Why I’ve lost faith in College Football

By this point in the college football season, all the bowl games are set, Alabama is Ranked #1, and Ingram won the Heisman. Sadly I have problems with all three of these points.

First I have a problem with the BCS. Since 1998, the Bowl Championship Series has been ruining college football. With their highly subjective and heavily computerized ranking system, the NCAA has lost control of possibly their most valuable sport. College Basketball offers at least every conference winner a spot in the NCAA basketball tournament, but in football only six conferences are included in the major BCS bowl Games. That leaves out every mid-major conference, including two of the top six teams in the BCS’s own rankings (Boise State and TCU). If the BCS doesn’t want to seem so biased and inclusive, then they should accept all D-1 conferences including the MAC, WAC, and Sun Belt to name a few. I am one of the many fans out there who would lobby for a playoff system. I mean, high schools play a playoff and professionals play playoffs, why shouldn’t colleges? If most of the players in college have the dream of going professional sooner or later, they should be excited to want to play in a college playoff, it can give them valuable experience in playing games that are winner take all. I do applaud that some conference already have a conference title playoff, but others do not. I really believe that because the Big Ten don’t have a playoff for their conference title, is why they have been hurting in the bowl games recently. And I hate hearing people arguing against a playoff because it means players are more frequent to injury. Well that’s the tough of it, players are going to get hurt and miss big games, it’s how it has been and always will be. I think the NCAA should drop the BCS system and work for a playoff system. Division II football uses a playoff system quite effectively, and with basketball, I believe they both honestly pick the right winner, not some overused computer program.

Next is the awards part. Like I stated in my intro, Mark Ingram won the 2009 Heisman Trophy. Firstly I think that awards are given out too early. I didn’t pay much attention to the awards this year except for the Heisman and the Biletnikoff award. The Heisman in 2008 was given to the wrong player and again this year, the Heisman was given to the wrong player. I just don’t understand how the award can be given to an athlete who had worse statistics than another player. If this award is given to the best individual athlete, then it should have gone to Toby Gerhart, not Mark Ingram. Gerhart carried the ball 62 more times than Ingram, and Gerhart also rushed for 194 more yards as well as 11 more touchdowns. It shouldn’t matter that Ingram’s team is changeling for the national title; I just think Gerhart got robbed. Even worse than the Heisman was the Biletnikoff award, given to the country’s top wide receiver. The three finalists for the award were Jordan Shipley of Texas, Freddie Barnes of BGSU, and Golden Tate of Notre Dame. Tate ended up winning the award even though he finished behind Barnes and or Shipley in the statistical category of receiving yards, touchdowns, and receptions. Although I used this same argument for the Heisman, the team’s overall standing shouldn’t have any effect on the winner’s chance. Notre Dame has declined any bowl invitations with a 6-6 record. BGSU is 7-5 and will play in the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, while Texas is obviously playing against Alabama for a national title. I just don’t understand how these awards cannot be given the player with the best statistics, regardless of where they went to school.

Bowl Games are my final point of argument. For years, bowl games have defined college football. I consider all of them except for the title game to be just consolation prizes for teams. Does it really matter if a team wins the Rose Bowl for the eighth time, or back to back Sugar Bowls? No, they really mean nothing in the long run, just another chance for some schools to earn money for their football programs. I mean there are so many bowls now-a-days that there are 34 bowl games, which means that 68 football teams get to play in the postseason. (A little obsessive if you ask me.) I think that this just gives more backing for a playoff system. Cut the teams down, and create a bracket like system similar to basketball. I have my ideas for a playoff, but I feel the NCAA should work one out for themselves.

So in the end, I think that certain players were given the wrong awards, the National title game might be biased, and the bowl games offer no clear way of what team is better. Unless some stuff changes, I don’t know how long I won’t have faith in college football.