ESPN Founder

Bill's blog from December 22, 2008:

Congratulations to three championship college football teams who - unlike the BCS teams - won their titles on the field.

First, NCAA Division II:  The Bulldogs of Minnesota-Duluth … winners over Northwest Missouri 21 - 14.

Second, NCAA Division III:  Mount Union 31 - 26 over Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Third, NAIA: University of Sioux Falls defeated Carroll College 23 - 7.

All three champions were crowned at the end of - dare I say it - A POST-SEASON FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT.  Isn’t that supposed to be a no-no?  It is if you play Division I football.  The season would be too long says one argument against a Div I playoff.

Well, let’s look at that:  the Div II and Div III each played their way through a 32 team tournament and their Title came in game 15.  The NAIA post season tournament winner survived a 16 team event and earned honors in game 14.  Imagine that!  They’ve won their championships and the season is over.

So what about the BCS games?  Florida and Oklahoma will be playing a “one game championship” in game 14 for each team and the Longhorns from Texas along with Alabama’s Crimson Tide are just arbitrarily “eliminated” from National Championship consideration.  End of story!

I don’t know about you, but I like the Div II, Div III and NAIA approach to determining the champion.  And isn’t it interesting that every single NCAA sport other than Div I football decides the champion on the field, court or rink.  Given the financial and public relations impact of the NCAA Final Four, can you imagine what even an 8 team (though I’d like to see at least a 16 team) tournament would have on college football?

BTW, this year’s quarter final pairings would have been:

#1 Florida 12-1  &  # 7 Texas Tech 11-1
#3 Texas 11-1  &  # 5 USC 11-1
#4 Alabama 12-1  &  # 6 Utah 12-0
#2 Oklahoma 12-1  &  # 8 Penn State 11-1

Think that schedule would sell any major TV advertising?  Just 7 games over just 15 days and what a tournament that would be!  Florida and Oklahoma might still play for the Championship, but wouldn’t you love to see the quarter final and semi-final games where each team has a chance to “play-on” and actually win a real - not a “mythical” - national crown?

Instead of a real playoff, we have these pairings (notice Texas Tech was replaced by Ohio State):

#1 Florida 12 - 1  &  # 2 Oklahoma 12 - 1
#3 Texas 11 - 1  &  # 10 Ohio State 10 - 2
#4 Alabama 12 - 1  &  # 6 Utah 12-0
#5 USC 11-1  &  # 8 Penn State 11-1

And what about those “Traditional” Bowl Games we all waited to watch on New Year’s Day?  Well, the landscape has changed a bit there too:

Orange Bowl    #12 Cincinnati 11 - 2  &  # 19 Virginia Tech 9 - 4
Sugar Bowl    # 4 Alabama 12 - 1  &  # 6 Utah 12-0
Cotton Bowl    # 7 Texas Tech 11-1  &  # 25 Mississippi 8 - 4
Rose Bowl    # 5 USC 11-1  &  # 8 Penn State 11-1

Rose and Sugar still have the same pairings, but the Orange and Cotton have lost the luster of a bygone era.

So there you have it.  Great fun to “what if” the Bowls and the BCS, but little will change.  Check out my previous post, Bowl mania, madness and money.  Looking at what might have been, and what may someday be, the madness and money part are very much alive and well in Division I NCAA football.

Labels: alabama, bcs, cincinnati, cotton_bowl, florida, mississippi, naia, ncaa, ohio_state, oklahoma, orange_bowl, penn_state, rose_bowl, Sioux_Falls, sugar_bowl, texas, texas_tech, usc, utah, virginia_tech