I have always been in favor of a college football playoff for a number of years, but now I am adamant about a playoff for the Football Bowl Subdivision.  Last season and the current season have influenced my position on this subject.  Teams lose their last regular season game and still play in the BCS Championship game.  Come on, please, you call that fair?  I for one don’t!  This year it looks like there will be a number of one loss teams in the mix, and computers will decide who is more deserving.  The system is flawed and my opinion is based upon that fact.  When the season concludes, a real system needs to be utilized to determine a true champion for college football.  The Football Bowl Subdivision needs to adopt the system that the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision has in place.  Follow the lead of your little brother, the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA, to decide championships.  I propose a 16-team playoff to settle the ongoing debate.

There are four main criticisms lobbed at any proposed playoff system: The season would last too long.  A playoff would diminish the traditional bowl games.  It would be too hard to pick the teams.  Regular-season games wouldn’t count anymore.  All of these accusations are baseless in my opinion.  The season doesn’t seem to be too long for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, and travel concerns would be eliminated for fans and players in my proposed playoff system.  The Bowl games would still be used and generate millions in revenue in my formula.  Of course, the regular season would still count and determine if you make the playoffs.  Lastly, I would still use the BCS to seed the teams from 1 to 16.

Well, here is my system, a 16-team tournament field based upon the BCS to decide the seeding.  I would cut the regular season to 11 games including conference championship games.  Get your brackets ready!  The power conferences ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC champions would get automatic bids and be seeded based upon the final BCS rankings.  The smaller Football Bowl Subdivision conference teams would get automatic bids if they are ranked in final BCS standings.  This would include the following conferences: WAC, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt, and Conference USA.   Just like the wildly popular and profitable NCAA mens basketball tournament, Cinderellas like Utah would be in, others would be on the bubble.  This year it looks like three non-BCS conferences would qualify for the playoff.  Utah, Boise State, and Ball State from the MWC, WAC, and MAC, respectively, would still have their dream season alive.  The rest would get at-large bids based upon their BCS rankings.  This would equal 7 at-large teams for the 2008 season.  Big 12 South teams Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech will in all likelihood tie for the division champion if Texas Tech loses at Oklahoma next week.  The winner will be decided upon some crazy tie breaker.  Under my system the two unlucky teams would not be left out and would receive at-large bids.

My system uses home games for the higher seeds in the first round.  We can keep the BCS Bowls. We’ll just make them the 7 games after the first round to keep the Bowl traditions and revenue.  The Cotton Bowl, Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl could host the second round games on neutral sites.  The Semi-finals would be played at the Orange and Sugar Bowls.  Then you would have a College Football Championship Final at the Rose Bowl to determine the real champion of the Football Bowl Subdivision.  I would rotate the big four: Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Rose Bowl games each year between the second round,  Semi-finals, and the Finals.

I would suggest the first two rounds be played in December, breaking for final exams and staging the semifinals just after Christmas.  The title game would then be played in early January.  The college football playoffs would have a chance to rival the NFL playoffs (Super Bowl included) as the biggest sporting event in the country.  It would capture the attention of the nation!   Imagine, number 7 seed Utah, hosting 10th seeded Georgia in the first round!  There you have it.  It wasn’t that hard to figure out, NCAA bureaucrats!

By Wayde in Sports