Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series

by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, Jeff Passan

A team of award-winning sports reporters takes down the Great Satan of college the Bowl Championship Series.

Every college sport picks its champion by a postseason tournament, except for Division I-A football. Instead of a tournament, fans are subjected to the Bowl Championship Series, an arcane mix of polling and mathematical rankings that results in just two teams playing for the championship. It is, without a doubt, the most hated institution in all of sports. A recent Sports Illustrated poll found that more than 90 percent of sports fans oppose the BCS, yet this system has remained in place for more than a decade. Built upon top-notch investigative reporting, Death to the BCS at last reveals the truth about this monstrous entity and offers a simple solution for fixing it.

Death to the BCS includes findings from interviews with power players, as well as research into federal tax records, Congressional testimony, and private contracts,

?The truth behind the "Cartel"-the anonymous suits who run the BCS and who profit handsomely by protecting it

?The flawed math and corruption that determine which teams participate in the national championship

?How the system hurts competition by perpetuating "cupcake" schedules

?How "mid-major" teams are systematically denied a chance to play for the championship

?How a comprehensive sixteen-team playoff plan can solve the problem while enhancing profitability

The first book to lay out the unseemly inner workings of the BCS in full detail, Death to the BCS is a rousing manifesto for bringing fairness back to one of our most beloved sports.

Genres: Sports, Football, Nonfiction, College

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 2010

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the overall sentiment (and am in support of some sort of playoff in college football), but felt the writing suffered from being overly one-sided and sensationalized. The book also presumed what it set out to prove. For example, the book refers to the main six football conferences that control the BCS as a sinister-sounding "cartel", which is reminiscent of the phrase "axis of evil." That might be true, but "cartel" is a term of art in antitrust law, and that aspect has yet to be settled by a government agency or court of law. Starting off an argument with that negative characterization makes it difficult to accept the ensuing arguments as unbiased.

Turning next to the main argument of the book - that a playoff system would be a vast improvement (in terms of money, increasing interest in the regular and post-season, and crowning an undisputed champion) to replace the current BCS system. The underlying argument depends in part on the amount of money that a playoff would generate being much greater than the current system, and quoting unnamed television executives as the main evidence is not very persuasive.

Still, the book does a good job of laying out how its proposed system would accomplish the goal of crowning an undisputed champion, as well as generating increased competition among teams and interest among fans (and why that would generate a lot more money than the currently broken bowl-based system). And, it makes the case that with a 16-team playoff, the biggest issues of selection would be with the lowest-seeded at-large teams on the periphery, but not the undefeated or nearly undefeated teams deserving of a shot at the championship.

In the end, the book lays out (albeit with a clear bias) the path to a playoff system, and is a good addition to the national debate on that issue. Based on the current unsustainable state of college athletic budgets across the country, it's clear that an alternative to the current system needs to happen soon. This book is worth checking out as a potential solution.

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

the bowl championship series is an utter debacle. while a majority of college football fans, even the most lackadaisical, must know this well, the extent of its inadequacy and iniquity may come as a surprise to even the most ardent gridiron enthusiast. death to the bcs: the definitive case against the bowl championship series offers a number of well-researched and well-reasoned arguments for abandoning the farcical, nonsensical system of crowning a national champion that is the bcs.

while nearly every other american collegiate sport features a playoff to determine the year's champion, division 1-a football has been saddled with the burden of the bowl championship series since 1998 (and the equally disastrous bowl alliance and bowl coalition before that). death to the bcs exposes the greed, hypocrisy, and absurdity that has characterized the bcs since its inception, exhibiting a system as corrupt as it is convoluted. the book's three authors make an articulate and logical case for abandoning the bcs in favor of a 16-team playoff. rather than algorithms, graft, and greed, they propose a postseason based on equity and coherence.

wetzel, peter, and passan debunk the many specious arguments oft-repeated by bcs officials and apologists in favor of maintaining the status quo. with exorbitant sums of money at stake each bowl season, the temptation to impropriety is one too often indulged. as fans, players, and coaches alike await the arrival of a much-coveted playoff system, we all must endure the catastrophic failure that is the bcs a little longer. this infuriating book, death to the bcs, may well be the closest thing there is to a must-read for the college football fan.

