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NCAA AQ Theater - Why NCAA is a four letter word


Two of the best bowl games of last season involved MAC teams. Bowling Green and Idaho in the Humanitarian Bowl and Central Michigan versus Troy in the GMAC Bowl. Had the rules which were approved, today, by the NCAA been in effect one, or both of those bowl may have had a different line up. Under current rules, the NCAA required bowls to give teams with winning records priority over 6-6 teams. Because of this Notre Dame at 6-6 was behind Bowling Green, Middle Tennessee, and several other teams with winning records.

I've never been a huge fan of a playoff system, perhaps if I were a Utah fan in 2008 I might feel differently but on the whole I think the bowl environment was worth the sacrifice of a clear and true champion. The 'Separate but equal bowl' moved me, marginally, into the playoff camp and this little bit of nonsense from the NCAA is enough to make me 'hoist my colors' on the side of a playoff system.

If there was anything the the NCAA could do to prove that they too share the BCS's committee's love for big money games, as opposed to the teams who did the best during the year, I can't imagine what it would be. At least now the Humanitarian Bowl is a better get for the MAC than the prospect of waiting for a bowl committee to see what low hanging BCS fruit it can pick.
The effect of the new rule will be that some bowls with open slots for at-large teams will select power-conference teams with 6-6 records over smaller-conference teams with winning records. For example, if the proposed rule had been in effect last year, the GMAC Bowl could have taken Notre Dame (6-6) over Troy (9-3) — if Notre Dame had wanted to play in it. -- Matt Sanderson, co-founder of Playoff PAC
While I agree with Mister Sanderson I still hope this can somehow be resolved without congress getting involved but it's pretty clear that sooner or later something is going to have to be done or most Bowl game preview shows will look like this: