Analyzing ‘Death To The BCS’ : Introduction

With the Miami Hurricanes sitting out a bowl game in 2011, there’s definitely some downtime this post-season and with the BCS looking as messy as ever, now seemed as good a time as any to revisit “Death To The BCS”, the book touted as ‘the definitive case against the Bowl Championship Series’.

I originally read the book by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan upon it’s release last year but decided to give it another spin this off-season as controversy still runs rampant in college football.

Undefeated LSU earned their slot in the title game, but one-loss Alabama? Why did the Crimson Tide really get the nod over Oklahoma State or Stanford? Seems just about every year is marred in controversy. This is hardly the first case. Let’s dig a little deeper, revisiting some past injustices with a quick walk down BCS Nightmare Lane.

Miami fans remember feeling that snub back in 2000 as Florida State got a shot at Oklahoma, even though the Canes beat the top-ranked Noles in the regular season (as well as number two Virginia Tech). Washington was also a one-loss team and having beat the Canes early in the year, the Huskies too felt the deserved a shot.

In 2001, Miami was the top dog and played a Nebraska team in the Rose Bowl who was throttled 62-36 in their season finale at Colorado and didn’t make their conference title game, giving Pac-10 champs and one-loss Oregon a legitimate gripe for a crack at the title.

In 2003 top-ranked Oklahoma reached the Big XII title game, got worked 35-7 by Kansas State and still went on to play LSU while Pac-10 champ Southern Cal was the AP’s number one squad, won the Rose Bowl and resulted in a split national title in a season with three worthy one-loss teams.

Oklahoma and Southern Cal went undefeated and played for the 2004 national championship while Auburn was also undefeated, won the SEC and the Sugar Bowl and was shut out of the argument when the Trojans dominated the Sooners in the Orange Bowl.

2006 gave fans a situation comparable to this year, where conference foes were top ranked, one knocked the other off and there was talk of a post-season rematch, only Michigan didn’t get that chance after falling to Ohio State in the season finale, ironically also by three points, like LSU and Alabama earlier this season.

Instead Florida got the nod, Ohio State got pounded in the title game and Michigan was left with a Rose Bowl consolation prize.

In 2007 it was chaos with a slew of two-loss teams vying for a spot in the title game against one-loss Ohio State. LSU got the nod, though Georgia, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech all could’ve been considered deserving.

Florida and Oklahoma battled it out in 2008, each with a loss, while undefeated Boise State and Utah didn’t get their shot. The Utes went on to work Alabama silly in the Sugar Bowl, 31-17, strengthening their claim that they belonged that year.

2009 was full-fledged log-jam with too many unbeatens. Big name, big conference, big money programs Alabama and Texas played for it all, while undefeated Boise State, Cincinnati and Texas Christian were on the outside looking in. TCU also went undefeated in 2010, with no title shot, while Auburn and Oregon battled for the title.

This year, another title game and no clear cut winner. Even if undefeated LSU beats Alabama – again – there will always be questions about Oklahoma State could’ve done.

Even bigger than a team or two left out annually, how would the top-ranked teams fare in a true playoff system? That’s where “Death To The BCS” makes its most interesting points; the premise of a workable playoff system that continues to get stonewalled by those pulling the strings in this corrupt system.

Over the next few weeks, allCanesBlog.com will break down “Death To The BCS” chapter-by-chapter. We realize the majority of you aren’t going to make time take down the 192-page expose, so we’ll provide chapter-by-chapter highlights and Cliff Notes, in effort to enrage you regarding this corrupt system.

Today’s focus; “Introduction : The Cartel”.

– The main question being asked? Why is college football really saddled with the brain-dead Bowl Championship Series?

– The current BCS system is an “ocean of corruption”: sophisticated scams, mind-numbing waste and naked political deals.

– While former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is one loud voice that has called for a true playoff system, the guy in the black hat is Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney. – a man with more power than the NCAA President Mark Emmert – and one of six men who truly control college football.

– Officially the BCS is run by twelve men; the commissioners of college football’s eleven major conference and the AD of Notre Dame. Realistically, it’s Delany of the Big Ten, Mike Slive (SEC), Dan Beebe (Big XII), John Swafford (ACC), Larry Scott (Pac-12) and John Marinatto (Big East).

– The six big conferences hogged 82.3% of the $155.2M paid out in 2008, while the MWC, WAC, MAC, C-USA and Sun-Belt got the rest.

– At the time when “Death To The BCS” was written, the BCS’s approval rating was at about 10%.

– “Suggesting a playoff to the Cartel is futile because it doesn’t care how big the post-season revenue pie gets or even if its slice would grow. It simply wants to ensure that no one else holds the knife.”

– The six “Cartel members” work with executive directors of a few dozen bowl games, as well as some high-powered athletic directors and school presidents, dictating how the sport will operate.

– That said, the BCS doesn’t truly “exist” as it’s not a legal construct. It’s just a series of contracts among various entities, making it hard for opponents to trace, sue or pin it down.

– When Paterno and Delaney set up a call to discuss the system, Delany told Paterno that the university presidents with the power to change the system were pro-BCS. Paterno insisted that the presidents would go wherever Delany led. Delany didn’t budge and the call ended without any resolution.

– “The Cartel doesn’t just laugh at Joe-Pa. It laughs at you, too. The joke is on fans who dream of college football finding a post-season worthy of its pageantry.”

– In November 2008, president-elect Barack Obama spoke out, stating that the sport needed a playoff system. Delany brushed it off, stating “I think it’s that time of year”, implying Obama was looking for votes.

– Because of the BCS, universities have wasted upwards of $2M paying for empty seats at a single game while some athletic directors cashed $30K-plus bonus checks for sending teams to the lowliest of bowl games.

– Nearly 60% of schools spend more money to participate in bowls the games offer in payouts.

– Experts estimate that a college football playoff system could approach $750M in annual revenue, more than $600M ahead of the current system. The old bowls would survive mostly as-is and run in concert with the playoffs, are estimated to generate another $100M-plus in gross revenues.

– Over  the next eighteen chapters,”Death To The BCS” will not just argue as to why the BCS is flawed, but will suggest and explain a superior substitute.

– “The single most frustrating notion is, ‘we understand it’s not perfect, but it’s the best we can do.’ That’s just irritating. There are a lot of smart, creative people.” – Craig Thompson, MWC Commissioner.

– From here, “Death To The BCS” will talk with those smart, creative people that Thompson touches on. Conference commissioners, marketing professionals, athletic directors, TV execs, economists, professors, bowl reps, NFL execs, etc. in effort to find a tangible, feasible solution that benefits every TV entity, university, player, coach and fan.

Next up: “Chapter One : The Plan”.

Comments

comments