Bowl Championship Series Essay, Research Paper

The biggest subject around college football today is the really controversial and complicated Bowl Championship Series or B.C.S. Equations used in the Bowl Championship Series will find squads fates throughout the full 1998-99 college football season. Some people feel a playoff should be in order or college football should travel back to its old Bowl Alliance system. To better understand this state of affairs you must delve deep into what the Bowl Championship Series is and how the squad that will take part in it be determined. You need to happen out what people effected by this state of affairs think about the new system and how it could be made a whole batch better.

The Bowl Championship Series is a series of systematic equations that will finally add up to a figure and find what squads will play for the National Championship in the Fiesta Bowl ( ABC Sports n.p. ) . The equations equal points which translates into a ranking. The ranking is determined by averaging squads rankings in the Associated Press Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll and coming up with a figure ( Dufrense D1 ) . That figure is put aside for later add-on. They following take the norms of the three computing machine polls: New York Times, Jeff Sagarin Poll, and the Seattle Times and average those rankings together ( Dufrense D1 ) . Now they take the strength of agenda into history. They take the squads rank from toughest agenda to weakest agenda ( 1-112 ) and split it by 25 ( Dufrense D1 ) . They add all three Numberss together to get at one figure. Each loss counts as one point. Add the losingss for the squad to the old figure to complete this equation The lower the concluding figure the higher you will be ranked in the Bowl Championship Series Poll ( Dufrense D1 ) .

The Bowl Championship Series is in its first season. It was developed and approved by the caput of the Bowl Championship Series and commissioner of the South Eastern Conference Roy Kramer ( Dufrense D1 ) . It was created in concurrence with the Rose Bowl being added to the old Bowl Alliance ( Dufrense D1 ) .

Many possibilities exist for the bowl alliance. One could be that after the season is over it could be decided that the Bowl Championship Series has been uneffective and it would be abolished ( Fly-List n.p. ) . They could travel back to the Bowl Alliance system, but that will be extremely improbable ( Fly-List n.p. ) . In the Bowl Alliance system all musca volitanss in the major bowls ( Orange, Fiesta, and Sugar ) were at-large commands while the grandfather of them all, the Rose Bowl was left out ( Hugenin n.p. ) . The Rose Bowl, which traditionally pitted the Pac 10 versus Big Ten Conference title-holders every twelvemonth had non hosted a National Title game of all time from the Bowl Alliance ( Sports Illustrated C. f-ball subdivision ) ! The Fiesta Bowl hosted the rubric game in 1995-96, the Sugar in 1996-97, the Orange in 1997-98, and the Fiesta is back on path to take the awards once more this twelvemonth as the host of the National Title game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona ( Sports Illustrated C. f-ball subdivision ) . Under the Bowl Championship Series the Rose Bowl is scheduled to host the 2001-02 title game ( Meier n.p. ) .

The Bowl Championship Series is the present system being used in college football to find a National Champion. Some people feel it is controversial, while others are wholly content with this current system that is in its first season of operation ( ESPN n.p. ) . I have included a sample of the first of all time Bowl Championship Poll, which came out merely last hebdomad on October 27th in the Los Angeles Times. Since I & # 8217 ; m a athleticss guru I feel this material is cool and could sit and gaze at a canvass like this and ne’er of all time acquire bored with it. This canvass is critical to my research. It will look once more in scenarios.

Rank Team AP Poll USA Today Poll avg. Jeff Sagarin New York Times Seattle Times Computer avg. Sched. Rank Quartile Rank Losses Total

1 UCLA 2 2 2.00 1 1 1 1.00 1 0.04 0 3.04

2 Ohio State 1 Ss1 1.00 3 2 3 2.67 16 0.54 0 4.31

3 Tennessee 3 4 3.50 4 3 2 2.92 2 0.08 0 6.50

4 Kansas State 4 3 3.50 2 4 4 3.33 49 1.96 0 8.79

5 Florida State 5 6 5.50 7 5 7 6.33 14 0.56 1 13.39

6 Nebraska 7 7 7.00 5 6 6 5.67 15 0.60 1 14.27

7 Florida 6 5 5.50 8 8 10 8.67 22 0.88 1 16.05

8 Texas A & A ; M 8 9 8.50 10 7 5 7.00 8 0.32 1 16.82

9 Wisconsin 9 8 8.50 9 9 9 9.00 91 3.64 0 21.14

10 Penn State 10 10 10.00 11 10 12 11.00 13 0.52 1 22.52

11 Oregon 12 13 12.50 6 13 11 9.92 28 1.12 1 24.54

12 Arkansas 14 12 13.00 13 12 8 11.00 89 3.56 0 27.56

13 Georgia 11 11 11.00 15 19 13 15.67 54 2.16 1 29.83

14 Arizona 13 15 14.00 12 17 15 14.67 55 2.20 1 31.87

15 Virginia 15 14 14.50 20 21 16 19.00 69 2.76 1 37.26

16 Notre Dame 16 16 16.00 24 15 17 18.67 57 2.28 1 37.95

17 Georgia Tech 23 24 23.50 22 13 18 17.67 11 0.44 2 43.61

18 Missouri 18 21 19.50 16 23 27 22.00 23 0.92 2 44.42

19 Tulane 19 18 18.50 30 33 14 25.67 86 3.44 0 47.61

20 Syracuse 17 19 18.00 24 27 33 28.00 34 1.36 2 49.36

( Dufrense D1 )

Pollss: Rankings of each squad are added, so divided by two ( Dufrense D1 ) .