without ncaa oversight and no impartial official looking out for the universities' welfare, the bcs honchos act like the worst of our politicians- more concerned with spending riders, petty pork projects, and special-interest groups than what's best for the nation. among the cartel there is a lack of comity and commonality, a stark contrast to its sport, which every saturday beams with millions of people at historic on-campus stadiums sharing passion and memories and beer and the dream of a playoff.
~
too many times in our lives, the american ideal doesn't occur. there are no level playing fields in business, little fairness in government. we're desperate for it in sports because it's still possible, this place where everyone is allowed the opportunity to win fair and square. the cartel neuters what should be a crazed november, an even more important round of conference title games, and a brilliant december- and january-worth of meaningful postseason football. any sport without a playoff to determine its champion is hardly a sport at all.

[Nate Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the first couple chapters, you could name this book 'Death to the Logical Fallacies'. Almost to the point that you would have to pull a walk-out-of-the-movie move on your reading which is one of the highest insults, basically stating, "Yeah, I'm wasting my time and money by walking away from this...but I am, 'cause it stinks!". But bear with it a little bit, it gets into pretty fascinating stuff.

Sports fans have opinions about everything, but many will just blindly argue some hot sports opinion, or naively ride the popularity-wave (see Red Sox, Yankee and Miami Heat fans). People are entitled to their opinions, sure, but don't expect much substance from these people. That's what the first couple chapters caters too. Basically you get, "The BCS sucks. Why? Because it sucks." Don't expect Wetzel to employ the classic rhetorical method in his writing.

Things do pick up though, when they break down the economics of the bowl games, showing how they are not as capitalistic as one would have first thought (like myself). The winners usually are the BCS, athletic directors, coaches and bowl commissioners (thanks to 501(c)(3) tax status) when it comes to the bottom line, while under the current system, most schools lose money to go to bowl games. While it's not addressed in the book, that's the kind of society we live in today, anyway. We have to buy stuff, take vacations etc., when we don't have the money. Same with the schools- gotta be in a bowl game, even if it's the Toilet Bowl or whocares.com Bowl.

Wetzel also delves into the problems of the BCS ranking systems, illustrating the biases of the voters, and the problems with the computer rankings which have been continually tweaked due errors with the results not coinciding with the voters. Instead of the BCS, he proposes a 16-team playoff- 11 conferences champions and 5 at-large bids. He told the stories of the SEC's own Mike Slive and Vince Dooley proposing playoff-related systems instead, to show more equality to all schools, and actually bring more money to the schools themselves, rather than the tax free "private enterprises". When representatives from the conference that has benefited most from the system decry it, you have to listen.

There are more arguments, some most have seen by just reading the paper, others not. Quick, easy read. Written for the opinion spewers, as well as the methodical thinkers.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that I hated the BCS and had a lot of reasons to back it up; then I read this book and discovered I needed to hate the BCS waaayyyy more than I already did.

The way this book is written can be a little unpolished and is repetitive at times, but that doesn't really matter in light of the fact that it does exactly what it sets out to do. It presents an argument (the BCS is a terrible way to run college football; a playoff would be better in every conceivable aspect). Then it devotes each chapter to a different pillar of the argument and backs up each point with clear evidence. The authors don't just say "a playoff would make more money." They interviewed television executives and scholars of sports broadcasting/marketing so they could come up with an educated estimate of how much more money a playoff would make. (They also, in the book's strongest sections, illustrate how much money is wasted by the BCS/bowl system. It's staggering.)

The only major question the authors leave unanswered is how the BCS can be killed. They unfortunately offer only a very vague "maybe politicians can do it, or maybe fans will get angry enough that it will go away or something?" However, the rest of their arguments are great enough that this is still a five-star book. I kind of want to buy one to send to Bill Byrne.

[Matt Skains · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is a pretty sickening book to read. The level of corruption, back-room deals and abuse of college football is astounding. Despite being a pretty quick read, it can be repetitive at times - even if the (achieved) effect is to drive home the central theme. Wetzel and company do an excellent job of researching many of the numbers behind the system and present it in an easy to understand fashion (even for those of us not naturally inclined toward financial discussions). Reading about how the bowl system in general fleeces the schools is pretty astounding. We all know it's a dirty system, but I really don't think many people fully understand the depths of the bowl game system's depravity.

