Georgia Lawmakers Petition NCAA for Playoff

Hey, you know what college football doesn't have enough of? Government sticking its nose in. But the great state of Georgia is trying to fix all that. The Georgia state House of Representatives recently passed a resolution calling for the NCAA to implement a playoff system in college football. The bill states:

WHEREAS, the greatest disappointment of the 2007 college football season was the dysfunctional system, known as the Bowl Championship Series or BCS, the NCAA has implemented in order to determine a national champion; and

WHEREAS, the teams chosen to play in the various BCS bowl games are selected through mathematical computations, politics, and corporate and television influences that rarely relate to determining the best football team on the field;

The resolution is on its way to the state Senate, where somebody might want to work on the wording; because like the computers or not, mathematical computations used in the BCS rankings are, in fact, directly related to determining the best football team on the field. Also, the irony of politicians complaining about politics in sports is open to second-guessing, eye-rolling, and conjecture.

As a resident of the state of Georgia, my initial indignation that my tax dollars are being spent on passing such an inane resolution while the state grapples with a water crisis and overcrowded roadways has passed. Now I'm just amused at the thought of this legislation being a part of Georgia's (and not the state's, but UGA's) growing inferiority complex.

Most of the lawmakers working in Atlanta are Georgia Bulldog fans, and they're bitter about the perceived slight of UGA being left out of the BCS championship game. And if you don't think that's what it's about, read this section of the bill:

WHEREAS, one of the goals of every football team going into a new season is to eventually be crowned the national champion and earn the admiration and respect of the whole country;

Poor UGA didn't get to win the 'admiration and respect of the whole country,' they merely got to expose Hawaii for being terrible. Never mind the fact that Georgia wasn't good enough to play in the national title game... let alone win their own conference. A more important resolution could have been passed in the Dawgs' locker room in September or October, because if they had resolved to beat South Carolina and/or Tennessee, the team could have made a legitimate claim at playing for the national title.

Previously on Fanhouse:
Michael Adams' Stupid Playoff Plan Is Stupid

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-01-2008 @ 10:39PM

Charlie said...

UGA is getting out of control with this. No one heard them say anything about this earlier on when they got demolished by Tennessee and beaten by SC. I think it's completely ridiculous that UGA actually believes they deserved a shot at the title in the first place. i'm almost positive that if UGA lands in the BCS title game next year, all this talk will just go away

2-01-2008 @ 10:55PM

tech fan said...

This is such BS. I am a Georgia Tech fan and am tired of hearing of this UGA stuff all the time. They don't make the national championship and suddenly it's front page news of the AJC in huge letters. If this ever happened to Tech, it would probably be a blurb in the bottom right of the paper.

UGH the kind of stuff they do in Georgia ...

2-02-2008 @ 12:57AM

The Dude said...

The reason the NCAA won't have playoffs is because of the millions of dollars they make from the bowl games. Until that gets cut out, they'll be no playoffs.

2-02-2008 @ 8:03AM

dmost1 said...

first of all UGA you should have won you conference;oh yeah, you didn't even win your division and just because you some how ended up ranked higher than the team that did you think you should play in the title game?remember LSU lost in overtime in both games UGA on the other hand lost to USC gamecocks (a team they should have beaten) and got blown out by Tennessee. Quit crying and get over it.

2-02-2008 @ 8:44AM

Football Dude said...

First let me state that I am a diehard UGA fan. Second let me state that I don't think UGA deserved to go to the MNC game. In fact, I wanted them to go to the Rose Bowl. That was a once in a lifetime chance! Now with that being said......

1. Will everyone please quit complaining about UGA not winning their conference/division. THAT'S NOT A RULE!!! In fact, Coach Richt stated that he would support that rule should it come up. However, currently it's not in the rules and should have no bearing on the final outcome.

2. Please do not group all UGA fans together as being pissed that we didn't go to the MNC game. I'm pissed that the Rose Bowl picked Illinois over us (look up the BCS selection rules and you will see that this actually happened). Oh what a game USC/UGA would have been.

3. I think, for the most part, that the BCS works. The purpose of the BCS was to get closer to matching the two best teams in a game. Before the BCS, all games were decided by Bowl alliances. It's far from perfect, but it is better than what we had before.

4. For a playoff to work (8 teams or more), the first games will have to be played in the teams home stadiums. As shown by the NFL and the NCAA B-Ball regionals, fans just don't travel every single week. I think the best we could hope for using the current bowls is a 4 team playoff with the 2 winners playing in a NC game the week that the NFL takes off before the Super Bowl. That would give the fans 3 or 4 weeks to make their travel plans and give the teams plenty of time to distribute tickets.

