Commentary: BCS still not doing enough to be fair

The BCS may have made history by placing TCU and Boise State in post-season big-money bowls, but the college football championship is far from equitable and a playoff needed, according to Matt Sanderson of Playoff PAC.

"Our nation has weightier issues to tackle, but this issue merits some attention because college football is a billion-dollar enterprise that affects schools' funding for athletic programs, scholarships and capital projects," said Matt Sanderson, one of the founders of Playoff PAC, a group pushing for a new selection system.

"That's important in this economy," Sanderson said.

Aside from Sunday's selection of BCS bowl games, the House Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection subcommittee is expected to vote Wednesday on Rep. Joe Barton's (R-Texas) bill, which would effectively force a national playoff system by 2012. Sen. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) is on the committee.

The bill would force a playoff by making it an 'unfair or deceptive' trade practice for anyone to market or promote a 'national championship game' unless the game is 'the final game of a single elimination post-season playoff system.'"

The system is still flawed.

Undefeated Texas, which beat two ranked teams and struggled to defeat Nebraska and Oklahoma, a team BYU defeated in the season opener, will play for the BCS title against undefeated Alabama. But undefeated Cincinnati beat three ranked teams and is not in the title game.

"A single at-large bid for a 'non-AQ' team (Boise State) cannot erase 11 years of scandal and controversy or cover up the system's inherent flaws," said Sanderson. "The status quo's warts remain. We need real reform in college football. Let's stop running this game needlessly on two cylinders and start a playoff."

The inequities of the BCS money distribution continues to spark debate over college football's championship, which should be governed by the NCAA and its board of directors, college presidents.

"In addition, the BCS did nothing to address the system's greatest defects by selecting Boise State for an at-large spot. For example, the ACC will receive approximately $18.3 million from the BCS this post-season. For accomplishing the same feat — placing one team in a BCS bowl — the Mountain West Conference must divide $9.6 million among its fellow five 'non-AQ' conferences. Forcing these teams to live off of table scraps is not good for college football's long-term health," said Sanderson.

On Sunday, Barton told the Wall Street Journal, "Unless you broaden the base and let the teams in the last game win their way there, you are never going to have a true national champion."

Barton, whose constituents include Fort Worth where TCU is located, predicted: "slowly and surely change is coming."

e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com