The one thing I wish the book had was a call to action at the end. Upon reaching the finish, I was left with boiling blood and a desire to interrogate school officials about their participation in this mess. Readers are not given any suggestions on what they might do to effect change in the set-up. As Wetzel points out, this is a pretty central strength of the BCS Cartel - not having a responsible party to nail down - and it is quite frustrating at the end of the book to not have a way to take action. Hopefully this information finds it's way into the public's focus and an effective vehicle of change is presented.

[Blaise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writers do an absolutely brilliant job of researching and exposing every flaw and injustice in our current college football postseason, exposing the greed, corruption, and lies that have perpetually plagued the sport. Any college football fan should fully educate themselves by reading this book. By logically showing that the current bowl system is not a financially sustainable enterprise for college athletics, the writers offer great hope that the BCS will soon implode. The writers' solution to how a playoff should be conducted is the perfect plan that completely maintains (and actually improves) the current regular season. All who care passionately about college football should do all they can to support this plan. I think it would be the best sports postseason in the world if implemented, a far cry from the current system, which is the worst in my opinion.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book, but obviously super outdated in 2024. The BCS was a crime, though.

[Joe Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this as an FSU fan in 2024 is infuriating. The cartel is still doing their best to ruin college football. Oh and of course most bowls are evil and have been for the last 30 years.

[Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I get into the negatives, I have to give the authors of the book a ton of credit for the amount of research they put into this project. They invested a lot of time and effort into crafting their proposal for a 16-team college football playoff and conducted hundreds of interviews in condemning the BCS. It was well thought out and well crafted. The problem: their assertions are not entirely true.

As the title suggests, much of this book was spent demonizing the BCS. That’s fair. The authors never once mentioned, though, that the BCS was better than all the systems that came before it. The open bowl system, the Bowl Coalition, and the Bowl Alliance all failed to do what the Bowl Championship Series has been able to do. In fact, the two seasons immediately prior to the first under the BCS featured bowl seasons during which undefeated teams ranked #1 and #2 in the nation played in separate bowl games. Throughout the entirety of college football history, there were only 11 bowl games that paired the top two teams in the country. The authors give the BCS no credit for this. Even a takedown of a poor system should acknowledge that system’s successes. Failing to do so is dishonest.

The authors of Death to the BCS continually hammer home the assertion that the BCS has been bad for college football. In reality, none of the ills they blame on the system are BCS-specific. The authors’ problems with the system are actually problems with the bowl-only system that has existed since the inception of the Rose Bowl. The BCS makes an easy and sexy target, but it is not the true culprit of the crimes charged by the authors.

This book is also a long exhibition of naivety. University presidents are chided for being gullible and naïve enough to let conference commissioners handle the football business. The presidents are not dumb; they know what they are doing. Colleges are about making money and the presidents’ jobs are, to a great extent, to maximize their schools’ earnings. And, contrary to what the authors of this book would have you believe, earning a higher dollar amount does not always mean making more money. It is more advantageous for the schools in the power conferences to earn a lower dollar amount while maintaining a stranglehold on a larger piece of the pie than it is to gross higher revenues from a larger share. Holding a higher percentage of the pot means more power. That’s a simple concept; Death to the BCS ignores it.

One great untruth perpetrated in the book is that the BCS is responsible for teams jumping conferences. The fact is that the BCS was largely necessitated by conference realignment. The formation of Big East football is probably the biggest factor that led to the BCS’ creation. As recently as the late 1980s, all of the major programs in the northeast were independents. Penn State joined the Big Ten, but Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and one southern school, Miami, gave up their independence to form Big East football. Before the Big East, most of the major bowls had only one (at most) conference tie-in and were able to field attractive matchups because of the independents. The Big East reduced the number of independents to Notre Dame, BYU, and the service academies. As a result, conference tie-ins became a requirement for bowl survival and marquis matchups in the Sugar, Orange, and Fiesta Bowls became harder to create.

Another is the myth that the BCS is the official champion. It is not. The NCAA does not recognize a champion in Division I-A (FBS). This idea was brought forth in a chapter about the USC-LSU split national championship of 2003. Apparently, LSU fans feel that their official championship is delegitimized by USC fans’ claim of being the best team in the country that season. It’s an asinine argument that had no place in the book. Split national championships will always be a possibility when there is no playoff. They were legit before the BCS; they are legit under the BCS. Nothing makes the BCS national championship more important or more official than the AP (or any other voting organization) championship. LSU and USC are both real champions of 2003. LSU fans have no gripe. The NCAA is the official body of collegiate athletics, and they don’t recognize any champion of that level. Revel in your championship and shut up.

