Could the BCS days be numbered?

[Hilltopper]

Barack Obama has publicly stated his support of legislation to outlaw the BCS and install a true D-1 playoff. I'm liking the guy more each day! http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/09/pol...ball/index.htmlObama raps Bowl Championship Series: 'We need a playoff'

"We need a playoff," Obama told reporters after being asked about Florida's 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in Thursday night's BCS championship game. "If I'm Utah, or if I'm USC or if I'm Texas, I might still have some quibbles."

"It would add three extra weeks to the season," Obama said in a "60 Minutes" interview just after his election. "You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."

On Thursday, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, reintroduced the College Football Playoff Act of 2008. The bill, originally introduced December 10, would "prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, the promotion, marketing, and advertising of any post-season NCAA Division I football game as a national championship game unless such game is the culmination of a fair and equitable playoff system."If passed, this bill would apply to any game that occurs after January 31, 2011. It would be enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission.

For the 2006-07 postseason, an average of $25.5 million in revenue was awarded per large conference, while the small conferences averaged $5 million each.As the argument goes, the larger postseason earnings provide an advantage -- in athletic recruiting, as well as for each university as a whole -- to the "power" conferences.

This is change I can believe in!

[InTheZone]

If Obama accomplishes this, despite whatever else he might do, and putting all my political beliefs aside, I will vote for his reelection in 2012! (and also as long as he keeps sticking it to the queers (no pun intended))

[tbozeglav]

I cant help but to think that there will STILL be controversy even if there is a playoff system to the likes of what has been proposed. There really is no system that will ever work for NCAA Football aside from a full-scale playoff like the use in DII football, but that will never happen because of the bowls and their respective committees. What I want gone THE MOST in the NCAA is just the BCS system/computer scores. They are never a fair and true representation of the team.

[ZachTheZip]

The problem is that it would be a Division I playoff, not a FBS playoff. That means that you would have to include all D-I conferences, such as the Ivy League.The NCAA needs to have more than 3 divisions. There are over 350 D-I basketball teams in 32 conferences. Could you imagine that working in football?

[Let'sGoZips94]

...because of the bowls and their respective committees.

I've been thinking about this subject a lot lately and I thought of a system that still uses the bowls, but as playoff games. You could have each game in a 32 team playoff be a bowl game. The first round would be the least watched bowls in recent years, then you get better and better bowls until you get to the Championship game. You would still have the BCS, but it wouldn't be automatic conferences. At the end of the season, the top like 4 conferences with the best strength of schedule and winning percentage would have their top team or 2 get a first round bye. That way everyone has a chance in this playoff.I just thought of this, so I'm not saying it's good or it would work, but something needs to be done.

[Zipmeister]

I have always favored a playoff system. Now that I know Pebo is for a playoff system, I admit I must have been wrong.

[Buckzip]

Obama is the Messiah. If he says so let it be written, it shall be done. Actually just having a playoff will probably balance the budget, end world hunger and end all wars.

[RootforRoo44]

If Obama accomplishes this, despite whatever else he might do, and putting all my political beliefs aside, I will vote for his reelection in 2012! (and also as long as he keeps sticking it to the queers (no pun intended))

queers? Are we talking about that Can't fraternity?btw, it would be nice to see Obama tackle a real issue with the same rational thinking.

[ksu sucks]

If Obama accomplishes this, despite whatever else he might do, and putting all my political beliefs aside, I will vote for his reelection in 2012! (and also as long as he keeps sticking it to the queers (no pun intended))

queers? Are we talking about that Can't fraternity?btw, it would be nice to see Obama tackle a real issue with the same rational thinking.

Here's an idea. Let's spend that 800 billion dollar budget on leveling the economic playing field. Simply spread all that money to the mid-level non BCS conferences so there will no longer be a select few BCS conferences with all the power.

[RootforRoo44]

If Obama accomplishes this, despite whatever else he might do, and putting all my political beliefs aside, I will vote for his reelection in 2012! (and also as long as he keeps sticking it to the queers (no pun intended))

queers? Are we talking about that Can't fraternity?btw, it would be nice to see Obama tackle a real issue with the same rational thinking.

Here's an idea. Let's spend that 800 billion dollar budget on leveling the economic playing field. Simply spread all that money to the mid-level non BCS conferences so there will no longer be a select few BCS conferences with all the power.

haha...maybe that's what Obama wants to sit down with the BCS higher ups and talk about.

[Zipgrad1990]

The BCS will probably never end, its too much money for the Big 6 conferences. I always wondered why the BCS system is not considered a monopoly, I guess they get around that by allowing a non-BCS conference team into the BCS bowls if said team qualifies.Any playoff system would either be a "plus-one" or possibly 4 team playoff neither one of which will help out the non-BCS conferences anymore then today. After all the BCS teams want to keep all the money!

[GP1]

The NCAA needs to have more than 3 divisions. There are over 350 D-I basketball teams in 32 conferences. Could you imagine that working in football?

