BCS vs. playoff debate comes to Capitol Hill
College football’s perennial armchair-quarterback argument over the need for a clear-cut national champion came to Capitol Hill Friday.
The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection held a hearing to dissect the Bowl Championship Series, asking whether the model needs to be tweaked, overhauled or done away with altogether.
Four witnesses testified at the morning hearing, including championship series coordinator John Swofford and Alamo Bowl President Derrick Fox; both of whom defended the current system, though Fox conceded that “no system is perfect and the Bowl Championship Series is not perfect.”
Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson and Boise State Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier testified that they would like to see the system revamped. Many critics say they want college football to have a playoff system to ensure that a champion is clearly defined.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, called the Bowl Championship Series format unfair and perhaps took it one step further. “You should either change your name to BES for Bowl Exhibition System or just drop the C and call it the BS system, because it is not about determining the championship on the field.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/01/football.bcs/
“It’s probably better than a 50 percent chance that if we don’t see some action in the next two months of a voluntary switch to a playoff,” warned Barton, “you’ll see this bill.”
Barton was speaking directly to BCS coordinator John Swofford, also the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and he was referring to proposed legislation that would prevent the BCS from marketing its final game as the national championship.
Swofford and Alamo Bowl CEO Derrick Fox found themselves on an entirely different playing field on Friday, with congressmen making all the calls. There was no vote, and nothing even remotely resembling an answer, but the fact that college football representatives had taken the time to fly to the nation’s capital, raise their hands and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, elevated the importance of the postseason alongside growing concerns over swine flu and an economic crisis.
“Anytime Congress speaks,” Swofford said, “you take it seriously.”
On the other hand, only three members were doing the speaking, and two of them — Barton and Green — were representing the great football state of Texas with gusto. Committee chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., was the only other representative there to ask questions.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4122741
Tags: BCS, Congress, Craig Thompson, Joe Barton, John Swofford
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