2008 Woodie Awards
Montgomery favors BCS over tournament
Stephen McCardell
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Sports
Every year when college football season comes around, the debate and controversy begin. Unlike the long list of controversies in professional sports that are usually regarding cheating in some form or another, this controversy deals with college football's highly criticized Bowl Championship Series, or more commonly known as the BCS.
The BCS uses a mathematical equation that takes into account a team's rankings in both the USA Today poll and the Harris Interactive poll, as well as six computer rankings. The ranking that comes out of this equation is the team's spot in the BCS poll, according to ESPN.com. The top two teams at the end of the regular season play for the national championship.
With the BCS as it is now, it would be nearly impossible for Miami University to compete for a national championship. Playing in a mid-major conference like the Mid-American Conference, Miami, as well as the other schools in the MAC, would not be able to get enough votes in either of the polls that the BCS uses, to get into the top two spots.
Currently, college football is one of the only major sports in the United States that does not determine its champion with a tournament or playoff style format. While some years the BCS format seems to work out without controversy, other years the media and fans make claims that there are more than two teams with legitimate cases for why they should be playing for the National Championship.
The most recent BCS poll has Ohio State University as the No. 1 team in the country, while Boston College is second. If the season were to end today, these two teams would play for the
national championship.
The majority of the media and college football fans have voiced their support for some sort of playoff tournament with anywhere from four to 16 teams. However, there are a lot more issues and complications to this debate than appear at the surface.
"There are two schools of thought," Miami University football Head Coach Shane Montgomery said. "The teams that consistently compete for a national championship would like to see a playoff system. For a non-BCS school like us, I would like to see the bowl system stay the way it is."
The BCS uses a mathematical equation that takes into account a team's rankings in both the USA Today poll and the Harris Interactive poll, as well as six computer rankings. The ranking that comes out of this equation is the team's spot in the BCS poll, according to ESPN.com. The top two teams at the end of the regular season play for the national championship.
With the BCS as it is now, it would be nearly impossible for Miami University to compete for a national championship. Playing in a mid-major conference like the Mid-American Conference, Miami, as well as the other schools in the MAC, would not be able to get enough votes in either of the polls that the BCS uses, to get into the top two spots.
Currently, college football is one of the only major sports in the United States that does not determine its champion with a tournament or playoff style format. While some years the BCS format seems to work out without controversy, other years the media and fans make claims that there are more than two teams with legitimate cases for why they should be playing for the National Championship.
The most recent BCS poll has Ohio State University as the No. 1 team in the country, while Boston College is second. If the season were to end today, these two teams would play for the
national championship.
The majority of the media and college football fans have voiced their support for some sort of playoff tournament with anywhere from four to 16 teams. However, there are a lot more issues and complications to this debate than appear at the surface.
"There are two schools of thought," Miami University football Head Coach Shane Montgomery said. "The teams that consistently compete for a national championship would like to see a playoff system. For a non-BCS school like us, I would like to see the bowl system stay the way it is."
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