Playoffs

With the College World Series ending in an exciting fashion, the draft last week recapping an interesting March, the AFL Playoffs underway, and college football season around the corner it's time for me to continue my longstanding rant College Football needs to do away with the BCS and get on board the playoff train.

It is fact, people get so excited about the brackets in College Basketball they skip work. We've all seen it, they work on the cough coming into work on Monday, then on Tuesday they bring the Vitamin C and a box of Kleenex, by 2:15p on Wednesday their sipping tea at their desk and people don't think they're gonna make it to 5:00 then or course first thing Thursday morning they call in to work. "*Cough* I don't think I'm going to make *Cough* it in today or tomorrow *Cough*". People also get more excited about the College Football season than they do about the College Basketball season. So wouldn't it make sense, using the A + B = C logic, that if people like College Basketball playoff system enoguh to use precious sick days at work, plus statistically they like College Football more than College Basketball, than, logically, a College Football Bracket system would be absolutely Effing amazing.

I've been saying, for a long time now, that the BCS system needs to go. Ohio State had no business in that game last year. However Georgia and USC did belong in that game. The fact that the BCS, so high and mighty, thinks that their ridiculous computer algorithm can give us the two best teams is preposterous. It gives us some mathematical printout. Also, the fact that it does give us the "Two Best Teams" is even more absurd. The game should be decided on the field/court/diamond not in Windows Vista. For further proof, let's look at the following:

The BCS has been in place for 10 years. Let's look at the last 10 years of Basketball and Baseball playoff brackets and what has happened:

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament a.k.a. March Madness Final Four:
99 - (1) Duke (1) Mich. St. (4) Ohio St. (1) UConn - (1) UConn over (1) Duke
00 - (5) Florida (8) UNC (1) Mich. St. (8) Wisc - (1) Mich St. over (5) Florida
01 - (1) Duke (3) Maryland (1) Mich. St. (2) AZ - (1) Duke over (2) AZ
02 - (1) Maryland (1) Kansas (5) Indiana (2) Oklahoma - (1) Maryland over (5) Indiana
03 - (2) Kansas (3) Marquette (1) Texas (3) Syracuse - (3) Cuse over (2) Kansas
04 - (2) OK St. (3) G. Tech (1) Duke (2) UConn - (2) UConn over (3) G. Tech
05 - (5) Mich St. (1) Illinois (4) Louisville (1) UNC - (1) UNC over (1) Illinois
06 - (4) LSU (2) UCLA (3) Florida (11) George Mason - (3) Florida over (2) UCLA
07 - (1) Ohio St. (2) Georgetown (2) UCLA (1) Florida - (1) Florida over (1) Ohio St.
08 - (1) Memphis (1) UNC (1) Kansas (1) UCLA - (1) Kansas over (1) Memphis

Yes 7 of the last 10 years a #1 seed has gone on to win it all, but there are 4 #1 seeds in the tournament. Only 4 times did a #1 face a #1 in the championship, and only once EVER have all 4 #1 seeds made the Final Four. Also over this same 10 year span in the Elite Eight there were 4 #6 seeds, 4 #7 seeds, 1 #8 seed, 3 #10 seeds, 1 #11 seed, and 1 #12 seed. Again 7 of the winners have been #1 seeds, but how many of those #1 seeds were the 4th best #1 seed or the 3rd best, because those teams wouldn't be in the BCS Championship game.

The NCAA tournament gets high ratings, office pools, increased excitement because you never know what's going to happen and who will win and how. Computer rankings don't take into account teams that hit a rough stretch, missed a key player, had a bad call go against them, or any number of things that can change a team's outcome. They don't take into account teams that win when they need to win.

Like the Basketball Tournament the College Baseball championship is decided on the field of play rather than on that HP laptop. So Let's look at the last 10 years of College Baseball Championships:

99 - 7 of 8 ranked teams made it out of the 64 team tourney and into the College World Series, Final Four seeds were 1,2,4,6 and the Championship was #1 vs #2 and #1 Miami won. Normal right?
00 - 4 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 2,6,8,UR, (8) vs (2), Winner (2) LSU
01 - 7 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 1,2,4,UR, (4) vs (2), Winner (2) Miami
02 - 5 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 2,5,6,8, (5) vs (6), Winner (5) Texas
03 - 5 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 5,6,7,UR, (5) vs (6), Winner (5) Rice
04 - 4 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 1,2,UR,UR, (1) vs (UR), Winner (UR) Cal St. Fullerton
05 - 5 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 4,7,UR,UR, (7) vs (UR), Winner (UR) Texas
06 - 5 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 2,5,UR,UR, (UR) vs (UR), Winner (UR) Oregon St.
07 - 3 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 2,3,UR,UR, (3) vs (UR), Winner (UR) Oregon St.
08 - 6 of 8 advanced to the CWS, Final Four seeds = 2,8,UR,UR, (8) vs (UR), Winner (UR) Fresno St.

5 times an UNRANKED (out of the top 8) team won the Championship, ONE time the 1 seed won it all. Only 3 times in the last 10 years did the 1,2, and 3 teams even MAKE IT to the College World Series and only 3 times did 1 and 2 make it to the Final Four. Also only 2 times were all Final four teams ranked going into the CWS. This past year Fresno State won after barely being making the tournament. Had this been the NCAA basketball tournament Fresno State would have been a 7 seed, in the NIT Bracket. They wanted it more than anyone else. And forget saying it was a fluke, they had to win a lot of games to party at Historic Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, somewhere in middle America. They went 5-2 in the World Series and 10-4 overall to take the title home.

Imagine if the NCAA decided to try a playoff system in College Football. I'm not asking for a 64, 32 or even 16 team playoff (though my NCAA mock playoff bracket is 16 teams) but an 8 or even simply a Final Four system would make the National Championship for College Football a real champion. I'm ranting again, read my previous rant if you want to see how I broke it down and how it doesn't eliminate Bowl Games.