“The Fiesta Bowl pairing up two undefeated teams, No. 3 TCU taking on No. 6 Boise State. For the first time, the BCS game, not including the title game, will have two teams undefeated, which means Barack Obama is a 100 percent right, you see the Sugar Bowl there will be Florida and the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats and the Orange Bowl No. 10 Iowa facing No. 9 Georgia Tech. I tell you what, Barack Obama, 100 percent right, there has to be a college football playoff. You can’t have undefeated teams not playing in the final.” (FOX News)
The Bowl Championship Series, a system operated by computers, has determined Alabama and Texas to be the country’s two best teams. Also undefeated but playing in lower-profile conferences, TCU and Boise State didn’t get a bid. No-loss Cincinnati plays in the higher-profile Big East, but didn’t get in either. So when teams that go undefeated don’t get a shot at a national title, is that fair?
We’re looking at perspectives from MSNBC, ESPN, the Dan Patrick Show and Yahoo! Sports.
On MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, NBC’s Chuck Todd and company debate whether there is even an opportunity for smaller-conference schools to get in the mix for the national championship.
Joe Scarborough: “Nobody cuffed them to a radiator when they were setting their schedule. If teams like Boise State and Cincinnati want to be in the final mix at the end, then how about putting the Texas and the Alabamas and the Ohio States and the Notre Dames on their schedules throughout the year.
Chuck Todd: “Ask your boys in Tuscaloosa whether they would schedule and home-and-home with Boise State. There is no chance they would schedule an out-of-conference game with Boise State and you know that.”
TCU and Boise State are playing each other, rather than taking on schools from bigger conferences. ESPN college football analysts Mark May and Lou Holtz debate if this is a shot at legitimacy, or just the opposite.
“I love the matchup, two undefeated’s going head-to-head, this is kind of the people's match up, the fans want this. Yeah, but Mark, it doesn’t prove anything, if one had to go up against Florida and the other one had to go up against Georgia Tech, then they would really have a better criteria.”
With a different perspective, CBS football analyst Gary Danielson tells Dan Patrick on his radio show that he is certain the two best teams are playing in the national championship.
“Yeah, they’re the only two teams that could really play. Cincinnati is so inefficient on defense. TCU is TCU, Boise State, they don’t play enough good teams. I don’t know if Texas is the next best team, but those are the two teams that deserve to be there, yes.”
Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel says just as there are perceptions like “TCU is TCU,” there exists a bias that favors the established football powerhouses.
“Texas – not TCU, nor Cincinnati or Boise State – is playing Alabama in the BCS championship game because, well, its name is Texas.”
“The system is designed to reward the big brands of the sport. Just as important as what you did this week, or this month, is what you did a decade ago. Perception is everything. The BCS sells this as fair.”
So what do you think? Should Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State have the opportunity to play for a national championship?
