Bowl Championship Series
How about a simplified playoff that respects tradition?
Here is how it would work. No more announcing who the BCS and Championship players are at the same time. Instead slightly revise the current system as follows. Rose Bowl is between the PAC 10 and Big 10 champs, no runner up, the conference champs only. Fiesta is Big 12 vs TBD, Sugar is SEC vs TBD, Orange is ACC vs TBD. The Big East Champ would play in one of the three bowls (so far little new) and the other 2 would be filled by a winner of the other bowls who also won in their respective conference. This would create two wild cards for the remaining 2 games.
Eight teams, 6 as champs in the current BCS conferences and 2 wild cards. Notre Dame currently gets an automatic slot if in the top 8. In this scenerio they would also have to win a bowl in post season play.
This would do several very good things but not reshuffle the deck in such a way as the powers that be would have cause to refuse it. Indeed they might just love it! Instead of the Rose Bowl having to settle for 2nd best in the Big 10 they still get USC vs Ohio State and the winner might just get the Championship as well. The wild cards would be the teams who won their conference and bowl and (if more than 2) use some computerized formula regarding win/loss ratio and ranking. Once the 4 bowls reduce the 8 teams to 4 you have 2 final games. Winner of Sugar and Orange play in the “Tang” (sugar with orange flavor) bowl and the winners of the Rose and Fiesta play another. Both “finals” are just a week later after the BCS bowls are done. Then, the Championship is between the 2 still standing. With this system you add only one game for a few and 2 games for a couple of teams. By mid-January you have a Champion who earned it!
Perhaps this limits the access of teams not in the 6 automatic conferences but those conferences control the BCS and they will never choose an outsider without this system. With this system you don’t create a long second season which would take away significantly from the NCAA’s academic goals. It allows a Hawaii (or Boise State or Fresno State or whoever is the phenomenen of the year) to go all the way and win against all comers. For fans of any of the teams in the 6 BCS conferences it allows your champion to win the national title regardless of a single loss.