5. If you are a UGA fan and you feel cheated, don't blame the current BCS system. You should be asking the voters why they placed UGA 4th prior to the conference championships and then purposely voted them down to keep them out of the MNC game (look it up - that's exactly what happened). These beauty queen judges should be held accountable!

Again, my opinion is that UGA didn't deserve to go. But hey, neither did LSU or tOSU.

2-02-2008 @ 4:40PM

jhb1231 said...

The article and the electronics it took to write it are a big waste, and the first four comments are just sour grapes. Real UGA fans are well aware that what was billed as the National Championship game was questionable at best, but that is just how things turned out. There is always another time and another place. Maybe expressed concerns will ultimately improve the BCS system.

2-03-2008 @ 12:08AM

Will said...

You know what I'm sick of? Fans from other schools and conferences assuming that what our nimrod of a president and the timewasters in the state legislation speak for UGA. Damn I'll be glad when next season starts and we can move on from this.

2-03-2008 @ 9:05AM

Garry Crowe said...

Well, it's not the dumbest thing the Ga. state govt. has done. I guess my picks would be spending a week deciding on picking grits as the state's processed food and spending years on the state flag issue. Both sides-DUH! The flag we have now IS the FLAG USED IN THE CIVIL WAR.

2-03-2008 @ 9:44AM

Cnasfan said...

hell, UGA couldn't even beat Norte Dame if they had played :-)

2-03-2008 @ 10:36AM

Katie said...

It's true that most politicians in Georgia are UGA fans. There are also a lot of Auburn fans in Atlanta. The Alabama state government should have done this for Auburn. With no disrespect to GT, but now Georgia's #1 and #2 (Auburn) teams, have both been kept out of the MNC.

2-03-2008 @ 6:10PM

wideglider80 said...

I feel exactly the way Foorball dude does (even tho my heart belongs to Notre Dame ) Georgia and USC would have been the best match up out of all the bowls...the two hottest teams at the time plus what the rest of the country don't know...a matchup of the player of the year on defense and the player of the year on offense in New Jersey when they were seniors in Brian Cushing (Bergen Catholic) for USC...and Knowshon Moreno (Middletown South )....Both Players and high schools never played each other, as New Jersey doesn't have a true state champ....Does that ring a bell? Wideglider

2-04-2008 @ 7:59AM

aaorn W said...

Georgia would just being crying the "BLUES" when the their 1st playoff game was played up north in Ohio and they got destroyed in the cold and snow. Then the GA Gov't would B!tch, moan and groan like 5 year olds b/c it was 'UNFAIR'....Yawn GA !!!!

2-04-2008 @ 10:48PM

RE: aaorn W,

Ummm, when was the last time tOSU played in Ohio in the snow? Better yet, when was the last time tOSU played in Ohio in December? Tell you what, I'll make it easier for you......When was the last time ANY Big Ten team played a regular season game in the snow?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Good luck with your future posts! You may want to put a little more thought into them.

2-08-2008 @ 1:08PM

johnb said...

hey charlie you are not right. dumbass comment. uga fans aren't nearly as pissed about being the only college football team to not lose or not play a football game and go DOWN in the polls as they are about who jumped them and why. re-read that sentence charlie. the only time in 125 yrs that has happened. the team that jumped them had lost at home 170 hours before they historically jumped uga at home to an unranked opponent giving up 50 points. 50 points. 50 points. thay were 4-2 in their last 6 games. uga was 6-0 in their last six games. uga had won six straight games by 75 points. 75 points charlie. three over ranked opponents two more against teams who had been ranked during the season and it's arch rival. we don't and aren't saying uga should have been in the ncg agame, we are just sure it shouldn't have been lsu.
lsu lost at home giving up 50 to an unrnked opponent and two games later they were national champions?
missouri was number 1 and 15 minutes of football later they were out of the bcs completely.
what did missouri do? they beat the shit out of the team in the cotton bowl who two games earlier should have kept lsu out of anything. want more history? who is the only team in college football history who was number 1 three times in one season. 2007 lsu tigers. starting to get it now charlie?

2-08-2008 @ 10:22PM

Ed Talley said...

"Whereas" the Dawgs were taken behind the woodshed against the Tennessee Volunteers, and "whereas" it is a legal joke to even insinuate the Dawgs are worthy of consideration for this which they propose,
it is therefore further deemed and ruled any such effort by the Georgia Dawgs to be included in such playoff proposal for intercollegiate football purposes, a null and void effort on the behalf of said unworthy institution.