A BCS Rant

I know, I know, you've heard it before. The BCS is terrible and we need a playoff. Heck, even our President-Elect Barack Obama said it would be the one thing he would like to see changed in sports. That's right. Not steroids. Not the LPGA English-only rule. Not even banning Jay Mariotti from covering sports.

And why is creating a playoff system so important to the sports world right now? Because it's just the right thing to do. Think about it. The Big 12 South has easily 3 of the best teams in college football this year. But in this dumb system we have now, only one will even get a shot for a national title. And if Oklahoma beats Texas Tech, then who should go? Yeah, you can bring up schedule strength, point differential, most players in the NFL, etc... but in the end, it wouldn't be right to deny any of them a shot.

What if Florida State upsets Florida? And what if Florida beats Alabama? And what if Oregon State wins out and USC doesn't even win the Pac-10? Seriously, how does a sport that may have the largest following in the United States have the most flawed system?

Some say a playoff system would devalue the regular season? But how? Just like in every other sport, a loss hurts. Granted, in MLB, a loss does not hurt as much as one in the NFL but no matter what, it hurts. If people think an 11-0 teams is gonna not play hard in game #12 because they think they've clinched their playoff spot, they're ridiculous. This is college football, not pros. These guys come to play every week.

And I don't see anyone in any other Division of college football complaining about how the playoff system is making the regular season less entertaining. Instead, they get to see the best teams settle it the way it should be settled: on the field, not by the votes of coaches who don't watch the games, media members biased towards their region and inanimate computers that have not one clue what the heck is going on.

So what do I propose? Keep the bowl system. Let as many 6-6 teams feel great about their mediocre seasons by sending them to Boise or Mobile for a meaningless bowl game that will probably cost them more money than what they will earn for playing. All I ask is the cotton Bowl and Capital One (Citrus) Bowl be taken out of the mix.

That leaves those two and the BCS 4 for an 8-game playoff. Who is included? Well, it can get tricky here. For the past two years, I proposed the champion of the BCS conferences and two at-large. But as this season continues, I want to rescind that proposal and go with a new one and it's pretty simple.

As much as I hate the BCS standings, keep them for the sake of playoff seeding/qualification. Of course, I would change the criteria for the BCS standings (as in get rid of the 5-computer system). But anyways, the top 8 in the BCS standings make the playoffs. However, if there is a non-BCS school that finishes the season undefeated (ex. Utah, Boise State, Ball State), they automatically qualify. I mean, who is to deny an undefeated team a chance at a national title. Especially with the parody in college athletics these days.

Seed the teams 1-8. And just like the NCAA BBall tourney, the higher seed gets to play at the site closest to their home. So in the first round, we have the Cotton (Dallas), Capital One (Orlando) and 2 of the 4 BCS bowls (Pasadena, Tempe, New Orleans, Miami). Now for teams like Ohio State and Notre Dame, none of those are close, but who we kidding, the best football is down south so this would work out fine.

The semis would be held at the remaining two sites and of course, the championship held at one of the sites in the first round, just like it is now.

Game times go Noon, 3:15, 6:30 and 9:45pm, working our way from East to West. And if that means getting these college games to move faster, then so be it. One idea: stop reviewing every tick-tack play.

So what are the problems with my system? Well, travel could be. Not just for the fans to follow their teams but for the teams as well. Money is tight these days and fuel prices are volatile. Also, what about season's like this year where we could have 3 undefeated non-BCS schools, 3 Big 12 teams and 2 SEC teams? Well, it would look bad but just like March Madness, you can't control who gets there. Just let it happen.

I'm just tired of a system that makes no real sense. Is the BCS better than what we had? Absolutely. But let's continue to make progress. Just like they added instant replay, we can add the playoffs. The TV ratings would skyrocket and the money would still be rolling in. And the best thing, the national champion will have earned it. And that's all I want.