Another college football ranking controversy

Well, the folks at the University of Miami (FL) are pissed off again and I can’t say I blame them. The secretive computer rankings put Oklahoma ahead of them even though the Hurricanes are undefeated and top-ranked in both the writers and coaches polls. With a bad break or two, Miami will see a repeat of last year, when they were ranked higher than Florida State but were left out of the championship game. Okay, this is unlikely since either Oklahoma or Nebraska must lose at least once more this year (if both teams win out, they will meet again in the Big 12 Championship) but it still seems like a raw deal to me.

Reading up on the Bowl Championship System at CollegeBCS.com, I have to wonder why public universities are allowed to participate since most of the computer ranking systems don’t publish their formulas. After all, the end result of the BCS affects distribution of serious dollar amounts to the schools who get to go to the BCS bowls; we’re talking about millions of dollars difference between the payouts from, say, the national championship game (this year, the Rose Bowl) and a minor bowl like the galleryfurniture.com Bowl. Anyway, the decisions made by the BCS administrators don’t make sense to me but they sure do have an impact. The BCS is comprised of six top college conferences and is completely independent of oversight from, say, the NCAA; its all about the Benjamins and I really wonder who can make them more accountable. Why is this system not under the control of a more public and impartial group?

Sidenote: CollegeBCS.com uses frames, so I can’t point to specific pages even though I’d like to link to the Ratings, FAQ, and Quality Win Explanation pages directly.