LSU vs. Alabama Rematch: The Solution to College Football's Biggest Problem

There may be no greater pedestal for debate than the world of college football. Passion often trumps logic, and rivalries get the best of friendships.

Despite the argumentative nature of college football fans, there is a resounding consensus regarding one cardinal rule, from Palo Alto to Baton Rouge, Hokies and Pokies agree—the BCS is an outrageously inadequate method to determine the champion of college football.

The Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, is a system in which a combination of votes by coaches, the media and computers decide which two teams will play for the championship.

Therefore, other deserving schools are perennially denied the chance to prove themselves on college football’s biggest stage.

While a complete overhaul of the current system, where a sixteen-team playoff system would be implemented, may be an attractive option for some, the potential simplicity and efficacy of a seeded plus-one bowl system makes for a more logical alternative.

The premise of a plus-one system is simple: Allow the top two teams in the nation to play in regular bowl games.

In a seeded plus-one system, the No. 1 team would face-off against the fourth-ranked ream, and the number two and three teams would play. At the end of the bowl season, the winners of those two games would meet for the national championship.

This would preserve the incredibly lucrative bowl system and introduce some semblance of parity into college football.

The insertion of a plus-one system would resolve the logjam that currently exists at the top of the BCS standings.

LSU (13-0) would play Stanford (11-1) in the Sugar Bowl, and Alabama (11-1) would play in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State (11-1).

These matchups would most likely be more attractive options for viewers, resulting in higher TV ratings and additional revenue for both the schools and the bowls. The national championship game would then be the final game of the season, as it is now, but the two teams meeting would almost unquestionably be the best in the nation.

The insertion of a seeded plus-one system is undeniably the simplest and most lucrative alternative.

The Football Bowl Subdivision is currently the only college sport without any form of a playoff, and while a seeded plus-one system is not a true playoff, it is far superior to the current self-indulgent system because of its ability to preserve college football’s traditions and implement a more equitable system of determining a champion.

To a fan of college football, a system in which a team is able to prove itself on the field, rather than in the minds of voters, seems to be the clear and obvious alternative to the current method, which perennially engenders controversy and speculation, and seems to exist solely because of the myopic and epicurean disposition of its executives.