Robalini's College Bowl Plan - 2008

Robert Sterling

Last December, I proposed a plan to create a playoff system to decide who the NCAA college football champion is. A playoff, of course, is how every other major sport (professional and college) decides its annual champ. One year later, it is again becoming increasingly clear that the NCAA definitely needs one, as even President-elect Barack Obama has chimed in demanding one. To begin with, there are no two teams that clearly have established themselves as top of the pack, with four to six major college teams having an argument for being the best in the country. For another, even beyond these teams, there are three non-BCS conference teams that are undefeated. It is a crime a team could go through an entire season without losing and still not be able to be crowned national champ. And once again, the current BCS championship system turns the big four bowls into glorified exhibition games, rather than a rightful pathway to crowning the national champion.

This is why my plan, which I have modified slightly to answer thoughtful critiques, is still the best answer one year later. It meets the four main goals I laid out a year ago:

1. Respect the traditions of the big four bowl games as much as possible, even more so than the current system does;
2. Make sure that the big four bowls actually are a central part of crowning the championship;
3. Allow bowl games with notable histories of their own to be included in the mix; and, perhaps most important:
4. Create a playoff system that produces an actual season championship.

Taking this together, here are the basics of the plans...

Sixteen teams make the playoffs, consisting of the following:

Automatic bids:

* The top two teams from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC
* The top team from the Big East

There will be five at large-teams, consisting of the following, in order:

* The top-ranked independent team (code word for Notre Dame) if it is in the top 10 of the AP poll
* Any other team which is undefeated
* Any other team that is in the top four of the AP poll
* Any of the other five conference champions who are in the top 25 of the AP poll
* Any other team that is in the top ten of the AP poll
* Any independent team that is in the top 25 of the AP poll

If there are any remaing slots, they would be filled according to AP ranking, with the caveat that a BCS conference already with a team filling an at-large slot (or any non-BCS conference with two at-large slots) would not be allowed to have a team make it that isn't in the top 10. Call it spreading the wealth.

(Granted, the AP has refused to be included in the current system, but in this theoretical example, the AP would agree simply because it would be less controversial.)

The end result: on the third Saturday of December (allowing teams to rest a week after regular season finale and to present the Heisman Trophy) The ACC, Big 12 and the SEC championships would be played, as part of the opening round of playoff bowl games. Under new banners as the Peach Bowl (ACC), the Cotton Bowl (Big 12) and the Liberty Bowl (SEC), these games would be joined by two new conference championship games: the Hall of Fame Bowl (Big Ten) and the Holiday Bowl (Pac-10.) A sixth bowl game, the Florida Citrus Bowl, would be hosted by the Big East champion. Two more bowl games, the Gator Bowl and the Sun Bowl, would round out the "Super Saturday" of eight bowl games that would knock off eight teams.

Here's how the opening round of my playoffs would look under my plan, as of December 1st:

Cotton Bowl (Dallas) Big 12 - Texas (3) - Missouri (19)
Florida Citrus Bowl (Orlando) Big East Host - Cincinnati (13) - Oklahoma (4)
Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) - Utah (7) - Ball State (12)
Hall of Fame Bowl (Tampa) Big Ten - Penn State (6) - Ohio State (10)
Holiday Bowl (San Diego) Pac-10 - USC (5) - Oregon (16)
Liberty Bowl (Memphis) SEC - Alabama (1) - Florida (2)
Peach Bowl (Atlanta) ACC - Boston College (18) - Virginia Tech (Unranked)
Sun Bowl (El Paso) - Texas Tech (8) - Boise State (9)

(Note that Texas is in the Big 12 championship over Oklahoma. That's because under my system, the BCS ranking system would be scrapped and replaced by the AP poll, which has proven itself more reliable over the years.)

Notice only three teams would not make the list in the top 16: TCU (a good team, but a decided second banana to Utah in the Mountain West), Oklahoma (a very good team, but clearly the fourth-best team in its own conference division) and Georgia Tech (probably the best team in the ACC, but a deserved victim of its own bad mistakes against unranked Virginia Tech.) Three good teams, indeed, but none who being excluded from the mix could be called an outrage.

The only possible changes to this list: if USC loses to UCLA in an upset, they would face number 25 Oregon instead of Oregon State; if Ball State should lose the Mid-American championship, they would be replaced by TCU; and if Tulsa should somehow crack the top 25 after winning the Conference USA championship, they would bump off either Texas Tech or TCU. (If Texas Tech should be dumped, tough luck, but your performace against Oklahoma pretty much makes you a weak entry to the mix anyway.)

So, let's make some predictions here: all three Big Twelve South teams win, USC trounces Oregon, Penn State beats Ohio State in another Buckeye big-game choke, Utah and Boston College are victorious, and number two Florida beats number one Alabama. Here's how the four major Bowl Games on January 1st and 2nd would look like:

Rose Bowl - USC (5, Pac-10) - Penn State (6, Big Ten)
Fiesta Bowl - Texas (3, Big 12) - Utah (7)
Orange Bowl - Boston College (18, ACC) - Oklahoma (4)
Sugar Bowl - Florida (2, SEC) - Texas Tech (8)

On January 8th and 9th, the two semifinal games would be played between the four big bowl champs. If there aren't any upsets, Florida would play Oklahoma on Thursday, and Texas would play USC on Friday.

This would lead to the college football championship game on January 17th, which would happen the day before the two NFL conference championships. Imagine what a weekend of football that would be: the college football title game followed by the two matchups leading to the Super Bowl. Be sure to stock up on beer!

Again, this system really works well. It strengthens the value of the traditional big four bowls. It strengthens the value of eight traditionally noted bowl games. It ensures the five major conferences have a place on the New Years Day bowl games. And it ultimately creates a playoff system that would likely boost college football television revenues substantially. That's probably the biggest key of all, and why I think my proposed system would be a smashing success.

In the meantime, there's one thing that would help make an inevitable playoff system a reality : it's time to boycott watching and discussing the big four bowl games and the bogus BCS championship game until they become part of a real playoff system. When the public refuses to legitimize the current system, college football will be forced to respond.

To read my orignal proposal from last year (not too different than this one) go to:

http://robalini.blogspot.com/2007/12/robalinis-college-bowl-plan.html