When it comes to the NCAA Division I football national championship, the holidays collectively have been a time to debate the fairness of the Bull Crap Series, errr, umm, Bowl Championship Series. Alas, this is the final time we get to fight over the BCS. I won't say Auburn and Florida State aren't deserving to play for the national title. I'll stop short of calling the Fighting Jimbo Fishers a juggernaut, but they've proven themselves efficient in almost all phases of their game.
Consider...really, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl is still a thing? Why? Seriously, why? The matchup of East Carolina and Ohio (not State) isn't exactly a barnburner. The fact that GoDaddy.com manages to get a somewhat plum bowl spot the day before the BCS championship game is befuddling. Except that it's GoDaddy, with horrible cheesy commercials (yep, looking at you Danica Patrick) and it's only Arkansas State and Ball State. (Of course, if Texas State had finished strong and been invited to this bowl, I'd so be there. Screw work. ) How can Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl be a reward to anybody? Detroit, day after Christmas -- enough said. And how many bowl games are there now...106?
Don't hate the program, hate the current system. That's been my feeling. It's been the feeling of many NCAA FBS college football fans. Next year we shall see the unveiling of a sort of overdue Division I college football "playoff system." A semblance if you will. But it's fun to ponder "what ifs" -- what if a computer didn't help to arbitrarily determine the two teams that'll play for a national championship this year. What if an actual - trumpets sounding - tournament existed?
The “powers that be” that help to determine BCS and non-BCS bowl contestants are primarily television executives and power conference presidents who only want to see and sell sex when it comes to bowl games. They'd rather arbitrarily pair two traditional powerhouses via a computer rather than let rising star schools settle such questions where it truly counts: on the playing field. Just like virtually every other level of sport. Wow. What a startling concept. Even the Kazahkistani kick-goathead league has a playoff. I’ve won some money there. I've lost a lot more there. Without the NCAA basketball tournament, schools like George Mason and Butler likely would have never made it to the Final Four. You see Gonzagas and Marquettes make their mark on the national scene. Without the College World Series, schools like Cal State-Fullerton and Long Beach State -- not so much a Texas or USC -- get to shine and quite often.
In most existing playoff systems/postseason tournaments, the most "deserving" teams make the playoffs, not necessarily the ones picked "the best." There's a difference. We can debate all we want about good losses, bad losses, strength of schedule, etc., during the regular season, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty to determine an absolute champion, why not go the way of a tournament?
Well, we won’t waste further time going into the minds of those myopically opposed to a NCAA Division I tournament of some kind. Even the “bowl games are a tradition” and “schools will lose money” and “you can’t make the student-athletes play that long or late into January” philosophies. Or that December playoffs would screw with students studying for finals. Welp, a tournament hasn't hurt FCS or Division II or III or NAIA schools. None of those arguments really work. Never did, never will. Some say the BCS hasn't been perfect, but it’s been a start.
So, what if a semi-comprehensive playoff system did exist for college football? My goodness, what fun that’d be. OK, let’s use the almost dead-BCS as a springboard. This is what I'd do to create a 16-team tournament. You start with automatic champions from FBS (Football Championship Series) conferences (regular-season champs and/or championship game victors). There is the thought that if an annual playoff system is allowed to mature, conference championship games might become relevant. That's fine. Until then let's play with what we have.
If there are co-champions, it’s up to the affected conference to determine who gets what we’ll call an FBS bid. You could combine the final regular season total average poll ranking with regular-season head-to-head outcomes for a tie-breaker. (Sound unfair? Good. You get to retain some semblance of unfairness in the process of arriving at a final national champion)
You could average the rankings of the AP, ESPN, USA Today, Harris, Legends and Coaches' polls, emphasizing which schools get the most place votes and arrive at a final aggregate Top 25 poll (a de facto BCS ranking system, if you will, without the computer interference). Those are arguably the strongest, long-standing, most popular and credible of Division I polls.
Here’s what a final 2013 FBS aggregate poll would look like, with current conference titleholder status and final regular season record:
1. Florida State (13-0 ACC champion)
2. Auburn (12-1 SEC champion)
3. Alabama (11-1)
4. Michigan State (12-1 Big 10 champion)
5. Stanford (11-2 Pac-12 champion)
6. Baylor (11-1 Big 12 champion)
7. Ohio State (12-1)
8. South Carolina (10-2)
9. Missouri (11-2)
10. Oregon (10-2)
11. Oklahoma (10-2)
12. Clemson (10-2)
13. Oklahoma State (10-2)
14. LSU (9-3)
15. UCF (11-1 American Athletic champion)
16. Louisville (11-1)
17. Arizona State (10-3)
18. UCLA (9-3)
19. Wisconsin (9-3)
20. Fresno State (11-1 Mountain West champion)
21. Texas A&M (8-4)
22. Duke (10-3)
23. Georgia (8-4)
24. Northern Illinois (12-1)
25. Miami, FL. (9-3)
Rice (10-3 Conference USA champion)
Bowling Green (10-3 MAC champion)
Louisiana-Lafayette & Arkansas State (8-4 & 7-5 co-Sun Belt champions)
Ultimately, FBS automatic bids would go to Florida State, Auburn, Michigan State, Stanford, Baylor, Central Florida, Fresno State, Rice, Bowling Green, and Louisiana-Lafayette. (Hey, it's my tournament and seeing co-champs in the Sun Belt, tiebreaker goes to the overall winningest school, ULL.)
