This is How You Bust the BCS

Attention Oklahoma State, Boise State, and other schools past, present and future who want to bust the BCS.  You don't bust a system by working with it.  You bust a system by giving it the finger.  Here is how it is done:

It Takes Balls to Reject a BCS Bid

By Bob Firpo

Imagine this headline: 'Boise St. and TCU Reject BCS Bids; Will Face Off For Shot at AP National Title'

Crazy? Maybe. But it might be the only way either school will sniff a title shot under the suppress-the-rest system set up by the major conferences. So I say, give us this game, the first true BCS buster of the BCS era.

I know what you’re thinking, “No! Boise State and TCU should play BCS schools so that they can prove how good they are to the non-believers!”  That was my first reaction too, and it was certainly my feeling last year. But considering the domination Boise State and TCU have shown this season, neither has anything to prove against the lesser competition they’re likely to face in a BCS bowl.

Accepting BCS hush money only reinforces its flawed system. If the BCS was designed to pit No. 1 v. No. 2, the strength of schedule component was designed to keep non-BCS teams out of that game. So the two undefeateds should resist the temptation and expectation to bow to the system’s grace in a year when fully 25 percent of the eight most deserving teams cannot qualify for the title.

They should instead bust the BCS by playing a made-for-TV game that could legitimately be billed as the “AP National Title Game.” Easily the biggest story of the bowl season, it’s the only other match-up aside from Oregon versus Auburn that could result in a National Champion, with the bonus being a BCS watered-down with undeserving teams. Perhaps best of all, a Boise State-TCU game would be a swinging sledgehammer to an unjust system that just might inevitably lead to the college football playoff that everyone but BCS puppet masters crave.

In short, perfection.

Of course, this only works if both Boise State and TCU are left out of the BCS Title Game, and then only if one of them is in the top two in the AP poll. But if those stars align, nowhere in college football is there a better strategy for ridding the world of the BCS, nor could anyone find a more compelling story-line. 

The BCS certainly won’t pit the two if the above scenario unfolds.  Boise St. and TCU are too good and highly ranked for the BCS to allow them to face-off, especially considering that those pesky and unaffiliated AP voters have loved both Boise St. and TCU longer than any other relevant Title-contender.  No, pitting Boise St. and TCU would create the possibility of a split AP/ Coaches National Title, and would therefore be deemed unacceptable by the unidentified leaders of the system.

If either or both Boise State and TCU secures and accepts a BCS invite, they'll play against weak ACC or Big East automatic qualifiers.  Unfortunately, that would mean any shot at the AP Title would be gone due to one of the BCS’s other crushing flaws — the automatic bids often go to relatively lowly conference champs.  A Boise St. or TCU victory in that scenario would be demeaned as another victory against relatively weak competition.  It’s an inside game after-all, and Boise St. and TCU are the consummate outsiders.

There would certainly be logistical headaches with a BCS-free TCU and Boise State matchup, and no doubt the big boys at the BCS and ESPN/ABC will fight it. But it's absolutely worth considering. Imagine getting the warm fuzzies watching Rece Davis and his “College Gameday” crew scrambling to make sense of it — the little guys refusing to be paid off, giving up millions for the chance to be recognized as a champion.

The publicity itself would turn this Outlaw Bowl into a bigger contest than the official BCS title game, with ESPN talking heads in essence being paid to undermine the BCS title game by the company that owns that game’s broadcasting rights — giving BCS haters a tasty swig of irony. And millions of American sports fans would be rooting for the undercard to upstage the main event. 

It’s far-fetched, and to be sure, it’s never easy fighting The Man. But an opportunity like this comes along rarely, so it must be seized with the kind of passion that only the oppressed can express. And while it may turn out bad for the little guys, the risk of lost cash cannot compare to a legitimate shot at a National Title. Not even close.

We know the current system has no possible way to account for incredible teams like the 2010 editions of Boise State and TCU, because the BCS’s strength of schedule component and voter bias against the smaller conferences won’t allow it.

So I say, let’s not beg for BCS bids this year, let’s bust it instead.

Bob Firpo is an attorney and freelance sports and outdoors writer.  He lives in Boise, Idaho.