Godfather of BCS says, "It Helped the Game"

[Harry]

KNOXVILLE, TENN. - The genteel, grandfatherly man has seen the wall of contention built. He has heard the semi-profane jokes about how the middle letter should be removed, and the totally profane vitriol. He has witnessed the change/destruction his creation has wrought, that swirls even as he calmly answers questions, freely smiles and often laughs.

Roy Kramer, credited with being the "godfather" of the Bowl Championship Series - the BCS - doesn't mind.

To his way of thinking, the BCS never was created to cure all the ills of big-time college football, the level currently known as Football Bowl Subdivision but that still remains "Division I" to old-timers. The reality is that likely no formation of any committee, or fruition of any collection of thoughts, would appeal to the FBS masses, a pyramid of haves and have-nots.

"We put it together for three or four reasons," said Kramer, the SEC commissioner from 1990 to 2002 who oversaw initial expansion with Arkansas and South Carolina, helped formulate divisional play in the conference and the first Division I football conference championship game.

"One was, we thought we needed to do something that would maybe create a little more interest in college football, and it's obviously done that. The second reason we put it together was to preserve the regular season. The regular season is so important to college football because it's the backbone of what college athletics survives on, really.

"The third reason we put it together was to preserve the bowl structure. Now, I know that's controversial with a lot of people because they say, ÔWell, we've got too many bowls.' It has broadened the bowls. It has made it possible for conferences like the Mid-American and the WAC and Conference USA to have three or four bowl games. Fifteen years ago they had no daylight at the end of the tunnel, now they all have two or three chances for their teams to play in a bowl game.

"And then obviously the fourth reason, the controversial reason, was to try to put together a matchup of No. 1 and No. 2 and help the selection process in the other bowls as well. Now that's always controversial, you can always argue who's 1 and 2. But that adds to the interest of college football, it really does. And the world doesn't come to an end. It's not the end of the world.

Read More: http://www.nola.com/bcs/index.ssf/2012/01/godfather_of_the_bcs_says_it_h.html

[shaft]

Really can't argue with that. The BCS did what it was created to do.

[THOR]

Really can't argue with that. The BCS did what it was created to do.

did it??? yes, the 1 vs. 2 teams are going against each other, but what about how 1 and 2 are decided upon? no reason for alabama to be number 2 this year...other teams deserved it just as much and alabama has already proven that they can't beat lsu...someone else's turn...

[shaft]

Your problem is with the ranking formula, not the BCS concept. And what poll had any team other than Bama #2? Don't get me wrong I think being a conference champion should be a requirement to be in the title game, but that's simply a tweak to the rankings and not a problem with the actual BCS concept.

And let's also say that "create interest in college football" also means make a lot of money for the partner conferences.

Edited January 9, 2012 by shaft

[greenminer]

did it??? yes, the 1 vs. 2 teams are going against each other, but what about how 1 and 2 are decided upon? no reason for alabama to be number 2 this year...other teams deserved it just as much and alabama has already proven that they can't beat lsu...someone else's turn...

Do you think Florida should have had its chance against FSU in 1996?

[THOR]

Do you think Florida should have had its chance against FSU in 1996?

beats the hell out of me...i've drank a couple thousand beers since then...

[untjim1995]

Do you think Florida should have had its chance against FSU in 1996?

Yes--Florida won the SEC that year and everyone else lost that could have trumped a rematch against FSU.

[Mean Green 93-98]

"It helped the game." Just like Wright Waters said allowing a team to put 6 men on the floor helped the flow of the game.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

No school in an AQ conference which agreed to go into the BCS "deserves" anything. No matter which year or which team is crying about who is in the national title game...they all agreed to participate in it. And, they've made millions. Even schools who crap along in AQ conferences and don't win get paid.

"Deserves" baloney. Be happy to be included in the bigger bowl pay pool every year and shut up.