Jay Kersting's Blog

Tonight is the BCS National Championship Game.  Wow...a matchup of one loss Ohio State and two loss Louisiana State.  You want to know what this game proves.  Don't say NOTHING, because that is simply not true.  What this game proves is that the human factor has screwed up the fine concept of the Bowl Championship Series.

Um, that is sarcasm.

But in all seriousness, the original plan of the BCS, as envisioned by Roy Kramer, was to have a fair and impartial means of determining a national champion.

It hasn't happened.  Period.

Everytime the BCS has been tweaked in an effort for fairness, they have included MORE of the emotional and biased human factor.  That is EXACTLY the opposite direction the BCS needs to head in.  

Now, I am NOT pulling for a playoff system.  I like the bowl system because of the money that it brings in, even the Poinsettia Bowl.  Really.

But, I think voters in the Harris Poll and the Coaches Poll have to many different biases to keep things balanced.

Then you have all of the computer polls to look at.  Now, their weight in the BCS formula has been reduced over the ten years of the BCS.   Why?  Because no one can figure out how each and every poll comes up with their results.

There is where the real fix is.  

If all of the computer polls in the BCS would allow others to peek at their formulas and determine how reliable the formulas are, then they could be justified in giving the computer polls more weight and less weight to the human polls. 

But that is not the complete solution.  I offer up two others.

First, limit the impact of the major conferences in how they control the process.  The fact that the so-called mid-majors have been able to produce more strongly competitive teams over the past few years justifies eliminating the bias toward the tradition powers.  Furthermore, eliminate the payouts to schools like Notre Dame when they don't deserve a payout.  Really, do you think Notre Dame deserves more money this year than Mizzou, Tennessee and Arizona State?

And, if the Pac 10, Big 12, Big 10 or SEC produce three teams that are in the top eight, let them all in the BCS bowls.  I do agree with spreading out the money to other conferences, as that happens when a second team makes the BCS now, so they payout does not benefit one conference too much. 

Would anyone have a problem with a matchup of two teams from the same conference meeting IF they are the best two teams in the nation?  Of course they would.....if they were selected to be there.  Now, that leads to the next part.

The Plus-One option that has been discussed.  Hold FOUR BCS bowl games...or six...or eight.  The best two teams after that opening round, meet in a BCS National Championship game.  As it stands now in the BCS, you have throw away games.  So, with two legit games, you can rank the teams so that 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3.  Then, the winners meet.  If Michigan plays Ohio State, so be it.  If Mizzou plays Kansas, fine.  If USC plays Oregon, great.  Would these all be rematches, sure.  But if the teams earn their spot there, fine.  It becomes more compelling.

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The New Hampshire primary starts at midnight eastern.  Will there be any surprises?  Doubt it.  I think the surprises come up four weeks from Wednesday....when the also rans fall by the wayside after Super Tuesday.

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And I promised an "and more."

Thank you to my wife Kathy.  She gave me cowboy boots for Christmas, and I told her the wrong size.  MY Fault.  Well, I got the right size yesterday.  Thanks Kathy....I do appreciate this and everything you do for me and our family.  Especially since I was the one who screwed up my own present.