BCS controversial, but also successful

Next year’s new playoff format builds on gains

The new college football season opens tonight, and the first week’s games are just as important as the last week’s games in determining which two teams will ultimately vie for the national championship.

This season is the final year of the Bowl Championship Series. The new College Football Playoff will begin next year and build on the success of the BCS.

And yes, the BCS has been successful. Sure, it has been controversial. But as we get ready to bid it farewell, we know there’s a lot it did right.

Controversy is a given in sports. But love it or not, a fair reading of the facts shows how valuable the 15 years of the BCS have been for college football and its fans. It’s worth remembering this as we prepare to enjoy the 2013- 14 roller coaster ride together.

First, the BCS helped to establish order and consensus. Before the BCS and its predecessors, the Bowl Coalition and the Bowl Alliance, the Associated Press’ No. 1 and No. 2 teams met in bowl games only eight times in 56 seasons.

By contrast, thanks to the BCS, the top two teams have played each other 15 times in 15 years by BCS measurements and 12 times in the past 15 according to the AP poll — including the last nine years in a row.

REGULAR SEASON DRAMA

Second, the BCS delivered this top matchup while also protecting the drama of the best regular season in sports.

Starting with this week’s kickoff, every game really does count in the BCS format, a feature we intend to preserve with the new playoff. This intriguing, meaningful regular season is unique to college football.

Third, the BCS has helped transform our sport from a largely regional activity into a vibrant national one. Every week, fans across the nation debate how a team’s prospects could be affected by outcomes in conferences on the other coast or in another region, all because every game is so important.

SMALL PROGRAMS HIGHLIGHTED

Fourth, the BCS has increased access for all teams into major bowl games, and has helped to put some college football programs on the map for the first time. Northern Illinois’ appearance in the 2013 Discover Orange Bowl marked the eighth time a team from a conference without annual automatic qualification played in a BCS bowl in the past nine years. That’s a sea change from the previous 54 years, when only five teams that are currently members of non- automatic- qualifying conferences got a similar chance.

Thanks partly to the BCS, Boise State and Texas Christian University became household names in college football. The BCS format broadened the spotlight for several programs.

We are confident the new College Football Playoff will build on this impressive record of growth and success. The semifinals will feature the top four teams in bowl games during the New Year’s holiday.

This playoff will be a great innovation for a sport that is already steeped in tradition. And the College Football Championship game will produce a title winner a week or so later. But that’s all next season.

After this season, history will view the BCS favorably for all the good that it brought to the game, to the postseason, and to the thousands of student- athletes, band members, cheerleaders and fans who have been part of it.

That is worth celebrating.