[Editor's Note: This article was written by Chris Stanley, a third year law student at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Be sure to also read his article on Boise State's Antitrust claim against the BCS system ]
The NCAA should really consider creating a playoff system to determine the national champion in Division I (or FBS) football. There are always a few teams every season who have a legitimate argument that they should be in the championship game, but under the current system, only two teams get that chance. For instance, this season at least 5 teams (1) SEC Champion, (2) Texas, (3) Cincinnati, (4) TCU, and (5) Boise State have a legitimate argument for playing in the championship game. A playoff system would be a much better system in terms of fairly evaluating who to name the national champions. Here is a seven part proposal.
1. An Impartial BCS chairman who is unaffiliated with any school or conference.
2. An 11-member “BCS Committee” (similar to the NCAA Tournament Committee) who ranks teams during the regular season and seeds the teams for the playoffs. Each FBS conference will have equal representation. Independents have no representative.
3. Ranking System: The BCS Committee does all ranking in the place of the AP and Coaches Polls. This takes away things like east coast bias, as well as the problem of voters not watching all teams play games. A computer formula consisting of BCS Committee ranking, strength of schedule, record and point differential computes the “official rankings.”
4. 16 Teams make the playoffs and play for the Championship. 4 rounds, no byes. It is a lot harder for the 17th ranked team (as opposed to number 3) to argue they deserve a shot.
5. Automatic Bids go to the champion of any conference who’s teams have a .400 winning percentage against the current big 6 conferences over the past two years.[1] The rest of the bids go to the highest ranked teams based on the official ranking system. No at-large bids.
6. The regular season is shortened by 1 game. Only three non-conference games. Some university presidents have complained about adding length to the season, which this system does. However, if the playoffs take place in late December and early January, most universities are on winter break and student-athletes don’t miss much additional class, if any.
7. Round one games will not be considered bowl games, and the losers will play each other in already established bowl games to be determined later. The 2nd round games will become the Four BCS Bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta) and the losers are finished. The 3rd round will become, the “BCS Semis” and then round 4 is the BCS Championship game, and the losers of these games are finished as well.
[1] Provision number 5 is based on the Mountain West Conference’s recent proposal. This would need to be revamped after a few years in case any of the big 6 conferences lose prestige to other conferences.
The NCAA should really consider creating a playoff system to determine the national champion in Division I (or FBS) football. There are always a few teams every season who have a legitimate argument that they should be in the championship game, but under the current system, only two teams get that chance. For instance, this season at least 5 teams (1) SEC Champion, (2) Texas, (3) Cincinnati, (4) TCU, and (5) Boise State have a legitimate argument for playing in the championship game. A playoff system would be a much better system in terms of fairly evaluating who to name the national champions. Here is a seven part proposal.
1. An Impartial BCS chairman who is unaffiliated with any school or conference.
2. An 11-member “BCS Committee” (similar to the NCAA Tournament Committee) who ranks teams during the regular season and seeds the teams for the playoffs. Each FBS conference will have equal representation. Independents have no representative.
3. Ranking System: The BCS Committee does all ranking in the place of the AP and Coaches Polls. This takes away things like east coast bias, as well as the problem of voters not watching all teams play games. A computer formula consisting of BCS Committee ranking, strength of schedule, record and point differential computes the “official rankings.”
4. 16 Teams make the playoffs and play for the Championship. 4 rounds, no byes. It is a lot harder for the 17th ranked team (as opposed to number 3) to argue they deserve a shot.
5. Automatic Bids go to the champion of any conference who’s teams have a .400 winning percentage against the current big 6 conferences over the past two years.[1] The rest of the bids go to the highest ranked teams based on the official ranking system. No at-large bids.
6. The regular season is shortened by 1 game. Only three non-conference games. Some university presidents have complained about adding length to the season, which this system does. However, if the playoffs take place in late December and early January, most universities are on winter break and student-athletes don’t miss much additional class, if any.
7. Round one games will not be considered bowl games, and the losers will play each other in already established bowl games to be determined later. The 2nd round games will become the Four BCS Bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta) and the losers are finished. The 3rd round will become, the “BCS Semis” and then round 4 is the BCS Championship game, and the losers of these games are finished as well.
[1] Provision number 5 is based on the Mountain West Conference’s recent proposal. This would need to be revamped after a few years in case any of the big 6 conferences lose prestige to other conferences.
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