You add the top independent team ranked high enough overall in polls for an FBS bid and/or four (or five) other highest-ranked schools, overall in polls. So this year these schools get an at-large bid: Alabama, Ohio State, South Carolina, Missouri, Oregon and Oklahoma.
The ultimate FBS tournament seedings in a 16 vs. 1, 15 vs. 2, 14, vs. 3, etc. format would be:
1. Florida State
2. Auburn
3. Alabama
4. Michigan State
5. Stanford
6. Baylor
7. Ohio State
8. South Carolina
9. Missouri
10. Oregon
11. Oklahoma
12. UCF
13. Fresno State
14. Bowling Green
15. Rice
16. ULL
Take into account the oldest, popular, most lucrative, traditional bowls and mix in some regional flair and considerate schedules. You can keep some of the best bowls. I mean, really. The glut of bowls is ludicrous. More and more are added each year, some from inauspicious sponsors. Heart of Dallas Bowl, that standard-bearer of non-BCS bowl games, this year has...meh, who gives a crap. Famous Idaho Potato Bowl features powerhouses Buffalo and San Diego State...in Boise. OH MY GOD, YES. Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl. Sure, could be a nice game...but...what the heck is Royal Purple? At first, I thought it was Royal Crown and then it'd have my total attention.
All joking aside, use 15 of those prestigious, richest, most famous (i.e. powerful, established) bowls as the FBS bowl matches. All other bowls, may remain independent and ongoing aside from the FBS contests, some may provide comedic fodder to those of us snarkiest bunches on Twitter. No changes needed there.
Rotate the FBS bowls as quarterfinal, semifinal and final games, all of which could retain and maybe even increase the number of ticket-buyers, TV viewers and payouts. One reason? There’s even greater incentive to play in such a bowl. Not just one bowl. But a series of true head-to-head games where all the conference champions (not just the typical, known powerhouses) and other top-ranked squads have a genuine (and fair) shot at an undisputed national title. Throw in serious regional considerations and, voila. Imagine that!
The younger, Decemberish bowls host quarterfinals on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, given this year’s calendar: 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, 3 vs. 14, 4 vs. 13, 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, and 8 vs. 9.
December 17
Bowling Green vs. Alabama -- Advocare V100 Independence Bowl; Shreveport
Fresno St. vs. Michigan St. -- Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (Insight, Copper, whatever else it used to be); Tempe
Dec. 18
ULL vs. Florida State - Chick-Fil-A (Peach) Bowl, Atlanta
Stanford vs. UCF -- Hyundai Sun Bowl, El Paso
Dec. 19
Missouri vs. South Carolina -- Taxslayer.com (Taxslayer.com?) Gator Bowl, Jacksonville
Baylor vs. Oklahoma -- Valero Alamo Bowl, San Antonio
Dec. 20
Rice vs. Auburn - -- AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Memphis
Oregon vs. Ohio State -- National University Holiday Bowl, San Diego
Probable winners?
Florida State, Michigan State, Alabama, Stanford, South Carolina, Baylor, Auburn, Oregon
More bowls in following week's semifinals (two on Christmas Eve, two the day after Christmas) involve 1-16 vs. 8-9; 5-12 vs. 4-13; 6-11 vs. 3-14; 7-10 vs. 2-15.
Dec. 24
South Carolina vs. Florida State -- Capital One (Citrus) Bowl, Orlando
Baylor vs. Alabama -- AT&T Cotton Bowl, Dallas
Dec. 26
Michigan State vs. Stanford -- Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Oregon vs. Auburn -- Outback Bowl, Tampa
Probable winners?
Florida State, Baylor, Michigan State, Auburn
Final Four of sorts/Wednesday, Jan. 1
Michigan St. vs. Florida St. -- Sugar Bowl, New Orleans
Baylor vs. Auburn -- Orange Bowl, Miami
Championship game, Tuesday, Jan. 7
Florida St. vs. Auburn -- Fiesta Bowl, Tempe
Hey, how about that. Who wins? Well, let this unfold in reality. To those naysayers, I say: screw war, health care and the national debt, let’s have some MACtion.
