In 1998, college football created a fool-proof system to determine two teams to play in one game at the end of the season to determine a national champion. This system used a computer to calculate the athletic strength of the team, the strength of the schedule, the quality of wins, the amount of wins, and the opinions of professionals and coaches (Zillgitt). However, this system proved fatal to the fans. If a team that won all its games convincingly, played tough teams, and had the ability to stack up against a traditional powerhouse school, why wouldn’t that team play for the national championship? The reason is simple and quite frankly horrifying: a computer said they weren’t good enough to play. The BCS went from being touted as the best system to ever come for college football (Hancock) to being a blunder that the entire nation might rebel against. Some are even calling for the old system to come back, which is highly unlikely. But most who have a solution for this problem and all call for the same idea: a playoff. But How? Multiple questions arise from this idea. How many teams will be allowed in? Would we still leave out many worthy teams? How does funding for this come about? College football needs to establish a 16-team playoff sponsored by all the BCS bowl game sponsors to create the ultimate college football post-season experience.
Once upon a time, before our magical Bowl Championship Series, there was a different system used to rank teams in college football. This system was known as the associated press poll. In theory, the idea worked fine, but it was the way bowl games were decided that went horribly wrong. Teams that won their conferences were designated for a specific bowl game according to which conference they were from. At the time, there were dozens of bowl games. However, none more prestigous than a certain four, that each team strived for each year. There was the Cotton Bowl, played in Dallas, Texas. The Orange Bowl, played in Miami, Florida. The Sugar Bowl, played in New Orleans, Louisianna. And, of course, the Rose Bowl, played in Los Angeles, California.
Continuing with the system, the associated press ranked teams due to their record and strength of schedule. The better the record against tougher teams, the higher the rank. There were eight conferences: the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Big Eight Conference, the Big Ten Conference, the Big West Conference, the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Pacific Ten Conference (Pac-10), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Southwest Conference (SWC), and the Western Athletic Conference (1990 NCAA Division I-A football season, Wikipedia). Along with these conferences, there were multiple independant schools. The winner of a certain conference played in a specified bowl game, regardless of the ranking. Along with these conferences, there were others that were, shall I say, lesser than the others. The Western Athletic Conference (WAC), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), and the Big West were left out of the big bowl games, although they did recieve bids to other bowls.
That system was fine, except that we were allowing two teams that were not numbers 1 and 2 in the country to play each other. Only eight times in 56 years were the number 1 and the number 2 teams matched up in a bowl game (Hancock). Eventually, fans of college football would argue to change the system. Fans wanted a real national champion decided on the field and not by people’s opinions (Hancock). The idea was to have the top two teams in the country play each other in a national championship game. In 1998, that system was created. The Bowl Championship Series was born out of the mind of Roy Kramer (Roy Kramer, Wikipedia), the former SEC commissioner. He created a computer system that could take the talent of players, the ability of coaches, the stength of schedule, the number of wins and losses, the quality of wins and losses, and all the statistics throughout the season and from the previous season from a team to form a rank. For several years, this worked. Fans enjoyed a real national champion at the end of a season with no doubt.
However, after a few years, there got to be too many teams that could hold the title as the national champion for there to be no doubt. At the end of the 2007 season, there were two 11-1 teams, four 11-2 teams, and the only undefeated sat at number 10 in the BCS in Hawaii (2007-2008 College Football Season Final BCS Standings, College Football Poll). 11-2 Louisianna State went on to win the national title over 11-1 Ohio State (BCS National Championship Game, Wikipedia). However, the BCS continued to operate and the two top ranked BCS teams played in the national championship and one was crowned.
When the BCS was created, there were six BCS conferences. The Big 12 (formerly Big 8 after adding Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Baylor), the Pac-10, the Big Ten (added Pennsylvannia State to make 11 teams), the SEC (added Arkansas and South Carolina), the Big East, and the ACC (added Florida State) (1990 NCAA Division I-A football season, Wikipedia). Teams from these conferences would all recieve automatic bids to BCS bowl games, should they win their conference. BCS bowl games are the Rose Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. The other division I schools that were not BCS schools are now known as Division I-A schools (FBS). Schools from these conferences that disrupt the BCS rankings are known as “BCS busters” (ESPN). Such teams are Texas Christian (TCU), Brigham Young (BYU), Utah, and Boise State. These teams do get BCS bowl game bids, but are not gauranteed to them.
The BCS bowls are not the only bowl games; there are dozens, and they are played all over the country. Each bowl game is sponsored by a company, who donates money to the winning team. That team recieves a certain amount of prize money for the school, based on the size of the company and how much it donated. Bowl game sponsors range from Fedex to Little Caesar’s Pizza. Each Team plays their entire season with one simple goal: win. When a team wins enough games, they are rewarded with a trip to a certain bowl game. The more wins, the better the bowl game. Each team strives for at least six wins (50 percent of games), which gaurantees that school a bowl game. The bigger the bowl game, the more prize money.
