Congress to look into 'deeply flawed' BCS

[greasywheels121]

Okay, while I don't like the BCS, Congress is f***ing pathetic for getting into some of these things.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2245440

 

Congress to look into 'deeply flawed' BCS system

Associated Press

 

HOUSTON -- Calling the Bowl Championship Series "deeply flawed," the chairman of a congressional committee has called a hearing on the controversial system used to determine college football's national champion.

 

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, charged with regulating America's sports industry, announced Friday it will conduct a hearing on the BCS next week, after this season's bowl matchups are determined.

 

"College football is not just an exhilarating sport, but a billion-dollar business that Congress cannot ignore," said committee Chairman Joe Barton, a Texas Republican. Barton's panel is separate from the House Government Reform panel that tackled steroids in baseball.

 

The committee announcement called the hearing, scheduled for next Wednesday, a "comprehensive review" of the BCS and postseason college football.

 

"Too often college football ends in sniping and controversy, rather than winners and losers," Barton said. "The current system of determining who's No. 1 appears deeply flawed."

 

Barton said he does not have legislation in mind to force a change, but said he hopes congressional hearings will spur discussion and improvements. It won't be the first time Congress has looked at the BCS. In 2003, the Senate probed whether the system was unfairly tilted against smaller schools.

 

NCAA Division I-A football does not have a playoff. The Bowl Championship Series was established in 1998 to determine a national champion using the traditional bowl system and a mix of computer and human polls to set up a championship game.

 

Because of the controversy surrounding the bowl selection process last season, The Associated Press told BCS officials to stop using its writers polls in its formula.

 

The committee invited testimony from Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg, the current chairman of the BCS.

 

"If members of the subcommittee have ideas on how the college football postseason can be improved, we welcome that input," Weiberg said.

 

"The current structure is designed to match the No. 1 and 2 ranked teams, identified through a ranking system, in a bowl game. It is an extension of the bowl system and a method to determine a national champion through the bowls," Weiberg said. "It has paired teams in bowl games that would not have been possible under the bowl arrangements existing before its creation."

 

Along with the acclaim of a national champion, the BCS also created a financial windfall with tens of millions of dollars at stake for teams and conferences who participate.

 

But it has seldom been without controversy.

 

For example, Southeastern Conference champion Auburn was undefeated in 2004 but was shut out of the BCS title game, which matched USC against Oklahoma. Utah also finished the season undefeated but could not play for the title.

 

The Jan. 4 Rose Bowl is the site of this year's BCS championship game. Other games with BCS ties are the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls, with a rotating schedule for hosting the championship matchup.

[Rowand44]

Okay, while I don't like the BCS, Congress is f***ing pathetic for getting into some of these things. 

 

 

Words right out of mouth.

[Balta1701]

I swear to God...you give them good press for doing the right thing for steroids, and suddenly every single bloody issue in sports suddenly is a matter of Congress.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

Congress should worry less about Iraq and Hurricane Katrina and poverty in this country and more about whether Penn State or LSU steps in to face USC if Texas loses this weekend. Right. Jesus Christ. Sometimes I'm just embarrassed about this country

[Kyyle23]

I dont agree with Congress doing it, but I wish there were some force out there somewhere that could rectify the atrocity that is the BCS.

[Rowand44]

I dont agree with Congress doing it, but I wish there were some force out there somewhere that could rectify the atrocity that is the BCS.

I think we all do. I hate the bcs beyond belief.

[White Sox Josh]

Congress should worry less about Iraq and Hurricane Katrina and poverty in this country and more about whether Penn State or LSU steps in to face USC if Texas loses this weekend. Right. Jesus Christ. Sometimes I'm just embarrassed about this country

what you mean College Football isn't more serious than poverty? I agree with you 100%. Also let's see how this 5th bowl game works out. It might solve some of the problems. But Congress has other things that they need to worry about. Let College Football solve this themselves. The BCS needs work done on it but i think they might be smart enough to know that. Like I said let's see what the 5th BCS Bowl game can do. This will make sure 2 more teams get into the BCS. Edited December 3, 2005 by White Sox Josh

[Rex Hudler]

what you mean College Football isn't more serious than poverty?  I agree with you 100%.  Also let's see how this 5th bowl game works out.  It might solve some of the problems.  But Congress has other things that they need to worry about.  Let College Football solve this themselves.  The BCS needs work done on it but i think they might be smart enough to know that.  Like I said let's see what the 5th BCS Bowl game can do.  This will make sure 2 more teams get into the BCS.

 

The 5th Bowl Game won't solve anything...... in some years it will all work out fine. In others there will be controversy. What if there is one 12-0 team and three 10-2 teams. Are you going to make the 12-0 team beat two of them to claim the National title?

