Question #7 - "What, in your mind, are the problems with the current BCS bowl system?"

Question from Bob in Phoenix, "What, in your mind, are the problems with the current BCS bowl system?"

Well, I must say, this is by far the best question that has been asked so far. First, let me say that at current, the system is broken. Any sport where teams that finish unblemished have no shot at a national title, while teams that have one or two losses can become champion is insane. What other sport, professional or otherwise, creates such a boondoggle?

For instance, this year, Southern Cal loses to a very poor Oregon State team that is not only unranked, but was and is considered to be one of the worst teams in the PAC-10. They drop nine spots in the rankings, and are still national title contenders?

Another problem is the fact that it is more than likely that at least one of the teams, if not both teams that head to the championship will do so with one or more losses. The question is why? Why would this be allowed to happen?

ARE BCS TEAMS BETTER THAN THE MID-MAJOR TEAMS?

Well, lets see... how can we even possibly begin to say that when the best teams from the SEC/BIG 10/BIG 12/PAC10 etc. hardly ever play the best teams from the so called mid-major leagues? I agree that coming out on top of the SEC is one of the more difficult things in College Football, but to say that a Florida, or LSU could walk all over Boise State, BYU, or Utah is at best shooting in the dark. They will never play, and as such you will never know who is better.

The only shot an UNDEFEATED, mid-major conference champion gets, is to possibly play and destroy a team that does not have any reason being in a BSC bowl; (see Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl).

The fact of the matter is that there is a lot of money in those big time BCS bowls, and there is a kind of 2 year old kid "I don't want to share" mentality that pervades the selection process. With the money that goes along with this, one can be little surprised that Presidents of schools in so-called major conferences are not really all that excited about sharing the wealth.

Collegiate athletes playing football should have a chance at fulfilling their dreams no mater where they play. The only way to do that is to allow the champions in each of the 11 conferences get a chance to prove their mettle in a playoff.

THE BEST OPTION

Each conference gets one automatic bid to the playoff, with 5 bids going to at large teams. Seeding for the automatic bids would be determined by a ranking system that is similar to the current BCS computer rankings. If we take the 2007 season as a template, these would be the rankings and seeds- (rating the league champions by their final ranking of the year, unranked champions rated last, and the highest ranked at large berths rated in between.)

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. West Virginia
6. Hawaii
7. Brigham Young
8. Virginia Tech
9. Georgia
10. Kansas
11. Arizona St.
12. Florida
13. Illinois
14.Florida Atlantic
15. Central Michigan
16. Central Florida

It would be a simple 1 vs. 16; 2 vs. 15; 3 vs. 14; 4 vs. 13; 5 vs. 12; 6 vs. 11; 7 vs. 10; 8 vs. 9.

All 8 games would be nationally televised the first weekend of December with games played at the home field of the highest ranked team. Games would be played on Friday and Saturday. From there you would be left with 8 teams progressing to the next week.

Here is where the old bowl system would come into play. Each of these eight teams would have a place in the major bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta). We would revert to the old way with the National Championship being hosted by one of those bowls. These bowls would be played as usual at the first of the year. All other bowls would also be set at this point.

The playoff would continue till you had the top two, who would play the second Monday of January.

Honestly, this is the best option, and it would bring in more money, and exposure to NCAA Football than the broken BCS system could ever provide. It is time for a system that rewards actual not perceived achievement. It is time for the BCS to change it's name to the BOWL PLAYOFF SERIES.

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