The BCS – A System Worth Speaking Out Against Lee Bobbitt Texas Tech Student Government President

Why Am I Giving this Presentation I was contacted by a group of students The students made a compelling argument You can make a difference

Summary What is the problem Why should you care What you can do to help the problem

What is the BCS The BCS was implemented to determine the national championship for college football The BCS uses the traditional bowl system Teams playing in BCS bowls are determined by computer polls, and two human polls

What is the BCS (cont.) The BCS includes four major bowl games and the national championship game There are six conferences that receive automatic BCS invitations: Big East, ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and the Pac- 10 Teams not in these six conferences must finish in the Top 10 in the BCS standings

Schools from Non-BCS Conferences Teams from non-BCS conferences are at a disadvantage In 2004, both Boise State and Utah finished undefeated Only Utah was invited to a BCS bowl Utah beat Big East Champion Pittsburg 35-7

Schools from Non-BCS Conferences (cont.) In 2006, Boise State finished undefeated Boise State was invited to the Fiesta Bowl (BCS Bowl) Boise State defeated Oklahoma in overtime Non-BCS schools can compete with BCS schools

Auburn University plays in the SEC The Tigers were ranked 17 th in the pre- season rankings They finished 13-0 and were ranked No. 2 in both polls A School from BCS Conferences

A School from BCS Conferences (cont.) Auburn finish No. 3 in the BCS rankings Auburn was invited to a BCS Bowl (not the National Championship) The National Championship was won by University of Southern California over Oklahoma

How does the BCS effect Texas Tech Financial Enrollment Athletics

Financial The football team’s success can bring in lots of money to Tech and Lubbock BCS bowls come with a larger check than other bowl games Lubbock’s Convention and Visitors Bureau predicted that the Tech vs. Oklahoma game would be worth over $17 million Lubbock reports an economic gain of five to seven million dollars for each Tech home game

Enrollment The more Tech’s football team wins, the more national attention Tech receives This is free publicity As you can see in your hand out an increase in winning percentage leads to an increase in enrollment

Athletics In 2004, Tech was 8-4 and ranked No. 18 at the end of the season The played the No. 4 team in the country (California) and won 45-31

Athletics (cont.) Pittsburg was ranked No. 25 and 8-4 They won the Big East and automatically selected to the Fiesta Bowl Pittsburg was beat by Utah 35-7 Tech was good enough to play in a BCS bowl

Now what? I hope you see that the BCS is flawed Tech’s football success has put the university on a stage As administrators you can use that stage to speak out against the BCS Only school administrators have the power to make a difference

Recap The BCS is flawed It effects many different universities It has a major impact on Texas Tech Only you can make a difference