I Heart the BCS

Before this last fall, I was a dedicated NFL-only football fan, but as the college season comes to a close tomorrow night, I will look back on a year that changed my outlook and split my loyalties. In the heat of the playoffs it is hard to admit, but there are a lot of stinky regular-season NFL games. Teams at the top and bottom of the playoff ranks cruise into the postseason rendering December games almost unwatchable. In the bog-boy league, the real game begins in January, as the Seahawks and Cowboys, the winners of a grand total of two games in December, demonstrated last night.

On the college side of the board, the regular season is paramount. There is no recovering from a second defeat. Every game is meaningful for the top dozen teams. You can find a meaningful, emotion-charged tilt virtually every Saturday during the fall. Introducing an eight or sixteen team playoff would irreparably damage the game by reducing the stakes of every individual regular-season game.

While the BCS provides the means for determining a real champion, two dozen deserving teams end the season on a winning note, at the numerous, and profitable bowl games. No one is confusing them with Ohio State or Florida, but their fans get one more chance to cheer and a great reason to go somewhere warm over the New Year’s Day holiday. At the end of the day, who is losing out? Who wants to see Boise State come back next week and get gutted by the Gators? Not I. Cinderella can leave the dance with slippers intact and let the behemoths face off when the dust clears.