The biggest lie in the book, though, is the idea that ESPN levels the college football playing field and makes going to a power program a not so big deal. ESPN money is what drives the conference realignment. The pooled conference TV and bowl money (ESPN runs many bowls) is the force behind what the authors are trying to tear down.

I’m no fan of the BCS, but I get annoyed when I see arguments supported by inadequate evidence.

My biggest gripe with the book is that no consideration is given to the players who play the games. The authors desire a 16-team playoff. That means the national championship would feature teams playing in 3 postseason games. Today, each team only plays one. I find adding games to the college football season a ridiculous idea. Football is a brutal, rough game. Don’t tell me about FCS and Division II and III; those games aren’t nearly as physical and fast as the FBS game. Early in the 2011 season, I remarked that I would never draft South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore. He gets too many carries for my liking. He was injured a few weeks later, and the time missed, ironically, may help to lengthen his NFL career, extending the time during which he’ll actually get paid for getting his body broken. Asking these unpaid kids to play more games at this level is absurd. We don’t need to know who the best team is that badly (and, to be honest, the more teams that play for a championship means the less likely it is that the best team will win the championship).

No, I didn’t really feel this book at all, and I think the penultimate paragraph really says it all: “When presidents see what’s really going on, and when the media learns the particulars of the system, and when fans clear the smoke screens, and when everyone collectively ignores the misdirection and forces the Cartel to address the reality of its racket, and when the ideals espoused by Joe Paterno supplant those of Jim Delaney—that’s when the BCS falls like a house of cards.”

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book to read now that we have a playoff and are soon to expand it. It was mostly preaching to the choir for me since I hated the BCS. I was surprised at how much I learned about how the old system worked, which was significantly more corrupt than I thought. I always assumed it was the top schools that didn't want a playoff to happen when it was really more like the athletic directors and conference commissioners who fought it.

I can't say that I found all of Wetzel's arguments to be compelling though. He gave Florida Atlantic as one example to dispel the argument that it is worthwhile for a team to go to a bowl game even if they lose money. He details how the following year, there were no recruits from the area that the bowl was in and that the team was worse the next year. Obviously, going to a bowl helping your program is a lie...at least according to Wetzel. I thought this reasoning to be incredibly weak.
Another example of Wetzel's arguments is how LSU had two losses and the school knew it wouldn't get into the championship with the computer rankings. So Wetzel goes through this long story of the propaganda blitz LSU went on to win over the human polls with the idea that if they can convince enough people to rank them highly, this would sort of hack the BCS system and override the lower computer rankings. LSU succeeds and the humans vote them as second place. The propaganda succeeded Wetzel claims. Then a line or two later there is a throw-away comment about how the computers also ranked them second, which is contrary to what the entire argument he just made.

I loved Wetzel's line where he describes coaches as being, "...overloaded with game preparation, recruiting, and bailing players out of the local jail, head coaches lack the time to watch teams around the country."

It may have been necessary, but the book kind of bogs down in financial arguments that felt like they drug on a long time for a book that is only 190 pages.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The case is convincing, the reading is a slog

I’ll caveat with this: I was formerly a bit hesitant about implementing a full playoff system and hesitant about the recent 12 team expansion. However, count me as fully convinced that expanding the playoff is an unmitigated good.

Sometimes, the point within the chapter is lost to provide an avalanche of details and with an attempt at summarizing each section. What this means in reality is that it can be a bit of slog of to get through.

[Scott Manze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this nearly 15 years after its release with the impending CFB Playoff expansion on the horizon lends a different perspective. Truly, it hammers home how college football is like the Catholic Church of American sports; incredibly stubborn and stuck in old ways because of “tradition”. Reform, when it eventually occurs, is always years after folks have been calling for it and usually arrives in baby steps. Yet, it remains a behemoth. And I still love college football despite it all.

