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Brad Rock: Fair or not, BCS makes its own rules

There is only one way to fix this. It is an all out Boycott of the BCS. If fans nationwide were to do this for two years. Sponsors would leave and the golden parachute the BCS has would be gone. The series would start to realize they are not as big as they think they are.

There is a way to fix the BCS. You have to provide an alternative. A playoff system for all the non BCS Conferences. However, the whole playoff for a National Title will need to be bigger and much better than the BCS. Eventually all the BCS teams will want a part of it. Why? A financial group needs to sponsor this, with TV. Internet. The works! It will cost a few Billion over a few years, but the Financial Group will recoup all their money and much more. It can be done! This will stop pandering to the BCS and eventually lead to the end of the BCS. When the BCS schools see there is more money in the new Playoff system, they will jump ship very quickly.

Rather than a playoff, let the sports teams do service projects, wouldn't this be a better use of their time?

Chances of drastic measures for big changes are not very good. But playing by the BCS rules is no guarantee either. The MWC, for example, is already better than the Big East. It has been especially apparent after the Big East lost big names to other conferences and replaced them with mediocre at best teams. The Big East is not even close to the conference it was when it first gained BCS status.

Ironically, even though half of its teams have been changed out (the good teams), the new teams are respected as much as the old teams, at least in the polls. BYU and Utah would love to play against the competition that was waiting in the Big East. Who fears playing Uconn or Cincinnati or even Syracuse anymore? Since when did the South Floridas, Rutgers, or West Virginias of football deserve consistently getting ranked at the outset of a season, either? They were never on the radar until they got the Big East and BCS status.

I say, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. But BCS conferences won't invite BYU and Utah, because that status would buoy these programs (already superior to many BCS foes).

I love the bowls but simply put, automatic bids should be done away with. take the best 10 teams and put them in the bcs bowls regardless of conferance. Boise would have gone to the BCS along with Utah if that was the case.
I do not mind the bowls just have access determined by play not conferance

I usually love reading Rock's articles, but I can't agree with him here. First of all, there's plenty that Congress can do. Baseball didn't even have a steroid policy until Congress became involved. Yes, players still take steroids, but now they sit out for 50 games when they're caught. Before Congressional involvement, players went unpunished.

And I also disagree that once the MWC replaces the Big East in the BCS, someone else can complain about fairness. Rock, do you mean it's not discrimination if if doesn't happen to you? Now that makes a lot of sense.

Finally, I hate the BCS. I always have and I always will. It's not because teams like Utah and BYU are shut out of the system. It's because the entire system is un-American. The "free market" does not control this. To paraphrase another great American who stood up against discrimination, I have a dream that one day teams will not be judged by their conference affiliation, but by their performance on the field.

Argue all you want, have congressionals, make lawsuits. MWC can have its first Autobid in 2012 if it has 3 more years like last one.

It would likely take that amount of time for any other change to take place.

Check out the BCS website for the rules on becoming an automatic bid conference.

What Mr. Rock has failed to acknowledge with his glib comparisons to "male pattern baldness" is that the federal government provides a whole lot of funding to these schools, hence it has power of oversight. Look at Title IX. Have the federal government withdraw funding from a university that participates in the monopoly that is the BCS and watch how quickly things change.

Interesting that you point out these rules for inclusion. When do you think these rules were enacted? It was only AFTER the threat of Congressional and/or legal action a few years ago. There's nothing wrong with forcing the BCS yet again to change its rules so that every team has an equal chance regardless of conference affiliation. See, here's the problem. Duke can win 7 games in 2009, but as long as they win the very weak ACC, they'll get 10 times as much bowl revenue as a one-loss team from outside the BCS conferences, even if that team beat Duke 75-0. How much sense does that make?