We’ve had split championships in the past between undefeated (and probably some teams with a loss), The AP should declare Boise State and the Texas/Alabama winner co-national champions. If you can have two gold medal winners in an event or two+ valedictorians in high school, why not? They’ll both finish the season 14-0 if they win out, seems fair to me.
At the very least Boise State should print up 2009 national champion t-shirts.
Jazz
You know, this year’s Sugar Bowl perhaps illustrates a deep flaw in the BCS structure, which depending on the money, could topple the thing in favor of a playoff.
A theory: the average non-partisan college football fan today sees the six AQ conferences having shaken out in three tiers. On the top tier are the Big 12 and SEC. The next tier has the Pac-10 and Big-10. The lowest tier has the ACC and Big East. The non-AQ conferences are below the ACC/Big East tier, though their prestige schools (e.g. Boise State, TCU, etc) are probably somewhere between the lowest and middle tier.
Given the tier structure, most years the championship game should feature the champions of the Big 12 and SEC, unless there’s a significant loss discrepancy. If either tier 1 conference has an at-large, they might play the other tier 1 conference’s at-large…if the other conference has one (but doesn’t the BCS try to limit more than one inter-conference matchup in a given BCS season?)…and the next best choice is to play a tier 2 team –
– which can’t happen most years with the champions of those two middle tier conferences, as the Pac-10 and Big-10 champs are reserved for the Rose Bowl most years. Thus, an at-large team from a tier 1 conference is disproportionately likely to play a tier 3 or non-AQ team, as Florida did this year against Cincinnati.
You have to believe that Gator nation wasn’t too thrilled to be playing Cincinnati. Having to share the BCS payout with the rest of the SEC makes the game that much less attractive. Florida probably still had lots of alums and fans make the trip to the Superdome, and they probably goosed them for some money, maybe even more than they’d get in a playoff. But – the Cincinnati game can’t be good for Florida’s national equity.
Which leads to tension in the BCS system, and may hasten a playoff.
We’ve had split championships in the past between undefeated (and probably some teams with a loss), The AP should declare Boise State and the Texas/Alabama winner co-national champions. If you can have two gold medal winners in an event or two+ valedictorians in high school, why not? They’ll both finish the season 14-0 if they win out, seems fair to me.
At the very least Boise State should print up 2009 national champion t-shirts.
You know, this year’s Sugar Bowl perhaps illustrates a deep flaw in the BCS structure, which depending on the money, could topple the thing in favor of a playoff.
A theory: the average non-partisan college football fan today sees the six AQ conferences having shaken out in three tiers. On the top tier are the Big 12 and SEC. The next tier has the Pac-10 and Big-10. The lowest tier has the ACC and Big East. The non-AQ conferences are below the ACC/Big East tier, though their prestige schools (e.g. Boise State, TCU, etc) are probably somewhere between the lowest and middle tier.
Given the tier structure, most years the championship game should feature the champions of the Big 12 and SEC, unless there’s a significant loss discrepancy. If either tier 1 conference has an at-large, they might play the other tier 1 conference’s at-large…if the other conference has one (but doesn’t the BCS try to limit more than one inter-conference matchup in a given BCS season?)…and the next best choice is to play a tier 2 team –
– which can’t happen most years with the champions of those two middle tier conferences, as the Pac-10 and Big-10 champs are reserved for the Rose Bowl most years. Thus, an at-large team from a tier 1 conference is disproportionately likely to play a tier 3 or non-AQ team, as Florida did this year against Cincinnati.
You have to believe that Gator nation wasn’t too thrilled to be playing Cincinnati. Having to share the BCS payout with the rest of the SEC makes the game that much less attractive. Florida probably still had lots of alums and fans make the trip to the Superdome, and they probably goosed them for some money, maybe even more than they’d get in a playoff. But – the Cincinnati game can’t be good for Florida’s national equity.
Which leads to tension in the BCS system, and may hasten a playoff.