[Dachokie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Playoffs ... here we come?, February 14, 2011

If you are a fan of college football, more than likely you have an opinion regarding the basis the Division I teams determine its national champion ... either you like the poll and bowl system that is currently in place or you desire a playoff of some sort. Personally, I've always enjoyed the current system (as wacky and unreliable as it is) partly because of tradition, but mostly because I thought the current system was favorable for my alma mater. Then, while listening to a sports talk show while riding to work, I heard an interview with one the authors of "Death to the BCS" and thought it more than fair to challenge the current system. The author hammered out a litany of common-sense-oriented arguments that seemed so difficult to refute I found myself questioning my own support for the BCS system ... needless to say, I ordered the book as soon as I got to work.

"Death to the BCS" does more than just rail against the current bowl system and suggest a playoff as being the only solution ... that would be too easy. The authors effectively chose to get the reader angry and bitter at the current bowl system before making their alternative pitch, and follow that pitch with further assaults on the bowls and those who reap the huge financial windfall they annually provide. In my opinion, nothing works better at getting someone to change his point-of-view on an issue than to convince him into believing his current position on the issue is stupid. That is the formula for this book: expose the reader to the dirty secrets of the BCS in order to generate enough outrage that the reader will except nothing less than a complete overhaul of the current system ... it is at this point, the authors slide you their playoff alternative. Even better, they offer a playoff alternative that doesn't eliminate the purpose of the existing bowl games ... an idea that may resonate with those diehard traditionalists enamored with the current system.

What makes "Death to the BCS"'s argument succeed, in my opinion, is the information they provide on the inner-workings of the BCS. The authors have done their research. I found the results of their research to be somewhat shocking ... not that greed was the core of the problem, but more so the shallowness of that greed. Brought before the US Senate on hearing to defend the fairness of the system and the financial windfall that seems to only benefit the bowl executives, the BSC had the gall to claim itself a charitable organization that contributes "up to" 25% of its profits to various charities (remember that the phrase "up to" can include 0%). How shallow is the greed? The authors point out the chump change the Sugar Bowl has contributed to city of New Orleans in the years since Hurricane Katrina ... the cumulative contribution looked like it came from a kid's lemonade stand, not the annual multi-million dollar cash cow the Sugar Bowl truly is. Then, there is the financial bloodbath almost all universities suffer every year by sending teams to bowls ... unfortunately, my alma mater, Virginia Tech, was the example used to illustrate the extent of the gouging. The so-called payouts that often range in the millions generally don't make a dent in the universities' bowl expenses. Yes, the authors do point out the benefits bowls provide schools in terms of exposure, but paint a picture of bowl execs laughing while thumbing through their stacks of cash as two teams bask in the limelight provided by the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. The subjective human polls, the ridiculous computer polls, the teams that get shafted because their fan base won't likely generate enough money for the cash hungry bowl execs and the dream matchups that never materialize ... "Death to the BCS" pounds away at the bowl system repeatedly with a common sense approach supported by facts. The playoff alternative provided is both intriguing and logical ... something the bowl games are truly lacking. The authors present their playoff system in a manner to appeal to all sides of the argument as they agree, flaws and all, bowl games aren't all that bad ... it's the plaid-suit, sleazy bowl execs and the pencil-necked big conference athletic chairmen (collectively and "affectionately" referred to as the "Cartel") that ruin everything.

Admittedly, about halfway through the book, I succumbed to their argument. Although I firmly wrote off any future bowl trips following the 1999 Sugar Bowl (which cost more than my wife's two-week trip to Greece and Turkey), I still liked the controversy the bowl system provided and enjoyed seeing the Hokies . After reading "Death to the BCS", I felt as if I'd received an education on the BCS system and I didn't like what I had learned ... it angered me a little as I looked back at what that 1999 Sugar Bowl cost me. A tedious read at times due to the generally dull nature of financial reporting that comprises a good chunk of the reading material; overall, the book was quite enlightening. While "Death to the BCS" does aim to challenge the BCS system by offering an alternative, I felt the biggest impact was providing enough of a common-sense argument to effectively challenge the average college football fan's belief in the current BCS system.

[Caden Harmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u...

[Alex Czarnik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read that has only aged with time as the landscape of college football has evolved. To understand how we got what we have now, this book helps understand where we were back in 2010.

[Jacob VanAmberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to go back to get a reminder of how college football was viewed before the playoff era.

