…Week 12

 

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After 11 weeks, 106 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including Bizarro Heisman Trophy candidate Ricky Stanzi and Iowa. We can start breaking it down a little more now that we’re reducing the field.

Teams Who Can Afford a Loss:

These are teams that are undefeated in a BCS conference or who have one loss while having started the year in the Top 10 (and so can conceivably, like LSU in 2007, make the title game with two losses). I’d like to point out how lenient I’m being here. The way this season is going, Alabama and Ohio State are likely the only schools on this list that could make the title game with a loss. Furthermore, we’re getting to the point where we have to mathematically consider whether it is even conceivable for a team to make it with two losses (looking at you, Virginia Tech). At this point, I feel very confident saying Auburn is the only school on this list that can conceivably make the title game even after a loss in the final three weeks.

Auburn

Nebraska

Ohio State

Oregon

Every Game Counts…Week 11

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After 10 weeks, 105 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including up-until-recently unbeaten Utah. We can start breaking it down a little more now that we’re reducing the field.

Teams Who Can Afford a Loss:

These are teams that are undefeated in a BCS conference or who have one loss while having started the year in the Top 10 (and so can conceivably, like LSU in 2007, make the title game with two losses). I’d like to point out how lenient I’m being here. The way this season is going, Alabama and Ohio State are likely the only schools on this list that could make the title game with a loss. Furthermore, we’re getting to the point where we have to mathematically consider whether it is even conceivable for a team to make it with two losses (looking at you, Virginia Tech).

Alabama

Auburn

Nebraska

Ohio State

Oregon

Every Game Counts…Week 10

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After nine weeks, 102 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including old standby Florida State. We can start breaking it down a little more now that we’re reducing the field.

Teams Who Can Afford a Loss:

These are teams that are undefeated in a BCS conference or who have one loss while having started the year in the Top 10 (and so can conceivably, like LSU in 2007, make the title game with two losses). I’d like to point out how lenient I’m being here. The way this season is going, Alabama and Ohio State are likely the only schools on this list that could make the title game with a loss. Furthermore, we’re getting to the point where we have to mathematically consider whether it is even conceivable for a team to make it with two losses (looking at you, Virginia Tech).

Alabama

Auburn

Nebraska

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oregon

Every Game Counts…Week 9

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After eight weeks, 101 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including pre-season No. 5 Texas. We can start breaking it down a little more now that we’re reducing the field.

Teams Who Can Afford a Loss:

These are teams that are undefeated in a BCS conference or who have one loss while having started the year in the Top 10 (and so can conceivably, like LSU in 2007, make the title game with two losses). I’d like to point out how lenient I’m being here. The way this season is going, Alabama and Ohio State are likely the only schools on this list that could make the title game with a loss. Furthermore, we’re getting to the point where we have to mathematically consider whether it is even conceivable for a team to make it with two losses.

Alabama

Auburn

Michigan State

Missouri

Nebraska

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oregon

Every Game Counts…Week 8

 

Via The War Eagle Reader, Tim's Auburn Blog of Choice

 

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After seven weeks, 98 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including pre-season No. 4 Florida. We can start breaking it down a little more now that we’re reducing the field.

Every Game Counts…Week 6

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After five weeks, 82 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including JoePa’s Nittany Lions. We can start breaking it down a little more now that we’re reducing the field.

Every Game Counts…Week 5

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After four weeks, 76 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including a preseason Top 15 team in Pittsburgh:

Every Game Counts…Week 4

In my neverending quest to rail against the BCS, I am calculating week-by-week how many games this college football season really “count” (as in, influence the national title picture).

After three weeks, the carnage is settling in, with 66 of the 120 FBS teams cannot make the BCS championship (a refresher on my criteria), including my precious Blue Devils: