Alabama's BSC Victory Another Reason Why NCAA Needs Playoffs

Before anyone could settle down into their arm chairs to watch "the most anticipated college championship" in quite some time, the game was over.

Alabama scored a touchdown only 2:57 into the contest when Eddie Lacy raced in from 20-yards out to give 'Bama a 7-0 lead. After Notre Dame went three and out on their first possession, Alabama marched right down the field against the so-called greatest defense in college football and pounded it in when Michael Williams caught a three-yard pass in the end zone from quarterback A.J. McCarron.


With 6:14 left in the 1st quarter the score was: Alabama 14, Notre Dame 0.

Not only did Notre Dame look lifeless, they were totally out of their league. The Fighting Irish were so bad they made the New York Jets look like world beaters. The only aspect of the game was even mildly interesting was ESPN's numerous shots of McCarron's smoking hot girlfriend, Katherine Webb, who is Miss Alabama! It's good to be the starting quarterback at Alabama.

McCarron isn't going to confuse anyone with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. He won't even be a starting quarterback at the next level if he even gets there, but the Irish allowed him to have the kind of night that will be remembered in Alabama for decades.

Notre Dame's fearless leader Manti Te'o who received so much media praise and coverage, granted he had a horrible tragedy befell him and deserves all the credit in the world for playing through it, came up small in the big moment. Anyone who was looking to continue their comparisons to Ray Lewis can now keep quiet, after Te'o missed a bunch of tackles along with his teammates who couldn't tackle a stuffed animal let alone a football player.

But what is the bigger issue has nothing to do with Notre Dame's performance, but has everything to do with the way this game has been selected for years now. The BCS is a total farce -- everyone knows it, but many have tried to deny it because of the money that is involved in keeping it moving.

College football desperately needs a playoff. Forget about the fact that there will be something of a "Final Four" in 2014-2015; that will be based on the standings that currently exist today with AP polls, coaches polls and of course the computer generated BCS.

There were 75 bowl games this season, most of them meaningless, and plenty of them ridiculous. No sports system allows more mediocre teams that are either at .500 or barely over it to compete for bowl game titles the way college football does. The formula is ridiculous and has totally failed the sport.

Defenders of the BCS say the current system works, because it puts emphasis on winning regular season games; that Oregon didn't deserve to be in the title game because they had one loss compared to Notre Dame's undefeated season. This argument sounded incompetent and stubborn back then, and it sounds even worse now.

As we have seen throughout sports over the years the "best record" does not mean the "best team" when it really counts in the postseason. The Irish showed to the world that they did not belong on the same stage with Alabama let alone in a BCS title game. The Ducks of Oregon should have been in this game, but a stupid computer formula told us otherwise.

This is not the first time that teams have been left out of the title game. In 2009 Alabama, Cincinnati, Texas, Boise State and TCU were all undefeated at the end of the regular season. Yet the BCS, which basically picks teams on bloated reputations, and bloated regular season scores, decided that the title game would be Alabama vs. Texas. Boise State, Cincy and TCU had to play lesser bowl games.

It happened again in 2010. Oregon, Auburn and TCU were all unbeaten. Auburn had an exciting young quarterback in Cam Newton; TCU had an exciting young quarterback in Andy Dalton. Two guys who have gone on to have solid starts to their NFL careers. Oregon was at the beginning of their recent dominance under innovative head coach Chip Kelly; yet the BCS ruled that the title game would be Auburn and Oregon. Both teams were deserving, but nobody will ever know if TCU could have competed for a title too. Also don't forget the teams with one loss: Stanford, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State and Boise State, all of whom could have competed for the big game as well.

But they didn't. Why? The BCS.


Maybe the BCS should instead stand for BS.

