BCS Rankings: Why Plus One Playoffs Would Bring an End to SEC Dominance

The SEC has won six straight BCS National Championship Games, an era of dominance that hasn't been experienced by other conferences.

But, the conference has been helped out a lot by favorable BCS computer rankings and a tough conference schedule.

A plus-one BCS format would put an end to SEC dominance. This format calls for the Top Four teams to play each other (No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3) and having the two winners play for a true national championship.

Though the SEC would still win their fair share of championships under this format, the days of six straight wins for a conference would be over.

With one more brutal game against a top-tier opponent, SEC teams would likely tire out more quickly than a team from a slightly less brutal Big 12 or Pac-12.

The SEC conference schedule is already the most difficult schedule in the country. Alabama, LSU, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and now Missouri and Texas A&M are all really tough teams.

Injuries and exhaustion would start to pile up towards the end of the regular season. Then, two teams would have to play in the SEC Championship Game and then there would be a two-game playoff for the winner.

Not many teams have the endurance to make it through a schedule like that. Meanwhile, the Big 12 no longer has a conference championship game, so those teams would get an extra week off to recover and game-plan.

Plus, the simple odds would be against the SEC. With four teams in the hunt for a national championship, the odds that an SEC team would win would drop by half.

For example, this season a plus-one format would have featured LSU against Stanford and Alabama against Oklahoma State.

LSU's offense could have been exposed by Stanford a round earlier than it was this year against Alabama.

And with one of the best offenses in the country, Alabama's defense could have been worn down by the time they played either LSU or Stanford.

Going to a plus-one format adds more variables. Variables promote parity.

I'm not saying a plus-one playoff would have prevented an LSU-Alabama championship game, but it would have made the game feel more deserved.

And with four teams instead of two competing for a title, the SEC's run of dominance would likely come to an end.