College Football is Really Messed Up and It Will Get Worse - Solution.

[SoCalDukeFan]

Multi division conferences and other quirks have created the following this year:

1. UCLA lost to Stanford yesterday. Next Friday UCLA plays Stanford for the Pac 12 Title. Had UCLA lost, they would have had to go to Oregon.

2. If Georgia Tech beats FSU, they get the Orange Bowl, if they lose, probably no Bowl. They are bowl eligible now but have to play in the ACC Championship game only because Miami and UNC-CH can't. In other words, if Miami and UNC-CH were not cheaters, Georgia Tech would be in a bowl.

If Notre Dame had lost yesterday, then BCS would probably be choosing between Oregon and Florida to play the winner of the SEC Title Game. Oregon and Florida can not lose their conference title game because they are not playing in it.

The problem is that the selection criteria penalizes teams for losing, especially late in the season, and does not reward winner. Going to four teams will probably make it worse.

In my opinion

1. If your conference has a championship game, then only participants in that game should be eligible for the BCS Championship game or the 4 teams tournament. So Alabama would have been out last year. They actually got rewarded for losing to LSU in the regular season last year.

2. If you play in a conference championship game then you are bowl eligible regardless of your won loss record.

I would actually like to see only conference champions and independents eligible for the BCS game and the 4 team tournament but the SEC would not allow that.

SoCal

[kingboozer]

I hate the current system and while the 4 team playoff will be better, I don't think it's enough. How about a 24 team playoff like FCS starts up next season? 80% of the bowls are snoozers anyway...

[sporthenry]

I hate the current system and while the 4 team playoff will be better, I don't think it's enough. How about a 24 team playoff like FCS starts up next season? 80% of the bowls are snoozers anyway...

24 is too many and how would it work? Would teams get a bye? It should be 8 teams. This year, you could theoretically be outside the top 4 and have a shot. In no year should anyone be outside the top 8 and have any gripe about not being in the tourney. It is like Bilas says about the NCAAT, sure we complain about team 34 and team 35 but at the end of the day, we're only worried about the last team standing which more likely than not won't be the 68th team in the field.

As far as going forward, if they get to the 4 super conferences, then you have 8 teams in a division. You play 7 games against your division and winner of the division goes to conference title game. You can have 3-4 more games which are irrelevant to division standings.

The one thing with 24 is that it becomes too long. 8 would already be pushing it but the first round would be conference championships so that would take place in early December. Then you can have another game mid to late December and your championship in early January.

[Kedsy]

It is like Bilas says about the NCAAT, sure we complain about team 34 and team 35 but at the end of the day, we're only worried about the last team standing which more likely than not won't be the 68th team in the field.

Except that theory has been proved wrong by recent evidence. In 2011, VCU was one of the last teams in (quite possibly the last team in) and they made the Final Four. Similar situation for George Mason in 2006.

[sporthenry]

Except that theory has been proved wrong by recent evidence. In 2011, VCU was one of the last teams in (quite possibly the last team in) and they made the Final Four. Similar situation for George Mason in 2006.

But they didn't win and they both lost in the FF. Mason wasn't the last one in and still lost by 15 in the FF. And in basketball, with 30 games, you have more of a chance to separate yourself. In football, it takes one play to effectively end your title hopes. In basketball, if you are so good, then you'll get an At Large bid. I think 8 football teams would take you to that point where either you have all the contenders or the 9th team left out will only have itself to look at.

In 2011, VCU lost to Tennessee, Richmond, South Florida, UAB, Georgia State, Northeaster, ODU, GMU, Drexel and JMU. If they didn't get in, they can't point to one catch, one play on the goal line (where the ball may or may not have crossed the goal line), etc.

[Wander]

The actual solution is do what every single other team sport in the country does. Sixteen team playoff, which includes the 11 conference champions and 5 at-large bids. And while you could figure out a way to work the bowls into a playoff bracket, I'd rather tell them to go screw themselves. The higher seeds get home field advantage, which takes advantage of the college stadiums and campuses which is one of the coolest parts of the sport anyway. Except the championship is on a neutral site. Maybe the Rose Bowl every year or every other year - that's the only bowl that has any actual tradition anyway.

I'll further note that (a) a 16 team playoff would still keep college football as the most exclusive postseason of any American team sport, and (b) the recent undefeated Boise State and Utah squads would have been locked out of a four team playoff.


Of course, I know what I'm proposing won't ever happen. But that's the ideal solution.

[moonpie23]

And while you could figure out a way to work the bowls into a playoff bracket, I'd rather tell them to go screw themselves.

that's a BIG 10-4 there good buddy....those clowns have been clinging to the money for too long now...let em eat cake...