Eerily Quiet on the BCS Front

Take a moment. Listen to the BCS chatter. I’ll give you a few moments to do so…

What did you hear? You heard the talking heads discussing TCU jumping up to #4. You heard the talking heads debating how this year’s media darling UC is stuck at #5 because the Big East is terrible. You heard them discrediting #6 Boise State because the media has a case of the smurf turf blues.

Now consider this – what didn’t you hear? You didn’t hear the talking heads discussing #3 Alabama. You didn’t hear the talking heads discussing #2 Texas. You didn’t hear the talking heads praising the #1 Florida Tim Tebows. In a year where we’re only a few interesting bounces of the ball away from a BCS Championship game featuring two ‘unproven’ programs playing in the game, it’s being assumed that there will be no movement at the top. It’s incredible. Up until this point in the BCS era, teams were worried so much about style points, driving up their margin of victory, and making sure their shit didn’t stink that nothing went unnoticed. No team was immune from the BCS microscope.

Your team only beat a D-II cupcake by 45 points at home? Hmm, the microscope says you should have beaten them by 65. Minus Points. Go into a rival stadium and beat a team in a close, highly contested game? Hmm, the microscope says you won in a ‘sloppy’ fashion. Minus Points. Your season is over and your head coach is lobbying to the media for your team to jump another team in the standings because you beat them earlier in the season. Hmm, the microscope says you’re a douchebag. At a time where one loss could completely implode the BCS supremacy paradigm and open the floodgates for non-BCS schools to play on a championship stage, nobody is talking about the possibility of that actually happening – and they’re right in doing so.

Take a look at the current top three teams in the BCS standings and what do you get: Florida, Texas, Alabama. When you think of those schools what do you think? You think football. FOOTBALL.

Now take a look at the next three teams behind them in the BCS standings and what do you get: Texas Christian University, University of Cincinnati, Boise State University. When you think of those schools what do you think? You think, “who the hell is Texas Christian.” You think, “hey didn’t Bob Huggins used to coach there?” You think, “haha they have a blue turf field.” And wayyyy down on the list, if you turn up a few stones and use those detective skills you mastered when you were 8 while playing Where in the World is Carmen San Diego on Windows 95, you will eventually realize those schools play football.

If college football has taught us anything, for better or worse, it’s that recognition is predicated on previous success. Got a program with a storied legacy and I will show you a team that is and always will be saturated in media coverage and most likely, frequent success. Why? Because the schools are football factories. Those storied programs have the most fans, have the most money, have the best facilities, get the best recruits, and use football as the flagship marketing tool for the university. Got a program with a legacy that isn’t more than a flash in the pan and I will show you a team that is and always be mired in relative obscurity. It takes more than a few streaky seasons to break in with the big boys.

Want to talk legacy? Alabama, Texas, and Florida combine for 11 national championships (I’m only giving Alabama 4 championships in this scenario, if you want to know why that’s the case look it up because Alabama is really into the practice of just claiming national championships as their own). Now what about UC, Boise, and TCU? Well funny you should ask. They combine for ‘4’ national championships. And it goes a little something like this:

You’re throwing a party and it is BYOB (no self-respecting human would ever, ever throw a party and then have the audacity to require BYOB, and if you’ve ever done that go fuck yourself, you suck -- but for the sake of illustration let it slide for now). UC shows up and what a shock, the cheap bastard is empty handed (0 national championships). Boise State shows up and is holding a case of Keystone (1958 Junior College & 1980 I-AA national champions). It’s like hey, I didn’t pull a UC and show up with nothing, but I sure hope somebody brought something decent because who the fuck wants to drink Peestone. And then TCU shows up fashionably late with Schlitz (1935 & 1938 national champions). It’s like hey I used to be good, look at me. Well, polio used to be a threat too – and neither Schlitz nor Polio is making a comeback (previous sentence does not apply to Africa). So what are you left with for the party then? An empty handed person, a case of Keystone, and a case of Schlitz. Yeah, I’d texting my friends to see what else is going on too.

Of course, we can’t have this discussion without the mention of money. Money makes the football world go round. That money is generated through legions of fans buying up merchandise, attending the games, tuning into the game on television, and making a vacation out of the bowl trip. Now which match-up of universities do you think will bring in the most money: Alabama vs Texas or TCU vs UC?

Is it fair that the BCS boxes out the smaller guys? Is it fair that non-human computers ultimately decide who plays for the national championship? Is it fair that some teams can go undefeated and never even sniff a chance at a national championship? I don’t think I know the answer to those questions.

What I do know is one thing. When the party is rockin’ on national championship night and the doorbell rings my guests better show up with Keystone and Schlitz in hand.

-Brad