College Football's Biggest Dilemna: Playoff System Vs. BCS Bowls

David LowitzDec 10, 2009

I'm all for a playoff, let that be perfectly clear. HOWEVER, the formation of a playoff does not mean the demise of the Bowls. I believe it was Keith Jackson who came up with either this formula, or something similar...

You keep all the minor and mid-minor bowls. Now the teams that need the money from those bowls are satisfied and you can still send 68 teams to a bowl game.

You then seed the top 8 schools (ok, there will be some debating, but it will be between the 8,9, and 10 ranked schools, not the 1,2 and 3.)

Place the top 8 in the four bowls, Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta. All of a sudden, all four of those games become relevant. Does anyone outside of Georgia or Iowa care about the Orange Bowl this year? Absolutely not. But what if that game was a quarter final game with the winner moving to the semi finals. Now its worth watching.

The two semi-final games and then the finals could be called "XYZ Bowl" or "ABC Bowl" if that make the proponents of a bowl system happy.

Timing. Why are we waiting 5 and 6 weeks from the end of the season until the bowl games begin? Back the whole thing up. It could all take place between the 2nd week of December and first week of January.

The biggest drawbacks: Fan cost and ticket sales. How do you get fans from oh, lets say, Ohio State to travel to the Rose Bowl (1/4 final), then on to the semi final game, and then, of course, onto the finals (where we would probably get beat by a speedy SEC team) It becomes a very pricey proposition to the fans to travel to the three potential games. When you are trying to fill a 70 - 100,000 seat stadium, you need the students and alum there. For many, this just would not be financially feasible.

Could it be done? Absolutely. Should it be done? Of course. Will it be done? Depends on how many of us make our opinions heard. Speak up! Post everywhere. Get the word out. Let's get a playoff in place sooner rather than later. You can let your voice be heard here http://www.facebook.com/weneedaplayoff.