Why the BCS Schools Deserve Automatic Bids to Play in Bowl Games

For most of the year TCU and Boise State remained undefeated and the non-BCS supporters were going crazy about their participation, or rather lack of participation, in the National Championship game or even a BCS Bowl game. One argument that is always comes up is the automatic bids awarded to the six BCS schools. The non-BCS supporters believe that conferences like the ACC and Big East in particular should not have automatic bids while TCU and Boise State have to basically go undefeated to even earn a shot at a BCS Bowl game. There is actually good reason that the BCS schools get automatic bids.

I'm sure I will draw the ire of non-BCS supporters for saying this. The BCS conferences are just better on a regular basis. Yes, Boise State and TCU were undefeated for most of the season. Yes, TCU could put up a good game against either Oregon or Auburn if they were to play them. The six BCS conferences all have teams with 100 years of history, teams with multiple National Championships and Heisman Trophies.

BCS schools have enough established programs that normally when one team is down, another team takes its place. Florida was a 7 - 5 team this season after being a contender for several years. Auburn rises instead. When Texas is no longer in the title picture, Oklahoma State picks up the slack. Michigan starts to lose its luster and suddenly Michigan State and Wisconsin are contending for a championship.

This can not be said about the non-BCS conferences. What happens when Boise State is down? Do you really want to see Nevada, Hawaii or Fresno State in a BCS bowl? What if TCU and Utah aren't any good? Does San Diego State vs. Oklahoma sound appealing to anybody? The BCS conferences get automatic bids because they normally deserve it.

The argument for the non-BCS school would be, but the winners of the Big East and ACC don't deserve it this season. That argument would ignore the fact that Virginia Tech has reeled off 10 consecutive wins. Virginia Tech now sits at 10 - 2 and one of those loses is to Boise State, a team that non-BCS supporters have said should get a shot at the National Championship all year long, so that can't be considered a bad loss. The Hokies' other loss was to a team not even in the FBS but they had been beaten up by Boise State, they had a short week and everybody plays a bad game, just ask Boise State.

There is no defense for the Big East this season but anyone that is asking for their automatic bid to be taken away is being a little ridiculous. Just last year the Big East had a team that went undefeated in the regular season (Cincinnati) and another team (Pittsburgh) that was a minute away from knocking off Cincinnati and having their own one loss season. The year before that Cincinnati was 11 - 3, West Virginia was 11 - 2 the season before that, Louisville was 12 - 1 in 2006, West Virginia was 11 - 1 in 2005, Louisville was 11 - 1 in 2004, Miami (still in the Big East at the time) was 11 - 2 in 2003 12 - 1 in 2002, 12 - 0 in 2001 and 11 - 1 in 2000, Michael Vick led the Hokies to an 11 - 1 record in 1999. A conference has an 11 game winner for 11 consecutive seasons then they have one bad season and they should lose their automatic bid?

Not only can the BCS conferences be counted on to have quality teams but they'll also simply exist ever year, with most of the same teams. The timing for making this argument is bad since Colorado and Nebraska have both decided to leave the Big 12 but the Big 12 does still exist and still has important teams. The other BCS conferences will exist for a long time and will have most of the same teams. What if the NCAA had a knee jerk reaction to Boise State beating Oklahoma in 2007 and awarded the WAC an automatic bid? What happens when Boise State leaves for the Mountain West next year? Do you really want Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii fighting for the chance to play Oklahoma or Ohio State in a BCS bowl?

In the last year Boise State has gone from the WAC to Mountain West, Utah has gone from Mountain West to Pac-10, BYU has gone from Mountain West to Independent and TCU just announced they are leaving the Mountain West for the Big East. The Big East only has nine teams now and the Big 12 will have 10 next year. Both of these conferences will want 12 teams so they can host a lucrative Conference Championship games. Non-BCS schools will continue to join BCS conferences. That is why the BCS schools have automatic bids, the other conferences can't be trusted to have good teams, have the same teams year to year, they can't even guarantee their conference will exist five to ten years in the future.

The BCS schools will always have good teams, they will always exist, they will always thrive and any time there is a non-BCS school worthy of being a National Championship contender a BCS conference will go out and snatch them up like the Pac-10 did with Utah and like the Big East did with TCU.