LABJ FORUM – BCS Interference

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LABJ FORUM – BCS Interference

The shock may be over, but to Trojan fans the indignity lingers. Despite being voted the nation’s top college football team in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls, USC was bypassed for the Bowl Championship Series’ national title game. Turns out the computers used in making the BCS selection considered Oklahoma and Louisiana State to be the better teams, and they will face off on Jan. 4 in the Sugar Bowl. USC, meanwhile, faces Michigan in the Rose Bowl. So the Business Journal asks:

What is your reaction to USC missing out on the BCS championship game?

Steve Simpson

Vice President and General Manager

Fox Sports Net & Fox Sports Net 2

I’m a firm believer that if you don’t win your conference championship, than you don’t deserve to be in the national championship game. Not only did Oklahoma’s losing throw a wrench into USC’s plans to play in the BCS championship game, but it also sent my alma mater, Texas, to a non-BCS bowl.

Heather Thompson

President

Southern California Chapter

Louisiana State University Alumni Association

I was shocked it wasn’t USC going to the Sugar Bowl. I thought if Oklahoma won (its conference championship game), it would be them versus USC. The BCS has got its good points and bad points. You shouldn’t be able to play for the national championship if you didn’t win your conference. But either everybody has to play for the conference championship or nobody does. We had to play Georgia twice, whereas the Pac-10 doesn’t have a playoff. If they had played and won their conference championship game, USC might be in. It’s not USC’s fault. They shouldn’t be hit because they don’t have a conference championship.

Janet Myhre

Professor of Mathematical Statistics

Claremont McKenna College

I don’t think it’s terribly accurate. If the people who really know don’t agree, you need to do a sanity check. I do a lot of consulting with companies, and when I find that my formulas disagree with the experts I’m working with, I go back to check my formulas. In a case like this, find out why the coaches and writers disagree with the formula. Whenever we do formulas, we think we have them right, but they can be adjusted as new facts come in. Even Einstein’s formulas have been changed.

Scott Farb

Partner

Rothstein Kass & Co.

The BCS system is clearly flawed. USC was ranked No. 1 by the AP writers and coaches and they’re not playing in the championship game? Oklahoma is ranked No. 3 by coaches and the AP, yet they’re playing in the championship. This doesn’t make any sense. I will take the opinion of the AP and coaches over the ranking system any day. Coaches and people have insight and opinions that a computer cannot calculate.

Richard Koffler

Board Member

Software Council of Southern California

The key issue anytime you try to model anything is that computers are imperfect. If you have a computer model that continues to be improved, the theory is that over time it is a very good surrogate reality. The main question is how open the BCS is to refining the model.

Wendell Jack

Director of Athletics

Whittier College

I’m personally more in favor of a playoff system, as we have in Division III. But given the way things are, I understand what happened. Not being a fan of any of the Top 3 teams, my perspective is somewhat clear. You can make the argument that USC’s loss to Cal was to the weakest team of all the losses of the Top 3 teams.

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