How to Fix the BCS: An Eight-Team Playoff

As far as monopolies go, the BCS might be the most arrogant one ever created. For more than a decade now, they have somehow been able to sell us all on the idea that this is good for college football. That college football, because of the BCS, is the most exciting sport there is.

While I would seriously question their causal claims about that relationship, I am a college football fan and I want what is best for the game...And what is best for the game is a playoff system.

In order to fix the current situation, we must first understand the complicated nature of the beast.

The arguments for a playoff system generally boil down to two schools of thought: those that stem from the BCS schools and those that stem from the non-BCS schools.

Although the BCS schools benefit financially from the current system, it has not lived up to its intended purpose—to create a consensus national champion each year. So much is at stake year to year. Coaching jobs are on the line. Millions of dollars are to be gained. More and more we are seeing high-profile coaches speak out against the system. Solution: a playoff system.

Meanwhile, non-BCS schools struggle to get their slice of the pie that is so desperately needed in order to build a competitive program. For most of these schools, the cost of going to a bowl is greater than the payout from that bowl. To them, the system reeks of socialism for the rich. Solution: remove the auto-bids for the BCS conferences.

Then there are all the objections to a playoff system. The school presidents say they don't want it because of the additional burden on the student athletes. The bowls don't want it because it puts their relationship with the game in jeopardy. And, one could argue, that the BCS conferences don't want it because it could mean relinquishing their power over to the NCAA—if you like conspiracies and all..

So what is the solution? How do we make everyone happy? That's almost as impossible as fixing this economy if you're President Obama. We'll never please everyone, but we can come to a compromise that is good for the game.

The solution as I see it is an eight-team playoff system with the six auto-bids being up for grabs every year.

This is a compromise between those who want a 16-team playoff and those that argue that it's just too many extra games.

If we put in an eight-team playoff and remove that extra game the coaches decided to add a couple of years ago, that means that two teams will end up playing a maximum of two extra games per season. I don't think that's too much of an extra burden on the athletes. I would bet they'd agree with me too...

The additional change would give six auto-bids to the six highest ranked conference champions and two at-large bids. That means no more free-bees ACC and Big East. If Boise State (WAC) and Utah (MWC) are ranked higher than your champ in a given year, then they would get the auto-bid instead.

This change would appease the non-BCS schools because it opens the door for all of the conferences to compete for those bids. Yet, by not giving every conference an auto-bid every year it forces them to compete for them, thus, raising the level of competition across all conferences.

By going back to eight teams instead of 10 it would keep the excitement of the regular season extremely high. After all, there is very little room to get in if you don't win your conference.

Satisfying the bowl's organizations is probably the most difficult part of this equation. We all know how much money is involved there. As for myself, I'm not terribly sympathetic to the bowls. I think they reek of an archaic system that is ready for the next evolution, but others would disagree. I'm not opposed to letting the bowls host the games. I must admit, they do a pretty good job.

For the conspiracy buffs out there, this would also serve to breakup the BCS strangle-hold on college football and open the door for every team in th nation to truly compete for a national title.

If this system were in place today, the likely teams that would get in are as follows:

1. Alabama (SEC)

2. Texas (Big-12)

3. Oklahoma (at-large)

4. Florida (at-large)

5. USC/Oregon St. (Pac-10)

6. Utah (MWC)

7. Penn State (Big Ten)

8. Boise (WAC)

I for one would much rather see these eight teams duke it out than watch this year's Orange Bowl between two potentially unranked teams.