Bowl Coalition - Criticism

Criticism

The Coalition was flawed in several respects. Most significantly, it didn't include the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-10, both of whom were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl. The Coalition's founders tried to get the Tournament of Roses Association to release the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions to play in a title game if one of them was ranked #1 or #2 in the Bowl Poll, but it refused to do so due to concerns about this potentially violating its television contract with ABC.

The possibility was also raised that an undefeated and untied team would not get a chance to play for the national championship, since poll rankings often differ. This actually occurred during the 1993 season. Nebraska and West Virginia both finished the season undefeated and untied. However, West Virginia, ranked #2 in the final regular season Coaches Poll, was ranked #3 in the final Coalition Poll behind #1 Nebraska and #2 Florida State. The margin between West Virginia and Florida State was large enough to drop the Mountaineers to third in the Bowl Poll, forcing them to settle for a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

Also, the Coalition did not include the so-called "mid-major" I-A conferences—the WAC, Big West and Mid-American, as well as the other independents. However, it was argued that most of these schools did not have schedules strong enough to be legitimate title contenders. For example, when BYU won the national championship in 1984—the last time a team from a mid-major conference has won a national championship as of the 2010 season—some college football pundits argued that the Cougars did not play a legitimate schedule and should not be recognized as the national champion. The Cougars were the closest thing at the time to a major football power playing in a mid-major conference. They won 10 straight WAC championships from 1976 to 1985, and regularly defeated foes from the Pac-10, Big Ten and SWC during this time. Despite criticism of their schedule, the Cougars were a near-unanimous pick as national champion at the end of the season. The Coalition made it impossible for this to ever happen again. However, BYU's impact in college football would again put pressure on the upper-tier bowl agreements in the 1996 season.