BCS Rankings: Fixing College Football from Conferences to Playoffs to Pay

College football has plenty of problems currently facing it from the current conference realignment, such as how to decide a national champion and what is the appropriate compensation for players, just a scholarship or something more? 

The following is a blueprint in how the college football landscape could fix itself in almost every category. The conference realignment is addressed with the creation of four super conferences and four relegation conferences, establishes a playoff system while still maintaining the bowl system and a relegation system that allows a way for the smaller schools to be more fairly considered in the rankings, maximize money for all the teams and even a way to provide an extra financial benefit for the players.

If the NCAA chose to adopt these policies, it would make college football not only more exciting, but it would eliminate many of the arguments against the current system.

Conferences

NOTE: Assumes conferences as they sat when Texas A&M made the move to the SEC, so this disregards the Syracuse and Pittsburgh move to the ACC. It also reflects TCU honoring its commitment to the Big East and not leaving for the Big 12. 

The conference alignment is built upon the idea of four 16-team super conferences, along with four 14-team relegation conferences. The initial super conferences are founded upon a realignment of the current BCS Conferences, and the initial relegation conferences are based on a more regional alignment of the non-BCS schools, with the few BCS teams not included in the super conferences thrown in. 

Movement between conferences will only be done by relegation, and a school can only move between its super conference and its relegation conference. The relegation system will be explained further down the page.

The Pacific Super Conference teams are: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, USC, UCLA, Utah, Washington and Washington State.

The Pacific Relegation Conference teams are: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State and UTEP.

The Midwest Super Conference teams are: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.

The Midwest Relegation Conference teams are Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green State, BYU, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Northern Illinois, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo, Tulsa, Western Michigan and Wyoming.

The Big East Super Conference teams are Boston College, Cincinnati, Clemson, Connecticut, Duke, Louisville, Maryland, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, TCU, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

The Big East Relegation Conference teams are Army, Baylor, Buffalo, East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Navy, North Carolina State, North Texas, Rice, SMU, Temple, Wake Forest and Virginia.

The Southeastern Super Conference teams are Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech,  Kentucky, LSU, Miami, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

The Southeastern Relegation Conference teams are Ala-Birmingham, Arkansas State, Central Florida, Fla. Atlantic, Fla. International, La.-Lafayette, La.-Monroe, La. Tech, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Troy, Tulane, Southern Miss. and Western Kentucky.

Each super conference will be set up into two eight team divisions and will be topped off with a conference championship game.

Each relegation conference will be divided into two seven team divisions and will also be completed with a conference championship game.

Relegation

The relegation system is based on the system in European soccer that moves teams up and down through divisions based upon your record the previous season.  This system will allow successful teams to move up from their relegation conference to their super conference and unsuccessful teams to move down from their super conference to their relegation conference. 

The reason for relegation is that it answers the question of can a Boise State or a TCU play with the big boys. They have been two of the most successful teams of the past decade, but continually get left out of the BCS National Title because they don't play in the major conferences. This system allows them to move up into those major conferences and compete against the big boys every day.

Teams that will be relegation eligible will consist of the relegation conference champion and runner-up and the two teams that finish last in their respective super conference divisions.  The winner of the relegation conference championship will automatically be relegated up to their respective super conference.

The two teams that finish last in their respective super conference divisions will play Relegation Game 1, with the loser automatically being sent down to the relegation conference. Relegation Game 2 will consist of the relegation conference runner-up and the winner of Relegation Game 1. The winner of Relegation Game 2 either stays in or moves up to the super conference, and the loser stays in or moves down to the relegation conference.

Simple Diagram

Team A: Relegation conference division one winner

Team B: Relegation conference division two winner

Team C: Super conference division one last place

Team D: Super conference division two last place

Relegation Conference Championship: Team A v. Team B; winner automatically relegated up

Relegation Game 1: Team C v. Team D, loser automatically relegated down

Relegation Game 2: RCC loser v. RG 1 winner, winner in the SC, loser in the RC

An important note on relegation is that it is only involved within your conferences.  In other words, the Pacific Super Conference only gets relegated down to the Pacific Relegation Conference, and the Pacific Relegation Conference only relegates up to the Pacific Super Conference.  Essentially, those 30 teams in each region are constantly battling amongst themselves to move up and down between their two conferences. 

This also guarantees that a minimum of eight teams and a maximum of 16 teams can move up and down in any given season. This gives every team an opportunity to get into the super conference if they can win their relegation conference, but still control their destiny by winning if they are the runner-up.

Scheduling

As in the current college football system, all teams will play a 12-game schedule.  However, they will be slightly different depending upon if you are playing in a super conference or a relegation conference. 

Super Conference Schedule Breakdown

• Seven games against your divisional opponents
• One game across conference division, based on previous season rankings

ex. If you finish first in SCD1, then you play first place in SCD2 the next year

• Four at-large games, two versus relegation schools, two versus other SC Schools

Relegation Conference Schedule Breakdown

• Six games against your divisional opponents
• One game across Conference Division, based on previous season rankings
• Five at-large games, two versus SC Schools, three versus relegation schools

This scheduling model will give each team an ample amount of conference games to help decide each division's winners and reasonable teams for conference championship games.  It also forces the super conference teams to play against relegation conference teams, giving those relegation conference teams an opportunity to improve their ranking for the postseason system that will include a playoff system.

