ONE PATH FOR DETERMINING A TRUE NATIONAL CHAMPION

ONE PATH TO DETERMINING A TRUE NATIONAL CHAMPION

            If you are like me you have too often found yourself frustrated at the end of the college football season. College football fans have long been denied the opportunity of knowing, without a doubt, who really was the best team in the country. The AP title may carry historic weight, but it was a flawed method for crowning a national champion. The BCS was supposed to fix this, but by now virtually everyone, save for a majority of the BCS Commissioners, agrees that the system we presently have in place is fatally flawed as well. It is time for a change.

            The following is my playoff proposal to fix the BCS system in a way that does not render the regular season meaningless. It preserves the best traditions of the bowl system and, importantly, gives the mid-majors a shot at proving they belong. My proposal calls for an eight-team playoff completed in three rounds in January following the regular season.

I.          Win Your Conference

            It all starts with winning your conference. It really is that simple. The winners of the six BCS conferences all get an automatic spot in the playoffs. Functionally, this locks up six of the eight spots in my playoff format.

            Now from the onset I will be the first to admit that this arrangement presents an element of unfairness to the Mountain West Conference. A look at the active rosters in the NFL finds that the MWC is on par with the Big East in terms of the talent that takes the field on any given Saturday. Most reasonable people would agree that Utah, BYU and TCU are BCS caliber teams and just as talented as the top teams in the Big East, such as West Virginia, Pittsburg and (last year’s winner) Cincinnati. However, under my playoff format the Big East retains its automatic bid status because teams like Rutgers, USF and Louisvillehave proven themselves to be high quality programs from time to time. The same can’t really be said for the second-tier teams in the MWC, i.e. UNLV, Air Force or Colorado St. No workableplayoff system is perfect so I understand if you feel the need to potshot me on this point, but in my opinion it is tougher to win the Big East than the MWC.

            The remaining two spots are to be filled by the besttwo teams taken from a pool consisting of Notre Dame, the Mid-Major conference winners and the highest ranked BCS team that did not win its conference, i.e. the 2008 Texas Longhorn or Alabama Crimson Tide. Admittedly, this selection process has the capacity to be controversial, but certainly no more so than the current system and, as you will see, the ultimate resolution is fair to all who are rightly considered national title contenders.

            Notre Dame’s unique, “independent” status in college football is a thorn in the side of any playoff scheme absent its joining with, say, the Big-10 conference, which my proposal assumes will not happen. Under my proposal Notre Dame can secure an “automatic” playoff spot by winning at least ten games, eight of which must be against teams from BCS conferences. Trust me, I have no problem allotting a playoff spot to an 11-1 Irish squad, with, say, a regular season loss to USC. Taking this year’s ND schedule as an example, the Irish will play ten BCS teams in addition to games against Nevadaand Navy. My format would allow the Irish to preserve their historic arrangements with the military academies. If the Irish beat eight BCS teams and end the season 10-2 or better, they get a spot.  If they don’t then the Irish are looking at a minor bowl in late December.

            If Notre Dame does not qualify for a playoff spot, then the final two spots go to: (1) the highest ranked BCS team that did not win its conference; and (2) the best Mid-Major conference winner. If there are two Mid-Major conference winners that finish the season undefeated (i.e. 2008 MWC winner Utah and WAC winner Boise St.) then those two conference champions compete in a “play-in”. The team that had the toughest non-conference schedule hosts the game in early to mid December.

            If Notre Dame does qualify then the final spot is determined by a play-in game between the highest ranked BCS team that did not win its conference and the highest ranked Mid-Major conference winner. Note to the mid-majors: scheduling and beating high quality (preferably BCS conference) competition for your nonconference slate will be a huge factor in the year end ratings. If you think your program is a “national title” contender then you should not be shying away from playing the very best competition that will agree to home and away contracts.

            If we take 2008 as an example, where the Irish would not have qualified, then Texaswould have been in and Utahand Boise State would have settled the final spot in a play-in game. Utah scheduled games at Michigan, Oregon St.and Utah St., while Boise St. slated Bowling Green, Oregon and Southern Miss. The edge would go to Utah and the play-in game played in Salt Lake City.

            Using the 2008 season and its 20/20 hindsight perspective, the 8-teams that would have emerged under my proposal would have been: Florida, Oklahoma, USC, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Texas and (we’ll assume) Utah.

II.        Round #1 - The January 1^st Bowls

            The eight advancing teams all play on January 1^st in the four major bowls: Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar. The other 112 programs can make arrangements to play in all of the other bowls, with all of the tie-in arrangements still in place. Teams can still play in the Gator, Cotton, Capital One, Outback, Liberty, Sun Bowl, Holiday Bowl, etc. – in December. (No more minor bowls played on January 2^nd, 4^th, etc.) Everyone that is “bowl eligible” can go bowling, the money still gets spread around, fans get to enjoy watching their team play during the holidays, all is right with the world.

            In the meantime, January 1^st regains its special place. The four games get played back to back to back to back, starting on the East Coast with the Orange, moving to the Sugar, then the Fiesta and finally the Rose Bowl. Twelve hours of high quality college football. What better way to start the New Year!

These four bowls can even retain their traditional alliances, with the Rose pitting the winners of the Pac-10 versus the Big-10. The Sugar Bowl could include the SEC winner and the Fiesta Bowl the Big-12 winner, etc. Such a format would deliver big-time for the fans of college football. Certainly the top six teams in the country would be given a shot and arguably the best eight teams would be in the mix.

