Just win, baby

College football's new mantra is in full bloom this season

The BCS has many problems: Too much reliance on bloodless computers and bias-driven polls, too little room to satisfy the growing parity in college football. The bowl system that the BCS was designed to preserve has, in truth, been terribly damaged by it, since now only one bowl truly matters each year. On the other hand, the BCS has, in its own clumsy manner, helped keep alive the wonderful college football regular season, an imperfect, yet enervating season-long playoff.

Something else, too. This year the BCS has elevated the value of the simple victory. Take Miami: On Thursday night the Hurricanes were outplayed at home for much of the game by a good Pittsburgh team. The 'Canes made four big plays -- a punt return, a long run and two deep passes -- and hung on to win the game, 28-21, when a fourth-down pass into the end zone was six inches too high for a Pitt walk-on receiver to catch.

This was not Miami's first escape of the autumn. The Hurricanes rallied from two touchdowns down in the fourth quarter to beat Florida State, securing the victory only when a last-second field goal went barely wide. They sleepwalked through three quarters against Rutgers before cramming a full game into the fourth quarter. Yet here Miami sits, two wins from an unbeaten regular season and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl.

And who would the 'Canes play in the championship game? None other than Ohio State, which on the last two weekends has artlessly survived very close calls against both Purdue and Illinois. If the Buckeyes can beat Michigan Saturday -- and history is not on their side in this one -- they, too, will finish the regular season unbeaten and go to the desert.

There is beauty in all of this. Simply by being the last two teams standing in December, Miami and Ohio State will meet in January. The purest essence of team sport is winning. Play the game, look at the scoreboard. No arguments. Conversely, college football has been bogged down by arguments for as long as it has been played, Who's No. 1? being chief among them. Sometimes this is fun, sometimes it's just tiresome.

Too often the race has been driven by the silly application of style points to victories. In past years Ohio State might have been unduly punished for squeaking past Purdue and Illinois; Miami might have suffered for nearly losing at home to Pitt. But not this year. They are the only unbeatens, and while they might trade the top two positions back and forth, they will stay 1 and 2.

Part of this is manufactured: BCS computers no long evaluate margin of victory (although pollsters surely do). Part of it is serendipitous: There are only two unbeatens and no one-loss team that the public feels is clearly better than the top two (at least not passionately so). The upshot is that it's been good enough to just win games -- and it should be, because college football is more balanced than ever. Going undefeated in the regular season is a huge accomplishment.

I can't overstate how refreshing this is. Sports has become increasingly tied to factors unrelated to winning: money ... celebrations for the cameras ... free agency. We live in an instant-gratification culture, and that means instant evaluation, too. Every game -- every play! -- is analyzed and dissected. It's all overkill. Winning alone sometimes should be enough.

For that reason I'm hoping Ohio State wins in the 'Shoe on Saturday. I'm hoping Miami handles Syracuse and Virginia Tech on the road. Because if these things don't happen, it's all about style points and nothing else.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

Related information

Stories

Tim Layden's Insider Archive

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video