College football selection committee replaces BCS

After 15 years of stirring up controversy, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is being replaced following the 2013-14 college football season — and no one is going to miss it.

Using a combination of computerized rankings and human polls, the BCS has been the premier selection system to decide which two Football Bowl Subdivision schools will square off for the national championship. Implemented in 1998, the system was designed to incorporate the Big Ten and mid-major conferences into the running for the national title and to eliminate split championships with the AP Poll.

Unfortunately, not only did the BCS fail to produce a consensus national champion each year, as USC and LSU split the title in 2003, but it also closed off competition for the championship game to just two teams.

Over the last decade, a plethora of worthy title contenders, such as the 2003 USC Trojans (12-1,)2004 Auburn Tigers (13-0) and 2008 Texas Longhorns (12-1,) have been excluded from playing for the national title despite matching or surpassing the credentials of the two teams selected by the BCS.

However, the new system being implemented in 2014, the College Football Playoff (CFP), alleviates this problem by selecting four teams to compete in a playoff format for the national title. Under the playoff, the four teams selected will play in two national semifinal games, with the winners facing off for the national championship.

Not only does the CFP double the number of teams that can play for the title, but it also eliminates the overly complicated and warped computer rankings that plagued the BCS. The CFP will instead have a human selection committee comprised of 13 members, featuring ex-NFL quarterbacks, collegiate head coaches and athletic directors, and most notably former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice’s selection came as a shock for many, as she is the sole female on the committee and the only member without a career in sports. However, she does have an athletic background, as her father was a football coach, and she served as provost at Stanford University, where she supervised the athletics department. Rice, an avid Stanford, Notre Dame and Cleveland Browns fan, also considers herself to be a “student of the game.”

“[Condoleezza] definitely earned her spot on this committee,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said. “She knows this game, she is a student of this game…part of this is going to be the ability to make judgments under scrutiny, and [she] has that.”

Hancock’s point about Rice’s judgment is arguably the best validation of her selection to the committee. Having served as the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the President of the United States, Rice is perhaps more qualified than anyone on the committee when it comes to high-stakes decision making.

While the CFP is poised to reduce controversy in the future when it comes to selecting the top teams in college football, it cannot unfortunately solve this season’s national championship conundrum. Already past the halfway point of the season, six undefeated teams remain in the BCS top 10, and it seems incredibly likely that one or more of those schools will ultimately be left out of national title game.