[Punch and Judy Garland]

You know what argument is never really made, or at least not very often: THere will still be controversy. Whether its a 4 game playoff, an 8 game or a 16 people will still b****. Hell, basketball has 64 and the lead story in sports than night is who got snubbed. Yes a playoff will take controversy away from who the champ is, but the process will still have controversy

[JUGGERNAUT]

The deep flaw has nothing to do with ND & everything to do with conference champions getting automatic bids. That defies the BCS itself.

 

I understand the BCS was only intended to match #1 & #2. Beyond that the same injustice that has forever existed in Div-1A remains. The top bowls remain loyal to their conferences. But if that's the case they have no right to call themselves a BCS bowl.

 

When the rankings come out every week there should be a line separating 1 & 2 from the rest to remind people the other spots don't matter. There should only be 1 BCS bowl game & the rest of the bowls should lose their designation as BCS games. Their payouts should be decided by the deals they can muster with the networks.

 

When VT loses in the ACC championship game (seems to be a regular event these days) an undeserving team earns any automatic bid. That's the travesty. FSU has represented that travesty twice now.

 

The ACC should have lost it's eligibility when the conference champion is not ranked in the top 15. Period. As for the Sugar Bowl the Mountaineers ended 10-1 losing only to VT & beating ranked Louisville. It's hard to deny a 10-1 team & you can make an argument they are just as deserving as most of the 9-2 teams.

 

But as a general rule, if a non-top 15 team wins a conference championship that has a bowl affiliation that should eliminate that conference from that bowl's eligibility.

 

The FSU win tonight should have guaranteed Oregon a spot in one of the 4 major bowls.

[JUGGERNAUT]

The big flaw in the BCS rankings themselves is that the computers do not freeze time when performing their calculations. A team like ND has no control over what MSU does the rest of it's season. It has no control over injuries that can occur to teams they play either.

 

SOS should be based on the ranking of the team at the time you play them. So every week a SOS figure should be calculated for that week independant of any other week. The BCS rnaking should be based on the sum of those SOS figures.

 

With ND being an indie SOS of schedule should be based on

1) The opponent's ranking

2) The opponent's conference ranking

 

So at the time the Irish played MSU their SOS figure should have benefited from both MSU's ranking & the Big 10's ranking for that week.

 

The BCS should also weight the losses.

ND losing in OT to then 17th ranked MSU in the 3rd week should cost them less than tOSU losing to then 4th ranked PSU in the 5th week & that loss should cost tOSU less than Ala losing to 9th ranked Auburn in their last game of the seasion.

 

Right now the BCS rankings are still relying on the Coaches Poll & the Harris Poll to weight the losses for them. I think that's a mistake.

[Rex Hudler]

good stuff, jugg

[SoCalSouthSider59]

Take the C, out of BCS, and what do you get? Congress!

 

:finger to the BCS and Congress!

 

 

[IlliniKrush]

Maybe college coaches should look over the Constitution and see if there are any problems with it

[Colorado Sox Fan]

I have no problem with the BCS and this is pretty disgraceful for a Congressman to want publicity so bad.

[Heads22]

If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of Congress? Trite, but I think it applies here.

[YASNY]

If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of Congress? Trite, but I think it applies here.

 

Politics.

 

Poli = many

tics = blood sucking parasites

 

Therefore ....

[Balta1701]

I think This result of the hearings desreves a bump of this thread.

 

To my mind, the most interesting question of the day was posed by Barton to Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany:

 

"Why are there 11 teams in the Big Ten?"

 

Delany, obviously unprepared and reeling under this intense grilling, had no answer.

[AnthraxFan93]

Seriously.. WTF is going on in Washington.. Our Economy is in the toliet, We have a illegal war going on, a natural disater in the south that left millions of americans with out homes..

 

And this is the s*** Congress worries about? They have no clue.. They f***ed up with allowing us to invade Iraq, and now to make them look beter they come in and declare that baseball needs to clean up its act, and now the BCS needs to be fixed.( And I don't mean "fixed" as in the way it is set up now). They have no clue what the American people want and lost all hope of reality.. I think we need to revolt to take our country back for the people.

[YASNY]

Seriously.. WTF is going on in Washington.. Our Economy is in the toliet, We have a illegal war going on, a natural disater in the south that left millions of americans with out homes..

 

And this is the s*** Congress worries about? They have no clue.. They f***ed up with allowing us to invade Iraq, and now to make them look beter they come in and declare that baseball needs to clean up its act, and now the BCS needs to be fixed.( And I don't mean  "fixed" as in the way it is set up now).  They have no clue what the American people want and lost all hope of reality.. I think we need to revolt to take our country back for the people.

 

There will soon be a knock on your door. It's been nice knowing you.