Word: bcs
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Like eggnog or reruns of it's a wonderful life, college football fans' grumbling over the Bowl Championship Series (BCS)--the muddled method by which the sport anoints its national champion--has become a December rite. The chorus of critics includes Barack Obama, who opined in his first postelection interview that "any sensible person" would favor a playoff system to determine who's No. 1. And that was before the Oklahoma Sooners sped past Texas in this year's race to the BCS title game despite losing to the Longhorns 45-35 in October--a result purists say should logically...
...BCS selects entrants for its five bowl games using an algorithm that weighs two expert polls and six intricate computer rankings. Its mastermind, former Southeastern Conference commissioner Roy Kramer, had a simple mission when he unveiled the system in 1998: pinpoint a formula that would pit the nation's two top-ranked teams against each other in a winner-take-all contest. Since 1902, postseason bowl matchups had been based largely on historic rivalries and conference affiliations. Schools reaped financial windfalls, but the process failed to crown a definitive champion...
Proponents laud Kramer's system for infusing humdrum regular-season matchups with drama and import. But critics say the BCS can discriminate against worthy underdogs and elevate the wrong teams to its ultimate showdown. Outrage over its capricious rankings spurred Senate hearings in 2003 and a congressional inquiry in 2005. A 2007 Gallup poll found that only 15% of fans would balk at scrapping the present format for a tidy year-end tournament. This year, that number is probably even lower in the Lone Star State...
...This trend might itself be aided by the changes to the landscape of college football. Last year’s tumultuous season in Division I-A, which saw the first two-loss national champion in the BCS era, has been partially blamed on nationwide scholarship reductions that made powerhouse programs like Alabama, Notre Dame, and Michigan less able to stockpile talented players, as they had in the past. The resulting trickle-down effect of talent has meant that upsets are more likely within Division I-A, as well as in matchups between Division I-A and I-AA squads...
...three games this season for Louisiana State, ranked No. 5 in this week’s Associated Press poll. Tiger Stadium, where Hatch made his first two starts, seats 92,400 fans, and that number is almost always present for a home game. Last season, the Tigers won the BCS national championship, taking the title in college football’s highest division by downing Ohio State 38-24.By way of contrast, Harvard Stadium has a capacity of 30,323, a number that is only reached for the biennial Cambridge edition of The Game. The Crimson cannot compete in the playoffs...