How to Fix the BCS

The BCS Championship Game was so riveting that I watched American Gladiators instead.

Ever since the game was announced, my enthusiasm had been slight. I finally had no choice but to utter the familiar refrain about changing the way college football's champion is determined.

The BCS needs to be overhauled in a hurry. Computers shouldn't determine the two teams that play for the National Championship. After all, the computers can't watch the games or gauge momentum.

The 2001 Oregon Ducks, 2003 USC Trojans, and 2004 Auburn Tigers all have credible gripes. This year's Georgia Bulldogs and USC Trojans could be added to the list.

These teams ended the season very hot, but were casualties of surging too late in the polls or having poor computer rankings.

Here's my solution to the BCS mess:

First, scrap the BCS rankings. Go back to the AP and Coaches Polls. Human pollsters are writers, former players, or coaches—so they can tell whether a team is legitimate or not.

This would promote move movement in the polls in the latter part of the season.

Second, start the AP and Coaches Polls after the sixth week of the season. This will allow pollsters to see how teams do against stiffer competition.

With the polls starting later, the better teams will already be near the top and ready to make their move.

Third, all conferences with 12 or more teams must play a conference championship game, and the other conferences must play a round-robin system. This will ensure that the best teams in each conference will have played each other—and that the champion won't be a fraud.

Fourth, all bowls except the former BCS games will maintain their traditional tie-ins. The four major bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, and Fiesta) will all be played on New Year's Day, and will also keep their conference tie-ins.

These bowls would be more entertaining because of the better matchups. The two teams that rank the highest in the final AP poll without a conference championship will get the at-large berths.

After all bowl games are completed, the four highest-ranking teams will compete in a playoff held at one neutral site on successive Saturdays to determine the National Champion. The season would wrap up before the Super Bowl, and the champion would play 16 games.

Such a system would give the teams who got snubbed out of National Championship a chance to prove themselves on the field—the way everyone wants it.