Gerald Demps of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates on the field at the Bank of America Stadium on Dec. 7, 2013 in Charlotte, North Carolina
The BCS can’t win, pretty much ever, really. The final BCS selection show was Sunday night — a four-team college football playoff starts next season — and it was a predictable affair. Florida State, which finished the season 13-0 and trounced Duke in the ACC championship game on Saturday, 45-7, grabbed the top spot. The Seminoles will play Auburn, which grabbed the second position after beating Missouri in Saturday’s SEC championship, 59-42. Auburn roared past Ohio State; the Buckeyes entered the weekend at No. 2, but lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten title game, 34-24.
That was always the problem with the BCS. On nights like Sunday, when the top two teams are fairly obvious, the selection show is anti-climactic. If the picture is muddled, and another team had a legit claim to a title game appearance but got hosed, unproductive screaming always followed. We need a playoff!
Now we’ve got one. ESPN host Rece Davis gamely tried to build some drama at the top of the show, calling this “a landmark night in college football.” No one shed tears.
The discussion will be more intriguing a year from now. Pundits and fans may debate whether the fifth-ranked team, and possibly others, deserve a spot in the four-team playoff — which will lead to cries for an eight-team playoff. And so on. But with the presence of an actual football Final Four, at least we’ll cry in a happier world.
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As if anyone needs more grist for dumping the current BCS system, just look at the BCS bowl games. The Sugar Bowl, for example, will see Alabama play Oklahoma, which is ranked 11th in the BCS standings, on January 2 in New Orleans.
“A lot of people wonder, why not Oregon?” Davis said (Oregon is ranked 10th in the final BCS standings, Oklahoma 11th). “That’s the match-up people wanted to see. It’s a simple business decision. Oklahoma is closer, they’ll fill the stadium. And there’s also the business arrangement in future years with the New Year’s Six [the bowls that will rotate hosting the semi-final games] in which the Big 12 and SEC have an alignment with the Sugar Bowl.”
Who isn’t hyped-up for the Sugar Bowl now? BCS, rest in peace.