Excitement? Really?

I saw a story at ESPN.com today titled “Excitement Building for BCS Title Game” and had to make a comment. If you’re reading this and you’re excited about the game, that’s fine. I don’t want to rain on your parade in any way. But if you’re scratching your head, wondering what excitement they’re talking about, then you’ve come to the right place.

The SEC–with the help of the other larger conferences in college football–has effectively rigged the game. No matter who wins the BCS bowl, it will be the sixth straight year that an SEC team has won the national championship. And if that doesn’t suggest a fix to you, you must have some SEC ties. Speaking for myself, and hopefully millions without any SEC rooting interests, this process needs to be done away with.

If LSU wins the game, they will be the only team in the FBS (which is comprised of the major college conferences and a few independents) to go undefeated. If a team wins every game they play, and no other team does that, then that team should be the national champion. It would be impossible for me to say otherwise. But if Alabama should win the game, then it gets interesting.

Oklahoma State, by virtue of its victory over Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl, also has only one loss, and they didn’t get a shot at playing for the national championship. Could they beat either of these SEC teams? We’ll never know for sure. And if that’s not an argument for a four- or  eight-team playoff, so that the championship can be decided on the field, then I don’t know what it would take to make this happen.

And if the current bowl model is going to prevail, them at least all of  the meaningful bowl games should be played on New Year’s Day. In my mind, the further these games get away from New Year’s, the more meaningless they become. They’re like holiday decorations in this regard. On December 9, everything–regardless of how overdone it may be–is seasonal. But by January 9, it’s time to move on. That’s true of outdoor decorations, and it’s true of college football as well.