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Pac-10, Big Ten hold us all hostage

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Provo | 3:20 a.m. April 29, 2008
The reason is that the MWC or WAC champ in any sport especially football, baseball, or basketball is probably lucky to be 4th in Big XII, Pac 10, or SEC.
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selous scout | 5:20 a.m. April 29, 2008
sounds like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today Dick. I think there is some truth in your argument, the BCS is a complicated self serving organization. There should be a non BCS team every year in a BCS game as the non BCS conferences represent around 60 Div 1 colleges.
It's very tough for non BCS schools to make the BCS as they have to overcome a recruiting disadvantage with BCS teams and thanks to Hawaii this year there will be doubts about the strength of schedule of non BCS teams
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bla bla bla | 6:20 a.m. April 29, 2008
Who cares? It's only college football. Foreclosures are skyrocketing, the world is increasingly dominated by religious nut jobs of all stripes and this much debate is dedicated to a bunch of semi-literate bubble gummers running around a field?
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bhansen | 6:26 a.m. April 29, 2008
Maybe the Pac10 and Big10 would change their minds if everyone refused to play them.
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Kevin In Texas | 7:17 a.m. April 29, 2008
Non-BCS schools will not have justice until they have a chance to become national champions. The system is still rigged against them.
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college football fan | 7:50 a.m. April 29, 2008
all the otherconferences have to do is kick the WAC 10 and Little televen out of the BCS and that would be that. vote on that guys!!
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RR | 7:51 a.m. April 29, 2008
First, the idea of a 4 team playoff is the worst idea anyone came up with. I'd rather have big bowl games. Only 4 teams get a chance at the title...what a joke!

I've said this before, and I have a plan for this, but make 8 conferences, get rid of the B_$, and let each conference champion be admitted to get a chance at the NC. If a team can be good enough to win its conference, it should get a chance to win it all. Teams like BYU who keep winning their conference, then have to play some lowly PAC-10 team, never get a real chance to compete with another champion.

The love of $ will not end anytime soon, thanks to overrated football conferences such as the PAC 10 and BIG 10.
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jpc53 | 7:51 a.m. April 29, 2008
Don't forget Notre Dame.
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Gretzky | 8:02 a.m. April 29, 2008
and it was all started by the SEC...
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Just Do It! | 8:19 a.m. April 29, 2008
Forget the PAC 10 and Big 10. Give us a true national football championship.

For all the naysayers who are constantly trashing the MWC and WAC, get a life. Find a BCS conference blog to troll so you can read about teams you do find "worthy."
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lost in DC | 8:19 a.m. April 29, 2008
Who really wrote this article? It can't be Dick Harmon; it doesn't mention BYU anywhere.

Whoever the author was, I agree with his call on the BCS to call the Big 10 and PAC 10 and Rose Bowl's collective bluff and say, fine, if you don't want into a playoff, we'll hold it without you.
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McKay | 8:21 a.m. April 29, 2008
Re: Provo

You're dead wrong, whether or not they could compete has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with it. It has nothing to do with tradition either. It has to do with money and greed, end of story!
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Harmon-ized | 8:20 a.m. April 29, 2008
Dick, your arguments are very true, but until a mid-major team(s) can CONSISTENTLY compete with the big boys and can CONSISTENTLY win non-conference games there is no reason for the power conferences to care at all about them. The BCS conferences have done quite a bit to catch the odd mid-major team that does well here or there, but to get the recognition of constant inclusion in the BCS will require CONSISTENT greatness. Not just an Alex Smith U team or a Steve Sarkesian BYU team.

The reason the Big10 is so demanding is that they pretty much invented football as we know it! Think of the mid-western teams of the 1930s through the 60s and they were dominant. Where was the demanding discussion by now mid-major universities back then to increase football stature? That's when this all started and so to hope that that would change immediately is very short-sighted. The Pac10 changed and joined that club, which is why they're sitting where they are now.

The most we can hope for is modest changes to the system over the next 40 years and hope that, in the process, mid-majors can CONSISTENTLY show they belong!
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May it rain | 8:23 a.m. April 29, 2008
May it rain on the Rose Parade every year! Seriously, has there ever been an easier problem to fix that didn't get fixed?
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Brett | 8:24 a.m. April 29, 2008
I can't believe I am saying this because I am not a huge Dick Harmon fan, but I 100% agree with this article. I think more attention should go to the Big 10 and Pac 10's unwillingness to have a true champion. It is all greed. Good job Dick!
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jtm | 8:27 a.m. April 29, 2008
Dick give it up, the BCS is no different than everyday life, the rich get richer. Why is that concept so hard for you to understand. If Hawaii would have even come close to looking like a top ten team you may have had an argument. Untill WAC and MWC teams play tougher teams it aint going to happen. Utah playing Michigan next year is a step in the right direction.Bronco wanting to lighten the schedule is a joke, an undefeated team in the MWC isn't as good as a two loss team in the PAC 10, SEC or the Big XII in the eyes of the BCS and Hawaii proved them right.
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Ernest T. Bass | 8:28 a.m. April 29, 2008
I've heard byu will be in the pac-10 in a few years so we won't have to worry about it then.
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December Madness | 8:29 a.m. April 29, 2008
Provo - You make an excellent point that the MWC or WAC champ wouldn't always run the table in a BCS conference. However, I have it on good authority that Utah would have won the Big East (a BCS conference that includes W. VA, Pitt, Rutgers, and Louisville) a couple years ago, and Boise State would have won the Big Twelve (over Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, etc.). It's also interesting to note that BYU beat UCLA, which was only the USC game away from being the worst team to ever play in a BCS game at 7-5. I guess winning the Big XII or the Big East is about the same as 4th place.

Selous Scout - There are 119 BCS Series Teams, 65 of which are represented by BCS Conferences. That leaves out the 54 "nobodies" like my Cougs. The interesting thing is that there are only about 40 teams which are consistently "bowl-eligible," and those teams should always be in contention to win it all, regardless of their conference. Besides, it doesn't matter if you're in the Big XII if your name is Baylor, right?
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Carmel Candace | 8:35 a.m. April 29, 2008
"It's time to move on. If our sporting events had never evolved, we'd still be watching lions eat men." That was a great line, Mr. Harmon, you described the Georgia-Hawaii game perfectly! I guess we haven't evolved as far as we had hoped, and neither has the WAC.

Without the BigTen/Pac10, none of the other four BCS conferences could legitimately lay claim to a national championship without a serious asterisk. You know, "we won the BCS national Championship, but that undefeated USC team that creamed everyone they faced and won the Rose Bowl might have been a worthy opponent, but they exist in their own separate arrangement with the BigTen..." will just not fly with anyone. They would all rather deal with the imperfections and unfairness of the current system than risk having a playoff of questionable legitimacy missing the USC's, OSU's, and Michigans that traditionally compete for top rankings.

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Layson | 8:37 a.m. April 29, 2008
To evolve means to change, not necessarily for the better. A playoff system would be a huge change for Div. 1 College Football. There's no consensus that it would be better than either the BCS OR the old Bowl system. We know that virtually everyone in the sports media wants a playoff, but do the fans really want major College Football to "evolve"?
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