BCS is bologna

Earlier this week, we had a short debate in class about the BCS. The BCS is the system that the NCAA uses to determine the rankings and bowl games for division one college football. Every year, there is debate about who should play in the national championship. Should it be a one loss power conference team that gets in? Or, should an undefeated team like Boise State or TCU who each have historically weak confrences get it? This year, both Boise State and TCU are undefeated again. Each, however, have big wins over ranked teams. If one or both of those teams remain undefeated, the computers once again will probably exclude them from the chance to win a title.

I think the BCS is the one downfall of college football. College football needs to develope a tournament for football just like it does for almost every other sport. No, I do not think football should be a large tournament like March Madness. Rather, it should consist of 16, maybe 32, of the top teams in the nation based on the ranking system. They can have seeds based on record and other stats to award  homefield advantage (like the NFL). Then, just like it is now, the championship should be played on a neutral field. This will finally give fairness to teams who may have a weaker schedule a chance to reach the championship. And, for those teams with one loss, they have an opportunity to redeem themselves.

NFL cracks down on monster hits

This past week, the NFL issued hefty fines to players who made an illegal hits over the weekend. Two of the players fined were James Harrison (fined $75,000) and Brandon Meriweather. The league has now said that any player who makes a tackle leading with the helment, or makes contact of the helment of a defenseless offense player, will be subject to suspension. Players have not had a pleasant response to this. In fact, James Harrison sat out a day of practice because he was considering retirement.

Do you think these new rules are extreme? Do you think the NFL executives, most of whom have never played football, are ruining the game we have come to love? Or, do you think this is simply to protect the players?