re: Give me the BCS back

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How did it work?

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USC was not tied with LSU in final BCS standings. LSU was the clear #1 there. USC claimed a split title because the media voted them #1 in the AP (Associated Press) Poll. Prior to the BCS & CFP, the AP had been THE poll used to determine National Champions for several years.

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How did it work?

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The powers in charge of the BCS and the CFP are reluctant to acknowledge that the regular season, including the conference championship games is part of the tournament itself. A sort of time limited multi elimination game of musical chairs. Because of this and the wierdness of this tournament, they fail to adopt some simple eligibility rules that would make the sport more like every other sport we know of. That is you can't be eligible for the playoff unless your conference champion goes to the playoff. Yes a great team may be excluded, but it's equivalent to losing in the first round: you don't advance.

In 2003, because margin of victory was a key component and their SOS (OK was always good playing this game), OK was running away with #1. Because of the way the season played out, they were virtually guaranteed a spot in the championship game before their conference CG. Then they had their asses handed to them in a real bad loss. The human polls tried to punish them, but they couldn't legitimately place them lower than 3 and this guaranteed their spot.

USC was #1 in both polls and LSU #2. In BCS terms we were #2, but it was a virtual tie. If the Boise State/Hawaii game result was reversed, then USC would have been #2. If the BSC had adopted the rule I suggest above, then the championship game would have been between USC and us and the split championship wouldn't have happened.

The split happened because the AP had no obligation to respect the BCS stupidity. They voted USC #1 and absolutely nothing happened to change that opinion.