Is having 32 bowl games best for college football?
I would say playoff system is best for the sport but no one listens to us b/c we are not advertisers / sponsors nor are we college presidents or league executives who see bowls as ‘money trains’. I almost concur with the bowl selection groups that the USC Gamecocks did not deserve to go to a bowl at 6-6 with five straight losses to end the regular season. But did California, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Alabama, Maryland, Nevada or UCLA? They were 6-6 too!
Consider this year’s crop of 6-6 teams: Cal was 1-6 in its last seven games, and UCLA 1-4. Alabama, which beat out USC for the Independence Bowl, lost its last four games. And Colorado and Maryland were 2-4 down the stretch while Oklahoma State dropped three of its last four. Nevada was 1-2 in its last three games. The system not only allows 6-6 teams to go to bowls, it all but requires it given that there are 32 bowls that need to be fed from 119 Division I-A teams. In other words 53.8 percent of the nation’s I-A teams are headed to postseason play. I may be alone when I say that 32 bowls is way too many but I think having that many bowls is laughable. I am sure somehow we can come up with a better way….look at what the nation did on September 17, 1787. Now this is not a matter of grave importance like what surrounded a new Constitution but the point is that if we come together in a collective body we can logically solve problems that face us. Having 32 bowls is a problem in my view….I am we can solve it soon. Heck if Div I-AA (or whatever they call the league now) can do it – why not us?
But the media, sponsors / ad groups / league execs / college presidents love the bowls and the BCS and the fuss they create, right? Plus the bowls are good for media reports (i.e espn’s 24 hour cycle) and water cooler talks so I guess nothing will change anytime soon until a big media storm or some big name teams get the shaft and the people revolt against the BCS system.
So the question is – Do you favor a bowl system or a playoff system?
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