Computer Rankings: Rankings of each squad are added, so divided by three. To forestall unusual differences in single expressions, a maximal adjusted divergence of no greater than 50 % of the norm of the two lowest computing machine rankings is utilised ( DufrenseD1 ) .

Quartile Rank: Accumulative won-loss records of squad & # 8217 ; s oppositions ( deserving 66.67 % ) and Accumulative won-loss records of a squad & # 8217 ; s oppositions ( 33.33 % ) are ranked so divided by 25 ( Dufrense D1 ) .

Losingss: For each loss add 1 point to the sum ( Dufrense D1 ) .

Entire: Two squads with the lowest entire drama in the Bowl Championship Series Title Game. ( Dufrense D1 )

Possibly the most impressive and popular of the options to find a National Champion of college football would be to put in a playoff system ( Meier n.p. ) . The ideal playoff would included at least the top 32 squads in the Associated Press canvass or even perchance add a 64 squad playoff which would be a flood tide for all football fans. The playoff system would be antic. The first unit of ammunition games could still be played in bowls. The low unit of ammunition games could be played in the lower bowls ( Las Vegas, Motor City, Aloha, Heritage, Insight.com etc & # 8230 ; ) and continue through the playoff bracket and play the more implicating games ( Semifinals and Finals ) in the Big Four ( Orange, Sugar, Rose, and Fiesta ) . This would be great it would maintain the NCAA & # 8217 ; s gross up by maintaining all the bowls and add some other bowls to carry through the playoff & # 8217 ; s demands ( Meier n.p. ) . This is the close perfect manner of coronating a National Champion. You have to crush the best to go the best ( Meier n.p. ) . The strength would be through the roof and squads play wholly different in the postseason compared to the regular season because participants know every game could be their last 1.

I truly do non cognize of any other possibilities of finding a national title-holder that would be really logical. I am certain that a less complicated expression for the Bowl Championship Series could be drawn up if it was needed. I do bask the fact that the new expression takes into history the strength of agenda factor and other polls merely non the Associated Press and USA Today polls.

When you ask people involved in different ways either straight or indirectly about the effectivity of the Bowl Championship Series you will evidently have different responses. For case, when I contacted sports writer Mike Hugenin from the Sporting News he

said, “I can knock the new system all I want, but that it why I’m acquiring paid to compose about it non develop a new program of attack” ( Hugenin n.p. ) . Players on the college football squads are reasonably much taking whatever the NCAA throws at them. Some participants were enraged because strength of agenda was being looked at now and one Kansas State player’s statement was “We merely play football. We have no control over what sort of agenda we have. We merely travel out and acquire the occupation done” ( USA Today n.p. ) . That is a really strong statement because you can non truly punish the participants because some squads won’t play them. For illustration, the Marshall Thundering Herd a member of the weak MAC conference is presently undefeated at 8-0, but is non even near to being ranked in the Top 25. This is because Marshall has good plan and if a power house plan ( West Virginia, Michigan, Ohio State, Virginia, Florida etc… ) schedules Marshall they have nil to derive and everything to lose. This penalizes the Thundering Herd and causes them to derive small regard from poll takers. Marshall could really good stop up 11-0 and merely acquire the automatic position that the MAC conference title-holder gets to the Motor City Bowl-the smallest bowl in operation ( ESPN n.p. ) .

Bobby Bowden the head manager of the Florida State Seminoles commented on the Bowl Championship Series and his squad & # 8217 ; s state of affairs this twelvemonth, & # 8220 ; We are done! This new system is traveling to maintain us out of the Championship game no affair what. We had one off dark and now we don & # 8217 ; Ts have a opportunity & # 8221 ; ( USA Today n.p. ) On the other manus, Bob Toledo, caput manager of the UCLA Bruins, the squad that is presently taking the Bowl Championship Series standings with 3.04 points said, & # 8220 ; This is superb the Rose Bowl is portion of the Bowl Championship Series. We control our ain fate. We eventually have a shooting at the National Title & # 8221 ; ( USA Today n.p. ) I emailed former college and NFL coach Bill Walsh and he stated, & # 8220 ; I think it was for the best. The Pac 10 and Big Ten have been swindled out of national rubric games as has the Rose Bowl. Overall it is a good promotion for college football & # 8221 ; ( Walsh, n.p. ) .

