Disclaimer: This article has nothing to do with Baselodge Group’s business. My friends and clients who read this blog will forgive me this diversion from work. I am a passionate college football fan, and I want to use this podium to express my thoughts. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Texas Ex and ardent Longhorn supporter. However, I believe that the desire for a playoff crosses all affiliations and allegiances. The timing of this article is that as I write, we are about to begin the bowl season and we are a few days before the conference championship games. The timing is right for me to think it all through.
Tradition
Tradition is powerful and often good. Sometimes, though, tradition prevents progress. In the case of college football (Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Div. 1-A), tradition is both good and bad. Tradition can make the hair stand up on the neck when it intersects with the passion of the fan. When it comes to selecting a national champion, however, our tradition is just bad. It has always been bad. When I was a kid I remember being so confused about who the national champion was each year. Split national championships were commonplace. How can you have two teams both crowned national champion? The same way you can have two heavyweight boxing champions. If there is not some definitive body that declares a champion, do you really have one? In all other collegiate sports (including Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Div. 1-AA) that definitive body is the NCAA. They crown the national champions and everyone recognizes it. When it comes to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), however, we have always had to accept an MNC – Mythical National Champion. Think about that for a little while. Mythical.
Why does the NCAA not crown a champion in the Football Bowl Subdivision? The answer is in the second word – “bowl.” Why do we have bowls? As Tevye would say: “Tradition!” Without going back to research the genesis of the bowl system and why things started that way, let me just say that I am sure there were good reasons for it and I am sure it has done a lot of good things. However, when tradition holds us back, it is time to make some new traditions. That is exactly what we must do.
You Don’t Like Bowls?
I just love college football. I will watch almost every bowl again this year. The only ones I won’t watch are the minor ones if I have a conflict. My son, Matt, and I agree with the Capital One jingle that bowl season is “the most wonderful time of the year.” It’s just that the bowl system does not produce a true national champion. Even with the BCS it still only produces a mythical national champion. It is time to create a true playoff while maintaining as much of the current bowl tradition as we can. The parts of the bowl system that cannot be maintained traditionally will just have to change. Like children, bowls are resilient and will adapt. Some of the changes may involve bowls being played on non-traditional dates. Big deal. I have been to the Rose Bowl twice, the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the Holiday Bowl twice. I don’t remember or care the exact date of those games.
So, before I launch into my proposed system, let me reiterate that some of our bowl system traditions will have to change. A large part of it can be maintained, however, and the new traditions that will be established will, in time, be even more powerful and cherished.
8 Teams or 16 Teams?
Generally the more the merrier for playoff systems, but given the challenge of implementing a playoff in the current FBS, I am proposing an 8 team playoff to start. In fact, the FCS did not begin with its current 16 team format. They began incrementally with a 4 team playoff in 1978 and expanded it to 8 teams in 1981. The current 16 team format was adopted in 1986. Just for the record, in a 16 team playoff the first round could be hosted by the higher seeded team like the FCS handles their first 2 rounds.
How do we select the 8 teams? While I hate the current BCS system, we can at least start with them to propose this playoff scenario. How likely is it that the best team in 2008 is one of the top 8 teams? Pretty likely. I am certain that the best team in the country is one of the top 16 teams, but let’s stick with the current top 8. As of this writing, which is before the conference championship games in the Big 12, SEC, and ACC, the top 8 teams are as follows:
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Texas
- Florida
- USC
- Utah
- Texas Tech
- Penn State
I propose doing away with the conference championship games. This is not integral to my plan, but it helps with the calendar and planning to do away with these three games.
Before I deal with where and when these 8 teams would play, let me discuss the other teams that are not in the top 8. In the current bowl system there are 34 bowls scheduled to be played in 2008. That means 68 teams will get to play one final game after their regular season. In an 8 team playoff, teams ranked 9-68 (as an example) will still play in bowls. I realize that the BCS Standings only go through #25, but current conference tie-ins can still be maintained and the precious bowl committee members with their goofy blazers can still get to make trips, feel important, and extend bowl invitations to the schools of their choice. Listen, if Florida State (#25) plays Michigan State (#21) in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, I will still watch it even though the top 8 are going to be playing it off to determine a champion. The Sun Bowl is still college football.
