Sunday night, I had a dream:
Now that was a thrilling Selection Sunday.
BCS gives us a nightmare schedule instead of a dream tournament
Oh sure, everyone knew that LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State and Stanford were going to be the top four seeds in the NCAA tournament but no one had any idea how the last four spots would play out and there were plenty of surprises when the field was unveiled.
Boise State was seeded fifth, setting up a quarterfinal against Stanford that might come down to who has the ball last with Andrew Luck and Kellen Moore, the two most decorated college quarterbacks of recent years, going head-to-head. Wisconsin got the sixth seed after beating Michigan State to win the Big Ten title and will open against Oklahoma State. But the last two spots were real surprises: Baylor jumped from not even being on the bubble into the seventh slot after crushing Texas — who says the tournament takes away the meaning of the regular season? — and TCU, which looked like it was headed for the Las Vegas Bowl just a few weeks ago, got the coveted final spot and will open the tournament against LSU.
When the LSU-TCU matchup went on the board, one could hear the screams of pain and anger coming from Ann Arbor, Mich.; Manhattan, Kan.; and Fayetteville, Ark. There were barely whimpers from anyone in the ACC or the Big East. Those two leagues probably had their fate sealed when the committee voted against automatic bids for the tournament, meaning their three-loss champions will be headed for second tier bowls — which is where they clearly belong.
“When we set up the new system we said we wanted the eight best teams and, preferably, the teams playing the best football at the end of the season,” said committee chairman Gene Corrigan, the former ACC Commissioner who once helped invent the late, unlamented Bowl Championship Series. “This isn’t about what league you play in or how many tickets you might sell. This is about getting the best eight teams to play for a championship. Someone has to be disappointed, just like in the basketball tournament.”
The four quarterfinal games will be played on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, with LSU and TCU opening the proceedings on New Year’s Eve from the Sugar Bowl. The next day there will be kickoffs at noon (Alabama-Baylor in the Citrus Bowl); 3:30 (Oklahoma State-Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl) and 8 o’clock (Stanford-Boise State in the Holiday Bowl). The semifinals will be a week from Saturday in the Orange and Fiesta Bowls with the championship game the following week at the Rose Bowl.
As for the matchups . . .
Huh? What? It was all a dream? There is no NCAA tournament? There was no suspense at all on Sunday? The BCS matchups produced a rematch between Alabama and LSU for the national title? West Virginia got a BCS bid? Clemson? Virginia Tech?
Oh God, it’s all coming back now. College football is still ruled by the sleazy, only-money-and-power-matters BCS.
So this is what we have to show for the so-called best regular season in sports:
●A rematch of a field-goal-kicking contest for the national title. Yup, Alabama, which didn’t even win its division of the Southeastern Conference, will play LSU again in New Orleans for the national title on Jan. 9.
- Spam
- Obscene
- Duplicate
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