After the dull SEC vs. SEC BCS National Championship Game, there are claims that the Bowl Championship Series may finally implement a playoff system when the new television deal comes up, according to an article in the Sporting News.

Not just any plan will do, however. If we are finally going to stop allowing Division I FBS football to be the only college sport without a playoff, let's do it right.

The current system is inherently flawed because some FBS teams have no shot of winning the national championship regardless of what they do.  Examples include Boise State and Houston (and just imagine the outrage now if those teams had not each lost a game this season).

The problem is not at the end, but at the beginning.  Favoritism in human and computer polls should have no place in determining what happens on the field.

To understand my proposal, please consider that there are not really six major conferences, but four.

Let's stop kidding ourselves—the ACC and the Big East are no longer "major" conferences. 

That leaves the "big four" (the SEC, the Big Ten, the Big 12, and the Pac-12).  

The national championship playoffs should be a tournament matching the "big four" conference champions against the second-tier conference champions.

Yes, this should be a conference-champion-only playoff. 

No more special breaks for teams that cannot win their own conference.

In fact, taking into account the conference championship games, my playoffs would grow from eight teams to sixteen teams, lending further credibility to whichever team was ultimately crowned national champion.

Here is how it would work: The week after the conference championship games, the playoffs would begin at the home venues of the "big four" champions.

If a second-tier conference team pulled an upset, the champion of that conference the next year would get to host a first-round game.  This would create exciting scenarios in which Miami fans would root for Florida State in the first-round in the hopes that if Miami won the ACC the next year, the Hurricanes would host a first-round game. 

(As an aside, this would be a great idea in Major League Baseball, instead of the "this game counts" All-Star Game.  Imagine Yankees fans having to root for the Red Sox in the World Series, or vice versa. That alone makes this a good idea.)

If the "big four" hold serve, however, they would play in two of the major bowl games around New Year's Day.  To uphold tradition, the Big Ten champion would play the Pac-12 champion in the Rose Bowl.

In exchange for being guaranteed a national semifinal every year, the Rose Bowl would sacrifice ever hosting the championship.

The Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and any other well-regarded or traditional bowls—based on who pays—would be in a rotation to host semifinal games and the national championship game, to be played two weeks after the semifinals.

The remaining major bowl games not hosting a semifinal or the championship would host matchups between the "big four" conference runner-ups, potentially guaranteeing a huge fan turnout.

In the end, only two teams would have athletes missing a marginal amount of extra class time.

Since this plan would be a few years away from being implemented, every FBS school will be permitted a chance to try to get into the new BCS, for football only. 

Schools such as Boise State should be allowed to move back to the Mountain West without penalty because it is silly for them to be in the Big East.

Any school that is unable or unwilling to join a conference (I'm talking to you, Notre Dame) will be treated like Ivy league schools in Division I FCS who choose not to participate in the playoffs.

Speaking of which, let's stop calling what used to be known as Division I-AA the "Football Championship Subdivision."  The name is asinine.  This should be corrected immediately when a playoff is announced.

What we cannot support is a playoff system that is based on polls or "tradition." 

"Tradition" already gives the "big four" conferences enough advantages.  What current players do on the field each season is what should be counted.

This system is more than fair to the "big four" conferences. In fact, they have a built-in advantage at the outset in hosting the opening first-round games. 

But unlike college football's past schemes, this plan allows every team a chance—even if it's just a puncher's chance—to win the national championship. 

Is that not what competition is all about?

Please forward this plan to the colleges you support, and let's finally put a fair playoff in place for college football!