Two Ways to Temporarily Fix The BCS While We Wait For a Realistic Playoff

 It seems like everybody agrees that the BCS is no longer a legitimate system for college football.  The obvious solution would be to create some kind of a playoff system, but doing that will take time and money.  Here are a few fixes to the BCS that will make it slightly more tolerable.  

Do Away With Automatic Qualifiers

 I don't care what conference a team plays in.  If they finish the season ranked in the top eight of the BCS, they should go to a BCS bowl game.  If they don't, the Insert-Corporation-Here Bowl is always an option. The problem with the automatic-qualifier system is that teams like Connecticut get a BCS bid despite not being in the Top 10.  Or the Top 15.  Or even ranked.  Little known fact: The "C" in BCS stands for "championship," and a team that didn't even finish the year in the Top 25 has no business competing in a "championship series." 

 Instead of saying Conference A plays Conference B in a particular bowl game, the BCS can create a lottery system.  Obviously, the teams ranked first and second play in the national title game.  Beyond that, though, the bowls "draft" the team that they want to see play (with the draft order changing every year, similarly to the way we move the national championship site every year).

The other option is to go with a straightforward format, No. 1 versus No. 2, No. 3 versus No. 4, No. 5 versus No. 6, and so on.  Each game would be tightly contested, and the bowls could advertise to/exploit a completely different set of fans every year.  Is it perfect?  Hell no—it is still the BCS, after all, but it takes away the elitist nature of the system and gives teams like Boise State a chance to have their trial by fire. 

Tweak the "strength of schedule" component

Obviously, going undefeated in the SEC is more impressive than going undefeated in the WAC, or in the Mountain West.  But it's not entirely fair to penalize teams from weaker conferences for having a soft schedule because they don't have any say in the matter.  

On the flip side, whatever complex algorithm calculates strength of schedule should place more weight on non-conference games.  Teams that play in tough conferences, particularly the SEC, regularly schedule games against schools like, oh, I'll pick one at random, Chattanooga, for non-conference games.  And they rarely, if ever, travel outside the South. Compare that to Boise State, which this year played two of its three non-conference games against schools from automatic qualifying conferences.   

These changes are, in the scheme of things, pretty minor, but they could go a long way towards making college football's post-season better.  Without a doubt, the best solution is some kind of a playoff, but these relatively minor alterations could make a world of difference.