The Worst BCS Controversies

It is only mid-October, but the college football season is now in it’s traditional chaos mode. Mainly because the BCS polls have begun. The annual ranting about the BCS system will start soon enough, as will the futile calls for a playoff and the traditional madness at the top of the polls. Every year without fail, the end of the college football season brings controversy and insanity, instead of a clear cut match up for the BCS title game. Every year, someone has reason to be mad at the BCS and being snubbed for the championship, and some years have more madness than others. So to prepare fans for the newest round of BCS fury, here are the most controversial years in BCS history, as benchmarks for this season.

1. 2004-05 season
At the end of the season, there were two undefeated teams at the number one and two spots, USC and Oklahoma. The problem for the BCS was that there was another undefeated team at number 3. Auburn, despite a perfect record and despite being an SEC team, was left out of the BCS title game. The outcry got worst when Auburn won their bowl game and USC destroyed Oklahoma in a lackluster title game. The BCS was created so that the top teams would finally face each other for the national championship, but in 2004, that purpose failed more than usual.

2. 2007-08 season
In this case, there were no undefeated teams at the top, because the top teams couldn’t stop losing. Things were so wild that it looked like Missouri and West Virginia would be the top two BCS teams. Missouri failed to live up to their end by losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, but it wasn’t a huge shock. West Virginia losing to sub .500 Pittsburgh at home was. At the end, it was so horrific that two loss LSU got in, and Ohio State did too despite being off for three weeks. The ugly national championship victory by LSU was the ultimate BCS anti-climax to the chaotic season.

3. 2003-04 season
Here, three teams with one loss had to battle for a BCS title spot, in this case Oklahoma, LSU and USC. The two college football polls didn’t match up to the BCS, as Oklahoma and LSU were 1-2 in the computers while USC was higher ranked in human polls. But Oklahoma and LSU played for the BCS crown, with LSU winning. But LSU had to share a championship with USC, who finished number 1 in the AP poll. Though the BCS was supposed to provide a unanimous college football champion, they utterly failed to do that in 2003.

4. 2001-02 season
Nebraska couldn’t have ended the season worse, losing their only game to Colorado in a blowout, and being denied a spot in their own conference championship game. But the computers didn’t drop Nebraska down enough to snub them in the BCS, so Nebraska made it to the BCS championship over Colorado, the actual Big 12 champion. The choice reflected even worse on the BCS when Nebraska was blown out by Miami in the title game.

5. 2000-01 season
The year before, another team was chosen for the BCS championship despite losing to the next closest contender. Florida State had lost to Miami in the regular season, but got in over Miami in the number 2 spot. Yet again, a perhaps undeserving choice did badly in the BCS title game, as Florida State could only get two points against Oklahoma. This was the first official controversial choice by the BCS powers, but it was only the first of many.

6. 2006-07 season
This year had less controversy, but still had a heated debate. Ohio State and Michigan were 1 and 2 most of the year, ending with Ohio State outlasting Michigan 42-39. At the end of the year, people still wanted Michigan to get another shot at Ohio State. The second slot came down to Michigan and Florida, a debate which Florida ultimately won. Florida took full advantage of that decision by upsetting Ohio State, but the game was a blowout. Could it have been a better BCS title game by having Ohio State play Michigan?

Through 10 years of the BCS, only four of them have ended with controversial decisions for the BCS championship game. The only years of stability were 1998, when Tennessee faced Florida State, 1999, which had Florida State vs Virginia Tech, 2002’s Ohio State and Miami showdown, and 2005’s Texas/USC classic. The BCS is now used to having title selection that please almost no one, as it has happened four of the last five years.

With the SEC and Big 12 top teams knocking each other out every week, and with the certainty of more upsets, it should easily be five out of six this year for the BCS. The only real question is if the BCS insanity will match the peaks of the 2004 and 2007 seasons.

Sources

Wikipedia- “BCS controversies” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCS_controversies