Dan Wetzel, writing for Yahoo Sports, has an interesting reaction by some of the power players in college football in the wake of last night's blowout BCS Championship game.
NEW ORLEANS - It was another listless BCS mismatch, Louisiana State not even needing a truly great performance to beat Ohio State 38-24 in a game with little drama after the second quarter; another final frustration in college football's failed championship system.
So it was with renewed hope that two of just such power brokers, two of the sport's most progressive commissioners - Mike Slive of the SEC and John Swofford of the ACC - spoke Monday in fairly bold terms about seriously exploring a "Football Final Four" in the coming months.
They have allies in exploring the possibilities in the Big East, Big 12, all the smaller conferences and, likely, still influential Notre Dame. Not to mention television networks who covet the chance to broadcast a real championship system that would allow the audience to build on itself.
Advocates of a college football playoff system may jump behind this idea as at least a move in the right direction. The "and one" system is not a playoff and given the bazaar season we just had, wouldn't have likely produced the best team in college football.
This system would have had Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma and Kansas vying for the two spots in the final game. Given the final BCS poll and the seeding, this would have produced exactly what we just got.
The final BCS poll's next three spots went to Georgia, USC and Missouri. Many would argue that any of these teams could have won last night's game over either team that was in it.
Of course there is not consensus in this "and one" idea and the big detractors are the usual suspects; according to Wetzel:
Standing in the way, of course, are the obstructionists - the Big Ten, Pac-10 and their corporate partner, the Rose Bowl.
Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen has gone so far as to say he will pull his league out of the BCS if a Plus One is adopted.
Well, Tom Hansen is a blithering idiot. If such a system were in place and he refused to let an undefeated USC or UCLA in, he would be drawn and quartered by the fans. I have no idea why the Big 10 would follow this insanity. The Big 10 hasn't won the Rose Bowl in 8 years and that was Wisconsin.
Though intriguing, the "and one" system is not a solution. I have seen several proposals for a playoff and have to say that right now I like what I call the "sweet 16" system.
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Comments (3)
keep the system just as it ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by jim milano | January 8, 2008 9:57 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
keep the system just as it is we are all happy lsu proved you wrong they are and always was the undisputed champ and will be back
1. Posted by jim milano | January 8, 2008 9:57 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 8, 2008 21:57
2. Posted by Sheik Yur Bouty | January 8, 2008 10:39 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Sorry jim, but having a national "champ" with 2 losses just proves the need for a playoff more than ever!!!!
Every other sport can manage a playoff, even other football divisions. So, why not Div 1-A?
16 team playoff sounds about right. Definitely not less than that.
2. Posted by Sheik Yur Bouty | January 8, 2008 10:39 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 8, 2008 22:39
3. Posted by LenS | January 8, 2008 11:26 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The BCS is better than the old system where we only got a #1 vs. #2 match-up if an independent like Miami, FSU, Penn State or Notre Dame was #1 or #2. And it has managed to give us #1 vs. #2 or #3 most years. But the increasing talent spread in Division 1A is going to give us more years like this one from now on.
A sixteen playoff is a must. The eleven conference champs plus five wild cards would cover all the possibilities. Hold round one using existing bowl games around Christmas. Hold round two using bigger bowls around New Year's. The Rose Bowl could stay on New Year's and guaranteed that if the Big 10 and Pac 10 Champs won the first round, they'd meet in the second round in Pasadena. Most years, both champs would probably make it to the second round since the lesser conference champs would be their first round opponents. Maybe the Sugar Bowl would want an SEC champ in their bracket section. Easily done. Due to Xmas and New Year's being on different days of the week each year, it would be best to skip the weekend after New Year's. That way you could spread the playoff games among different nights without anyone playing two games too close. Besides the NFL tends to dominate that weekend anyway. That would leave just the semifinals to be held in mid-January with the championship game to be the week before the Super Bowl.
This way most teams would be done over the Xmas break. And with most schools having winter seesions or longer Xmas breaks, only the two finalists would have much of a school disruption. That would be much less than March Madness disruptions.
A sixteen team playoff would require 15 games. The last three rounds would require 7 games. Lesser bowls would continue during the playoffs, filling out TV schedules. The extra rounds would take away 14 bowl slots for non-playoff teams. I don't doubt that more bowls would soon appear to fill the gap. Of course, some of the playoff games could be non-affiliated with any current bowls.
The BCS system has been improving ratings. A playoff system would go beyond that and probably create a bidding war. A College Super Bowl would be huge. Lesser conferences would have their shot. No one would care about a Hawaii or Boise State's weaker conference schedule if they won their conference championship game and then won four straight playoff games against top ten teams. Same would go for a wild card team from a major conference.
Besides, a playoff like this would preserve the bowl traditions while reintroducing the idea of competition and winning on the field to Division One. The current system smacks of un-American elitism where only a few ever get a chance to win it all.
3. Posted by LenS | January 8, 2008 11:26 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 8, 2008 23:26