BCS

The Arkansas Razorbacks Will Win the 2010-2011 NCAA Football National Championship

The Arkansas Razorbacks will begin play this Saturday, September 4, 2010. The reason why I believe the Arkansas Razorbacks will win the NCAA football national championship is this is the best overall football team in the nation. Ryan Mallett, the starting quarterback for the Razorbacks and a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, gives the Razorbacks a chance to win every game. Although the Hogs’ defense needs to improve from last year (and I know that it has), the defense will do enough to help the team to win each game. When a team is as fortunate as Arkansas to have such an explosive offense, the defense simply needs to do just enough to help the team to win each game.

Arkansas plays all of its most challenging games at home: Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU. The emotions and expectations in Fayetteville, Arkansas are tremendously high, and the team really does believe the national championship will come back to the mountains of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Now, I hope that this stupid BCS system does not keep an undefeated Arkansas team out of the national championship game because of a desire rooted in pure politics to put Boise State University in the national championship game against a team like Ohio State University or Texas.

I am tremendously excited about the start of the college football season on Saturday. It comes at a much needed time for me, a time when I could use a break from the problems and boredom of Madison, Wisconsin. In Madison, Wisconsin, people are thinking that the Wisconsin Badgers have a chance to win the national championship, considering they have a high ranking coming into the start of the season. I am glad to let Badger fans know that their team will suffer defeats against Ohio State University and Iowa, which will keep the team out of the national championship game. I do expect the Badgers to lose more than just two games during the regular season.

Ryan Mallett will not only help the Arkansas Razorbacks to win the national championship, but also will win the Heisman Trophy. He has all of the tools to be a great quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). As a proud Razorback, I look forward to the national championship coming home to the mountains of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Arkansas is truly a tradition like none other. Woo Pig Sooie!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Eradicate the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Now

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A needs to move from the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) to at least a 16 game playoff to determine an undisputed national champion. The current BCS system does not resolve the national champion in a way that is truly equitable for all schools and leaves many (if not most) sports fans feeling that the ultimate national champion is not unquestionably the national champion. Under the current BCS system, the elite powers in college athletics receive an automatic assurance that they will be in the national championship game. Unfortunately, schools like Utah and Boise State, who have played competitive schedules and went undefeated, do not even have a chance to be in the national championship game. Although the BCS structure has been reformed to allow opportunities for non-elite schools to have a chance to win the national championship, the chance that they have is still tremendously more difficult than it is for the elite schools.

I would be fine with almost any playoff system that the NCAA would decide to go to, because anything is better than what we have now. To be frank, I liked the system of allowing the AP and coaches to determine the national champion. Why? The only reason that I say this is it was a better system than what we have in place now. This is not the system that I advocate for, but going back to it to temporarily replace the BCS would be an incredibly great thing for NCAA Division I-A football. If college presidents and chancellors are not willing to reform the current system for their colleges and universities, then they should at least do it for their student-athletes who work so hard to generate the millions and millions of dollars for them each year—in a multi-billion dollar industry.

Unfortunately, it is the college and university presidents and chancellors who do not want to move to a playoff system. The only time that I really hear them expressing their concern for the student-athletes’ academic achievement is when it comes to moving to a playoff system. The majority of the presidents and chancellors are only interested in the money that football and basketball players’ athletic prowess can generate for them. They are not really concerned about their educational experiences and outcomes.

I will be glad when student-athletes begin to stand up against the egregious exploitation they experience as participants in NCAA Division I.  I think that they are can play a vital role in helping us to achieve a playoff system, because they can expose college presidents and chancellors for their true lack of concern about their academic achievement. When they publicly promulgate their dissatisfaction with the extant commitment to their educational experiences and outcomes, I contend that the BCS will be well on its way to the graveyard: The BCS will no longer be able to hide behind the false cover of protecting its commitment to the academic achievement of student-athletes.

While I certainly have my disagreements with President Obama, we both agree that a playoff system is needed to replace the BCS. Can you just imagine what a playoff system in NCAA Division I-A would be like?

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison