BCS Meetings: Jim Delany Proves Yet Again, He Is the Master of Terrible Plans

Everyday there is a steady trickle of news about the postseason future of college football. Most recently news dropped about Jim Delany, Big Ten Commissioner, proposing a plan for the four-team playoff that is on the table. Now, before we look at Delany's plan, it must be noted that he is the same guy who supported the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Rose Bowl is special plan. So, with that said, after the Rose Bowl plan was laughed off the face of the earth, Delany came up with a new plan to help "fix" college football's post-season.

As Brett McMurphy reports:

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"If a conference champion was among the top six in the rankings, it would automatically qualify for the four-team playoff. The top four ranked conference champions among the top six would qualify and if less than four conference champions were among the top six teams then the remaining spots would be filled by the highest ranked non-conference champions or an independent"

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A subtle spin on the "conference champions" only plan that was originally floated by Delany, Larry Scott and backed by the ACC commissioner John Swofford. The new twist is simple; instead of the top four conference champions jumping everyone between them and the top, only those ranked five or six would pass teams.

Delany really is being much nicer about making to stop teams from having multiple bids to the four-team playoff. Unfortunately for his cause there a lot of folks out there that are not dumb, or sitting around watching this aimlessly. Even the coaches know that the idea of leapfrogging three or four, based solely upon the merits of winning a league is ludicrous; they want the four best teams in. Period. Just the best four teams.

Sure, Alabama would get into this year's playoff; but that's merely a function of Boise State finishing .0279 behind the Arkansas Razorbacks. Stanford, the number-four team, would be left out in favor of the Oregon Ducks. However, in the grand scheme of things 2011 is a mere wrinkle compared to a few other years.

In 2010, Stanford would be passed over again, Wisconsin going ahead of the Cardinal. In 2008 we would have seen third ranked Texas and fourth ranked Alabama cast off in favor of USC and Utah. Spare me the "but Utah beat Alabama" talk, that's not the point here. In 2006 Michigan would get in as the at-large bid, but LSU would be told to take a seat in favor of Louisville.

The banner year for the Delany Plan would have been 2005, as the finish was USC, Texas, Penn State and Ohio State. His plan would shut out his own team, Ohio State, in order to get Oregon into the playoff. Great work Jim!

The plan, simply put, is terrible. Put the best four teams into the playoff. If you want to expand it to six eligible teams then make a six-team playoff. Otherwise, take one through four, line them up and have them decide who gets the crown after the dust settles. If you have a problem with how to pick the top four, change that but don't build in conditions to allow teams who are not ranked as high to leapfrog their way up the list.