Truth is this debate is like the abortion debate. There is very little chance that you are gonna change people's minds on it. But I have to admit... anything that lets me interject Northwestern football into a MJH thread is very welcome!!!

The stupid thing about the bowl system is not only that it doesn't give you a legitimate champion, but that it arbitrarily chooses among a handful of teams for who gets a shot at the championship.

That said, the "every game counts" argument is probably the stupidest argument of all time. Teddy says "oh, but there's all this build-up for a game in September." Yeah, unless your team loses, at which point every game is meaningless (although, I suppose you can hope for favor, based on your teams' wise decision to lose early in the season ).

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Matt,
I totally agree with you, but it also depends on the team. If you ask an average Texas, Florida, OSU, or USC fan they will probably tell you they only care about the national championship. Ask an average NU fan (there are three of us total ) and I think they'd buy into the every game matters argument.

So by your logic, the Giants should have been disqualified from a chance at the Super Bowl due to their slow start last season? Seriously, this argument makes no sense.

A national championship tournament may indeed lessen the importance of early season games, but if a team loses once then wouldn't every game after that become exponentially more important as another loss would almost surely leave them out of any discussion for inclusion in the tournament??

The bowl system and the NCAA's refusal to adopt a tournament comes down to ONE and ONLY ONE factor - The almighty dollar. They try to sell us the crap that the student athlete would miss too many classes or exams, yet they allow the "student athletes" from Division 2 and 3 schools make that sacrifice without batting an eye. How does that make any sense?

i agree with the playoff scenario, and wish that all 3 divisions played their championships on New Years Day. Noon game - Division III, 4pm - Division II, Prime Time - Division I. that would be a great day of college football to me. January 1 - NCAA football championship day.

i know i know, stupid idea, what about the bowl tradition on January 1st and all that. none of that means much to me. a day of all championship games would mean more for me to watch. plus, if they went to a playoff system in division 1, i would be college footballed out by then anyway. now you have the dead period leading up to the bowl schedule. with a playoff system, you'd have good games every week for a month leading up to Jan 1, and that would be enough for me.

im in favor of an overhaul of the system, not a slight tweak.

Irish Boy, then take your problem up with the team that blows it.

Congrats to USC. You had a wonderful regular season, qualified for the 'post season' and beat the ever lovin shit out of your opponent. For all your hard work you now get to go home and watch the 'championship' game on TV. What a joke. FUCK YOU NCAA!!!

Don't lose to a not so good Oregon State team. Seems simple enough.

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They should've lost to that powerhouse Ole Miss instead.

I'm not sure that Utah or USC wouldn't beat the winner of the title game this year.

Assuming Texas wins against OSU, I'm not sure they wouldn't beat the winner too.

Utah is the only team that has a legitimate beef with the system as they may have as many quality wins as the eventual national champion.

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Utah played 6 teams that went to bowl games this year? But this is a fair system right?

That Ole Miss loss doesn't look so bad now.

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I sure hope those in favor of the BCS are watching this weekend's NFL playoff games. Here you have the premier legaue in all the world, and an 8-8 team is hoting the NFC Championship game. If the Chargers win, an 8-8 team will host the AFC title game. We also have a very real chance of the grandaddy of all bowls, Super Bowl XLIII, being a matchup of .500 teams. How we have such a huge quantity of bowl games and college football can't come up with or agree on some sort of playoff system is one of the biggest travesties in all of sports.

Also, tradition be dammed, its a terrible thing for these football teams to sit idle for 4, 5, 6 weeks and then play a "National Championship" game.

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arizona was 9-7 on the year.

I stand corrected. Still, 8-8 would have won that division. Has even a 9-7 team hosted a conference champ game?

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Screw it, I say we dump both the BCS and the NFL Playoff system and just have all football teams from NCAA DIV-2 to the NFC East play a year-long tournament in which the eventual "Champions of all of Football" get rewarded with ridiculous wealth, fame, and women for the rest of their lives. We'll really see guys putting it all on the line. Just do this every other year and in between maybe we can all watch hockey!

You're an idiot.

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If the NFL used college footballs way of determining a champion we would have simply seen a Tennessee vs. New York Giants title game and an "exhibition" game between Carolina and Indianapolis to determine who the best team was.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Good. Better to reward stellar regular season play that to reward mediocrity. No nine win team should ever sniff the Super Bowl. These playoffs are a joke.

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i hereby throw my support behind this revolutionary method. is it too late to put it in place this year?

Reward? You make it sound like the NFL just allowed the Cardinals to advance to the NFC championship. They beat the Panthers--actually they *killed* the Panthers, or the Panthers beat themselves or however you want to look at it...but it was hardly arbitrary. Which is what the college football system *is*.

Do you really believe that the Giants and Titans were the best two teams in the NFL this year? Maybe in October but both teams were struggling at the end of the season.

The Eagles are now 2-1 against the Giants. The Giants are not the same team after they lost Plaxico.

Do you honestly believe that the 12-4 Giants were a better team than the 9-6-1 Eagles with the added fact that the Eagles were 2-1 against the Giants this year?

You may have a point if the Cardinals make the Super Bowl but I'd rather have a team like the Cardinals in there then an undeserving Titans team.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I always thought head-to-head competition was the best way to determine the better team but supposedly it's best to have teams play different opponents then use records, stats and opinion to decide the better team. Who knew??

It figures a Cub fan would have this mentality.

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It figures a Sox fan would have to turn it into a Cub/Sox issue.

Its not a Cubs/Sox issue. In fact, the Sox were probably rewarded be mediocrity this past season because they benefitted from the Indians and Tigers struggling. The Cubs have a great regular season, and bowed out without much of a fight in the playoffs- much like the Panthers. So we should reward the Cubs, Giants, and Panthers for good regular seasons then laying an egg in the playoffs? No sir.

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I didnt say anything about the playoffs or who deserves to be rewarded...Im just sayin you turned it into an anti Cub comment

That was just one example. Should we take away the Cardinal's 2006 WS title because they were medicore during the regular season? Hardly.

These have been great playoffs. IB and others can bitch and moan all they want about a 9 win team that will be in the Super Bowl. The fact is that all 4 teams still alive are alive becaue they deserve to play another game, period.

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i agree...who are you aruging with?

Is it just me, or are the two 9 win teams not the two most impressive NFC teams we've had?

It seemed as if before the game most people were picking the Eagles to "upset" the Giants even though the Giants were at home.

I have no reason to believe that the current two best teams in the NFC aren't the Cardinals and Eagles.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!