12-6-2008 - Every year people complain about how messed up the current BCS system is. How deserving teams are shut out of the BCS Bowls by the selection process. This year is not different except that we have a President Elect who has gone on record that he wants a playoff system.
Now I have heard all the variations of different broadcasters or sports people think would be a better system. In my opinion they are all missing the boat on this. This morning I heard from a broadcaster on ABC that they should let the best teams in regardless of their conference. Now that sounds good but what he really meant was that the Texas Techs or Oklahoma States or Texas of the world deserve to make the Rose Bowl over a USC because they are better. This is messed up as well. The current voting system is a joke. Voters in the computer polls and other polls don't know enough about each team and go primarily on reputation. It is a classic mess and needs to be fixed. So here is my fix and I personally think it is the most fair system to all concerned and will make lots of money for those money people because that is all they think about.
- A 16 team playoff that will take place over 4 weekends starting on or around Dec. 20th. Teams will include all conference champions from the 11 FBS conferences and 5 at large berths with a selection process to be laid out here. Teams in same conference may not play each other in first round and may require relocation to a different region. Conference Champions will have preference over at-large selections for regional placement.
- The teams that do not make the playoff system will still participate in the lower bowls that are in the current system.
- The NCAA and the BCS will determine a tie breaker formula that all eleven conferences must agree to so that all ties are broken using the same method.
- Their are 11 FBS conferences - ACC, BIG-12, BIG EAST, BIG TEN, CONFERENCE USA, MID-AMERICAN, MOUNTAIN WEST, PAC-10, SEC, SUN BELT, WESTERN ATHLETIC
- These 11 conference champions will be seeded into the playoff bracket by final standings in the BCS Polls.
- Super Conferences may continue to have their current championship games but it would be preferred to have a true round robin format for the regular season.
- To accommodate the extended schedule and round robin conference formats, non-conference games should be limited to a maximum of 2, preferably 1.
- The 5 at large berths into the playoff system will be selected the following manner. 4 spots determined by final BCS standings. 5th spot to be determined by online fan poll conducted by BCS web site in whatever manner they choose.
- Result is
- all conference champions deserve a chance to play for a national championship and they will.
- BCS poll still plays a roll in determining teams involved
- A consistent format for determining ties is achieved
- Quality Teams that fall short of a conference title still have opportunity for playoff.
- Fans get a vote in determining the process
- ROUND ONE
(Dec. 20th, 2008)
- Round One of the playoff system will be played on the same day in 4 locations to determine the elite eight teams. My suggest is to have these games played in 4 geographical regions with two games being played at each location on the same day. This would create a huge atmosphere for fans of 4 teams and would save overhead for broadcasters. For example
- Region 1 to be played in San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium with a 12pm start and a 7pm start.
- Region 2 to be played in Dallas at Cowboys Stadium (same start times)
- Region 3 to be played in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium (same start times)
- Region 4 to be played in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome (same start times)
- ROUND TWO
(Jan. 1st, 2008)
- The eight winners from round one advance to play in the four traditional bowl games (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange) to be held news years day to determine the final four.
- ROUND THREE
(Jan. 10th, 2008)
- The Four winners of round two advance the National Semi-finals to be held the weekend following News Years day games to determine the finalists.
- Location for the semi-finals will be determined prior to each year and held in same city as the championship game.
- ROUND FOUR
(Jan. 17th, 2008)
- BCS National Championship game to be played in a location that is bid on by the city. The winning city will host the BCS semi-final games and the National Championship game. Doing this will allow fans to choose to spend a weeks vacation and just stay in that city all week.
- If this system were to be held this year (2008), the following teams would be involved as of today (Not all games have been played this saturday and BCS polls don't come out till tomorrow. At-large berths are next best BCS poll team that is not a conference champion).
The match ups for this example are determined by regional location of teams involved.
- Game One Western Region (San Diego) - USC (PAC-10 Champion) vs Utah (Mt. West Champion) - Winner goes to Rose Bowl
- Game Two Western Region (San Diego) - Boise State (WAC Champion) vs Texas Tech. (at-large BIG-12) - Winner goes to Fiesta Bowl
- Game One Southern Region (Dallas) - Florida (SEC Champion) vs Troy (Sun Belt Champion) - Winner goes to Fiesta Bowl
- Game Two Southern Region (Dallas) - Oklahoma (BIG-12 Champion) vs Ohio St (at large BIG-10) - Winner goes to Rose Bowl
- Game One Northern Division (Indianapolis) - Buffalo (Mid-America Champion) vs Alabama (at large SEC) - Winner goes to Sugar Bowl
- Game Two Northern Division (Indianapolis) - Penn St. (BIG-10 Champion) vs TCU (at large Mt. West) - Winner goes to Orange Bowl
- Game One Eastern Regional (Atlanta) - Texas (at-large BIG 12) vs Virginia Tech (ACC Champion) - Winner goes to Orange Bowl
- Game Two Eastern Regional (Atlanta) - East Carolina (Conf. USA Champion) vs Cincinnati (Big East Champion) - Winner goes to Sugar Bowl
The beauty of this type of format is you are giving a conference champion a chance to play for a National Title regardless of how good the so called experts think they are. Their is a certain arrogance among the media and fans of the major conferences that they are superior to the other conferences. Well that should have been settled years ago when Utah beat Pittsburgh and Boise State beat Oklahoma. Every time one of these smaller conference schools makes it to the BCS game and loses everyone says "See we are better and they don't belong". Well if that were true then Texas Tech does not belong in the Big-12 because they got pounded by Oklahoma or UCLA does not belong because they got pounded by BYU. The argument just has not case and a conference champion should be allowed the opportunity to compete for a national champion.
Everyone loves an underdog and it is those stories that we remember the most over time. The Boise States of the World beating Oklahoma when no one gave them a chance. Who knows, perhaps a Buffalo can play the game of their lives and beat a Florida. It provides the drama that March Madness and the College World Series does. Oregon State won their second title in a row and were the last team selected for the playoffs. If all we ever do is put just the big schools from the big conferences in the BCS game we will never have a true national champion and I think if you were not good enough to win your conference you had your chance once so their is no reason why you deserve a second chance.
I hope some day this will happen but I am not holding my breath.
BFS