Ranking the BCS

The Bowl Championship Series system came out with their college football rankings on Sunday. Personally, I think most of these things should be unimportant until nearer the end of the season. But USC, after defeating Notre Dame and more importantly stopping a supposed Heisman contender three times well inside the red zone went down in the rankings. That does not make sense.

The BCS is made up of three components - the AP coaches poll, the Harris interactive poll and computer rankings. They are supposed to be ranked equally. According to the BCS "The computer rankings percentage is calculated by dropping the highest and lowest ranking for each team and then dividing the remaining total by 100, the maximum possible points. (Example: the 6 rankers have Team A ranked 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, and 4. Take away the 2 and 4 which leaves an average of 3rd place. The BCS quotient of this component would be 0.92. (23 / 25 = 0.92)." Both the Harris and the AP ranked USC fourth but the BCS ranks them seventh. Harris and AP ranked Alabama and Florida differently - and that is understandable. Both coaches polls rank USC above the unbeaten Boise State and Cincinnati, presumably based on schedule.

Boise State continues to claim they play a real schedule. They did beat Oregon at the beginning of the season. But then they play such powerhouses as San Jose State, UC Davis and Tulsa. Oh, they also beat Miami (of Ohio) which so far has a perfect season.

Ultimately for USC the season comes down to the Halloween game in Oregon. The Ducks have had a good season and their matchup against SC is at home. Like playing in South Bend, there is a home field advantage of some points. There are two conclusions on rankings. First, the BCS should be scrapped and replaced with a playoff system. Second, the Pac 10, as they demonstrated during last year's bowl season, are a very competitive conference.