Kwitchurbelyakin!

Sorry for the long delay between posts.

Time to take a brief break from gospel music posting, and check out how the rest of the world is doing.

We are fast approaching not just the Christmas season, but the college football bowl season as well. And with the advent of the Bowl Championship Series, otherwise known as the BCS, college football has been trying to implement a method to determine its' "national champion". This is already being done in the sport's lower divisions, but in college football's "big leagues". i.e., Division 1A , the issue continues to raise controversy.

In other sports(basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, etc.)there are already relatively sound methods in existence to determine a champion. But because of the nature of college football, and the way that games are scheduled(weekly as opposed to a more frequent basis), the powers that be in division 1A have yet to come up with a truly equitable system for determining a champion.

What we have now is a system based on national rankings(which in itself is flawed)...where at season's end, the top two teams are dettermined and one of the major postseason bowl games(Rose, Orange, Sugar, or Fiesta)is the game in which these two teams meet for the so-called national championship. The rest of the bowl games are determined in the way they've always been(by invitation), with the exception in some cases being tie-ins with different leagues which may determine those participants.

As you can see already, this can easily lead to controversy over who ought to merit selection for participation in the national title game. And this year, what with the great number of surprise outcomes in key games, the controversy is taking on new levels.

Specifically, this year's controversy centers on the two teams that have been selected, Ohio State and LSU, the #1 and #2 teams respectively in the polls. The selection of LSU has caused particular controversy in that they are the first team with two losses in a season to play in such a game. Supporters of Oklahoma and USC, both also two-loss teams, feel that their teams are more deserving to be chosen. And then there is the nation's only major unbeaten team, the University of Hawaii(12-0)which will play Georgia in this year's Sugar Bowl.

Further, fans of Georgia(another two-loss team)contend that they ought to have been considered a choice for the title game, based on their strong finish this season in what is generally accepted as the toughest college football league, the Southeastern Conference. The problem with their claim is that not only did the Bulldogs not win the league, they didn't even win their section of it...thus making spurious any claim they might have to play in a national title game.

As for the other teams mentioned, true, LSU did lose two games. But both those losses were in multiple overtime, meaning that in the days before overtimes were instituted and ties counted as ties, LSU would be undefeated if the rules had not changed. And Oklahoma and USC's losses still would be losses under any other system, and since they were, with the exception of USC's loss to Oregon, to unranked, unheralded teams, these losses were particularly costly in the system being used today. And Hawaii's unbeaten record, though impressive under any circumstances, can't be held in the same light as the other schools mentioned, for it was achieved against markedly inferior opposition. The fact that the Warriors are facing Georgia is a reward for the fact that they DID finish unbeaten, which does still mean something.

But the fact remains that under the system in use, the choice of Ohio State-LSU is probably the most equitable solution under the circumstances. If anyone has a better system, suggestions are still being taken for ideas on how to improve it.

Many have advocated a playoff system similar to that used in basketball, to determine the champion by elimination. I have said for years, though, that there has never been a method for establishing the criteria or system to do it in a truly equitable manner. Given the way in which schedules are made, and taking league affiliations and traditional rivalries into consideration, there doesn't appear to be a workable way to make a playoff format a reality.

So...what we have is the way it is. And under that system, perhaps there is no better matchup. It would be nice if all the fans whose teams didn't make it as far as they might have to focus their frustrations not on a system they have no power to change anyway, but on their teams for not winning the games that they otherwise might have won.

It's nice to be a passionate fan, but let's get real here.

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