Excellent point. Here is what the NCAA should do. 1. Select the 40 best D1A programs over the past 30 years and make them one division.2. They have four conferences that must play each other over an eleven game season meaning 9 conference games.3. Three out of conference games that must be scheduled within this level of football and the NCAA decides who plays whom and the decision is based upon prior season success like the NFL used to do.4. Stop the farce that is the players are amatures and pay them.5. Have a playoff that pays players and coaches extra for advancing.6. You must win your conference to make the playoffs.This scenario would only take two weeks of playoffs. No wild cards or anything else. You either win your conference or you watch the playoffs on TV.

[tbozeglav]

GP1, that'd never work. The NCAA would have to completely change every policy in place to make it work, for only 1 sport. It wouldn't be fair of the NCAA to allow football players to be paid and other sports' players not. The NCAA has strict rules against players being paid in any form (money, merch, etc.). This is why in games such as NCAA Football by EA Sports, all the players are named by their primary position and their number. I dont think that the NCAA football program needs THAT much of an overhaul. What really needs to happen first is a re-balancing of power among all conferences. Heres a thought...What if the NCAA expanded the BCS games to include enough slots for ALL the conferences so that each conference was given 1 automatic bid. It would at least give us mid-majors at getting into a good bowl game. From there, they could expand on that to set it up where a playoff system is implemented by pitting all the conference automatic bids against each other. Sure, this could potentially put a mid-major against a BCS powerhouse and increase the chances of getting steamrolled, but right now I am more concerned about at least being GIVEN the opportunity to take down a BCS powerhouse and play for a championship rather than letting a computer and a bunch of pollsters decide, in essence, who plays who. The problem with this solution is deciding which team has homefield advantage or not. The only fair way to decide it is via their record, but if both teams have the same record, they'd more than likely go to each teams national rank...It sounds like a doable solution, but to date I have yet to hear a solution that would absolutely work. There's just no single solution out there, aside from a march madness-esque system.

[Zipmeister]

The NCAA needs to have more than 3 divisions. There are over 350 D-I basketball teams in 32 conferences. Could you imagine that working in football?

Excellent point. Here is what the NCAA should do. 1. Select the 40 best D1A programs over the past 30 years and make them one division.2. They have four conferences that must play each other over an eleven game season meaning 9 conference games.3. Three out of conference games that must be scheduled within this level of football and the NCAA decides who plays whom and the decision is based upon prior season success like the NFL used to do.4. Stop the farce that is the players are amatures and pay them.5. Have a playoff that pays players and coaches extra for advancing.6. You must win your conference to make the playoffs.This scenario would only take two weeks of playoffs. No wild cards or anything else. You either win your conference or you watch the playoffs on TV.

When this happens be sure to have your big pants on.That way there will be plenty of room for the monkeys to fly out of your rear.

[lance99]

The NCAA needs to have more than 3 divisions. There are over 350 D-I basketball teams in 32 conferences. Could you imagine that working in football?

Excellent point. Here is what the NCAA should do. 1. Select the 40 best D1A programs over the past 30 years and make them one division.2. They have four conferences that must play each other over an eleven game season meaning 9 conference games.3. Three out of conference games that must be scheduled within this level of football and the NCAA decides who plays whom and the decision is based upon prior season success like the NFL used to do.4. Stop the farce that is the players are amatures and pay them.5. Have a playoff that pays players and coaches extra for advancing.6. You must win your conference to make the playoffs.This scenario would only take two weeks of playoffs. No wild cards or anything else. You either win your conference or you watch the playoffs on TV.

heres the problem with that...-they would consider that perimer league soccer-style and would never fly with any conference-the ncaa would not spread that type of money around(the other sports would want their cut)-they would bring back "margin of victory" to football, so you will see florida state beatting up D-II schools for poll rankings-and you should win your conferenceI belive the only way to fix the problem is to get rid of the guarnteed conference bowl bids

[GJGood]