Rankings, Post Season and Playoff System

The rankings system would be very similar to the current college football ranking systems.  We would have the Associated Press Poll, the Coaches Poll and a BCS style ranking system.  Also all teams would be eligible for all of the rankings whether you are in a super conference or a relegation conference. So just because you are in a relegation conference, it does not eliminate you from national championship contention.

The postseason would consist of the conference championship games, the relegation games, a playoff system and a version of the current bowl system. The conference championship game is self explanatory, and relegation games were explained above.  The current bowl system would be maintained as a postseason opportunity for most teams as well.  However, in order to crown a true national champion, a playoff system will be implemented.

The national championship playoff will consist of 12 teams in a bracket that is organized much like the NFL. 

The 12 teams will be decided as follows: Automatic bids go to the four super conference champions, regardless of their current rankings in the BCS style ranking system.  The other eight bids will be at-large spots granted to the top eight teams in the BCS ranking system, minus the four super conference champions.

The four super conference champions would be seeded one through four, based on their BCS ranking and would receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs.  The eight at-large bids would be ranked five through 12, with five playing 12, six playing 11, etc. 

Also, there would be a re-rank every round of the playoffs. So in the first round, if six, eight, 10 and 12 won, then 12 would play one, 10 would play two, etc., guaranteeing that the top-seeded team always plays the lowest-seeded team still left in the tournament.

This system would maintain the bowl spirit of college football, giving ample teams a postseason game, but also allow the crowning of a true national champion through a playoff. Although it probably still opens up the who got left out question, it should get rid of the possibility of any undefeated teams getting left out of the National Championship hunt.

Financial Model

In order to rework some of the financial systems of the NCAA in order to level the playing field to a degree and spread the money around to all the teams in the NCAA, but also reward the schools that are consistent winners and teams with history and legacy, the NCAA will control all the TV rights for the regular season to sell to both regional and national networks.  They will also control the rights to negotiate the playoff television contract. This will give the NCAA control of a lion share of the revenue and allow for a more equal division of it. 

The regular season money would give each super conference 15 percent of the yearly pool, and each relegation conference would receive 10 percent of the yearly pool. This money would be divided equally amongst the teams in that particular conference.  This also makes it important to get to the super conference level, because it is a considerably higher sum of money that you receive in a given year.

The playoff money would be divided up using the following formula. Each super conference would get seven percent (4 * 7 = 28 percent ), and each relegation conference would get four percent (4 * 4 = 16 percent), which would eat up 44 percent of the playoff money.  Each team entering the playoffs gets two percent (12 * 2 = 24 percent), and two percent for each successive round that you advance into. (second round worth 8 * 2 = 16 percent, third round is worth 4 * 2 = eight percent, fourth round is worth 2 * 2 = four percent). This would leave four percent of the total pot going to the national champion. 

Now, these percentages are split out between the school and their respective conferences on a 50/50 split, after expenses have been taken out. This system will reward teams for winning games and reward conferences for qualifying more teams into the national championship playoff.

Each bowl game will control its own advertising and television contracts rights, but must negotiate a pay to the team that it invites. The money given to a team by a bowl game will also be divided between the school and their conference on a 50/50 split after the school's expenses have been deducted. 

This system would provide a revenue sharing model much like the NFL and give the NCAA considerable power to to negotiate since they are controlling the entire football product.  It also allows all schools the opportunity to put together the big money and build competitive facilities through out the country.

Paying the Student Athlete

It has been talked about for years that schools are making millions upon millions of dollars on these athletes.  The coaches get to reap the benefits by demanding higher salaries and getting endorsement deals, but the kids never seem to see the windfall.  And on top of that, if someone does give the student athlete money, he stands the possibility of suspension. 

Some conferences have recently begun to bring up the idea of paying players a stipend, because the restrictions on student athletes having jobs and certain financial backgrounds have made it very hard for them to live the college life.

Now, the one hurdle here is that if these schools pay the football players, due to Title IX, they have to pay all their student athletes. Also, there is the argument about not just handing them money, because then they aren't really amateurs anymore. So below is a system that avoids both problems.

Each school's boosters, donors, alumni, whatever you want to call them, are allowed to establish an independent non-profit organization that they can donate into and will provide financial aid to football players. Since this organization is independent of the university, it does not fall under the rules of Title IX and therefore doesn't have to pay other student athletes equally, but paying other student athletes would be encouraged.

Now in order to make this not a complete hand out situation, there would have to be some form of application process. It would need to be like applying for any other scholarship or financial aid, including some form of essay on why they need/deserve the money. Now, they could give these awards based on need, academic ability or simply the application and request. If the money is awarded on financial need, then appropriate financial documents would have to be handed over as well.  If awarded for academics, they need to provide appropriate test scores and transcripts. 

The basics are that there has to be some process by which they apply and work to get awarded these financial awards, even if it is simply a formality, its about going through the process.

The NCAA would also be charged with creating some form of oversight committee to insure that the system isn't abused and that the spirit of having to put forth the effort to apply for and supply necessary documentation to receive the award.  This committee would also be charged with insuring there are no hand outs prior to the student athlete enrolling at their respective school.  This would be to supplement their scholarship and college experience, not to entice them to go to a certain school.

Conclusion

These adjustments are fixes to the system that would greatly benefit the NCAA.  The conferences would be set and concrete, with no worrying about jumping to some other conference across the country just for the financial benefits.  It would allow the mid major schools the opportunity to play their way into the top level of college football.  The system crowns a true national champion through a playoff system.  It brings about a level financial playing field and a way to support these athletes financially. 

This is a drastic fix, but it would definitely be a fix for college football.