If the BCS Was Really About Money...

I keep hearing this ridiculous argument from university presidents, ESPN pundits, and just about everybody else out there in favor of keeping the BCS the way it is.

Why?

Just for the sake of being what it is that claims that the simple logic behind the BCS is for the sake of the student, we can't add any more games!

I've also heard it's about the tradition, devaluing the regular season, and blah blah blah.

Whatever, it's all about the dinero, the greenbacks, the Benjamins, the good paper, the stuff they tried to keep in Fort Knox all these years, etc.

It's about the cash.

Gee, when you break it down to that, allow me to propose this: why the heck don't we get a playoff?

Cutting through the B(C)S, if it's all really about the money, doesn't the NCAA basketball tournament draw in some of the highest ratings of just about anything you put on TV?

Doesn't the Super Bowl (itself, the championship game of, what class? yes, that's right, a playoff tournament!) draw the highest ratings of just about anything on TV (except Dallas reunions!)?

And forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a 30-second spot in the latter garner, usually, in the range of three million dollars?

So I ask this question: Why not a playoff?

Three words: the little guys.

Oh yes, those pesky conferences that you begrudgingly added a fifth game to accommodate. The ones that you had to let in if they ranked high enough because really, how many teams from non-BCS conferences finished sixth or better in a convoluted formula that disadvantaged them to begin with (one to be precise).

Or perhaps the alternative was a lengthy court case that would have resulted in your untimely demise from the list of money-grubbing organizations piggybacking off of "amateur" sports.

Oh yes, those teams.

So what's a 12-team playoff to do?

Perhaps level the playing field a bit, spread some more of the BCS bonanza around, or heck, even create a little more BCS wealth to begin with to spread it around a bit more. See, the big schools will still get their shares, but then again, so will the little guys!

Win-Win!

And don't give me the line that says, "It's bad for the players." I think sitting around for 40 days doing nothing but practicing after the long season and playing one game's not good for them either.

So here's the solution: 12-team playoff, guaranteed slots for the six (current) BCS conference champions, six at large bids to the six highest finishing non-automatic bids in the new and improved BCS formula (now with more C and less of the B and the S!).

So, that's roughly three weeks worth of games to be played.

With the current start date of the schedule, players could still have time off for finals, and isn't that what we're all about here? The individual player's education?

I’m just seeing if you're still with me.

But you say, "But Chris, what about all those other towns with two-bit bowls that match up third rate teams? Surely you're not leaving them home to sit and watch the tournament right?"

First of all, don't put words in my mouth just yet, and second...don't call me Shirley!

Keep the other bowls for all I care, after all, somebody's got to make Northwestern feel good about their 6-5 season.

That's right, 6-5, not 6-6, 6-5. We go back to the 11-game schedule to make this work properly.

Besides, we're only screwing up the computer rankings numbers for FCS teams with the reduced number of those games teams will have to play anyways.

Oh yes, Football Championship Subdivision becomes irrelevant, it's Division I-AA again in this proposal.

One final off-kilter rant before I get back to my original point with this.

For those university presidents complaining about interrupting the beginning of the second term classes of the year (winter for those of us on quarters, spring for those on semesters), just sit down quietly, please. The vast majority of your institutions wouldn't start the second term until after this was all over anyways.

And besides, I'm sitting at one of those few institutions that would be affected: Ohio State. And even then, the talk here has been that a switch to semesters is coming quickly. However, they've been saying that since I started here in 2003, I'm not holding my breath.

That already happened with the plus-one model to begin with. Ohio State's poor saps had to attend a week of class last year before the national title game.

On second thought, scrap it all; let's go back to the old model.

Jokes aside, let's imagine what we'd have this year.

Texas Tech, no longer screwed by virtue of the Big-XII title game. They're in the tourney.

Ball State, step on up, you've got a shot to prove you belong. Nate Davis can cement himself as one of the top quarterback prospects in all the land on national television that isn't ESPN2 midweek.

Boise State, I'd argue you deserve the BCS berth over my Ohio State Buckeyes, but guess what, it's about to not matter, since if you finish 8th, in my scenario, guess who you could be hosting week one of the tournament? Ohio State! Who also would have theoretically moved up a spot as well.

Oh the fun of the tournament that will never be!

This is an original article by Pigskin Heaven Writer, Chris Grewe, you can read it, more of Chris Grewe's articles and more from the Pigskin Heaven staff, here.