You know, having seen so many bad bills that could do real damage to people and institutions in this state, it’s nice that our Lege is still capable of contemplating legislation that’s just plain silly.
Under bills filed by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, and Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, college football teams in Texas would be banned from playing in post-season championship games that are not part of a national playoff system.
But the bills would expire before BCS bids go out in early December if four of a dozen states mentioned in the proposals don’t adopt similar legislation.
“The problems (with the BCS) have been existing for some years now,” said Wentworth, a graduate of Texas A&M University. “People can’t figure out the formula, there are always disputes and arguments over how people got picked and who really is the national champion.”
[…]
If passed, the legislation would take effect before the upcoming season but could expire on Dec. 2, if at least four other states mentioned haven’t adopted similar legislation.
Of the states mentioned — Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington — Wentworth said California is the only one with similar legislation pending, but he expects the others to debate the issue.
Yeah, that’s been keeping me awake at night, I tell you. Look, I’m a BCS hater of the first order, but c’mon. We know what it’s all about, right? (Hint: $$$). At least if you’re going to make a grand but meaningless gesture, you should have the courage of your convictions and not give everyone an easy out if a bunch of pusillanimous states-which-aren’t-Texas don’t fall in line behind you. You’ve got that windmill in your sights, Senor Quixote! Don’t stop now!
On the other hand, there is this:
Wentworth said former Texas football coach Darrell Royal admitted that he didn’t understand the BCS formula.
“If it is beyond him, it’s certainly beyond the rest of us,” he said.
I suppose anything that can get an Aggie to agree with Darrell Royal must be worth a few minutes of sober contemplation before breaking out into guffaws. I feel a twitch coming on, so I’d better move along now.
UPDATE: Postcards from the Lege has some viewer mail on the subject.
I’m as much of a BCS hater as anyone too. But this sort of stuff is just silly and a waste of time.
Want to REALLY light a fire under the presidents of the BCS universities in this state to get them to move towards a playoff?
Simply pass a bill that does the following:
1. All revenue earned by any Texas school in a BCS game will be returned to the general state fund that supports higher education and spread out to support all higher education in Texas.
2. All revenue earned by any Texas school participating in a national playoff will be retained by that school.
It is the university presidents through their voting in the NCAA process that keeps the BCS alive. Take the money away from them and spread it around the state to support all higher education and see how long they support the BCS. And hey, if UT playing in the Rose Bowl ends up supporting the local technical and community colleges here in Waco then fine by me. At least the BCS would be doing something useful.
The chance of this hypothetical bill passing is ZERO.
The BCS exists because the 70 or so schools that make up the six major conferences (SEC, ACC, Pac-10, Big Ten, Big XII, and Big East+Notre Dame) want to keep the money and power amongst themselves as opposed to sharing them with all Division I-A programs. Any national playoff system would involve the NCAA and the conferences just don’t want them involved. Think about the NCAA tournament money that UW-Milwaukee and the Horizon League took from say Maryland and the ACC.