die, BCS

Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, and Jeff Passan's new book, Death to the BCS, looks like it might make waves.

The Yahoo! Sports story, with excerpts.

Their blog page.

And, another excerpt.

I think most people agree that a playoff would be the correct way to go (I'm in favor of a 16-team playoff), but what kind of stood out for me while reading those excerpts was how the BCS system goes to such great lengths to keep the little guys down. Some folks say that a team like Boise State doesn't deserve to play for the championship until they schedule more road games against teams from, say, the SEC. But if the BCS wasn't in control, teams like the BCS would be getting a lot more money, and a lot better recruits, than they're getting now, and they'd be presenting a much bigger challenge to SEC, Big Ten, Pac-10, Big Twelve, ACC, and Big East schools.

The BCS schools can't have that. It isn't about a level playing field; it's about staying in control.

So, the Big Six conferences get 82.3% of the money. The MWC, WAC, MAC, Conference USA, and Sun Belt Conference are left with the remaining 17.7%. This way, the little guys will always be little guys, and the BCS schools will always stay in charge.

Put a playoff system in place, with the money more evenly distributed, and with every team having a shot at going all the way, and all of a sudden perhaps Boise State doesn't look like such a bad option for a 5-star recruit who normally wouldn't consider Boise State because it isn't a BCS school. All of a sudden, TCU and Hawaii have a chance at landing much better players, more t.v. time, more money to build bigger stadiums, and maybe even (gasp!)home games against SEC teams.

The problem isn't that Boise State and others don't schedule enough games against teams from BCS schools. The problem is that the BCS "Cartel," as the authors put it, gives all the advantages and most of the money to teams from those Big Six conferences.

It's an injustice; and that's why I'll always root for non-BCS teams against BCS teams, and it's while I'll always ignore college football once the regular season is over.