Texas A&M helps BC

Tuesday saw the release of this season's first College Football Playoff rankings. Because there is still so much football left to play, the release serves more as a hype and controversy machine than actual forecast. And like clockwork, the Committee created just enough water cooler talk by including one-loss Texas A&M and excluding undefeated Washington. Even if this ranking changes, the controversy is great for a school like BC.

The format of the playoffs is inherently flawed. Narrowing down 128 teams into a four team playoff selected by committee is going to include all sorts of human biases. Those biases have hurt BC in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Even when we are really good, we are considered a nice little Cinderella story. We will never be considered a power program. Therefore we need a playoff format where Power 5 teams earn their way into the tournament. The ideal would be one slot for each Power 5 champion and three at large teams. That way when the stars align and BC wins the ACC, we are in. No controversy. No regional selection bias. No politicking. Win and you're in. For the playoff expansion and auto-bids to happen, we need plenty of controversy now. We need an undefeated Pac 12 Champion left out of the Playoffs. 

Right now the Big 12 would vote for expansion and autobids. It would save their conference. If the Pac 12 joins that side of the argument, then there would be momentum. I don't know how the ACC would vote, but being still being smaller than the Big Ten and SEC in fans and revenue, it would make sense to vote with the other small guys. 

The other benefit of all this controversy happening now is that BC really has nothing to lose. We are worried about getting bowl eligible, not being a playoff team. Ideally this mess sorts itself out in the next year or two, and then when we finally ascend again, we don't have to worry about committee votes and can just focus on winning games. 

Links: Duke prep, Addazio criticism, Bowl ratings

The real part of the basketball season starts on Saturday against Duke. Here is a quick overview of the game and Blue Devils.

Addazio made the dubious list of worst coaching in 2015. The writers certainly noted how hard it to go winless in conference with the best defense in the nation.

Finally, the ratings for the New Year's Eve Playoff games were way down. This won't change things overnight, but is still a good thing for BC. BC will always be an outsider in the bowl format (even with the Playoff element). It is best for us to watch this unravel and transform into a true eight-team, home-game, earned playoff.

Please tell me the ACC isn't championing a terrible idea

The ACC and Big XII are pushing for changes to conference championship regulations. The Big XII's angle is obvious. They want to hold a game without expanding. The ACC's interest in change remains mysterious. Here is the ominous part of this CBS article on the change:

“I think there's some belief that ACC would play three divisions, have two highest ranked play in postseason,” said Bob Bowlsby, chairman of the new NCAA Football Oversight Committee. “Really, nobody cares how you determine your champion. It should be a conference-level decision.

“But because the ACC has persisted in saying, ‘We're not sure what we'll do,' there's probably a little bit of a shadow over it. In the end, I don't think it'll be able to hold it up. We'll probably have it in place for ‘16.”

The ACC keeps saying they have no official plans to change their own format, but want future flexibility if they do want to change. The idea of a three team conference where one of the conference winners is NOT guaranteed a spot in the conference championship gamer is a terrible idea. The whole point of a division is to group teams together and let one team win the division by playing their other division foes. Then the two division winners play each other to determine a true champion. It is fair. It is objective. It is a proven model. Now, adding a subjective layer to the process takes the worst aspects of college football and forces it on the 14 teams in the ACC. Who do you think is going to get selected for the championship if two divisions are won by traditional powers and a third is not? ACC teams like BC are going to be left out.

I am not opposed to the ACC tweaking its format. If they want to revamp divisions or scrap the divisions all together, I have no problem with that. However, I think there should be clear and fair methods to get into the championship game. If there are no divisions and they select the two teams with the best record, BC fans should live with that. But anything that involves a committee is going to end badly for BC.

TOB: the power broker?

Multiple reports are saying the College Football Playoff committee reached out to Tom O'Brien about joining the committee. The potential opening is still a few seasons off, so it will give TOB plenty of time to plan. I don't like the idea of BC's fate in the hands of a committee, but it would not be a bad thing to have TOB around. He understands BC's challenges better than most. Even if he had to recuse himself during any BC talk, his casual influence would help.

Now let's get the TOB day at Alumni going to so we can start buttering up the committee just in time for our championship run.

BC and the other schools still waiting for their moment on the big stage

New Year's Day was different this year. The games had more meaning because of the new Playoff. One thing that wasn't different: no BC. As great as the Pinstripe Bowl experience was, BC still wasn't in a major bowl. And BC hasn't played in a true major bowl since the Cotton in 1985. As much as we want to blame it on travel reputation and fanbase size, there have been automatic qualifying opportunities for more than 20 years. First the Bowl Coalition, followed by the Bowl Alliance, then the BCS and now the Playoff. As a member of the Big East and the ACC, BC had access to all of these games. We just never played our way into any of them. We know the near misses: losing to WVU in '93, losing to Syracuse in '04 and dropping back-to-back ACC Championship Games. At this point it is almost bad luck. Other Power 5 teams have made it on fewer close calls.

