Ding Dong the Witch is dead, but here comes her sister, who could be considerably more evil.
Unless you're not a fan of American football, you probably watched last night's final B(C)S Championship tie between the Confused Tigers of Auburn and the thereby letter from the Tribe Seminoles of Florida State. If you're really a fan, you checked out of ESPN's "MegaCast" options before realizing that the #titletalk option on ESPN2 was a load of televised crap.
For a change, the game delivered. When Heisman trophy winner Jameis Winston threw the winning TD pass with :13 seconds left on the clock it marked the, to borrow a phrase from Brent Musberger, "perfect end to an imperfect system." And what a system it was, heavily weighted toward the SEC it was a system that sucked all of the life out of January 1st, created more mis-matches than great games, and reminded us just why, in College ball, the regular season is the attraction each and every year.
Yes, the wheezing old girl gave us some upsets and, especially in this last season, some quality football to watch. But the B(C)S never seemed to understand that its biggest problem lied in its attempts to devalue all remaining aspects of College Football. It was a mess whose time had come and gone. Unfortunately, its replacement seems to be on the disturbing path of being much, much worse.
In theory, it's simple: A 30(ish) person panel is going to meet weekly with the ultimate goal of selecting the "4 teams most worthy of competing for a National Championship." These four teams will then be placed in two of six bowls in a rotation (The Rose, Orange, Fiesta, Sugar, Chick-fil-A and Cotton) with the remaining 4 bowls receiving teams based on conference affiliations. In reality, it's the B(C)S+1. The "one" being the "Championship Game" played at the end. Beyond that, nothing has really changed. There's still the hegemony of the so-called "large" conferences on the Bowls with the highest payouts, there are still factors in place that limit the abilities of the so-called "mid-major" conferences to partake in the reindeer games (in this case, the guarantee that the team with the highest ranking amongst the Little 5 (American, MAC, Mountain West, C-USA & Sun Belt) gets to play in one of the newly termed "FCP" bowls) but now we've increased the possibility that worthy teams will be left out because the "Championship committee" is charged to find the "4 teams most worthy" (notice not the 4 "best" teams) to receive entrance into the playoff.
What is the distinction you ask? Simple.
Let's say the regular season for 2014 ends thusly:
1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Florida St.
4. Louisville
5. Baylor
6. Auburn
7. UT-Austin
According to the current system Alabama & OU would be meeting for the B(C)S Championship game. It would make sense than that, under the new system, the teams in the playoff would be 'Bama, OU, Florida St. and Louisville right?
Wrong. Under the new system the committee could decide what 4 teams are most deserving based on an arbitrary set of qualifications. Let's say that Florida State has another low strength of schedule, and that Baylor has a bad loss. Louisville, while undefeated, has even a worse SOS than Florida State. What's to keep the committee from bypassing them and grabbing Auburn (let's say with a loss to 'Bama) and UT-Austin (with just a close loss to OU on its resume) to round out the top 4?
Absolutely nothing. Think about that.
Best thing about FSU's win last night? This is an easy one. By beating Auburn the Seminoles have all but silenced Kentucky fans who live vicariously through other teams with that insipid S!-E!-C! chant. Claiming the wins of another school as your own is just sad. And yes, the SEC, although brilliant on the field, is devolving into a depressing mess off of it.
On Musberger: There are rumors circling around that last night's game could have been the final game that Musberger calls for ESPN. His contract is almost up and the four-letter network has a pretty deep talent pool behind him that is starting to get the promotion itch. Chris Fowler has been on the GameDay desk for quite a while now and has made no bones about his desire to move up to the Network's top spot. Rece Davis, behind Fowler, seems more than ready to make the jump to Saturday mornings, which could lead to an entire reshuffling of the show's line-up. If that's the case, Musberger will be missed. Despite his both broadcast opening gaffe, he pretty much nailed the call all night long.
On Corso: Before donning his Florida State gear Coach Corso made a comment that "We don't know how many more chances we'll get to do this." I think this means that he's about ready to move on. We know that he's had at least one stroke, and it's pretty clear by the end of each show that they are starting to grind on him. IF ESPN decides to tumble the dominoes with their announcers, it only makes sense that College GameDay gets a roster refresh as well.
On New Year's Day: I've stated before that the B(C)S destroyed one of College Football's greatest traditions by moving most games off of the traditional New Year's broadcast spot. Losing these games has destroyed the football experience on the New Year in the name of slot exclusivity etc. With all of the new sports networks (Fox Sports 1, CBSSports, NBCSports, etc.) It'd be nice to see some of the "non FCP" bowls stage a mini-revolt and sign some agreements with competing networks. As I've stated before, the best idea would be to limit the number of bowl games to around 15-20 and ensure that all of them are played within 72 hours of NYE w/none later than Jan 1st. It would give fans the clean ending that we used to have and it would cut down on the number of boring bowl games attended only by friends and family.
On Bowl Eligibility: Finally, I've stated this before, but 8 wins should be the minimum for bowl participation. However, it should not, in and of itself, be a guarantee of a bowl slot. If there aren't enough 8-win teams to fill all of the slots them the Bowls would be allowed to dip into the 7-win teams. If there are more than enough 8-win teams however, tough. Your school will get invited if you travel well. After all, it is about making money.
