Another college football Season is coming to an end and once again we are stuck with a big mess at the top of the BCS standings. Because LSU is the only undefeated team they were a lock to play in the national championship game but the team that would join them in the game was not so much of a lock. Behind the #1 ranked Tigers are three one loss teams. So the question then became which team was the best one loss team in the nation. Between the Human polls and the computers the BCS decided that Alabama was the best one loss team edging out Oklahoma State by .0086.
Wait a minute! Wasn't the BCS supposed to clearly put the top two teams in the country head to head in the national championship game. How can we clearly separate one team from another. The truth is we can't. Not the way the system is set up now anyway. As a matter of fact this has happen more than just this year. In 2000 we were left with a similar situation. Oklahoma was the only undefeated and behind them were FSU, Miami, and the Washington Huskies all with one loss. Miami had beaten FSU but loss to Washington earlier that season. We ended up watching in my option the sloppiest game in BCS history with FSU going down to the Sooners 13-0. It was clear that the hurricanes were the better team but because they loss on the road with a Freshman QB their were locked out of the championship game. Then in 2004 we ended up with four undefeated teams, Oklahoma, USC, Auburn, and Utah. That year USC and Oklahoma ended up 1 and 2 and we watched another terrible game with USC blowing out the Sooners 55-19. That year Auburn was clearly the better team with players Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, and Jason Campbell. So what are we going to get this year. Did the BCS get it wrong again this year with LSU and Alabama?
The BCS is obviously a broken system that needs to be changed but will never be because of the money at stake, but it's time to work it out. Every other level of football makes it work and so could Division I A football. And sense my mother taught me to not criticize a system without having a solution here is my proposed solution. We could take the top 16 teams with the top 8 seeds playing on their home fields. The second rounds could be played at neutral sites with one of those sites being one of the four BCS sites. The Semifinals could be played at two of the remaining three BCS sites and the Championship game could be played at the remaining BCS site. The Bowls could rotate the Championship game every year as they do now.
The top two arguments against switching from the current system is that one it would be to many games to play and two the schools and sponsors would lose money. If we added a four game playoff system this would mean the BCS Champs would have played a total of 16 games for most teams and for the ones who have conference championships it would be 17. 16 is the number of games a high school state champion football team would play in a season and also the number of games a team plays in division I-AA football. Also the National Football League has 16 game seasons. Secondly this system would more than likely make more money for the schools and sponsors instead of losing it. A playoff system would mean that more fans could stay optimistic about their team's changes of winning a national title instead of losing interest when their teams lose one or two games in a season. For the top 8 teams the additional home game will bring in extra revenue. The three BCS sites that are not hosting the championship will benefit from this the most because now the games that will be played there will have meaning.
The major question now is what would happen to the money that is made from the countless bowl games? To me this answer is simple still play them. Any team with a .500 record can still be selected to play in a bowl game.
A playoff system will solve all of college football problems. It would take the conversation away from what if and turn it to what actually happened on the field. Teams should not be able to win or be eliminated from the national championship picture due to preseason polls. Its only right that a true champion should have to win the championship on the field instead of winning it on a computer program.
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