A Fair and Simple Playoff Solution

It's ironic.



I thought, when the whole BCS mess started all of those years ago, that the idea was to take the decision of who should be named the national champion in college football out of the hands of those who vote in the polls. They said they were making a formula that would determine, mathematically, the top two teams in the nation, and let those two teams play each other to decide the national title on the field. Do you remember? They had the polls (AP and USA Today) as one component, the average computer ranking as another. They had strength of schedule. They had margin of victory. They had the number of losses on the field.



It might have been fine if they had just been able to stick with one formula. But, as always, greed got in the way-- greed and gnashing of teeth from TV network honchos who paid big money for televising rights, but were being forced to present national championship matchups that the average viewer did not perceive as being between the two best teams.



So, they tweaked. Penalizing teams for actual losses made it too easy for undefeated non-BCS schools to crash the party, so out that component went. Margin of victory? That never should have been in there in the first place, so it was easy to throw that component out. Strength of schedule? See ya! (Well, it's sorf of still there...)



And we're right back to a system where the main factor in determining the participants in the Bowl Championship Series is the polls. A couple of years ago, the prestigious Associated Press poll disassociated itself from the BCS, so we now have the USA Today poll and the Harris Interactive Poll, whatever that is. I mean, who really uses that; who refers to it, even in passing? Yet, this poll is one-third of the system that determines the BCS championship game matchup.



Only this year, they got it all wrong. And, no one in the BCS is showing any shame. But, they never have been the types to admit that they are wrong about something, now have they? Texas defeated Oklahoma on the field. If you eliminate Texas Tech from consideration because of their lopsided defeat at the hands of Oklahoma-- I'm not saying you should, but if you do-- and if you narrow the choice down to just the Sooner and just the Longhorns, then you must do the right thing and reward the team that won the head-to-head matchup. I'd hate to be Mack Brown, right now. How do you tell your kids that the team they beat earlier in the season has a chance to play for the national title, and they (the Longhorns) do not?



The only thing that can spare us from enduring this tragedy would be if Missouri can, somehow, upset Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game. That would open the door for Texas (or USC) to meet the SEC champion in the BCS title game. Still, that would not be enough. Travesties like this one are happening almost every college football season. It's time to institute a national playoff, put all of the posturing, gesturing, politicking, lobbying, and spin doctoring aside and let the best teams in the nation square off and settle things on the field.



The current system is unfair. It is unfair because the student-athletes from all of the schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision do not have equal access to the Bowl Championship Series. If the presidents of the non-BCS schools had any gumption, at all, they would have sued the BCS and its member schools, instead of accepting the crumbs the BCS wound up offering. It's a case that would have easily been won, if Title IX is any indication, which really makes you wonder just how much money the BCS pushed under the table to squelch talk about a lawsuit, just when the outcry for fairness started to get loud...



It wouldn't be hard to devise a fair playoff system. I am actually, like Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, a proponent of a 64-team national playoff. (But, that is an argument for another day.) I would still be quite happy, however, with 16 teams going to football's Big Dance. My formula? Take the champions of the 11 Division 1-A conferences and invite the five best at-large teams. Notre Dame and the other independents could automatically qualify if it finished the regular season ranked in the Top 12.



This year, that would mean Virginia Tech or Boston College (ACC), Cincinnati (Big East), Alabama or Florida (SEC), Penn St. (Big 10), Texas (Big 12), and (likely) USC (PAC 10) would advance from the six "major" conferences. Joining them in the playoff would be champions Utah (MWC), Boise St. (WAC), Tulsa or East Carolina (C-USA), Ball St. or Buffalo (MAC), and Troy (SBC). The five at-large teams could be Oklahoma, the Alabama-Florida loser, Texas Tech, Ohio St., and TCU.