Thanks to Jameis Winston and the Florida State Seminoles,
the Bowl Championship Series went out with a bang, ushering in an era of
Division 1 College Football where the National Championship is decided on the
field and not on the ballots of writers, coaches and computers. The new playoff
format is definitely a step in the right direction, but it still has room for
improvement. The new four team playoff format comes off as lazy and uninspired,
thought up by a bunch of fat lazy men who have resided inside of the same
intellectual box since they enrolled in their private parochial universities.
It never occurred to the football viewing public that the perfect solution
already exists in the world of sports (Think European soccer). This solution,
if executed correctly addresses the majority of the issues that currently exist
in the structure of college football, and virtually eliminating the bias of
journalists and coaches on who advances and who doesn’t.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. Under the current system
with journalists and coaches voting, half of the existing conferences, and no
independent schools, outside of Notre Dame, will ever sniff the playoffs
without an act of God or a complete meltdown in SEC (which would be said act of
God). In order to end the delusional pursuit of these lesser conferences they
need to have their own division with its own playoffs and championship. Let’s
call it Division 1B. It would consist of the Mountain West, the Sun Belt, the
Mid American, Conference USA, and the American Athletic.
The other 5 conferences, the SEC, Big 12, Big 10, PAC 12 and
ACC, would be Division1 A. Here’s the
twist. Each Division 1A conference would be aligned with a Division 1B
conference. Every 2 seasons there will be a process of relegation and
promotion. The two teams in Division 1A with the worst records will be
relegated to their corresponding Division 1B conference. The only way to avoid
relegation is to be conference champion at least once in the 2 year span. The
two teams in each Division 1B conference with the best records will be promoted
into the spots vacated by the two relegated teams in their corresponding
conference. The only way to ensure promotion is to win your conference at least
one of the two years. All of the Independent schools will have to join a
conference, or play Division 1B with no promotion opportunity. There would also
be some realignment allowed before the first season to give the Division 1A
conferences the opportunity to incorporate the stronger 2A schools and shed the
weaker 1A schools. To the weaker schools that are upset about being shuffled
into 1B for the first season, prove you belong with the big boys.
Both divisions would end in an 8 team playoff consisting of
the 5 conference champions and the 3 teams that did not win their conference
that are ranked highest in the polls. Yes, I said polls. That way the
journalists and the coaches can feel that they still have a say in the process,
although any real impact has been nullified. This would also discourage teams
from playing considerably weaker teams, since strength of schedule would come
into play if you don’t win your conference. It would be a shame if a Division
1A school were to miss their opportunity at the playoffs because they decided
to play a Division 1B or, heaven forbid, a Division 2 school during
non-conference play. Hopefully it will also eliminate non-competitive 70-0
blowouts.
The last hurdle would be the Bowl games. Each playoff game
would become a bowl game, with the National Championship Final returning to one
of the 6 sites. And the Bowls could rotate with each site ensured to get the
Championship Game every 6 years. The sites would be The Rose Bowl, The Sugar
Bowl, The Fiesta Bowl, The Cotton Bowl, The Orange Bowl, and The Peach Bowl(Chick-fil-A).
This solution also would allow College Football three consecutive Saturdays of
controlling TV ratings.
And, there you have it, the solution. A viable playoff based
championship that preserves the “sanctity” of the regular season, and gives the
smaller schools a chance to actually win a championship, and opportunity to
prove they belong with the big boys. It allows the media to still believe that
its opinion counts (albeit minimally) and it discourages schools from padding
their non-conference schedules with weak teams (thus encouraging the scheduling
and development of non-conference rivals). If only the backward thinking profit
driven old men with no idea how to think progressively understood that creating
a system that actually works and makes sense would make them more money, and
give them some much needed credibility.
No comments:
Post a Comment