[Quack Attack]

Wiz of Odds: BCS fix is in for the SEC



By JAY CHRISTENSEN | October 27, 2009


Jay Christensen covered college football, among other sports, for the Los Angeles Times and produces the popular college football blog TheWizofOdds.com.

Wander into a barber shop in any small town across America and you’ll soon learn what’s on the minds of the locals. It’s a gathering spot where men hash out all the news that’s fit to print and some that isn’t.
There are ground rules. You don’t talk about religion, and you certainly don’t talk politics. Either will get you in a lot of trouble.
But if you want to get them talking, just mention the words “Bowl Championship Series.”

Nothing fires up football fans like the BCS, a cartel of six conferences and Notre Dame that goes against the very backbone of small-town America.
Work hard, and some day you’ll create a better life not only for yourself, but others — unless, of course, you’re not a member of the BCS, or more specifically, the Southeastern Conference.
If you don’t think the fix is in, read on.

Barring upsets, Texas Christian and Boise State are going to finish the regular season with unbeaten records. The Horned Frogs have road victories over Virginia, Clemson and Brigham Young. Clemson, of course, just won at Miami (Fla.), and BYU beat Oklahoma to open the season.
Boise State punched out Oregon in the opener, and if the Ducks win a showdown Saturday against USC, they could be headed to the Rose Bowl.
These programs aren’t one-year wonders, TCU is 48-10 and Boise is 51-8.

Read on fans:

Wiz of Odds: BCS fix is in for the SEC - 10-27-2009

[Quack Attack]

Personally, I had mixed feeling about this article and believe SEC fans may have something to say about this. From time to time Covers.com puts out some really good articles on college football. Curious to see what SEC fans think about this article?

[Tuck4Bama]

I am an SEC fan but I do agree the BCS is all about the money. Alabama fans will travel to wherever the Crimson Tide plays, the writers know it, TV knows it and the BCS knows it. The same goes for Texas, Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame and Florida, but Florida to a lesser amout.

Until there is ome form of play-off system put in place, which I would love to see, we will all just have to settle for the media favorites and follow the money.

Sad but true!

[desertrat]

Here is the sad part, the BCS is really a popularity contest with human voters making up 2/3rds of the point total. West coast teams get very little exposure on the East Coast, which happens to be where the overwhelming majority of the voters live. Pac 10 night games are on too late for most people in the East, and the big day games picked up by ABC aren't shown on the East Coast because of another fraud called "regional coverage". More perspective, there is only one major conference in the West and it only has 10 teams. The Eastern Time Zone has 4 major conferences making up 43 teams. I won't argue against the SEC being the best conference in the Eastern time zone, but when all the facts are considered it's easy to see how and why the bias exists against the Pac 10. Even after the Pac 10 goes 5-0 in bowl games last year, they are still disrespected.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by desertrat

Here is the sad part, the BCS is really a popularity contest with human voters making up 2/3rds of the point total. West coast teams get very little exposure on the East Coast, which happens to be where the overwhelming majority of the voters live. Pac 10 night games are on too late for most people in the East, and the big day games picked up by ABC aren't shown on the East Coast because of another fraud called "regional coverage". More perspective, there is only one major conference in the West and it only has 10 teams. The Eastern Time Zone has 4 major conferences making up 43 teams. I won't argue against the SEC being the best conference in the Eastern time zone, but when all the facts are considered it's easy to see how and why the bias exists against the Pac 10. Even after the Pac 10 goes 5-0 in bowl games last year, they are still disrespected.

As much as I disagree with you on the subject I have to say I agree with you on this one.

[Bamabeachlivin]

If anyone remembers who came up with the BCS it was the idea of the SEC so of course it was set up so a SEC team would be in the hunt every year cause the SEC averages 5-6 teams in top 25.

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by Bamabeachlivin

If anyone remembers who came up with the BCS it was the idea of the SEC so of course it was set up so a SEC team would be in the hunt every year cause the SEC averages 5-6 teams in top 25.

I only see 3 SEC teams ranked in the Top 25 this week!

[Bamabeachlivin]

Originally Posted by desertrat

I only see 3 SEC teams ranked in the Top 25 this week!

Yes there are just 3 in the top 25. But the point was that this whole bad system of choosing a national champion with the BCS was sadly created by the conference that my beloved team is in. The strength of the conference over all is the reason why you can count at least one team from the SEC in the mix every year. The only good thing if you consider it good, is that the BCS does is make a lot of money for the Big Six Conferences. It is a monopoly plain and simple, a club that is designed to keep you out if you don't belong and even if you some how try to crash the party you will never make it to the big dance at the end. Member's only.

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by Bamabeachlivin

Yes there are just 3 in the top 25. But the point was that this whole bad system of choosing a national champion with the BCS was sadly created by the conference that my beloved team is in. The strength of the conference over all is the reason why you can count at least one team from the SEC in the mix every year. The only good thing if you consider it good, is that the BCS does is make a lot of money for the Big Six Conferences. It is a monopoly plain and simple, a club that is designed to keep you out if you don't belong and even if you some how try to crash the party you will never make it to the big dance at the end. Member's only.

We agree about the monopoly and the big money. I'm pretty sure a playoff would also generate an enormous amount of money, but since most of the coaches are against these high pressure games we likely won't get a playoff.