Here is my proposal for these 8 teams. To get to a champion, there has to be 3 playoff rounds. This means 7 total games to a champion. Let’s take 7 of the current bowls and designate them “championship bowls.” We will call this the FB&CS – the Football Bowl & Championship Subdivision.
I would add the Holiday Bowl and Cotton Bowl to the current four BCS Bowls and the current BCS Championship Game to get my 7 bowls for the playoffs.
Round One (December 26-27, 2008)
- Holiday Bowl
- Cotton Bowl
- Fiesta Bowl (this spot can be rotated with the other traditional BCS bowls)
- Sugar Bowl (this spot can be rotated with the other traditional BCS bowls)
Round Two (January 3, 2009)
- Orange Bowl (this spot can be rotated with the other traditional BCS bowls)
- Rose Bowl (this spot can be rotated with the other traditional BCS bowls)
Round Three (January 10, 2009)
- Championship Game
Taking the current standings as the seeds for the playoffs provides great bowl matchups in the first round, tremendous matchups in the second round, and a true national champion, sans the “mythical,” in the climactic final round. Let’s just do the matchups based on seeding and randomly assign the teams to bowls:
Round One (December 26-27, 2008)
- Holiday Bowl: 1 Alabama v. 8 Penn State
- Cotton Bowl: 2 Oklahoma v. 7 Texas Tech
- Fiesta Bowl: 3 Texas v. 6 Utah
- Sugar Bowl: 4 Florida v. 5 USC
Round Two (January 3, 2009)
- Orange Bowl: 1 Alabama v. 3 Texas
- Rose Bowl: 2 Oklahoma v. 4 Florida
Round Three (January 10, 2009)
- Championship Game: 1 Alabama v. 2 Oklahoma
Please take a look at each of these matchups and ask yourself four questions. First, is this a good matchup? Second, would the bowl game be well attended? Third, would this game have a large TV audience? Finally, would the fans travel to the games? All four questions are related in that they speak to the revenue issue. I think there would be plenty of money to satisfy the schools, conferences, etc.
Sometimes the matchups will seem strange because of the seedings and the opponents. For example, someone might say, didn’t we just watch Oklahoma beat Texas Tech? Yes, but that was Tech’s only loss. A rematch in a true playoff would be intriguing at least. Even if it turned out the same way, I can live with one “bad” game out of four. After all, playoffs are win or go home. The other three first round matchups are terrific and would generate a lot of excitement. Let’s look at the second round. Wow. Do you suppose anyone would be interested in Colt McCoy and Texas playing undefeated Alabama? How about Sam Bradford and Oklahoma taking on Tim Tebow and the Gators? And if the seedings held, an undefeated Alabama team in Nick Saban’s second year at the helm against once-beaten and rolling Bob Stoops and Oklahoma?
Won’t This Kill the “Minor” Bowls?
No. Even in the current system the “minor” bowls already match teams with no shot at the MNC. These bowls will still operate in much the same fashion as they always have. I suspect their fanbases and TV audiences will be pretty much the same. Their corporate sponsors will remain. The bad blazers will still exist. Matt and I will still watch them. Why? Because we love college football. They will still be free to schedule their bowl game whenever they want to and to maximize TV coverage. I would just advise them not to schedule their games opposite the playoffs.
Conclusion
I know there are complexities and problems that will arise from this or any other true playoff system. What about the #9 ranked team in an 8 team playoff or the #17 ranked team in a 16 team playoff? March Madness flourishes despite limiting the tournament field. A lot of the objections to a system like this are either totally disingenuous (this is too many games for student-athletes) or tradition-bound. My bottom line is that readjusting some traditions and dealing with some hard issues is a price worth paying to have a true national champion and not just a mythical champion or split national champions.