As Sam Sees It

The 2001 football season had to be a total nightmare for the defenders of the BCS system for selecting participants in its National Championship Game. On the other hand, this was a dream season of advocates of a play-off system for NCAA Division I teams.

Credit most of the chaos to the “Buffalo” in the China shop. The Colorado Buffaloes lost their season opener to upstart Fresno State, the early season Cinderella team, then took a pounding from the Texas Longhorns. Two losses is one too many to expect championship consideration under the current system. The Buffaloes gave some reason to think that they should be the exception to that axiom and in the process knocked two at the time legitimate contenders for a loop.

There have not been many more shocking or convincing upsets than Colorado’s 62-36 trouncing of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the final regular season game. It was the most points ever scored against a Nebraska team and knocked the Cornhuskers out of the Big 12 Championship Game. In any normal year, this would have ended Nebraska’s dreams of a national championship. It also opened the door for Texas, a team with only one loss blemishing its record. Then came the second Buffalo stampede and the Longhorns were buried along with their dreams in the Big 12 Championship Game.

On the same day that Texas fell to the Buffaloes, the Tennessee Volunteers upset the then second ranked and highly favored Florida Gators 24-22. Florida already had one last play of the game loss to the Auburn Tigers blemishing its record and fell from the Rose Bowl picture.

Tennessee, though, had one more hurdle to clear: winning the Southeastern Conference Championship Game. The Volunteers were heavy favorites over the LSU Tigers, but weren’t able to handle them on the field. An LSU booster had a sign that read, “We came here to mess things up!” They did it well and chaos reigned in the BCS.

As a result, Nebraska will play the undefeated Miami Hurricanes for the national title in the Rose Bowl. The Cornhuskers, remarkably, may have even benefited by not winning their division and having to play for their conference’s championship. After all, losses in conference championship games had kept both Texas and Tennessee out of the national championship game.

One might even argue that playing in a relatively weak conference (Big East) that does not have a championship game helped Miami. The Hurricanes destroyed some good teams, but were pushed to the limit in their final game against West Virginia.

For those interested in having a legitimate NCAA Football National Champion, the answer is a play-off system. Such a system should include at least four teams and would be even better with eight. My preference would be a 16-team tournament with automatic berths to the champions of the top eight conferences. The other eight berths would be filled by the highest eight ranked teams in the polls and could include teams (like Nebraska) which did not win their conference. A 16-team tournament would only add four games for the last two teams remaining. It would produce a legitimate national championship decided on the field.

The NCAA Football Play-off Tournament would become one of the premier events in all of sports. The success of the NCAA Basketball Tournament should prove that. Right now, only the World Series is better.

If Nebraska beats Miami in the Rose Bowl, the winner of the Fiesta Bowl (Oregon or Colorado) will have at least as good a claim to the championship as the Cornhuskers. Probably better!

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