A team of award-winning sports reporters takes down the Great Satan of college sports: the Bowl Championship Series. Every college sport picks its champion by a postseason tournament, except for one: 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, revealing: ?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.

In 2015, when Ohio State took on the University of Oregon in the first College Football Playoff championship game, millions of sports fans tuned in. But back in 1869, when Rutgers University and Princeton University played the first-ever college football game, no one predicted the national spectacle that a college football championship game would become. Author Matt Doeden takes readers on a journey from the disorganized games of the early years to the most recent playoffs to determine the best college team in the nation. Along the way, discover some of the most incredible moments, games, blunders, and statistics in the history of college football championships.

Bringing together preeminent international researchers, emerging scholars and practitioners, Paul M. Pedersen presents the comprehensive Encyclopedia of Sport Management, offering detailed entries for the critical concepts and topics in the field.

In this compellingly argued and deeply personal book, respected sports historian Michael Oriard--who was himself a former second-team All-American at Notre Dame--explores a wide range of trends that have changed the face of big-time college football and transformed the role of the student-athlete. Oriard considers such issues as the politicizati...

In Bowl Games: College Football's Greatest Tradition, historian Robert M. Ours shows how these games established college football as a national sport. Bowl games were also used as charity events and morale boosters during the Great Depression and both world wars, and were among the first public forums that challenged segregation in the South. In addition, Ours traces the steady march toward using bowls to determine a national championship as well as the increase in payouts. The book includes period photographs, year-by-year bowl game summaries, and a complete list of every major NCAA-sanctioned bowl played up to 2005.

An account of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish's unbeaten 1988 season cites the pivotal contributions of such figures as coach Lou Holtz, star quarterback Tony Rice and NFL-bound Ricky Watters, drawing on original reporting and interviews to include coverage of the infamous "Catholics vs. Convicts" game.

Under the leadership of head coach Bump Elliott, the 1964 Wolverines won Michigan's first Big Ten championship since 1950 and their first Rose Bowl since 1951, and finished fourth in the national college football polls. They defeated four top-ten ranked teams: Navy, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Oregon State, their Rose Bowl opponent. The Wolverines also defeated Minnesota for the first time since 1960, and reclaimed the prized Little Brown Jug. Despite its impressive record, the 1964 team failed to attract the national attention it deserved. At the beginning of the season, few football observers expected Michigan to contend for the Big Ten championship. But by the end of the season it was clear that the Wolverines were one of America's elite teams--perhaps the best in the country. This book chronicles for the first time the exploits of Michigan's 1964 team and gives them long-overdue recognition.

The Longhorns are college football's national champions! Fans can continue the celebration with Longhorns' Perfect Drive: Texas' 2005 National Championship Season, certain to be a cherished keepsake for Longhorns fans everywhere.This dazzling book features dozens of stories, columns, and player profiles from the award-winning team of Austin American-Statesman reporters focusing on the Longhorns' run to victory in Pasadena. Loaded with dozens of eye-popping full-color photos from the American-Statesman of the Longhorns and their many superstar personalities in action, including Heisman Trophy runner-up Vince Young, it is a great way to relive and remember Texas' amazing season, from the big early-season win at Ohio State to the Big 12 Championship to the incredible Rose Bowl berth and victory over USC that ended one of the longest winning streaks in college football history!