Stanford Destroys USC in Football, Latest Game to Expose the Fraud that is the BCS

This Saturday USC lost to Stanford in football. Pardon me, I think lost is the wrong word, they were destroyed, decimated, annihilated by Stanford. Stanford was unranked going into the game while USC was ranked number nine in the country. This is just the latest exposé on the fraud that is the Bowl Championship Series. How can a team that is not even ranked go in and destroy a highly ranked team in their home stadium? Also, why is Stanford unranked when they already beat Oregon and have displayed great potential in their play this season, not to mention also having beaten the University of Washington, which already beat USC earlier this season. It seems that since they are not a brand name school for football, this is held against them in the rankings.

I, for one, am glad that Congress is considering investigating the fraudulent monopoly that is the BCS. While some make that claim that this is an issue between the schools involved and should not be put up for debate in the political arena, I simply disagree. This season we have seen with some very questionable calls in the Southeastern conference that have helped to keep Florida undefeated. While there is little that political action could do about terrible refereeing, enacting a reform of the BCS could at least give hope to teams that compete hard each year, like Boise State, but are shut out of the system by never qualifying for inclusion in the final championship game is.

There is clearly much more parity in college football than is evidenced by the way the current system is set up. Upon further scrutiny, one can really see that the BCS is a house of cards built to benefit a few elite schools at the expense of everyone else. For example, a school like Florida or USC is able to constantly benefit from the BCS system as they are always favored over lesser-known schools when it comes time to decide who goes to a higher prominence bowl game. For example, lets say that Boise State and USC had similar schedules, with similar records over the course of a season. Nine times out of ten it would be USC going to the more highly touted bowl game. They are able to rely on this year after year to build up a false facade of dominance even when they play questionable schedules, with few tough games outside of their own conference. If the BCS system did not exist, and instead a playoff existed, it is almost certain that these teams would not be as dominant as they appear to be currently.

College football, which already has a great deal of parity, would see a power shift to lesser-known schools. One only has to look at the sport of basketball to see how a playoff system encourages competitiveness. No school in basketball is dominant year after year, even the heavyweights like Florida and Kentucky, go through through re-buildings fazes. It seems as if USC, in football, has not had a rebuilding year in the last ten years, until this year, when things have finally unraveled for them.

Fans need to stop supporting the BCS system. Write letters to university presidents at the schools you support. Write letters to local newspapers and post comments on blogs. It is only a matter of time before this facade crumbles and everyone is given a fair chance to compete. Players who play in Division I risk serious injury to represent their schools, they should not be treated in this manner and instead should be given the respect that athletes in other sports receive. They should have the chance to prove that their team is the best in the nation and not have it left up to computer calculations and sports writers' votes to decide this for them.