Subtracting AP poll leaves BCS again scrambling for legitimacy
So is this the fatal blow that will kill the BCS? The Associated Press poll pulling out. That has to be it, right?
The BCS is finished.
Over.
Done.
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| The AP poll helped land Oklahoma in the Orange ahead of Auburn. (AP) |
The most credible piece the BCS had to its name abruptly left an uneasy marriage on Tuesday. There isn't a worse indictment of the fallacy of the system than the venerable AP essentially threatening legal action if the BCS didn't "cease and desist" from using it as a tool to determine a national champion. How does the BCS go on with the remaining cadre of secretive coaches and six mysterious computers?
Easy. Just watch 'em.
"I don't see any way that it's going away," said Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association whose members vote in the coaches poll. "It will just be adjusted. The rationale for putting it together is working."
You might think Teaff has had too much egg nog but he's right, at least in the short-term. The BCS will live on. You can't kill it with an elephant gun. It has more lives than Nosferatu.
It hurts to say this, but the BCS is still better than the old bowl system. It guarantees us a 1 vs. 2 game every year that in any given season might have the legitimacy of Ashlee Simpson's live performances, but at least it tries. And people watch. And sponsors buy. It makes loads more cash for the schools that matter (the 63 BCS members) and this year even provided access for the likes of Utah.
This is not to say it's right. The lack of transparency in the voting and the illegitimate (at times) seeding process emphasize that these national championships are still "mythical." But short of even a plus-one system that the presidents won't even consider, this is our ugly ducking and we're going to have to live with it.
Unfortunately, nothing that happened Tuesday brings us closer to that postseason closure. Without the AP, the next evolution seems to be some sort of human committee similar to the NCAA men's basketball committee that picks and seeds the 65-team field each year.
Great for that sport, impossible for college football. Whether it's three or 3,000 "impartial" human observers lending their opinions to the system, they can't overcome the BCS' fatal flaw.