College football at the division I level has become bloated by big corporate contracts, branding, alumni donations (which is bigger than you think), and of course reputation. The Bowl games serve nothing but an opportunity to advertise a corporate sponsor (i.e. Papa Johns, Meineke Car Care, Discover, Lays, etc), and a chance for the host stadium to make oodles of money from drunk college students who are more than willing to fork over thousands to see their team play in the bowls like the Pinstripe Bowl.

Not to mention the essence of conference play has become a total joke as teams move from one conference to another like it means nothing. Just look at the Big East, which once housed Miami, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia. Now it is just Rutgers, Louisville, South Florida, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Syracuse.  Rumors are that Rutgers, and Syracuse are close to leaving, and teams like San Diego State are coming in. That's right, San Diego, California in the Big East.

Money talks in college football. Remember that for later.

To convince the NCAA that moving to a tournament similar to college basketball is in essence telling them to cut off some of the corporate sponsorship. In short, easier said than done.

It is clear the way the BCS selects these games and these teams is becoming increasingly unfair. With 12 conferences in Divison-IA college football, surely the NCAA can come up with a tournament that will give America a true National Champion.

Here is an idea. There are five weeks between the end of the regular season, usually on Thanksgiving, and the BCS title game, usually on January 6 or 7. Those are five weeks were a tournament can be inserted that will allow representatives from each conference to compete.

Since you can't have 64 teams in this tournament, and since it is football which can't be played every day, lets say you take 32 teams into the tournament. Week 1 of the playoffs will be the first weekend in December; the Sweet 16 will be the second week in December; the Elite 8 will be the week before Christmas.  The Final Four will be the week after Christmas, and the National Title can still be held on January 7.

Who will compete in the tournament. Take your top 25 poll:

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Alabama (59)	13-1	1475
2	Oregon	12-1	1358
3	Ohio State	12-0	1302
4	Notre Dame	12-1	1288
5	Georgia	12-2	1230
5	Texas A&M	11-2	1230
7	Stanford	12-2	1169
8	South Carolina	11-2	1038
9	Florida	11-2	933
10	Florida State	12-2	922
11	Clemson	11-2	889
12	Kansas State	11-2	871
13	Louisville	11-2	781
14	LSU	10-3	756
15	Oklahoma	10-3	615
16	Utah State	11-2	456
17	Northwestern	10-3	443
18	Boise State	11-2	419
19	Texas	9-4	358
20	Oregon State	9-4	303
21	San Jose State	11-2	243
22	Northern Illinois	12-2	227
23	Vanderbilt	9-4	180
24	Michigan	8-5	147
25	Nebraska	10-4	119

Then bring in a few more teams, who had terrific seasons, to fill out the bracket. This year's examples would be: Rutgers (9-4), Fresno State (9-4), San Diego State (9-4), Syracuse (8-5), Louisiana-Lafayette (9-4), UCLA (9-5), and Wisconsin (8-6). Which team makes the tournament, and what requirements as far as conference win percentage, and common opponents are all up for debate for eligibility.

But isn't that what makes tournament time so much fun? Doesn't that put more emphasis on winning regular season games down the stretch, especially in conference? If a club is not in the top 25, and is football's version of a bubble team, they can still get in, but would have to win their games. Best of all, you get rid of the 6-6 and 7-5 teams that end up in those pointless bowl's in early December.

Best of all, and here is where the money comes back into play, the tournament will have 32 different games over the course of the event. That is 32 different stadiums who hosted a bowl, who can make out some big bucks by hosting tournament games like a first round match-up of Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette. The Rose Bowl? Make it a site for one of the Final Four games. The Pinstripe Bowl? We'll give Yankees Stadium an Elite 8 game. 

This is what it is all about. Competition.

While some will look at the match-ups and scuff at them, especially in the first round, it is worth it. Even college basketball has some unbalanced first round match-ups; but it doesn't diminish the effectiveness of the tournament, because every once in a while there is a Vermont or a Butler who comes out of nowhere to upset the best of the best.

That is what postseason sports is all about. Opportunity.