This past Saturday Big Ten fans finally got what the vast majority were screaming for and that is a Big Ten title game to determine the conference’s undisputed champion.
For Michigan State fans the outcome of the game was truly heartbreaking after they dropped at 42-39 decision to Wisconsin that for the most part came down to a running into the kicker penalty in the final minutes of the game.
The dispute over Michigan State’s situation has nothing to do with that play. Spartan safety Isaiah Lewis clearly ran into the Wisconsin punter and the ref was totally within their right to throw the flag on the play. In the end Wisconsin was the better team that night and certainly deserved to go to Pasadena and play in the Rose Bowl.
It’s also understandable for the BCS to leave Michigan State out of the BCS bowl picture based on the fact that they didn’t win their conference championship game. But what is also understandable is how much of a joke the BCS has become in their selection process.
Because of the loss Saturday, Michigan State fell all the way down to #17 knocking them out of any BCS bowl consideration. Based on the rules in place only the top 14 teams get that consideration for a BCS bowl. However with Michigan State losing to Wisconsin finishing up the season in second place in the Big Ten, you would think that no other Big Ten team besides the Badgers would or should get a BCS berth in front of the Spartans.
This however certainly wasn’t the case.
Finishing up the season at 10-2, Michigan was jettison into the #13 spot in the BCS and subsequently picked to play in the Sugar Bowl against a joke of a team in Virginia Tech. Now there is no taking away from the accomplishments Brady Hoke and the Wolverines had this season. It was a tremendous year for Michigan and they rightfully deserved to go to a respectable bowl game this postseason.
But did they deserve to go to a BCS bowl over Michigan State?
The answer to that question is very simple and that answer is no.
The fact of the matter is Michigan lost head to head to Michigan State during the Big Ten season and lost their other game to a Big Ten opponent in Iowa on the road. Sure Michigan State had three loses on the season (thus far) however one of those loses came to a non conference opponent in Notre Dame, a conference opponent in Nebraska and another conference opponent in Wisconsin but in the Big Ten Championship Game.
So essentially the BCS is punishing Michigan State for their loss in their conference championship game, a game that Michigan simply put wasn’t good enough to get into yet still went to a better bowl game over the Spartans.
Does this make sense?
From a standpoint based on fairness, no it doesn’t at all. But from the standpoint of what the BCS has become it makes total sense.
The BCS has become about the all mighty dollar and with that said the college football postseason will not feature the best teams of the regular season until something changes. So what that means is the biggest reason why Michigan was chosen over Michigan State was because of money. Now as much as Spartan fans may not want to admit it, the Michigan program is and has always been bigger than the Michigan State program. There’s a bigger following nation wide which means that if the BCS has a chance to put the bigger team and not necessarily the better team in one of their bowl games they’re going to do it.
And it won’t stop there.
For everyone screaming about a college football playoff system, fairness still will not be considered if the BCS is put in charge of it.
But before Michigan fans start jumping for joy, telling Spartan fans to shut up and quit whining ask yourself how you would feel if the roles were reversed?
Ref: ESPN, Detnews.com (image)
