The rules state that a non BCS Conference champion ranked among the top 12 teams in the final BCS Standings; or (2) ranked among the top 16 teams in the final BCS Standings and ranked higher than the champion of one of the conferences whose champion has an annual automatic berth in a BCS bowl."
So...
The Big East...some call it the Big least for a reason. Right now West Virginia, South Florida, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Possibly Cincinnati are playing for the Big East title. This was supposed to be West Virginia's title in the bag with Pat White in his senior season. Losses to Colorado and East Carolina have changed all that. This is a league with five mediocre teams that might knock each other off just enough to create the chaos I have described below.
West Virginia, believe it or not, could make things all the worse for the Big East as they still play UConn, Pitt and Cincinnati. Let's say that they lose to Auburn, then with a healthy Pat White beat both UConn and Pitt, but lose to Cincy. You have a four loss West Virginia, three loss Pitt, South Florida or Cincinnati as the champion that is unranked or ranked in the mid twenties. (South Florida is the highest at #19)
Rutgers, the state college of New Jersey (I just love saying that), might add to the chaos, as they have lost to Navy, Fresno State, West Virginia and North Carolina (all likely bowl teams). However, Greg Schiano will have Mike Teel and the Scarlet Knights ready to play in the second half of the season and will knock off two of the four ( Cincinati, UConn, Pitt, or South Florida).
Bottom line the Big East champ will have three losses or more and be ranked in the 20s at best.
Mountain West, look no further than my previous article on the resurgence of the Mountain west, and you will see why I believe that BYU/Utah belong to be regarded as BCS schools. Anyway, one of these two will definitely be a BCS buster barring a complete meltdown, or a situation where Utah and BYU have three losses apiece. Probably not going to happen as BYU only has a tough game at TCU, and a possible tough game at Air Force before playing at Utah in the season finale.
Utah just has TCU at home as a serious threat before facing BYU in Salt Lake City. There is a chance that both teams could get in. It would be very hard for the selection committee to over look a one loss Utah or BYU if they finish ahead of the Big East and ACC champion.
WAC...Boise State, enough said, all they have to do is run the table in the WAC and they are a shoe in. They have Ian Johnson, and memories of the Broncos victory over Oklahoma (not to mention Johnson' proposal) still lingering. Playing at Southern Miss could end all this, but beyond that, they should be favored in every game leading up to the finale at home versus Fresno State. Their final ranking will be about 10. (If the season ended today, they would qualify)
Conference USA...Okay, while everyone was talking about ECU, they forgot about the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. They are 5-0 having scored at least 45 points in every game this year. They have only one real threat in a November first game against Arkansas. Barring a loss in Fayetteville, they are looking at 13-0 with a win in the C-USA championship. Even at 12-1, they would be ranked in the top 20. Right now they are about 27, or 28 looking at votes cast, leaving them with about eleven or twelve spots away from qualifying.
MAC...Ball State in the top 25. A surprise to a great deal of people, yet it was something I mentioned a few weeks back. David Letterman and company will have a filed day, but this Ball State team is playing tough, winning games in the name of their hurt wide receiver, Dante Love, and has beat Indiana, Navy and Toledo along the way. They win out and they will be ranked somewhere around 14, enough to get invited to the dance.
Bottom Line: The Big East is just a mediocre conference that doesn't deserve an automatic bid. They did deserve one when Va Tech, Miami and BC were in the league. They got lucky with Rich Rod's Mountaineers teams being dominant, Louisville playing well in its first few years in the Big East, and Rutgers not being, well, the Rutgers of old. The Big East bad play and the BCS formula have flirted with disaster for many years, in 2005, when Pitt was the Big East Champion, TCU in addition to Utah would have also qualified under the current rules. A good team from the MAC and WAC would have made four BCS busters that year.
So, here's the breakdown for the BCS, assuming all these teams stay in the same relative order:
Big 12 Champ: Oklahoma #1
SEC Champ: Alabama #2
Big 10 Champ: Penn State # 6
PAC 10 Champ: USC # 7
Mountain West Champ: BYU #8
WAC Champ: Boise State #11
ACC Champ: Va Tech #13
MAC Champ: Ball State #15
CUSA Champ: Tulsa # 16
Big East Champ: West Virginia/South Florida 20-25
Who Cares? Well, one, it takes at-large spots away from deserving Big-12, SEC and Big-10 schools. If the scenario I described were to happen, only the conference champions from the SEC, Big 12, Big 10, PAC-10, and ACC would be in the BCS. That would mean Pitt, West Virginia, UConn or whoever else would get in over say a one-loss LSU, one-loss Missouri, and the second best teams from the ACC, Big Ten and PAC-10. It's just not fair...
The Solution. I personally hate the idea of BCS schools and non-BCS schools. Every year, each conference should play by the same rules. The SEC, Big 12, Big 10, PAC-10, and I'll be nice and say ACC will have no problems with their team qualifying. So why not just let every conference have the same chance. Let college football teams prove themselves on the field and not by some agreement. Thanks for reading, leave some comments.