So, whats the problem? you might ask. The problem is this: if you have more than two teams who are worthy to recieve the national championship bid, who gets the bid to the national championship game? Well, this situation has risen multiple times, but more complex. We have had two teams finish the season ranked number 1 and number 2, like usual. In 2006, Number 1 was 12-0, number 2 was 12-1, not really a surprise . But then all the way down at number 8 was a team that went unnoticed at 12-0 (BCS Database). What? Why was that? It’s because number 1 was BCS school Ohio State and number 2 was BCS school LSU while poor number 8 was division I-AA (FBS) Boise State. You know the saying “separate but equal” (US Constitution)? well this was together but unequal. Then in the bowl game in January, the BCS gave Boise State the bid to the Fiesta Bowl against BCS powerhouse Oklahoma. Most every analyst in their right mind chose the Oklahoma Sooners, fresh off a convincing win against nitty-gritty Nebraska (Wikipedia). But uh-oh! Boise State shocks the nation! In my opinion, it was the greatest football game ever played. Boise State busts out two trick plays and finishes off Oklahoma in overtime on the classic “Statue of Liberty” play for the two-point conversion. They would go on to be ranked 3rd by the BCS.
Here is some more history to feed on. In the time before the BCS, we had a conference called the Southwest Conference (SWC) (1990 NCAA Division I-A football season, Wikipedia) which included such teams as TCU, SMU, and Houston. These teams were playing teams that are now traditional BCS powerhouses like the Texas Longhorns (Big 12), the Arkansas Razorbacks (SEC), and the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12). There, TCU produced nine SWC championships over said teams dating as lately as 1994, as well as taking two Cotton Bowl wins and two Sugar Bowl wins (TCU Horned Frogs football, Wikipedia). So why is this team considered a lesser than any other?
As for Boise State, they were a division II school until transfering to the Big West Conference (Boise State Broncos Football, Wikipedia). From there, they were moved to the WAC and were not challenged (Boise State Broncos Football, Wikipedia). Winning seven of the last eight WAC championships and beating the Oklahoma Sooners on national television in a BCS bowl is no easy feat. Boise State and TCU are finally recieving acknowledgments from the BCS, and they are currently ranked numbers 3 and 4 respectively.
Well then, why don’t we just create a playoff system instead of the bowls? easy: money. The BCS apparently is not in any financial situation to create a playoff. Or is it? Colllege football is a multi-million dollar industry. 18 Million goes to the first BCS school to qualify for a BCS bowl (Bakalar). Independents, like Notre Dame, recieve 1.3 Million just for making a bowl game, regardless of a BCS or not (Bakalar). In 2008, Boise State recieved the Sand Diego County Credit Union Poinsetta Bowl bid against TCU (2008-09 Bowl schedule/results, ESPN). Boise State recieved just 750,000 dollars for the honor (Bakalar). However, TCU was ranked 11th and Boise State was 9th. Virginia Tech and Cincinatti were ranked 19th and 12th and recieved the Orange Bowl. United States House Representative Joe Barton bings up the way the BCS does business compared to top oil businesses in the country:”If Exxon Mobil and Chevron-Texaco did in the oil business what the BCS does in college football, they would be prosecuted for violating antitrust laws” (Barton). So is there money? No one really knows, but here is how a playoff can work, regardless of the BCS donating money.
Each bowl game has a sponsor. The higher the sponsor pays, they better the recognition of teams. The highest paying sponsors get the BCS bowls. So companies like Discover, Vizio, Tostitos, and Allstate will not pay for the bowl games, they will pay for a week of a 16 team tournament. Each company offers 17 Million to the winner of each bowl (How much money do each bowl game make, Answers), so split it up between the winners of each week. Scenario: Sweet Sixteen (week 1) sponsored by Vizio. Winners recieve 2.125 Million. Elite Eight (quarter finals) sponsored by Discover. Winners recieve 4.25 Million. Final Four (semi finals) sponsored by Tostitos. Winners recieve 8.5 Million. Championship game sponsored by Allstate. Winner recieves 17 Million in prize. Broadcast for each game would reach hundreds of thousands and the semi finals and the championship games would reach millions. We allow most every worthy teams to join the parade and have a shot at the national title. Sure, teams that are close that might deserve to go as well might miss out. But hey, its at least better than throwing everyone out of the mix escept for two. All teams would recieve a shot at the title at the beginning of the year, it would just depend on how it all plays out.
The BCS is only 12 years old, and already it’s outdated. The technology is old, the system is flawed, and the only thing fans look forward to these days is how messed up the new rankings will be. It is time for college football to adapt or move on. However, moving on could prove fatal and would cost too much money, time, and effort; so adapting seems to be our only option. A 16 team playoff for the national title would bring happiness and a new found buzz about college football that fans, analysts, and the BCS would approve of.
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