November 19th, 2006 - My very first website ever was a site dedicated to calculating the Bowl Championship Series ranking when the new system was first introduced. The site was widely popular and featured on ESPN during the first year of the BCS. What made the site different was the fact that I calculated a team's entire strength of schedule by including both past and future opponents. The argument was simple. A team will eventually play another team so if the data is already available and will eventually be calculated in, why not just do it now. Because of this my rankings calculator was far more accurate than many others out there. So where is the site today? I took it down after just the first year after becoming disheartened by the new BCS system. You see, I was one of those kids that grew up during Nebraska autumns with my sweaters filled with leaves and dirt tossing around a football that was so hardened by the cold that all the neighborhood kids would go home with jammed fingers. The entire time we would yell out our favorite player's names while making amazing moves down the sideline of the empty lot. Get the picture? We loved fall and we loved fall ball. Being a strong advocate for a Division I-A playoff, I took great interest when the BCS system was developed and implemented. It didn't take me long to discover that the system was terribly flawed. Nonetheless, I continued to calculate and post not just the top 25 but the entire field of teams and used the opportunity to lay some criticism at the feet of those responsible for the new system. To tell you the truth, I never expected this flawed system to last so long. We are now into our 3rd four year cycle, that's 9 years of a system that does nothing but break the hearts of players and fans. Now I could point out the multitude of problems that the BCS has, but can probably make my case by asking just one question. Does anyone think that even #1 ranked Ohio State would stand a snowball's chance in hell of going to the BCS party if they were playing in the WAC (Western American Conference) instead of the Big 10? Of course they wouldn't. The strength of schedule alone, regardless of the fact that only maybe 5 rankings voters even watch games, would ensure that they would be relegated to some kind of "Cereal" Bowl or something in post season. Oh sure, they would certainly reach at least novelty status on ESPN as they kicked around the other WAC misfits, but go to the dance against another top team? That's pure dream'n my friend. Don't believe me? Take a look at Boise State and their perfect 11-0 record with only three games where they didn't score at least 40 points. I mean, these

guys are the real deal and deserve a shot. Instead, all the media can talk about is a rematch between Ohio State and Michigan at the end of the season. Here is just another example of how switching to a playoff would make everyone happy. Boise State would get their shot and those that want to see Ohio State and Michigan go at it again would get theirs, if both could survive the gauntlet of the playoff. Now I'm not saying that we should throw out the BCS completely. Seating in a playoff would work like this. Each conference champion would gain an automatic berth. That gives us 12 teams. We'll grab the next 4 highest ranked teams from the BCS ranks and give them wild card positions. Now we simply berth the teams according to their rankings in the BCS so that the playoff starts with #1 playing #16, #2 playing #15 and so on. The playoff games would begin with the Bowls that bid the least amount of money and would end with a title bout at the Bowl that is willing to kick up the largest purse. All the money could go into a pot and be divided out to the participating teams. The viewer-ship that a Bowl based playoff would create over the Holiday season would be unmatched in sports today. People would be tuning in to watch a large array of games as future contenders move down the chart towards their own hopefuls. Everybody wins. So why don't we do this? Because the powers that be are just too afraid of upsetting the corporate gravy train that now owns and runs college football. I tell you, it sure makes me miss the days of picking dirt out of my ears and pulling on jammed swollen fingers at early sunset. Can we just let the kids play and figure out who really is the best on the field and not in the board room?

-Richard Okelberry, Managing Editor