The spirit of competition has been sucked from college football. Want to win a championship? Learn the art of crafty nonconference scheduling.
Florida, Alabama and Texas — the top teams in the Bowl Championship Series standings — have combined to play only two BCS teams in 12 nonleague games. Yet two of these teams will be rewarded with berths to the BCS title game. It doesn't seem right.
Scheduling abuse is going to get worse. BCS teams are making a move to grab an even bigger share of the bowl pot beginning in 2010. Big 12 commissioner Don Beebe has proposed legislation that would treat BCS teams with .500 records the same as teams with winning records from non-BCS leagues.
Currently, if a bowl has to go outside its conference affiliation to fill a spot, it can't select a 6-6 BCS team over a team with seven or more victories. Beebe’s legislation would toss out that rule, meaning a seven-win team from the Mountain West, Western Athletic, Mid-American, Conference USA or Sun Belt could be bypassed for a 6-6 BCS team.
Factor in the likelihood of 36 bowl games in 2010 and nearly every BCS team that loads the nonconference schedule with four cupcake opponents will be "rewarded" with a bowl game if it can crank out a pathetic 2-6 record in league play.
College football has a serious problem, and it's the topic of my column this week for Covers.com.
Covers is second to none in coverage of industry news, statistics and advice. Be sure to check Covers' excellent matchups page for this week's games, featuring previews, trends and line moves.
Lumping Texas in with Alabama and Florida in the OOC debate is a bit disingenuous. Arkansas and Utah backed out of games with Texas this season and left Texas scrambling to find opponents.
Posted by: AnotherLawyer | November 18, 2009 at 11:20 AM
"Yet two of these teams will be rewarded with berths to the BCS title game. It doesn't seem right."
Well, then, what teams do you suggest go to the BCS Championship game? A 7-3 (for now)USC? They play a tough schedule, though.
How about TCU, Cincinnati or Boise State? Oops, their SOS are considerably behind the Gators and Tide.
Posted by: Floridan | November 18, 2009 at 12:39 PM
"Which brings us to the biggest offender in Texas. The Longhorns put together a cupcake lineup of Louisiana Monroe, Wyoming, Texas El Paso and Central Florida. Not a I-A opponent in the bunch."
Either you're incredibly stupid or an opportunistic liar. ULM (Sunbelt), Wyoming (Mountain West), UTEP (Conference USA) and UCF (Conference USA), are all FBS. ULM and UCF are bowl eligible. Wyoming needs one more win for bowl eligibility.
Combine that with what I previously mentioned about Utah and Arkansas backing out of their games with Texas this season and I'd lean more towards "opportunistic liar."
Posted by: AnotherLawyer | November 19, 2009 at 09:40 AM