[Dave Cottenie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course “Death to the BCS” is dated as the BCS no longer rules college football, however a historical look at the controversial system is well worth it. A peek behind the curtain to see the corruption and deceit in the production of the bowl games is shocking. Considering how the “Group of Five” conferences remain shut out of playoff opportunities, even with a 12 team playoff upcoming, makes one question if we are really that far off of the old BCS system described here. Even more shocking is how schools can willingly take a financial loss attending bowl games. Fascinating and well worth the read.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say that this is an impassioned call for a playoff system is a bit of an understatement. Tackling, so to speak, the current BCS structure and often absurd bowl setup, Wetzel, Peter, and Passim present a convincing case for a full playoff system such as one finds in every single other NCAA sport - including all of the other football divisions. Contrary to the sentiment, proffered by the apparently two or so people still completely wedded to the current bowl-focused system as well as the plus-one playoff advocates, that such a structure would preclude the “every game counts” aspect of the more competitive teams, the authors argue that the seeding process would make each game even more important. I don’t know about that necessarily but, all in all, this is a well-reasoned-though-vitriolic attack on the status quo.

Upending the “dead bowl” myths about smaller bowls necessarily disappearing under a playoff system the authors counter that this is likely to be minimal. Yes any given bowl named after an appliance or vitamin will probably acquire slightly less interesting matchups, but were this year’s R & L Carriers New Orleans and technology-plagued GoDaddy.com Bowls really that damn critical? Plus almost all the bowls are subsidized by their few top-tier counterparts while, simultaneously, draining each participating school’s coffers with absurd requirements for ticket guarantees and players, coaches, cheerleaders, band members, mascot, etc having to show (and pay hotel room fees) numerous days before the event. Even the big-time participants get soaked to varying degrees. Florida turned their supposed $17.something million BCS Championship payout into an actual profit of $47,000 when all was said and done. That was perhaps 1/10th what all thirty-something Bowl Commissioners took home (each!) that year for a month’s worth of low-requirement efforts. It’s a shitty system really - one that even angers congressional leaders who really shouldn’t be tossing stones so much (see my forthcoming Throw Them All Out review…).

There’s much, much more about this to engage the football fan’s fed-up, cynical side. I now see that there’s a 2011 “Totally Revised and Updated” version. I’d be interested to see how updated it is. Will they, for instance, still utilize Joe Paterno as the poster-boy of Division One football glory, history, ethics, and so on to open and conclude the book? Of course, I’m not actually interested enough to hunt down the updated version despite the switch to more emphatic, blood-red cover text…

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death to the BCS is an eye-opening explanation of exactly why the almost universally-reviled BCS has remained in place, namely, the greed of a handful of bowl executives and conference presidents who have conspired to keep it. It breaks down how ostensibly non-profit bowls profit handsomely at the expense of the colleges that participate in them and fans of the sport, while also debunking straw man arguments made by what the book calls "The Cartel" to justify the BCS.

While most arguments about the BCS focus on limited issues, such as emphasizing the regular season vs. the postseason, the history of the bowls vs. the need for a clear champion, and logistics such as the feasibility of a multi-round playoff and alleged academic concerns, this book tears down the BCS from every angle, with a different chapter devoted to every reason.

Although it's an excellent, in-depth treatment of the subject, the bias of the authors, as evidenced by the title and use of words like "Cartel," is so manifest that it does cause me to question whether the book's own examples and arguments are fully-supported. For instance, while there are multiple examples given of schools that lost lots of money by going to bowls (usually because schools must buy a block of bowl tickets and fail to sell them), it's unclear whether these examples are cherry-picked or are typical. What do the numbers look like for schools that sell all their tickets?

Also, while the purpose of the book is to attack the BCS, the authors take the position that the alternative should be a 16-team playoff, explain how it should work, discuss the virtues of such a playoff throughout the book, and project and predict how great it would be. While I agree with the BCS attacks, I think the authors would have done well to consider some other possible playoff models in addition to the one they select as the best, because while there is much agreement that the BCS is bad, there is less agreement as to what would be good, and the book ends up reading more like a pro-16 team playoff book than an anti-BCS book.

Still, it would be hard to read this book and still be a proponent of the BCS after reading it, which was the point.

[Peter Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. It details the corrupt ties the BCS shares with the politics of the NCAA.

