What works about the BCS

Okay, I've spent enough time moaning about how things are different now at Nebraska. I was happy though to see something positive recently that renews a little faith in the program. I saw that they recently added Virginia Tech to their schedule for 2008 and 2009, and UCLA for a few later. The Virginia Tech one I really like because if I'm still living in this area you can bet I'll be there for that one.

I remember seeing some people on Texas boards laughing at Nebraska for scheduling Nicholls State to fill an open spot in the schedule. I'll give credit to one Texas fan who spoke up and said somethign along the lines of, hey, have you seen our schedule? Sam Houston State. He also pointed out that Nebraska does also play USC.

Nebraska has been like a good share of the major powers in that, they make it a point to try to schedule one major power out of conference, another school that is usually part of a major conference, and then one or two cupcakes that don't require a return date the next year.

Then there's been the Bill Snyder affect. For years the joke was that Kansas State was playing in two conferences, the Big 12 and the MAC. There are a lot of teams out there that are doing the same kind of hting now, staying away from playing strong out of conference teams.

One of the driving things behind my site isn't so much taking the Heavyweight Football Championship concept seriously, but more this feeling that what makes college football special is that every game is important. No other sport has it to this degree. In the NFL, you have the starters sitting out the last couple of games when the title was clinched. In basketball, who cares if Duke beats North Carolina during the regular season? In college football, every game matters.

The beauty of the BCS layout (yes, there is such a thing) is that it forces teams to have a decent schedule. If teams like Michigan or Nebraska end up going undefeated, they're almost assured of being in that BCS title game because they've managed to schedule some decent competition out of schedule. A team with a weak out of conference schedule always has to worry about whether they'll make the cut. So it actually encourages better scheduling.

If we have a playoff format of 8 or more teams, we will almost inevitably see the end of the Ohio State vs Texas or Nebraska vs USC matchups that we now have and September will become a pretty dull month in college football. There's no more incentive for playing a strong out of conference, and in fact playing a major power out of conference becomes too big a risk. When you're in a major conference, even the best teams know there is a strong likelihood of a conference loss. When you're going for the top 8 or top 16, you can afford one loss, but not two, and so you end up eliminating the out of conference challenges. That will hurt football more than a playoff will help.

Personally, I think the answer is simple. Use the BCS formula and make it a final 4. That way the season is the playoff, the way it should be.