FanNation - The Republic of Sport

you said it...all this comes down to is money. there is no playoff system because of the money. NCAA is as corrupt an entity as there is in the world and they hold hostage all college football fans because we are too stupid to stop watching and buying their goods and continuing to line their pockets to really FORCE them into changing a system that isn't designed (or even attempting to) crown a true champion. the only way their system works is if one team has a great year and goes undefeated and even Hawaii and Boise St. are proving that that still isn't enough.

Missouri is 11-2 not 11-1, BUT they should be in instead of Kansas.

Looks like you updated your article

Missouri should be in ahead of Kansas. It should also be in ahead of Illinois, another BCS-bound team that fell to the Tigers.

Can you go talk to Mandel? He seems to think this hostage situation is a good thing in the name of Rose Bowl tradition.

Go back to 11 games (12 games for commisioner-challenged conferences with championship games). Eight Team playoff starts 2nd week in December and concludes with the championship on New Years Day. Bowls continue to rotate hosting the championship game. It's really that easy. "Plus One" just sounds stupid to me and still doesn't start the playoff to after Jan.1 which is a total waste of time. No one needs a ridiculous Rose Bowl Parade. Our entertainment needs have changed over the last 90 years.

One problem: it's not "The Rose Bowl Parade". It's The Tournament of Roses Parade. The game was added in 1902, I believe. So, there would be a parade whether there was a game or not. My point is, who needs the game?

Simple solution to make fair playoffs: Only allow one team per conference. No at-large bids. Begin this Saturday - end by New Years Day. Seeds based on BCS standing.

Let the at-large teams fill the bowls, similar to hoops' NIT games.

A plus one model will not solve anything, in fact everything will just as chaotic and controversial. Heres a better proposal

http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/84976

This link will tell you the right way to have a college playoff, keep the bowls intact, and make everybody happy. This proposal is better than a plus one model or the idea of a 16 team playoff

I think Lex is right. Choosing at large teams will become just as big of a war. Maybe those two will have to be from non-BCS conferences and will be first round fodder for the top two teams. This would probably cause the stupid "super conferences" to reduce their size and spin off new conferences so teams have a better chance of making the tournament. It's the right direction though. If you can't call yourself a conference champion, there should be no way in the world to be considered national champion.

I suggest that the BCS rankings and tradition can go hand-in-hand to bring back the grandeur and rivalry the bowls had in the ???good ole days.??? I propose restoring the Big Ten vs. Pac 10 rivalry. The highest ranked team from each conference would play each other in the Rose Bowl. Following this, lock in the other BCS conference champions to bowls. The Big 12 winner would face the winner from the ACC in the Fiesta Bowl; the Big East champ meets the SEC champ in the Sugar Bowl; and lastly the Orange Bowl will be left for the next two best teams who do not qualify as a conference champion.
This proposal would slightly alter what must playoff ideas put forth with the ???16-team format.??? I???ve made it so there are just four teams remaining in the race for the title, while honoring tradition and respecting college presidents??? concerns. The four teams left after the bowls have been played will then meet in an elimination playoff creating a championship that is truly a championship.

Here is a playoff system that will work. 128 teams start the first week of August. The second round would be 64 teams. Everybody else wait until bowl time in December.
Labor Day Football Extravaganza with 32 teams. Then there is a bye for everybody till the first of November. The Sweet Sixteen begins until it is pared down on Thanksgiving Day to the top 2 teams. Beginning the first Saturday in December, the bowls begin with all the previous 126 losers. A Bowl game will be played each day for 63 straight days. Nothing will be played on January the First because of the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Everything culminates on January 21st with the two very, very best teams of the year in a clash of monumental proportion that no college fan could ever dispute it's collosal historical importance.
In order to begin the process, Ohio State football Coach Jim Tressel and LSU's Head Coach, Les Miles should stand at midfield in the Superdome prior to the National Championship Game and say in unison, "We're so sorry that we are here. We know that we are not worthy. We will try to get it over as quickly as we can. Please accept our humble apology. Good night.

Most problems people have with a playoff have to do with thinking about it with the way the current regular season works, and the way current rankings work. So there's not enough time, etc. For a playoff, why not change/shorten the regular season? Why must teams play, for the most part, 3 cupcake games to start the year? Get rid of these, and you can have a playoff.

It's very simple, but all the solutions most everybody comes up with involves keeping the current regular season and BCS rankings, but if you just slightly change those, while still keeping rivalries and traditions and even bowls, you can have a playoff.