Roy Kramer, the commissioner of the South Eastern Conference and caput of the Bowl Championship Series, said, & # 8220 ; The Bowl Championship Series is the best thing to go on to college football since the facemask & # 8221 ; ( Dufrense D1 ) . When asked if the Bowl Championship Series has any consequence on how he votes, Jeremy Schaap, an Associated Press poll taker, courteously said, & # 8220 ; No & # 8221 ; ( USA Today n.p. ) . I think that all of these groups of people are effected about every bit by the Bowl Championship Series, but the fans are the 1s that have been left out. The fans make the game and some attention and some do non. The alumnas and hardcore, go to every game fans do care ( ABC Sports n.p ) . They are the 1s puting at that place clip and money into their squad and they want to do everything that is positive happen to their squad ( ABC Sports n.p ) . The other types of fans are the occasional armchair signal caller and the pupil that supports his squad. The armchair signal caller cares rather a spot about what happens to the squad, but non even near to every bit much as an alumna ( Meier n.p. ) . The pupil largely merely wants to travel and party and root the squad on. The bulk of the clip they have no hint what is traveling on when it comes to bowls ( Meier n.p. ) .

The Bowl Championship Series could be better by doing the expression used simpler so it is easy understood ( ESPN n.p. ) . From what I hear, the Bowl Championship is excessively complicated. On an ESPN show it was said & # 8220 ; The Bowl Championship Series is so complicated that merely MIT could decode it & # 8221 ; ( ESPN n.p. ) I think a expression used should merely include the won-loss record of a squad and so if there is a tie so take into history the strength of agenda. As I had stated earlier, the Rose Bowl, Pac 10, and the Big Ten were the lone squads effected by the old Bowl Alliance system. I think the Bowl Championship Series is more effectual and better planned than the Bowl Alliance was.

This twelvemonth the Bowl Championship Series may non ache anybody, but it perchance can. & # 8220 ; To hold the top four squads finish undefeated it would take a combined 20 consecutive wins by those squads with the odds being 1 in a 100 & # 8221 ; ( ESPN n.p. ) . But, if the four squads were to win out UCLA would be sitting fat and happy on top on the Bowl Championship Series Poll and travel to the Fiesta Bowl ( Dufrense D1 ) . That is non solidified, yet UCLA has merely blown out one opposition this twelvemonth in lowly Washington State ( Dufrense D1 ) . This has caused them to lose some international prestigiousness ( Dufrense D1 ) . UCLA has hardly beat Texas, Houston, had to beat up to crush Arizona and Oregon in overtime, pounded Washington State, won a 28-16 thriller over California, and had to beat up with 2:34 to travel to strike hard off winless Stanford 28-24 ( Dufrense D1 ) . Ohio State, the figure two squad in the Bowl Championship Series canvass may non play for the National Title because of the failing of the Big Ten this twelvemonth which may impel figure three Tennessee by them ( Dufrense D1 ) . The Volunteers have the 2nd toughest agenda and drama in a conference rubric game which could do them 12-0 with another win over a graded opposition and be placed in the title game ( Dufrense D1 ) . Ohio State could complete figure one in the Associated Press and USA Today polls and still non be allowed to play for the National Title because they are non figure one or two in the Bowl Championship Series Poll ( Dufrense D1 ) . Ohio State merely plays one more graded opposition this twelvemonth in long clip unimpressive Nemesis figure 22 Michigan ( ABC Sports n.p. ) . Kansas State is in the same boat. They scheduled three cupcakes to get down the twelvemonth and so they expect to play for the National Title ( Dufrense D1 ) . Their first trial will be at Nebraska towards the terminal of November ( Dufrense D1 ) . I don & # 8217 ; t merely experience, I know Kansas State is the best pure football squad out at that place this twelvemonth, but once more they may be snubbed.

Wisconsin is undefeated at this clip and likely will complete 11-0 and because the Rose Bowl is portion of the Bowl Championship Series they do non hold to take the Badgers. Wisconsin would complete 11-0 because Ohio State is non on their agenda this twelvemonth ( Dufrense D1 ) . This could go forth the Badgers in some 2nd rate bowl rolling what it could hold been. I have already told you about Marshall and there is another squad that I feel is truly good and could strike hard off most squads. That squad is Tulane, who is ranked around figure 18, after get downing the season undefeated at 7-0 ( Dufrense D1 ) . That includes yesterday & # 8217 ; s 72-0 clobbering of Louisiana State. They are ranked lower because they play in Conference USA ( Hugenin n.p. ) . If I had a pick I would wish to see Kansas State and Tulane in the National Championship game, but I do non hold any say in it so I & # 8217 ; ll have to trust.

If I was the commissioner of the Bowl Championship Series I would set a fan enchanting 64 squad playoff system into consequence instantly. I have been pleading for a playoff system of all time since I knew how the Bowl Alliance worked because it ever seemed to be that my favourite squad ever got swindled out of a shooting at the title. A playoff truly makes you crush the best to go the best! I besides feel its better to hold to win the National Championship by winning more than one postseason game compared to the manner they have the one game postseason right now. I agree with the points made about how a squad plays wholly different in the postseason compared to the regular season. I & # 8217 ; m interested to passionately watch how this Bowl Championship Series unfolds and if everything runs swimmingly. I & # 8217 ; m mildly interested in how long it is traveling to take the dunces that run college to calculate out that these bowl systems don & # 8217 ; t work and the lone reply would be to put in a playoff.