Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Murphy: It's the games - not the polls - that should matter the most

By Brian Murphy

HONOLULU

It is the games that are supposed to matter. They are the reason, after all, that players play and coaches coach and fans don their favorite sweatshirt and scream and yell and cheer and cover their faces in critical situations, too nervous to look and too anxious to look away.

Polls are not supposed to matter this much. Computers, for all their worth, are not supposed to choose national champions and bowl lottery winners. Anxiety should be felt on Saturday afternoon on fourth-and-goal with the game hanging in the balance - not when the BCS releases its standings.

We want to see Boise State and TCU battle it out on the field, like last season's gritty Poinsettia Bowl rather than through message boards and on secret ballots delivered in the name of big-time coaches but cobbled together by staffers with even less time and far less expertise to decide if this team is better than that team.

It is a paradox. College football has never been more popular. And, yet, it has never felt like less of a sport. It feels like politics.

There remains too much talk of a Justice Department investigation, antitrust probes and congressional action, of monopolistic practices and inequitable revenue distribution and not enough about, you know, football.

Give me a conversation about Ohio State quarterback Terrell Pryor's struggles at mastering the position over a debate on the merits of Boise State's nonconference schedule versus Cincinnati's any day.

Let's talk about wide receiver Austin Pettis' emergence and defensive tackle Billy Winn's development instead of how many votes the Broncos lost in this week's Harris poll.

When pundits discussed the Broncos' one-game season, I didn't know we'd take it quite so literally. We're treating the months between LeGarrette Blount's punch and the BCS selection show as we would a commercial during our favorite television show - we're fast-forwarding through it.

The games have become a mere distraction in between the release of polls. The incessant chatter is good for the sport, we're told. See, everyone talks college football from August until December. College football's regular season means so much more than professional regular seasons or that of college basketball, we're told. Every Saturday can change the season, ESPN proclaims.

Really all any Saturday can change is the polls.

We've got it all backwards. That includes all of us - fans, announcers and media members.

It is supposed to be about the game. It is anything but. Before the fourth quarter is over, the discussion has moved on, to how the victory will play with pollsters, to how the computers will measure the win, to why the blowout wasn't bigger and whether or not the coach has the needed killer instinct.

It will only get worse. The system that is supposed to preserve the regular season is instead destroying it. Big-time programs have figured this BCS thing out. Why risk a chance to play for the national championship with a tough non-conference game? So fans get lackluster match-ups on Saturdays to protect poll position on Sundays.

Criticize Boise State's nonconference schedule all you want, but athletic director Gene Bleymaier knows that being undefeated is the only way the Broncos can even sniff the BCS.

College basketball's tournament encourages the exact opposite scheduling philosophy. Teams ramp up their nonconference schedule, seeking not only to enhance their resume but to prepare themselves for the cauldron of March.

College football needs to be reminded that it's the games that matter.

I've never seen anyone look at a poll with their hands covering their face, peering through their fingers because they're too nervous to look and too anxious to look away.

Brian Murphy: 377-6444