[Mankey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book infuriated me, but that's what it's meant to do, so it succeeds on a number of levels. I think most fans of college football realize that the system is broken. Undefeated teams don't get a shot at the (mythical) National Championship, teams are left out of BCS Bowl games simply due to money etc. We all know that stuff, but it's the dirtier side of college football that gets exposed in this book that's really maddening.

Reading about teams losing money to go to BCS Bowl Games baffles the mind, especially when realizing there's 750 million dollars out there in the event of a playoff. Much like the American Voter, Universities across the country are ignoring their own best financial interests to support a "Good Old Boy" network that rewards bowl games and their executives, conference commissioners, and athletic directors. By ignoring a playoff college football is shooting its self in the foot, just so a privileged few can get goodie bags at the end of the day.

My only real quibble with the book is length. It's barely 125 pages, and in some ways reads more like an extended magazine article than a book. Instead of an expanded (and far less expensive) paper-back edition in 2011, the publishers went with another hard cover edition in a cash grab. The brevity of the book didn't appeal to my sense of economic justice, but it was good for more blood pressure, reading about any more of the BCS's bull-crap would have required medication.

[Danny Liang · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite pieces of sports literature I've read. I really loved the book not because of its writing style or author, because I generally don't notice that kind of stuff, but because of it's content. I've always wanted a playoff in college football to give undefeated non-power conference teams like Boise State and Texas Christian shots at a title. Death to the BCS was the only book I found on the topic, and provided a definitive case against the current postseason system. It listed and went in-depth on several other reasons against the BCS, such as the rampant corruption of the organizations running the bowl, the complete devaluation of the regular season, and the fatally flawed BCS ranking system. The book seamlessly weaved in events in the college football world, and damning (and sometimes funny) stats and facts (bowls would waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on such things as a "subcommittee on ladies entertainment") to support its points. I agreed wholeheartedly on every point it made, and enjoyed all of the book's suggestions for a replacement for the system, such as a 16-team playoff, or simply a 4-team playoff. The book was made all the sweeter when I reread it this year, as college football decided to implement one of the solutions in the book, the 4-team playoff. I enjoy reading sports literature in general, but the content of this one pushed it over the top.

[Sterling Southerland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Death To The BCS by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, and Jeff Passan.
I chose this book because I am very interested in football.
This book is about the corrupt system of the BCS. In the BCS there are 6 commissioners that control the whole system: Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10, and Southeastern. These commissioners run a “cartel” that ignores and disregards all obligations toward the way they run the system. They brutally and unfairly run the whole system by feeding off of fans and money. Now that they have all this power, they are nearly impossible to takeover and it’s been like this for a long time. This book is about the journey of ending the evil reign of the NCAA “cartel”.

I would give this book a 3 out of 5. This book was very interesting, however, I noticed a lot of repetition. This book was about bringing the BCS to an end, however it mostly gave repetitive information about the “cartel”. This seemed like an interesting subject, however, I had a feeling there wouldn’t have been enough information to write this big of a book without repetition.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone to read this book unless they are extremely interested in college football. However, it can still be interesting to someone who likes to read about corrupt systems in major organized sports. Due to the lack of interesting information, this book was extremely boring and had a poor climax.

[N-rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Death to the BCS has good ideas... that could fit in a long form article. The book was stretched out with the kind of ignorant rhetoric that peppers politics - name calling about "fat cats" and whining about "welfare" for the conferences. I felt like I was reading a tea party screed.

When I hear that kind of talk, I start to think that there's probably information/ nuance I am not getting... which is sad, because the BCS is a ridiculous system and a playoff seems to make sense. There's only one pro-college-playoff assertion in the book that I think is spurious - that fans will flock to Nebraska or Wisconsin or Michigan in early January. That kind of weather is rough. Not enough to make the game unprofitable, but those games might not sell out.

And the stretch marks! The book was repetitive, a rhetorical drumming with a fundamental misunderstanding of American business - American businesses have never held fairness as their ideal, they've tried to dominate a market by any means legally allowed. Oligopolies and monopolies are the goal. Calling the BCS "unfair" and "unAmerican" because of their monopoly power belies an infantile understanding of the country we live in, an infantile understanding parroted by pro-business conservatives to the voters who sop up those platitudes, not realizing they are voting for less choice.

