The BCS needs to be abolished (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

I've heard a lot of people say that being a conference champion should give you some extra points in the BCS. Well that might work this season, but with independent Notre Dame around, this could casue a problem down the road.

There's an easy solution to this problem -- if you play in a conference, you must be its champion to qualify for the BCS championship, regardless of the BCS point totals. The NCAA gives automatic bids only to conference champs in the basketball tourney (and when there were only 32 teams in the tourney, that was the only way most teams got in).
This would have solved the Nebraska problem, but not the Colorado vs. Oregon issue. It seems like the writers and coaches polls more accurately reflex the deserving teams, so maybe they should carry more weight in the BCS.
Since Notre Dame does not currently belong to a conference, they could get in simply by BCS points, as could any other independent -- are there any others left?
Of course, the real solution is a playoff, but I doubt we will see it. The bowls have too much power and stand to lose too much money (as do a lot of schools if the bowl games go away). In Division I-AA, II and III, there is no big bowl money to be lost by having a playoff.

 

[Ron Eastman]

...as could any other independent -- are there any others left?

The current division 1-A independents are Central Florida, Connecticut, Navy, Notre Dame, South Florida and Utah St.

It's simply money that keeps a playoff from happening. The bowl games got a sweet deal in 1965 when the AP first polled after the bowl season was over, turning what were exhibition games into something greater. An 8 team playoff would be great, of course the 9th and 10th ranked teams would bitch. I'm afraid that a full conference restructuring would be necessary to make it work well.

How about eight 10-team conferences (there are currently 11 division 1-A conferences), a 9-game regular season with no non-conference play and the conference champs advancing to the playoffs. I think it could work and be fair as many of the current 1-A teams belong in 1-AA anyway.

 

[Chris Wittry]

I read through this entire thread and wasn't going to post, but ahhhhh the temptation took over.
I think the only fair way to decide who is the champion is if every team plays every other team. The season should last several years. That way there could be no doubt. Of course, a team that played another team at the beginning of that stretch would be much more prepared to play them at the end of the stretch, so I guess everyone would have to play twice and you could just round out the season to 5 years. 2 championships games a decade, decided by a massive triple elimination tournament at the end where everyone is invited and you can't win it unless you have beaten each of the conference champions twice. You could do this and people would still bitch. Who knows, I'm just happy that Nebraska is in the Rose Bowl and will get the shot to kick Miami's ass. Ok, end of rant.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Ron,
I don't think the current conference alignments need to be abandoned to make an eight team playoff work. Simply invite the champs from the 6 BCS conferences -- Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Pac 10 and Big East. This covers most of the top teams. Then add two at large berths determined by a selection committee, just like the NCAA basketball tourney.
While the ninth and tenth teams may bitch, that's less of a concern than the third team bitching. Besides, all #9 or #10 needed to do was win their conference (BYU not included ).
Each conference can determine how a champ is chosen -- regular season record or conference championship game. This is also similar to the basketball tourney, where the Big Ten and Pac 10 did not have postseason tournaments until very recently.
Of course, this is all pie-in-the-sky, because the NCAA and bowls will never go for it.