If interested, see my fix at:
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/85176?new=
true

I know I'm not an expert, but why not? Thoughts....

http://strayvoltage.blogspot.com/2006/11/plus-one-bad-idea.html

Here's the problem with "plus 1":
1998: Tennessee beats FSU, only undefeated team left standing. Who's their "plus one"?
1999: FSU beats VT, only undefeated team left standing. Who's their "plus one"?
2000: OU beats FSU, only undefeated team left standing. Who's their "plus one"?
2001: Miami beats Nebraska, only undefeated team left standing. Who's their "plus one"?
2002: Ohio St beats Miami, only undefeated team left standing. Who's their "plus one"?
2003: USC, OU, and LSU both have one loss, BCS rules says OU plays LSU. USC whines because they're #1 in the polls, so the country whines with them.
2004: OU, USC, Auburn (oh yeah, AND Utah) all unbeaten, Auburn whines because they're left out, so the country whines with them.
2005: Texas beats USC, only undefeated team left standing. Who's their "plus one"?

So, out of all the years of the BCS, we've had 2 years with real complaints once everything was played.

The *real* problem with the BCS is that they kept tinkering with the formula to try and make their formula match what all the opinion-makers in the media were saying, thus the bonus points for winning your conference (in response to Nebraska playing in 2001 evern though they didn't win the Big XII). Or the bonus points for "quality wins" after Miami beat FSU head-to-head and got passed over in 2000.
If the BCS had stuck to their guns from the start and said "that's our formula and we'll re-evaluate next time the contract is up" then 90% of the whining would be gone. People whine because they know the BCS listens.

This is a minor thing, but it bothers me to no end. Why do the writers and reporter in the media, the NCAA, the individual schools as well as many of us fans continue to call the winner of the BCS game the National Champions. There has never been a National Champion of (former) Division I-A college football and until we get a playoff, the won't be one.

I did a quick google on football national champions and I think I counted 51 years where there was more than one champion.You can't have more than one National Champion! In 1935, there were FOUR of them. When you look up the same for basketball, guess how many years there were multiple National Champions? That's right, zero.Let's call them what they are. You can be BCS Champion, the AP Champion etc...just not the National Champions. This really struck me a couple years ago when USC (and I actually like USC) was walking around claiming to be two time defending National Champs and I remembered LSU winning the BCS two years before. Of course, USC got the AP vote that year which I had forgotten, but that was never pointed out going into the Texas game.

Now your first thought might be, how is that going to make the BCS better? You have to remember our target audience for this. College Presidents. These are the same people who think that calling their division I-A and I-AA is somehow offensive and having a Native American Mascot is a major crime against humanity. Something as stupid as this might actually work.

Look folks...what you all seem to forget when you talk about this playoff system and games running continually througout the end of the year is that these KIDS are actually in SCHOOL. Granted, many of them hope to go on to the NFL, but the percentage of those who will actually go pro and those who will go on to get jobs in the real world is much lower. Continual football means no time for studies, finals and family. I JONES FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL during the off season, but I'm also a parent and understand the bigger picture. Not only that, but it's like Archie Griffin said...why would the sport want to fix a system that causes so much controversy. Look at us all, talking about it, blogging about it, etc. It's a beautiful thing. Got to dig that college football.

What you all seem to forget with the never-ending playoff system is that these KIDS are in SCHOOL. I know they all want to go pro, but let's face it the percentages are low. So what you propose is that they give up studying, finals, a reall future, etc. for a system that will make you all feel better and stop crying in your pillows. There's no crying in football. Get over it. The system that causes so much controversy...causes so much interest. Archie was right, why change it when we're all interested week after week and claiming wins decades later because a player was "ineligible" or was he. It's awesome! GO BUCKS...GO BIG TEN!!...where football is still football and not a press junket to warmer climates with coaches who have "Breck Girl" hair.

You said it well, Austin!
Every other sport on every level has figured out a way to conduct a playoff without impacting "finals" or "tradition". Are we all just deluding ourselves that it's not about the MONEY!!!! C'mon!!!!!!

It's a true shame that the ONLY undefeated team will not even have the opportunity to play for the "Championship" (I use that term VERY,VERY loosely).

Pac Ten commissioner Tom Hansen also insures Pac Ten referees oversee all Pac Ten home games. Like these guys ever play fair. If computers determine the BCS then I would like to know WHO programs the computers. It is obvious that politics has corrupted the system. Whenever money and humans are involved, corruption is ALWAYS present. I am a huge college football supporter but, the time is quickly coming when I simply don't care anymore. It's obvious what needs to happen but it will only change when fans can unite, if just for a brief time, to tell the NCAA, this is what we want to see. The arrogance of the NCAA and the system only responds to one thing.....MONEY!!!!

Oh, and by the way Football Junkie, you obviously don't have a clue about the graduation statistics among Division I football players? As a former Div I athlete and I can tell you that a couple of extra games wouldn't matter when it comes to education. The NCAA isn't in the business of education, they are in the money business. You can name call like a six year old on a school playground, but this is an adult debate.....