Way More Important Than Climate Change / 12-18-09

I'm not the first person in the world to propose something like this.

But for the love of Tao, my fellow Americans, isn't a college football playoff system the most overdue thing in all of the sporting world? (Well, besides a championship for any Seattle team.)

So, because I'm smarter than every other sports philosopher who's preceded me, here is my suggestion and it is flawless and airtight and neat and swell and tidy and clever, and no, what do you mean, of course I'm not biased.

Just think - we could use the existing infrastructure to organize a 10-team playoff over three weekends, culminating in a delayed title game, selecting teams in this way (pay attention):

There are six major conferences in which the quality of football played is understood to be vastly superior. (The SEC, Big 12, Pac-10, Big 10, ACC and Big East.) Each of these conference champions earns a playoff ticket. No questions asked. Each receives a first-round bye - straight to the quarterfinals, with only two caveats: unless one such team has three or more losses, or is outranked by five places in the final BCS standings by an unbeaten, untied team from a non-major conference.

Because, yo, let's face it, there are good teams outside of those conferences. Sometimes there are great teams. (Boise State 2006-2007 springs to mind. The dudes who "upset" Oklahoma in that Fiesta Bowl three years ago. Those types of teams should be in, no questions asked.) At the very least, two of these teams, year in, year out, deserve a shot at the national championship. So between two and four playoff berths would be reserved for non-major conference teams who a) won their conference title and b) had one or fewer losses and c) finished in the BCS top 20.

This year, those teams would be BSU and TCU.

There are great teams who fail to win their major conference championships. At least one a year. Sometimes (and by that I mean "often") two.

This year, that team is Florida.

Following a formula such as that outlined above will usually result in finding the 10 best teams in the country. Or at least the 10 most deserving teams. Each one earned a stab at the national title with its performance; none are unworthy.

But people will ask: What about the next best team? What about the ACC's really good runners-up? The Pac-10's next best team? What about Nos. 11 and 12 in the standings?

Answer: Those schools should have won their conference championship this time around, then. Or had a better year than the Gators. Or not lost that crucial league game early on. Or been one of the top 10 in the final BCS standings. How can you claim to be No. 1 in the country at the end of a year when you were never even the best team in your conference at any point of the season?

The calendar would work ideally. The four at-large teams, whose seeds are determined by the BCS formula, would seek to advance by playing in early December, seeds 7 vs. 10 and seeds 8 vs. 9, at the home of the highest-ranked team. The winners would proceed to the quarters around Dec. 20 and then to the semis right after Christmas.

Those quarterfinals would be held at four of the six sites of the Rose, Fiesta, Cotton, Orange, Sugar and Peach Bowls. The semis could be held at a brand-spanking new site (sunny San Diego?) and another of the six. The title game could be held at the last of those six and rotate from bowl to bowl, as it currently does. (The current system actually is kind of smart that way. Accidentally intelligent, to be sure, but that counts too.)

And incidentally, the losers of the at-large round could even play a consolation game somewhere, just for kicks and pride. And cash. Since we're just making it up as we go along.

The title game could be played right around when it is conducted now, between the 4th and the 10th of January.

This year, you'd get a playoff slate consisting of:

Dec. 19, 9 a.m. EDT
At Miami
(3) Cincinnati vs. (6) TCU

Dec. 19, 1 p.m. EDT
At Dallas
(2) Texas vs. winner of (7) Georgia Tech - (10) Iowa

Dec. 19, 5 p.m. EDT
At Pasadena
(4) Oregon vs. (5) Ohio State

Dec. 19, 9 p.m. EDT
At New Orleans
(1) Alabama vs. winner of (8) Florida - (9) Boise State

Dec. 26, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT
At San Diego and Atlanta
Semifinal winners

Jan. 7, 8 p.m. EDT
At Tempe
Title game

The mind drools.

(Notice how I placed the highest-ranked conference champion in a favorable venue. Remember my above-average smarts I told you about? Notice how Florida is severely penalized for losing its conference title game, but gets a chance at redemption IF it can get past disrespected BSU? Notice how long-undefeated Iowa is punished for that late loss, and faces a daunting challenge, but gets its reward for a terrific season anyway? Notice how TCU leapfrogs ACC champ Ga. Tech because of its sparkling record and No. 4 BCS position? Notice how all FIVE undefeated teams qualified? Notice the Pac-10 vs. Big 10 pairing that dropped into the Rose Bowl's lap?)

All right, clean it up, so I can conclude. The beauties of this system:

1. EVERY team can win the national title at the beginning of the year. That is not true now. A Nevada team that began the season unranked, then went 11-1 and won the WAC would never reach the BCS title game. Not in a million polls. But it could finish 10th in the BCS and earn an at-large bid, thus standing a slim chance under this setup.

2. Bowls can survive - and thrive. The big'uns have to BE the quarterfinal and semifinal games. But the rest will live on unchanged, because they will remain a big deal for each school involved. And the Rose, Orange and others would not lose notoriety for being part of a playoff - they'd still serve as massive rewards for truly outstanding teams each year; their winners would still retain bragging rights; their losers would still claim prestige for having participated in them; and one of them could even BE the title game on a rotating basis. The TV rights would escalate, if anything, and it's not like the games would ever fail to sell out.

3. The regular season continues to mean something. Unlike the NBA, the NHL and yes, college basketball, the pressure to win every week will remain intense. The consequences of a single ill-timed loss will be catastrophic. Borderline teams will be in playoff mode from October on. It's one of the best parts of college football: you have to be outstanding ALL YEAR LONG, and that requirement should persist.

4. The NCAA and the TV stations make incalculable gobs of dough. More than they presently do.

5. The major conferences keep their privileged status. Conference champions are automatically eligible to win the national title; lesser conferences have barricades in place and are limited to four at-large berths - and even then, realistically, it'd be the rare year when three

6. Silly controversy over whether 2009 TCU or 2006 BSU deserves a title shot would disappear and be replaced with good controversy, like whether the ACC was really a "major" conference this year.

I rest my case.