I do not favor going to a playoff system for one simple reason....THEY WILL NEVER GET THE FORMAT RIGHT.In my opinion, a playoff system (assuming it is done incorrectly) would be a giant step back for those schools not in BCS conferences now. They would almost certainly say it should be something like an 8 team playoff using the top 8 ranked teams. Keep in mind that these rankings are hugely influenced by the human polls which often appear to be biased toward the bigger name conferences, and especially the schools that get the most publicity.On top of that in 2007 after the last week of the season the polls jumped LSU from #7 to #2. This meant (if memory serves me correct) that they jumped two teams that lost, one that won, and two that were idle in that week alone. The result was LSU playing in the National Championship Game. One can infer that the only reason they were able to do this was because it was the matchup for the title that the voters wanted to see despite how they had voted in previous weeks.Given that they can make that can happen does anybody really think a current non-BCS school would have a real chance at making the 8 team playoff if it were to come down to them or schools with names like Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, or LSU. If a playoff came about that was based on rankings you would start to see schools currently outside of the BCS conferences being rated much less favorably than they are now. In the current system they'll just keep them out of the top 2 before the bowls, then it would be the top 8 before the playoff.The only way a playoff could be done right is if it took every FBS (1-A) conference champion. I just don't see them doing that. Does anybody really think that if a national playoff were in place this year that Buffalo would actually have been included? I sure don't. For what its worth, if a playoff ever did come about I'd like to see it be one that included 14 teams. The field would consist of the 11 conference champions and three 'wild cards'. The seeding would be done giving the 11 conference champs the top 11 seeds and seeding the wild cards 12-14. This is the way the NFL does it now, putting an emphasis on winning your division (i.e. conference in college). The top two seeds would get first round byes. This would allow teams to fight for the top 2 spots like they do now in the BCS system and continue to make the regular season very relevant for nearly every team. I also would have the first two rounds of games be played at the home field of the better seeded team. The national semifinals would be at the home of the top 2 teams, regardless of whether or not those teams actually made it to that game. The actual title game game would be at a predetermined neutral site. This would allow every team in the top 4 a chance at hosting two games but it would be impossible for anybody to host 3.Like I said, that is all a pipe dream though. The "powers that be" would never let it happen. Once a playoff is established and teams from the "smaller" conferences start being left out, the recruiting at those schools will drop off somewhat as well. Why would good recruits want to go to a place where they won't have a chance to win a championship (or at least make the big stage like a BCS game) no matter how well they play? More and more those not recruited by the "big schools" would look toward current FCS schools.Those are just my thoughts on it. Ultimately I'd love a fair playoff, I just don't have faith enough in those in charge to believe they'd do it right so my current answer to question of if there should be a playoff is always "no".

[ZachTheZip]

One thing that could be done without changing the system at all would be a cap on home games. 7 seems like enough. No more seeing teams buy 4 cupcake home games and then only playing 4 road games in their conference.And get rid of the 1-AA counting towards bowl-eligibility thing. That was a move made purely to benefit teams that can afford to buy more home games.

[tbozeglav]

GJGOOD, that is precisely what I would want to see. It's the fairest way to give everyone in FBS a chance to win it all, but as you pointed out, it'll be a cold day in hell before something like that gets adopted.We can dream, though.

[GJGood]

Thanks UA Zipsman.Uakronkid, I agree with both of those points. I deally 6 home and 6 away in a 12 game schedule would be the way I'd like to see it. I know, though, that due to the $$$ factor they would never agree to have the big money schools only have 6 home games by rule.The bigger thing is the 1-AA (or FCS) thing to me. In my opinion, since they started allowing those FCS wins count toward bowl eligibility more of the "big boys" have been scheduling those types of games. In the past they likely would have scheduled teams from conferences like the MAC, Sun Belt, and C-USA. It not only gives the BCS conference teams cupcake wins and easier bowl eligibilty but it also makes it more likely for non-BCS teams like Akron and their MAC counterparts to be told that they "didn't play anybody" but they never mention that it is a lot more difficult now to schedule one of those "anybody" teams now that they want to play 1-AA schools.They really need to get rid of that !-AA rule or at least add to it "if you lose to a FCS school you are instantly bowl ineligible", that may make some of them back away.

[Buckzip]

IMHO the biggest reason that the current system won't change is money.Let's say Utah played in the NC game. The networks would lose money if the NC game was Utah and Boise State.Deserved or not, it's all about the green.People want to see Florida and Oklahoma. Look at how the Akron soccer team got screwed in 2007 with the seeding. It's all about money.Even if there was a playoff sustem, the teams chosen would get their seeding based on money.Unless there was a tourny like the NCAA basketball tourney, it will never be fair. Sure teams are still left out of that tourney, but I doubt any team left out would have a shot anyway.

[GJGood]

IMHO the biggest reason that the current system won't change is money.Let's say Utah played in the NC game. The networks would lose money if the NC game was Utah and Boise State.Deserved or not, it's all about the green.People want to see Florida and Oklahoma. Look at how the Akron soccer team got screwed in 2007 with the seeding. It's all about money.Even if there was a playoff sustem, the teams chosen would get their seeding based on money.Unless there was a tourny like the NCAA basketball tourney, it will never be fair. Sure teams are still left out of that tourney, but I doubt any team left out would have a shot anyway.

I agree completely with what you are saying, that is why in the system I propose it would put an emphasis on conference champions with respect to inclusion as well as seeding. The best non-BCS conference team, assuming they won their conference, could be seeded no worse than 7th (but would likely be even better in most years) in a 14 team field and a minimum of two non-BCS teams would be better seeds than their opening opponents, which would mean home games if the games were played at campus sites.

[RACER]

a fair play off will never happen.the bcs schools do not want non bcs schools in any of the big bowl games,or playoffs.they do not want to share the $$$$ with non bcs schools.it's all about $,and not whats best for college football.the only reason a team like utah was in a bcs bowl game was because congress was threating anti trust against the bcs.so they gave a little crum to the non bcs schools.if you had a 16 team playoff you would probably have more than one non-bcs school in the playoff.hence spltting up more money to non bcs schools.