Playoffs... In College

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the month break from posts. I promise the next posts won't be so spread out. I'm preparing my next post about the beginning of the Formula 1 season, which will be finished in about 2 weeks.

It's been almost 3 months since the BCS in College Football and everyone currently is immersed in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament. A vast majority, including the President of the United States, has expressed the need for a playoff in College Basketball. I hear people all the time saying we need a playoff, but no one has a solution. I wrote a paper on how the BCS can still be intact, still use their formula, and have a true playoff. I don't have the length to have the entire paper, but these are some excerpts.

The Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, began in 1998 and it consists of five prestigious bowl games at the end of a Division I College Football Season. The Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, and Rose Bowls are the four bowl games that are played on New Year’s Day or after and the National Championship game is played one week after the previous bowl game that venue hosted. The National Championship game alternates between the locations of the four bowl games mentioned earlier. This past season, the National Championship game was played in Miami, Florida, which was the same venue as the Orange Bowl.

The BCS started when there was confusion over who was really the national champion. The BCS’ goal is to guarantee a game where the #1 and #2 teams in the country play against each other in order to have a National Championship game. Before 1998, the top two ranked teams rarely played at the end of the year because of time tested traditions on what conferences played in what prestigious bowl game. The Rose is played by the Big Ten and Pac 10 champions, the Sugar is played by the SEC champion, the Orange is played by the ACC champion, and the Fiesta is played by the Big 12 champion. The Big East champion and 4 other teams are also included. Now since there's a seperate National Championship Game, at-large teams play in the game where that Conference Champion was supposed to play.

How the teams are chosen is that 6 computers perform a ranking of each team. The top and bottom result is thrown out and the 4 results are averaged by 100. That's 1/3 of the result. The Harris Interactive Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll each take 1/3. People rank what they think are the top 25 teams. 1st gets 25 points, 2nd gets 24 and so forth. The total score a team has is divided by the total possible points and all 3 results are added together to get the final result. The goal is to have a ranking that is closest to 1. Ten teams are chosen and these games are wanted because schools get at least $14 million for an appearance. 10 teams are chosen and 6 are automatic bids given to the champion of the 6 BCS Conferences. The other four are at-large bids and there is specific criteria that each team have to comply to get in. It's easier for a team from a BCS conference and Notre Dame, who's an Independent. It's much harder for these non BCS teams (like Utah and Boise State)to get an invite.

I also listed the controversies and big money involved in the BCS, but ESPN goes into so much depth with that (especially the controversies) that it would be redundant and so many to list.

My system would not be like the NCAA Tournament where there are 65 teams. This would be a 16 team playoff. There can still be a BCS and we can still use the formula. The first thing is to get rid of Automatic Bids. The top 16 teams at the end of the season BCS Standings play with 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15 and so forth. To deal with so many games, we could get rid of one Non-Conference game in the regular season. Usually these games are played against bad teams and no one outside of their fans really care to watch. This also won't prevent the student-athletes from schoolwork because the playoffs will be played in December and January and schools typically go on semester break at least a few days before the first round.

The first round will be a home game for the top 8 seeds and will be played on the Saturday before Christmas. If Christmas falls on a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, the games will be played the second Saturday before Christmas. That means the first round will be played on a date between December 15 and December 21.

The winners will advance and we start to go to neutral sites. We'll use the sites from the BCS games and actually play the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowl in the second round. This way, the traditional bowl games can still have the best teams playing. Two sites will alternate hosting the third round every other year and all four sites will alternate hosting the National Championship Game every four years just like now.

The second round (or Elite Eight) will take place the Saturday before New Year’s Day. If New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, the games will be played the second Saturday before New Year’s Day. That means the first round will be played on a date between December 22 and December 27.

The third round (or Final Four) will take place on New Year's Day. The National Championship final will be played around one week after New Year’s Day which would be January 8 or a more suitable date more than five days after the third round games and less than ten days after the second round games.

I know it is a little tedius to read and a little complicated, but I trully believe this is the best system proposed right now. The ideal date for the National Championship Game in this system is January 8. Last year's National Championship Game was on January 8. So this system will not extend the season like people against a system sometimes say. Also, with more games, there would be more revenue money for all who are associated. I'm pretty sure President Obama doesn't read my blog, but Mr. President, I know having a playoff in College Football is important to you and you have many other serious things to take care of at the moment. Create a position in your cabinet for Secretary of Sport and appoint me so we could get the ball rolling to save College Football.