Winning Won't Get Anybody in the BCS

OOC scheduling and the BCS.

Posted By: redastheycome
Date: Friday 2 August 2002, at 03:18 pm

I hinted at this in my response to BlooBlud's post below, but I figured it deserved full treatment in a separate post.

Am I the only one who thinks that the OOC games are largely irrelevant with respect to the ultimate goal of getting into the BCS? An individual team may, for the duration of that season, get a boatload of respect if they were to knock off a highly ranked, big conference team (like our guys sticking it to Michigan). This would help recruiting and other aspects of the team's program (and for these reasons it's worth it to schedule the games). But would it really do much with respect to the BCS? Taking it to the extreme, let's say that we or Louisville or another strong mid-major were to pull off a stunner and finish the season unbeaten and ranked high enough to qualify for the BCS. Would that put enough pressure on the BCS honchos and presidents of the BCS universities to accept permanent and fair changes and/or an entirely new postseason system?

I don't think so. I just can't imagine any of the powers-that-be giving up the cash that easily. In fact, I see only two ways that the BCS finally dies.
1. Legal action of some sort (just pray Flag Hale has nothing to do with it - he's been enough of an embarrassment already).
2. The "bigger pie" theory - someone gets smart (thus ruling out the NCAA itself) and realizes that there is an obscene amount of money to be made from a well-organized playoff system, even if said money must be shared with us common folk from mid-major conferences.

Thoughts?

___________________________________________________________________________
Remember, EVERYBODY bleeds red, and freely given advice is usually worth what you paid for it.

GO UTES!!

Playing BCS teams.....

Posted By: BaldingUte
Date: Friday 2 August 2002, at 04:51 pm

can't hurt but if Utah is to, lets say, go 11-0 beating Michigan, Arizona and Indiana, they isn't going to propel the rest of the conference to BCS status.

If it can happen on the field, that is getting into the BCS fold, the MWC has to have 5-10 years of solid play against the BCS and placing multiple teams in the Top 25. In 1994 the WAC had Utah, Colorado State and byu all in the Ap Top 20 and in the Coaches Top 15. The WAC also dominated the PAC 10 that year, although I can't remember the exact record. Utah beat eventual Rose Bowl competitor Oregon. That is the kind of thing that needs to happen more consistently. The BCS can just brush off the occasional good year as luck, they would have a difficult time saying much if the conference sort of made itself a "powerhouse" so to speak.

With that all said I really don't think the BCS is adding the MWC, WAC or ConfUSA any time soon. College football is a class system, and the "Super Six" are in no hurry to add conferences they see as inferior.

Just my $.02

"It is better to die on your feet then to live on your knees" Emiliano Zapata

Cheer for who you want, but winning isn't going to get anybody in the BCS

Posted By: Redzoner
Date: Friday 2 August 2002, at 05:23 pm

I don't believe that winning OOC games will matter one iota when decision day comes. Whether or not we become a BCS school will be determined by how much money we bring to the table. And by that I mean TV sets. Because of its location, Northwestern could lose its next 100 games and still be in the BCS.

Besides, the value of winning, and winning big, has already been tried. BYU's still in the MWC. I remember Lavell Edwards telling the media one night after a game that they ran up the score on UTEP because it would be good for the Miners in the long run. The 70 points they hung on the Miners, in Lavell's twisted thinking, would raise BYU's national profile, which in turn would raise the conference's profile, which in turn would raise UTEP's profile. Yes, he justified running up the score on UTEP by saying it would be good for them! It's a load of garbage and a crappy excuse for poor sportsmanship. In Albuquerque, I believe, they are still waiting for the residual effect, and despite winning by 60 points BYU is still on the outside looking in.

The point being, no matter what you do in or out of conference, the BCS isn't letting you in unless it means more money for them. Therefore, cheering for BYU in OOC games would be a painful experience that nobody need put themselves through.

Wow. A voice of reason.

Posted By: Utah Hick
Date: Friday 2 August 2002, at 09:23 pm

Look at football programs in the "Mega-6" conferences, and explain to me how the majority of them are more deserving of BCS-related funds. Teams like Wake Forest (my apologies Brian Piccalo) and NC State ride on the coat-tails of their powerhouse brother, Florida State. That was the smartest move that the ACC ever made, by the way, inviting FSU into the conference. The funny thing is that Fla State's basketball program is not any better than it ever was, despite being in a high profile conference, but their ATHLETIC PROGRAM is laughing all the way to the bank from the money they get from the NCAA basketball tourney due to all of the ACC hoops teams that make it in to the tournament every year.
The opposite holds true, too. Wake Forest funnels all of their BCS money (earned from bowl winnings from other teams in the ACC) into the basketball program. So this relatively tiny school (enrollment < 15,000, in a city with a population of about 150,000) has an athletic budget that embarasses most of those in the MWC and the WAC.
Vanderbilt, Baylor, Iowa State, Northwestern, Minnesota, Oregon State, Washington State, Rutgers, and more and more programs pale in comparison to football programs like BYU, Marshall, CSU, and Louisville.
There is precedent. Teams like SMU and TCU weren't invited to the Big 12 party, when the Big 8 split up.
I personally don't think that 5 or 6 super-conferences will be formed in football. There are too many excellent players in high school. There are too many football schools with lousy basketball teams that rely on NCAA tourney money from conference affiliations.

Utah Hick

"I have dream..."

Posted By: Portland Ute
Date: Friday 2 August 2002, at 05:50 pm

I hold out hope that IF Utah were to go undefeated, they would be in a BCS bowl.

I believe that they would. I can't see how, if they are undefeated with a schedule like they have this year, that there is any way the BCS could keep them out. The same goes for BYU and CSU. If any one of these three teams goes undefeated, they will be in a BCS bowl. They have to. I refuse to believe otherwise...

However, I doubt that any of these teams will be in a BCS bowl because I don't see any one of them going undefeated...