http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6105595.html
Forget let the games begin, how about let the games be finished? The fun, and infuriating, part of the college football season is we spend so much time talking and worrying about the what-ifs.
What if there are three or more unbeaten major conference teams left at the end of the season? (With JoePa and the Nittany Lions out of the way after a loss to Iowa, we don’t have to worry about that.)
What if all the major conference teams have one loss? (Well, there are two left.)
What if Oklahoma beats Texas Tech at home — the Sooners are likely to be slight favorites — and there is a monster three-way tie atop the Big 12 South standings? (Texas or OU will represent the division in the Big 12 Championship Game, and if it’s OU, UT will be quite peeved.)
Isn’t this fun? Is the way we do it really that bad? Just give us a Final Four with one more game after the BCS bowls, and there would never be an argument over the national champion.
Think about it, we rarely argue about the national champion, just about the teams that ought to be talked about before we decide the national champion.
“As much as coaches beat up the BCS, and I’m one of those that have been critical, I do think it’s much better than the system we had when it got in place,” Texas coach Mack Brown said Monday.
“There are a lot of really good things about the BCS, and it’s got everybody talking about it right now. It’s what college football wants. It wants attention, good attention, and everybody is sitting down with a pencil and a piece of paper trying to figure out how this crazy stuff is going to work.”
Even President-elect Barack Obama is in favor of an eight-team playoff. Sorry Big O, but not all change is good.
Too much worrying
People fear the so-called worst-case scenarios that would ruin the world of college football as we know it, and every year we have to tell you to calm down.
Every year college football gets better and better.
Those worst-case scenarios are overblown. We waste time talking about them. They almost never happen.
A worse-case scenario would be allowing undeserving teams to play for, and possibly claim, the national championship.
Houston Chronicle
11/10/08