Good idea, tough writing to read.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few things in this life that I am truly passionate about. Good sushi, Hall & Oates, and the stupidity of the BCS are three that come to mind right away.

College football is awesome. Until it reaches the "post-season" and we're left with some crappy bowl games that don't even mean anything. How stoked are you when your team wins the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl? Probably as stoked as I was to just attempt to type out the name.

College football needs a playoff like Oprah needs to go away. Badly. This book makes great point after great point about why the BCS came into fruition and just how ridiculous it is. Several fantastical bowl games assembled by computers and bowl directors that are trying to keep hold of their millions is not nearly as amazing as this proposed 16-team playoff would be. The fact that it would make universities at least three times as much money and be 76 times as popular makes it even more ridiculous when they cling to and continually defend the BCS. To quote Steve Spurrier, "every other sport in the country has a playoff. Why are they wrong and we're not?" Amen, Steve.

Read this book and then email Mark Cuban to make it happen. The end.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have spent more than 5 minutes considering college football, the premise that the BCS must go seems painfully obvious. Unfortunately, there is a bizarre world, populated by a disturbingly few exceedingly well compensated power brokers who have their well padded wallets tied firmly to it.

Death to the BCS is written somewhat like a series of columns. There is all the exaggerated terminology, seemingly disjointed references and twists of perspective that you expect from a columnist like Wetzel. But as the book progresses, it isn't so much a series of columns, it's a singular disemboweling of the BCS, a point by point dismemberment of each and every argument presented in favor of maintaining the system and a through discrediting of pretty much every principal supporter of it.

After 300 some odd pages of destruction, in about 3 paragraphs Wetzel lays out a brilliantly simple and horrendously profitable playoff system that supporters of the BCS would have us believe is inconcievable and the growing masses who wish for the violent and abrupt end to this ugly era can only see as a dream come true.

[tgrantl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to make it through this book, the entire time wondering what all the hype was about. I dislike the BCS as much as any other college football fan, so the topic alone merits one or two stars. But this book should be called "Death to Logical Fallacies." I hate books that hide lazy writing behind popular and/or controversial topics, just so they can avoid criticism.

What a terribly written piece of non-persuasive garbage. Wetzel spends all his time creating one strawman after another in a vain attempt to distract his audience from the fact he has no cogent insight to offer. Worse yet, he leaves points hanging, then contradicts them later without satisfying the reader.

Again - I am against the BCS; but I am critical that Wetzel leverages the anti-BCS hatred of his target audience to disguise the fact that his he's quite terribly incompetent. Preaching to the choir has its advantages, I guess.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. The title suggests a somewhat one-sided view of the issue, but actually provides the other viewpoint, albeit while ripping it apart. That wasn't a negative from my perspective...I am a Boise State football fan, and definitely NOT a fan of the BCS system. The book made me think about some of the decisions made in recent years by Boise State University president, Dr. Bob Kustra, as well as those of former athletic director Gene Bleymeier and his staff. Many of those decisions make even more sense to me after reading this book. It looks like a college football playoff system is coming...let's hope so.
My favorite quote from the book is about the misguided attempt of the BCS to launch a Twitter campaign: As Advertising Age lectured the BCS: "If you know your product is universally loathed, Twitter is not the place for you."

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love this book as much as I thought I might.

Pros - its a compelling case against the BCS. I've always been one of those that thought a playoff would hurt the regular season - but this book debunks that pretty well and also sheds light on a lot of other concepts us lay fans are never exposed to.

Cons - I'm left wanting more detail about the revenue side for the playoff. Obviously its tv money, but there's not much detail about that side of it beyond estimates of x dollars generated. A history of tv buys for college football along with march madness buy info may have added some needed color to that part.

[Ben Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This impassioned piece of propaganda fails to realize the relationship between cause and effect. While the book adequately identified numerous problems with the college football system, it spectacularly failed to convince me that those problems were BCS-related as opposed to NCAA-related. The playoff system that the authors suggest as an alternative does not, in itself, solve any of the problems other than the fan-based competitive balance argument that you hear ad nauseum from journalists and bloggers alike. The book was entertaining, and the authors do not shy away from their flagrant bias to be sure, but it did not accomplish what I felt it was meant to accomplish.