college football: what do you think when you see this on sportscenter?

[Austiger]

The BCS and ESPN's influence over it are so disgusting. When will college football be saved from this crap? Ever?

[Jack of Arcades]

[damaniac]

The whole thing is silly, but they certainly have only the 1 BCS title. But I think it's just idiotic to pretend they didn't win a share of the national title in 2003. If you switch teams, LSU fans aren't going to be saying, "Our AP title doesn't count." On that alone I pretty discount this argument as petty and juvenile.

Hey, I'm a Michigan fan. We split with NU in 97. I was mad at first but hey, both teams had great years, went unbeaten, and did what they could. They both deserve recongition. The fact that some other team also went unbeaten doesn't really diminish your team's accomplishment.

[iggymcfly]

The Michigan/Nebraska thing was totally different. There was no system in place to determine a national champion and both teams went undefeated. Obviously, both teams deserve a share of the title.

In 2003, there was a system in place that included the AP poll, the coaches poll, and computer rankings. Out of USC, Oklahoma, and LSU, USC had the weakest schedule and also had the worst loss to a 7-5 Cal team, so they finished in 3rd and were left out of the national title game. That's a completely different scenario.

If anything, Auburn has more of a claim to USC's title than USC has to LSU's title since it was much less clear-cut that they were the 3rd best team at the end of the regular season.

[damaniac]

Ok, but 1) did people ever pretend, prior to this, that the AP poll was going to meaningless, or much less meaningful? And, more important, switch the teams, are LSU fans agreeing their title isn't really a title? Because if they don't argue that (and of course they won't), then this is stupid. They're just pulling out an argument (albeit a reasonable one) because of the teams invovled, not because they necessarily believe the argument. In other words, the cart is before the horse on this one.

[pepper123]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, but 1) did people ever pretend, prior to this, that the AP poll was going to meaningless, or much less meaningful? And, more important, switch the teams, are LSU fans agreeing their title isn't really a title? Because if they don't argue that (and of course they won't), then this is stupid. They're just pulling out an argument (albeit a reasonable one) because of the teams invovled, not because they necessarily believe the argument. In other words, the cart is before the horse on this one.

[/ QUOTE ]

this expression... it does not mean what you think it means

[chaseUdown]

Considering the point of the BCS is to crown 1 national champ, yes the AP is meaningless.

[iggymcfly]

My favorite NCAA team is Georgia Tech and I was actually attending a Pac-Ten school during the year in question. So I'm not "just an LSU fan" or "just an SEC fan". What I am is a college football fan who believes strongly that LSU was the real national champion in 2003 and USC didn't deserve a shot at the title.

[dlk9s]

One funny thing that has happened is that because so many people hate the BCS rankings so much, there is basically a desire to go back to the normal poll system. Nobody really says they want the polls to determine the champ, but they do.

Every time a new BCS ranking comes out late in the season, people bitch and moan about how this team should be higher or this team has a crappy schedule, that the BCS rankings are wrong, etc. So, basically, they want the rankings to be what THEY think they should be, which means they want the champion to be determined by a poll.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
did people ever pretend, prior to this, that the AP poll was going to meaningless, or much less meaningful?

[/ QUOTE ]


Absolutely the final AP poll is much less meaningful.

Back in the day you could have a situation where you had to wait until Monday to find out who would get the most votes and win the championship.
Was so-and-so's win against a weaker opponent enough to put them over the top? Stuff like that.

Now you just have a championship game decide it and hardly anyone pays THAT much attention to whatever the voters decide to do in the final poll.


I pretty much agree with Clark's views here but I suspect I'm leaning more towards just doing away with most of it and instituting a playoff system.