Have You Ever Heard a Death Rattle Before?

For those who don't know, a death rattle is that gargling noise that someone makes right before they die in the movies. It's also followed by their still-open eyes rolling back, and their head moving dramatically from right-to-left, or left-to-right, depending on which side the person who they were sharing their greatest secrets with was sitting on.

But that aside, it sure seems like the BCS is in the middle of its death rattle. Apparently, there is a website called www.playoffproblem.com that explains how stupid a playoff would be. Of course, it was also created by the BCS, apparently in 1998, judging by the site design, and explains how stupid and unfair a playoff system would be, and how it would be super unfair to the #19 team in the country if they were left out.

This sounds an awful lot like the death of the BCS, that they would (1) feel the need to defend themselves in such a way and (2) that they would be forced into making such blatantly stupid arguments to do it.

But, let's look forward - the BCS will die. It's only a matter of time at this point, and everyone knows it. The funny thing is that there is a lot more money to be made by creating a playoff, yet somehow, the BCS is completely unwilling to recognize that. Seriously, how much money could you make off of multiple playoff games, all of which mean something? That's more games on national TV. That's more competition. That's more interest from casual fans. All of which is good. Indeed, that's the single factor that has allowed the NFL to pass MLB as the premier sport in the country. When only 10 teams have any shot at winning a championship, there isn't a whole lot of reason to be interested in your team (provided that your team is outside of the countries handful of major metropolitan areas). I mean, Jesus, it's pretty clear that allowing teams in Tampa Bay and Baltimore and Charlotte and Nashville has seriously hurt the NFL. It's a good thing that MLB has never done anything so stupid. Gotta make sure you have that LA market, am I right?!

But seriously, I have antagonized Deadspin writer Dashiell Bennett in the past, and while the system he proposed in an article once upon a time is probably far too much change all at once, it does seem to make every change that should be made in the NCAA. Here's a link to it.

So, take a look at how things would shake out (or be set to shake out) by Mr. Bennett's methodology. First, we would have to find homes for the remaining NCAA independents. That means Army, Navy and Notre Dame. Notre Dame would end up in either the Big Ten or the Big East - but probably the Big Ten. The Big Ten has more $$ to offer, better teams top-to-bottom, a big rival in Michigan (as well as a regularly scheduled game against Michigan State), and geographic similarity.

Plus, it would allow the Big Ten to get with the times and create a championship game and divisions, since it is impossible to play every other team in the conference during the season.

So the Big Ten would then look like this:
Eastern Division: Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue
Western Division: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame

And the standings: East - Ohio State (7-1), Penn State (6-2), Michigan State (4-4), Purdue (4-4), Michigan (1-7), Indiana (1-7)
West - Iowa (6-2), Northwestern (5-3), Wisconsin (5-3), Notre Dame (4-4) (a guess), Minnesota (3-5), Illinois (2-6)

The poor Big Ten would then have to put Iowa and Ohio State through another game to decide who goes to the playoff. But, if you notice, Notre Dame is in the weaker West division, giving them a leg-up on getting to the playoff, and having any shot at playing for a title.

So, there's one game that means a shot at the title - between 9. Ohio State and 13. Iowa.

The ACC, we have 7. Georgia Tech and 15. Clemson set for the ACC championship, and rather than it meaning just a trip to Miami, it would actually mean a shot for a Georgia Tech team that has won 8 straight games to have a chance to make something happen.

The Big 12 is less interesting, and would likely result in the coronation of 3. Texas into the playoff, but who'd really be upset with that?

The Big East would now be looking at a pseudo-championship game of its own when 5. Cincinnati meet 8. Pitt next weekend.

The Pac-10's de-facto championship is placing 10. Oregon against 16. Oregon State.

Of course, the SEC Championship has maybe the 2 best teams in the country with 1. Florida and 2. Alabama going at it.

So there would be 6 automatic bids. The remaining 2 bids would go to the two best teams, decided by committee, from C-USA, the MAC, the MWC, the Sun Belt and the WAC - almost assuredly undefeateds TCU and Boise State (ranked 4 and 6, respectively).

So, that would mean that, as of today, with only 8 days left before bowl season, and going by the AP Top 25, every single top-10 team would still be in contention for the national championship, and 13 of the top-16.

The teams that would be left out include:
11. Oklahoma State (who have 2 losses, including a 41-14 thrashing by division-rival Texas)
12. Penn State (who lost to both Ohio State and Iowa - the 2 teams playing for the Big Ten title)
14. Virginia Tech (whose 3 losses include a 28-24 loss to G-Tech)

And beyond that,
17. LSU (who has suffered losses to both Florida and Alabama)
18. BYU (who had a shot at home against TCU, and lost 38-7)
19. Miami (who beat Georgia Tech, but has taken 3 conference losses, including a loss at home against Clemson)
20. Ole Miss (who lost to division-rival Alabama, and has 2 other conference losses to dwell on).

So, looking at this, it appears to me that the top-20 teams in the country either have a shot at the national title, or have definitive losses to other teams in the division or conference that knocked them out of contention.

Every team has had its shot, and every team can point to time in the season where they lost a game, and the team that beat them has advanced.

Now, people might gripe that the loser of Alabama/Florida has no shot at the title, and that the loser is probably better than most of the teams that would qualify for a playoff. This is true, but what shot does the loser have now? Furthermore, what's more fair than putting them in a position of knowing that this game means life-or-death for their title hopes?

But before I end this post - the website posits this series of questions:

Just try to create an eight-team playoff based on latest rankings (November 23rd). Should a one-loss Georgia Tech (10-1, #7) get in but not a one-loss Pittsburgh (9-1 #9)? Should a two-loss Oregon (9-2, #8) get in but not one-loss Pittsburgh or any of the SEVEN teams with two losses: Ohio State (10-2, #10), Iowa (10-2, #11), Oklahoma State (9-2, #12), Penn State (10-2, #13), BYU (9-2, #19), Utah, (9-2, #19), or Houston (9-2, #23)? If you think the BCS is controversial, try sorting that out. A playoff would guarantee bigger problems, more controversy, more disappointed teams and more frustrated fans.

Well, Mr. Hancock, chairman of the BCS, the first thing to remember is that this playoff would be based on the outcome of competition, not a computer ranking. So, the answers are easy: loser of Florida/Alabama doesn't get in, because they weren't even the best team in their conference. Georgia Tech gets in, only if it wins its conference title game. That's easy enough, right? If they lose, too fucking bad, and I think their fans will accept that. Pitt? Beat Cincy! If you don't you're out, if you do, you're in and they're out! It's that simple!

As for the two-loss teams, Ok State is out (they got shit on by Texas), as is Penn State (shit on by BOTH Iowa and Ohio State), BYU (shit on by TCU), Utah (also shit on by TCU - to the tune of 55-28), and Houston (what?! they might not even win their conference - and if they do, they can chalk it up to losses against Central Florida and Texas-El Paso, and if they have any wonder why they aren't winning the national championship, they probably will have a good idea of where to look).

So, more controversy? Hm, probably not. Seeing that all of the 10 best teams in teh country have a shot, and know that they need to win to stay in the hunt. That seems like an easy thing to understand.

More equity? Fairness? Fan interest? Games with meaning? High-rating games in December? Yes, definitely.

But seriously, guys, c'mon. You see how excited I get just thinking about a playoff? Do it for me, if nothing else...