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By Neema Hodjat
With the BCS Championship Game in the books, we have our college football 2008 national champions: the Florida Gators. But why does that statement leave many fans and college football enthusiasts unsatisfied? Were the Gators the best team in the country, and thereby deserving of the National Championship? Were the Gators and Oklahoma Sooners the two teams most deserving to play for the national title? Sure, if you ask any of their respective fans.
Ask anyone associated with Utah or USC, however, and you will receive a lecture about all that’s wrong with the BCS. This past season presented nothing new - controversy has engulfed the process of determining the national champion in nearly every season in which the BCS system has been in place (with USC vs. Texas in 2005 the notable exception). College football remains the only major sport where fans disagree about which team deserves to be crowned the national champion. Even president-elect Barack Obama has asked multiple times for a college football playoff system.
At the request of the president-elect, here’s an outline of a playoff proposal that will quell the current controversy presented by the BCS system:
• A six-team playoff, with the top two teams receiving a first round bye.
• A playoff committee consisting of coaches, media, and other individuals will select the six teams and their respective playoff seeding (similar to the NCAA basketball tournament selection committee), with a computerized ranking system similar to the BCS serving only as a tool in the selection process.
• The five bowl games that currently constitute the BCS will comprise the playoff games, with slight changes in scheduling to accommodate the playoff format.
Six-Team Playoff
Critics in favor of no playoffs argue that instituting a playoff system will significantly decrease the importance of the regular season. That does not necessarily have to be the case. Most playoff proposals have provided for either four or eight teams to make the postseason. This proposal, however, would allow the top six teams, as selected by the playoff committee, to play for the national championship. Most seasons, a four-team playoff system leaves out teams worthy of a title shot. An eight-team playoff would better fix this issue but would also serve to weaken the importance of the regular season. An eight-team playoff would provide too significant of a reward to the final two playoff teams and would not adequately reward the top teams that had the best regular seasons. By selecting six teams to make the playoffs, rather than eight, the regular season retains its significance, as the top two teams will receive a bye in the first round, which provides a fair reward to those teams having the strongest regular season. However, since the BCS years have taught us that only in rare seasons do people agree on the two teams most deserving to play in the national championship game, the four teams without the bye will also get the chance to demonstrate that they are the best team in the country. Their road to the title will require winning one extra game, which should not present an issue to any team that feels it should be the national champion.
Proponents of having eight playoff teams, rather than six, argue that the teams receiving a first round bye would have an unfair advantage. Consider the following, however: the NFL provides for six playoff teams per conference each season, with the top two seeds receiving first round byes. Throughout the seasons, several teams that did not receive a first round bye have advanced to, and even won the Super Bowl. A first round playoff bye guarantees absolutely nothing. Also, teams with the very best regular seasons deserve a reward for their accomplishment, and a first round playoff bye provides a fair bonus.
Playoff Selection Committee
This proposal will borrow from NCAA college basketball in its process in determining the six playoff teams and the teams’ respective seedings. The specific composition of the playoff committee will not be dealt with in this article (except to the extent outlined above), but it will comprise a committee of individuals, and not a computer ranking system, that will determine the teams and the playoff seeding. A computer index similar to the RPI in college basketball will serve as a resource to the committee, but will only make up one of the factors in the decision making process. Also of importance, no automatic bids will be given out for the six playoff spots (sorry Big East fans). A team must earn its way into the playoffs.
Playoff Schedule
With respect to the BCS bowls, minimal changes will be necessary to accommodate this proposed playoff system. Currently the BCS bowls consist of the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Orange Bowl, plus a championship game at one of these sites, which rotates to each of these bowls every four years. Under this proposal, the bowl games would essentially remain the same (with a slight difference in scheduling, as the spacing between games would change to cover a three week span). The championship would take place by the middle of January at the latest.
Playoff Critics’ Arguments Don’t Suffice
Critics of all playoff systems argue that adding additional games will interfere with the students’ academics, since the players are students first, and athletes second. Under this proposal, the teams seeded #1 and #2 will add a maximum of one additional game, and perhaps zero additional games compared to the current BCS system in place. For teams seeded #3-6, two of those four teams will add zero additional games. The two teams that win their first round playoff matchups will add one or perhaps two additional games. Only a couple of teams in the country will play an additional game or two. This is a small price to pay in order to have an undisputed national champion crowned.
Sample Implementation
Implementing the above proposal for the 2008 college season, a playoff committee could have given Florida and Oklahoma the first round byes, with Alabama, USC, Utah and Texas making up the final four seeds. If such a playoff had been given the opportunity to play out, we would have had a national champion that was agreed to by all. Instead, the final rankings leave us wondering if the right team won the title. Perhaps Florida was most deserving this season, but at least with a playoff system, that question would not need to be asked.
Neema Hodjat can be contacted via email at nhodjat@gmail.com