Although only one year old, the Power 5 conferences of the Playoffs have put the majority of their teams into major bowls. Take a look at the teams that have yet to play in Playoffs and their forebears:

ACC Have Nots
Boston College
Duke
North Carolina
NC State

Virginia

Big Ten Have Nots
Indiana
Minnesota

Big XII Have Nots
Iowa State
Texas Tech

Pac 12 Have Nots
Cal

SEC Have Nots
Kentucky
Missouri
South Carolina
Vanderbilt

(Now I am only using bowl history and qualification based on the bowl's status at that time. Take Duke and the Peach Bowl as an example. The Blue Devils played in the Peach Bowl last year. It was a good bowl, but not defined as a Playoff/Major bowl at the time. This year, the elevated Peach Bowl is one of the official New Year's Six. So although Duke has played in a Peach Bowl recently, they have yet to earn or get selected into the Playoff/BCS/Bowl Alliance/Bowl Coalition games.)

Of course the ACC would have the most teams that have not played in a major bowl. Despite that fact, I don't worry that we are locked into some top heavy conference that will never enable a major bowl. As Georgia Tech showed this year, there will be many times when the ACC runner up also makes a major bowl (as long as the winner gets into the Playoff). As daunting as Florida State, Clemson and Louisville may seem right now, it only takes one down cycle for things to change.

The variety and number of schools that have made major bowls should be encouraging to BC fans. It shows that things can change quickly and every school will get its shot. I'm impatient for our shot, but believe it will be here soon. And hopefully by that time there are eight teams in the playoffs...because then we have a chance to win the whole thing.

Don't forget there will never be a place for BC in the current Playoff system

Despite some shenanigans from the various bowl directors and TV execs, BC landed in a good spot. The Pinstripe is arguably one of the best bowl situations we've ever had. That doesn't change the fact that the current Playoff system is deeply flawed and will never benefit BC. Any selection committee will bring biases. That's natural and unfortunate. Sunday they showed they will always lean towards traditional powers. There is no other explanation of Ohio State leapfrogging Baylor and TCU. It wasn't a Big XII bias. It was a David and Goliath bias. There is no way Ohio State would have jumped past Big XII schools named Texas or Oklahoma in that same scenario. Even if we up our level of play to playoff consideration, we will still be viewed as a Baylor or TCU-type program. It will take a minor miracle and an undefeated season to ever be selected.

Even an undefeated season might not be enough. Look at the criticism heaped on Florida State. They are a traditional power, defending champions and have not been beat in two years. Yet they were only a 3 seed and some felt they didn't belong all together. If BC had 13 narrow victories, the same arguments would be used, only in a more dismissive and condescending manor.

As The Big Lead pointed out, the Selection Committee was designed to fail. They never explained their rationale. They had no mandate on how to select teams. We're lucky that it only resulted in two obvious snubs.

The playoffs may make for great football. I will certainly watch. However, BC needs to continue to champion the cause for an eight-team playoff where the winner of the ACC gets an automatic qualification. That is the only way we are ever getting into the new Big Dance.

Inaugural College Football Selection Committee is a disaster for BC

I don't expect BC to be a national title contender next season. That's probably best since the first College Football Selection Committee is a disaster waiting to happen and would never reward BC.

I say this because the Committee is filled with old boys network types who are going to focus on traditional powers. The only member from outside the establishment is Condoleezza Rice. Regardless of how Rice feels about strength of schedule or resumes or whatever objective measures one could embrace, she is only one member. I don't see her having sway over the other power brokers enough to get an outsider into the Final Four.

My bigger issue is with Mike Tranghese. He's led a lawsuit against BC. Trashed us in the media and has publicly blamed us for the downfall of the Big East. How could that bias not spill over into his assessments?

In this sort of four-team setup BC is always in the worse position. We are not a traditional power, but come from a power conference. We cannot coast to an undefeated season like a MWC or AAC team might -- playing just one or two tough games --and then hope for media and public sentiment to get in. Think Boise State or Northern Illinois. Nor will the committee every put in a one or two loss BC team like they might for Alabama or Ohio State. Basically BC will have to go undefeated to ever get in the Final Four. As much as a didn't care for the BCS, at least I knew we could always play our way into the Orange Bowl. We still can in this system, but the Orange Bowl has been marginalized in this process. It is all about the Final Four.

My only solace is that we won't be the only program unhappy. This Committee is going to be torn apart. It is inevitable. Whoever is left out as the 5th and 6th team will lead the charge. My hope is that BC will be a title contender by the time the playoff expands to 8 teams and the ACC Champion earns automatic entry.