Julie Henderson
Cintia Dicker
Did You See That?
College Football Top 25 Review
Comments (8) Add A Comment
I am not certain ,but do the rules require the BCS to take more than 1? I had thought it was required to take at least 1 if at least 1 was ranked in the top 11, but not required to take the 2nd, etc. If this is the case, there will only be 1.
Personal preference - since going to 10 teams in the BCS, 1 spot should be given to the highest ranked team outside the major 6 conferences.
If they typically play like Boise did, they can force a change in the BCS. If they consistently play like Hawaii, we won't have to listen to the cries all the time.
Prove It
Frellin Cold In, AK
Total Comments (6831)
Check the rules one more time. They state that they only have to take the highest ranked non-BCS conference champion even if more than one team qualifies. Therefore, say BYU, Boise State, Ball State, and Tulsa all finish in the Top 16 ahead of the Big East Champ, then they are only obligated to take the highest ranked of those 4. I can't see then filling 4 of the 10 BCS spots with non-BCS teams if teams like LSU (assuming only loss to Bama), Mizzou (assuming only loss to OU), or Penn State (assuming only loss to Ohio State) have only one loss.
BuckeyeBattleCry
Toluca Lake, CA
Total Comments (1)
Well, yes and no, on if the BCS HAS to take more than one.
NO, they do not have to take more than one non-BCS team as an "Automatic Qualifier".
HOWEVER, YES they do have to take a second non-BCS team if the second non-BCS team is the only availible at-large in the pool. IF you assume that the BigXII and SEC will get two team into the BCS, and that one non-BCS team qualifies as an AutoQualifier, you still need one more at-large.
If the initial pool of 14 teams DOES NOT include the PAC10 runner up (currently somewhere around 23) or the BigTen runner up (currently 13), then the ONLY AVAILIBLE AT LARGE in the pool would be the second non-BCS team. So, if the BigTen beats itself up so that the runner up is ranked 15 or higher, and two non-BCS teams are in the top 14, then the BCS would HAVE to take the second non-BCS as the final at-large.
I think TWO non-BCS teams is possible. Three or Four is really next to impossible. That could only happen if a third non-BCS team was taken over the SEC or BigXII runner up. I just don't see that happening. I think you'd have to have three non-BCS teams ranked in the top 4 to get three non-BCS teams into the BCS games.
Xenon
Los Alamos , NM
Total Comments (14)
If you are suggesting that ANY of the five teams you mentioned are among the eight best teams in college football, you're freakin' CRAZY! Are you actually saying that if, say...Ball State and Tulsa were the only two remaining undefeated teams in D1 at season's end, that THEY should play for all the marbles? You can't be serious.
eyesWIDEopen
In The Bay, FL
Total Comments (2822)
There's an obvious problem with the whole "cinderella" concept. The sports media seems to love punishing the BCS conference teams for playing "cupcake" games, including those in their own conferences. If wins in a conference like the Big 12 or SEC are considered "easy" or "cupcake" wins, then what can you call a lot of the wins Ball State, BYU, Utah, and Boise State will roll up? There's an obvious double-standard here, and until something is done to correct this, we will see horrible BCS games like last years Georgia-Hawaii game (and Hawaii completely deserved it!).
JayhawkRock
Lawrence, KS
Total Comments (245)
Everyone knows the solution. Playoff. Screw the BCS. For the comment earlier regarding "ANY of the 5 teams mentioned among the best eight in college football", First off there are 10 teams for the BCS. And to say that they do not deserve to be invited to the top tier bowl games it is to say that they shouldn't be in Division 1. If you are going to disallow teams because of their conference affiliation, then they shouldn't be in the same division of football. Period. Reality is is that the Mountain West this year is better than the following conferences; Big East; ACC; Pac-10; and about equivalent to the Big-10. Only Big-12 and SEC have enough out of conference wins to justify being considered better. The Mountain West has won 6 of 7 games against the Pac-10 conference and you are telling me that they deserve an automatic bid and the Mountain West does not. The system sucks. Down with the BCS.
shoagie
Lehi, UT
Total Comments (1)
As usual, all this talk is way too early.
Let's play some football for about 5 more weeks, and then start all this mental ****!
tigerob
Gainesville , GA
Total Comments (4)
bcs,,, B.S. all the confrences have shown that one is not better than another. Forget the BCS, forget history, go by who is the best. Why should a team in the BCS get a bowl simply because of it's history, or confrence affiliation. If a Utah, or Boise has an equal or better season they should all be given BCS bowls. As it goes teams in all confrences have beaten teams in other confrences. Play your bowls, but they need a national championship playoff games decided by wins and losses, Super bowl of college, That is the American way, not a decison made by a machine!
slogo5150
New Plymouth , ID
Total Comments (1)
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