The winners of the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls all advance to Round 2.

III.       Round 2 – the Emergence of the Final Four

            At this point we’re operating in the hypothetical a bit so bear with me. Let’s say that Penn St. beat USC in the Rose, Florida beat Texas in the Sugar, Oklahoma beat Cincinnatiin the Fiesta and Utah beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. The bowls are over, so where do we play the round two games, you ask?

            The second round in my playoff format is played at the home fieldsof the two teams that had the toughest non-conference schedule. This is the true beauty of this system. For too long we have watched big-time programs victimize teams from the Sun Belt, C-USA and Mid-Atlantic Conferences. Hey Texas Tech, want to host a round 2 game? Don’t fatten your statistics with a diet of North Dakota, Rice, Houstonand New Mexico.

If you think that your program belongs in the national title hunt then schedule like you have a plan to win it all. Three teams really set the example with their 2009 schedules: BYU will play its MWC slate and also Oklahoma, Tulane and Florida St. Similarly, the Georgia Bulldogs will slug their way through SEC play and also take on Oklahoma St., Arizona St., Tennessee Tech and Georgia Tech. USC hosts an upper tier WAC team in San Jose State and then has two road games several time zones away at Ohio St. and at Notre Dame. Hat tip to all three programs.

This wrinkle creates a huge opportunity for the northern schools who frequently complain that they must travel great distances to close out their seasons. How about a January game in Columbus, Ohio or Lincoln, Nebraska for Round 2? This format encourages the “contenders” to schedule big-time non-conference games. College football fans would be the real winners.

Obviously there is some risk in agreeing to play such high quality teams in the non-conference schedule, but here is the upside, at least for the BCS conference teams: you don’t have to win them all to be in the playoffs in January. You need only win your conference, unless you are Notre Dame, in which case your whole schedule is “non-conference”. The Irish needn’t worry: keep putting the Michigan, Michigan St., Penn St., and USC’s of the world on your schedule each year and you’ll have earned respectful consideration for hosting a Round 2 game.

Let’s depart for a second and take the case of Georgia. Let’s postulate that you’ve won the SEC, beat Oklahoma St.and Arizona St., but somehow, someway, Tennessee Tech pulled an Appy St. on you. The Bulldogs finish the season 11-1 (actually 12-1 once you factor in the SEC title game). Should you win the Sugar Bowl, your non-conference slate is very likely to be considered “tougher” than almost everyone else. Texas (in 2009) will have scheduled ULM, Wyoming, UTEP and UCF. The Longhorns wouldn’t be hosting Round 2. The Georgia Bulldogs, by contrast, would be sitting pretty and Athens might very well be the site of a Round 2 game.

Returning to the hypothetical, the bottom line is that the final four teams (Penn St., Florida, Oklahomaand Utah in my hypothetical) would have moved on to compete in two games played on the second Saturday following the January 1^st bowls. Functionally, this means that Round 2 would be played somewhere between January 10^th and the 15^th. Could you image a game where Florida has to travel north of the Mason-Dixon line to take on Penn St. in Happy Valley for Round 2 in mid-January? Don’t worry Gator fans: Penn St.’s 2008 non-conference schedule consisted of Coastal Carolina, Oregon St., Syracuseand Temple. Florida may have scheduled the Citadel, but games against Hawaii, Miamiand Florida St. were considerably more difficult than what Penn St. scheduled. That Round 2 game would have been played in The Swamp.

IV.       Round 3 – the National Championship Game

            Finally, college football fans would get to see the matter settled on the field. No whining from USC or Texas fans about how their 11-1 record and bowl thrashings over top-10 programs proved they were really #1. No more beefing from Utah fans about how their team was denied the opportunity to prove that the Utes were really the best in the land. The national championship game would be played at a truly neutral site two weeks later, at or near the end of January.  In other words, if USC advances then the game could not be played in the Rose Bowl. Similarly, if LSU advances the game isn’t played in the Sugar Bowl. Reasonable people can work out a contingency plan. Assuming Arizona St. isn’t in the mix, the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona might present an ideal location.

            There are, of course, alternatives to my proposal, but they all fall short in my mind. (Although some are clearly better than the current BCS system.) A “+1” system still cheats at least two or three programs by denying them a chance in the first instance. Conversely, a 16-game playoff is unworkable unless and until the regular season is shorted by at least two games and it would severely muck up the traditional bowl system we have come to accept, if not thoroughly enjoy, after so many decades.

            Instead, the playoff format I have outlined above not only preserves the importance of the regular season but enhances it by encouraging the true contenders to upgrade the quality of their non-conference schedules. It keeps the money flowing throughout the NCAA’s membership by retaining the myriad bowls in December and the four major ones in January. My proposal imposes a very minor academic burden since it would require only four teams (of 120) to play an extra game or two more than they already do. Whatever burden there might be would be offset by increased revenue to those schools stemming from the Round 2 and/or National Championship game. My playoff format affords the mid-majors and the northern schools in particular a great opportunity to host a second round game and it throws a bone to Notre Dame and the millions of fans that follow that program. Most of all, it delivers to us, the fans of college football, a true national champion.

            To the college football fans that read this: thanks for entertaining my opinions. To the BCS: please feel free to adopt this idea as your own, although if you want to call the final game the BCS-Travler8 national championship game I will not object.