PETE PAGUAGA — Sports Editor
Ever since 1998, the first year the BCS was implemented, everyone’s had a problem with it.
Over the last five years the SEC has been dominant, winning the last five BCS National Championship games. You could say there is somewhat of a bias toward the SEC in the polls as a result. Also, with teams like Boise State and TCU becoming more competitive, the current system is not allowing the relatively-unknown teams to compete for a national title.
What I am going to do for you here, is spell out how I think the system should operate. This also reflects what the conferences look like now.
First off, the five BCS bowl games are gone for now. Each of the “big six” conference champions, from the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, SEC and Pac 12 will each get an automatic bid in an eight-team playoff system. Each of the “big six” will only get one bid, which will be the winner of the respective conferences, whether it’s a conference championship game or the regular season winner. That will be up to the discretion of each conference. The other two bids will come from the two best teams not in the “big six.” Teams like Boise State and TCU could be those teams, just to name a couple.
Those eight teams will be seeded 1-8. It would be an eight-team tournament, with each of the BCS bowls hosting a game.
The bracket would look like this, for example, using the rankings from last season and one of the four BCS bowls:
1. Auburn (SEC) vs. 8. UConn (Big East)- Sugar Bowl
2. Oregon (PAC 12) vs. 7. Va Tech (ACC)- Rose Bowl
3. TCU (At Large) vs. 6. Boise State (At Large)- Fiesta Bowl
4. Wisconsin (Big 10) vs. 5. Oklahoma (Big 12)-Orange Bowl
After those four games are played, the winners of the 1-8 and the 4-5 games and the winner of the 2-7 and the 3-6 games would play. Then the winners of those will face off in the National Championship game. This would retain the importance of winning the conference while also leaving a chance for mid-majors. Also, the location of the semifinals and the final will rotate every year, as they do now.
With this system, teams will have to shorten their regular season to 10 games—including conference championships—and lose some out-of-conference games. Schools that don’t make the playoffs will get to play in the myriad of other bowls that have come into existence.
This system would be the fairest way to give each conference a shot at the National Championship without the bias.
Sounds like a useable plan Pete. How will the schools feel about lost revenue if they play less games?
Also sounds like a lot of different people have to come to an agreement. Should be interetsing to see how it plays out. Keep writing and keep Rockin