The Real Problem with the BCS

Very few people actually think the BCS is the correct solution to determining the best two teams in college football and having them face off for the championship. Even the BCS's supporters tend to argue that yes, the system has flaws, but supposedly there is no better solution to the problem and that yes, in fact, the system does in fact result in the two best teams coming out the other end. You can debate the merits of either system until you're blue in the face, and many have, but the bottom line is that this does not in fact represent the true danger of this system. The truth of the matter is that teams like Boise State and other teams that, in NCAA basketball, would be called "mid-majors" every year become progressively less and less likely to make it into the title game. Why? Because now no one wants to play them. When the possibility of playing against these teams comes up, the big schools don't see an opportunity to help out their peer universities, they see a threat. In their mind, they see Oklahoma getting beat by a statue of liberty play in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. They see Oregon getting knocked off at the beginning of this season. They see all of these lower conference schools stepping up and knocking down the perennial powerhouse schools in college football and they realize that, in fact, there is no advantage to them to schedule these teams. There's nothing to gain and, in the current college football environment, everything to lose when one loss can potentially eliminate you from national title contention. I was one of the loudest voices decrying Boise's scheduling of UC Davis this season, but when they offer teams to not even do a home and home, simply travel to the big school's field and give them a home game with nothing in exchange, and they still get shut down I don't know what you expect Boise to do. They can't help that their conference is terrible. The only option they have is to join a major conference like the Pac-10 (which, admittedly, they're probably going to need to do to move forward) and that simply smacks of non-competition to me. This doesn't sound like something that should be decided by university presidents or NCAA committees, it's something that should be decided by an anti-trust attorney.