"Fixing" college football -- let's see your solution

[gusmahler]

* 8 teams is way too many. The reason people think BCS is flawed is because of the two years where there were 3 legit candidates for title of "best team". The easiest solution is to make a 4 team playoff. Two of the BCS games for the 1/4 and 2/3 games then the current "BCS championship game" as the Finals. No additional games. No change to existing bowl game structure. Very simple to implement.

* I disagree with MT2R analysis of college basketball. He seems to say that only one team in basketball has a successful season, but that is obviously wrong. Simple example: The year Maryland went to the Sweet 16 after years out of the tourney, it was a success to them. The fact that they didn't win it all didn't matter. They went to the Sweet 16 and treated the season as a success. That's true of a lot of teams. Same can be true of football. If Duke went 7-5 and went to a bowl game and lost, it would still be a success for them merely because it comes after years of suckiness.

[NajdorfDefense]

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2) I would hate to remove the bowl system and the idea that there is more than one winner in college football (especially with 119 teams).

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Why is this such a sacred cow?

There are more teams in Division I basketball. They seem to do OK with only "one winner".

And there's nothing that says you have to have "one winner" if you have a playoff! You could have any number of NIT-like mini tournaments in the post season. Bowls, even! Just don't try to integrate them into the playoffs.

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Have you ever been a long-term season ticket holder for a major university?

Do you donate thousands per year to a major university?


My guess to both is NO. I have and I do (well my family did and, now, I do). These are the people that make college football big. Among these subset, the bowl system is very, very popular. Scrapping it would alienate those that make college football gogogogogoggogo.

It's about getting together every week with family and friends. It's about having achievable goals for every school. Bowl games are as much about rewarding the fanbases as they are the teams themselves.

I've been to the All-American Bowl (now defunct). I've been to the Citrus Bowl (now Capital one). I've been to the Hall of Fame Bowl (now Outback). I've been to the Sun Bowl. I've been to the Liberty Bowl. I've been to the Micron PC Bowl. I've been to the Sugar Bowl. I've been to the Rose Bowl.

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Bingo.

Not everyone's friends and family can travel to 4 distant cities in 3 weeks, and afford airfare, hotel, food, tix times 4. 99% of fans cannot. 98% of alums cannot. 99.5% of students cannot.

Why do people pretend otherwise?

Why all the utterly *retarded* comparisons to basketball. CBB you can play 4-5 games a week, do any Div 1 football teams play 4-5x a week? Do they play 35x a year? That's why there has been no workable solution.

CBB has a 3-week playoff, are we going to start playing Cal v Okla at 10pm Fri nite and then Okla v LSU on Sunday noon?
And then do it the next week 2x, and the week after that?? It's like people have never heard of scheduling or operations mgmt. Whoever was least injured after 5 additional games would win.

As long as we're wishing, I'd like a magic unicorn, winning lotto ticket, and poker skillz of Scotty baby.

The BCS is fine. SoS is included, unlike in the old days. If Boise wanted an invite last year, here's a tip - don't play Wyoming and Sacramento State - schedule Okla and TxAM and Marshall and other good OOC teams, and win all your games and you can be the Champ, see Miami 83 and BYU 84 for details, both of whom were unranked in Sept.

The regular season of cfb is perfect. I'm not willing to trade it for a '9-3, who cares, playoffs start next week so maybe we'll get lucky' attitude from Sept-Dec. And it doesn't work operationally so it doesn't matter.

[NajdorfDefense]

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For anyone who thinks bowls > playoffs:

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So SILLY. Do football teams play 4x a week?

Why not make it like NHL Stanley cup - best of 7, 16 teams make it. More playoffs!! OMG!!!! IT's so MUCH BETTER NOW!!!!!

[NajdorfDefense]

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I don't know US College Football super well. but I agree the current system is mediocre. My understanding is that too much money is associated to the bowls to ditch them. So maybe do both ?

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This is a myth. There is a lot of money associated with bowls, sure. But there's even MORE money that would be associated with a playoff. [/QUOTE]

No, and we already have a Nat'l Championship game, even if you don't like it. There'd be no extra revenue, and a high likelihood of less.

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Exactly. More games = more money.

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With a 16-team playoff, there's 15 games. Less money.

[NajdorfDefense]

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I guess I'm in the majority, but I like the current system. Controversy is good and I like that there is so much pressure on teams in the regular season. Anyway, it's not like there have been a string of unworthy national champions under the BCS.

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Best regular season of any sport. Every game counts, whether it's v Notre Dame, App St, or Oklahoma.

Or, go with 128 teams and wrestlebacks.

If you like college football, what's wrong with debating the merits of 1991 Miami v 1991 Washington? Or 1994 PSU v 1994 Nebraska? Most years, there aren't 2 undefeated top tier teams anyway, and now the BCS has solved that problem.

If you don't go undefeated, you have no room to whine anyways.

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It's not so much that the BCS determines an unworthy champion, it doesn't. But it seems like every few years there is a great team that doesn't get a shot. 2004 Auburn comes to mind. I think that team got screwed.

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Great team.... what???
Out-of-conference schedule:
La Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe.
I am not joking with that sked, which itself is a massive joke. That alone eliminates them from consideration when compared to the other 2 teams.
Rewarding teams that play patsies so they can lose 2 conf games and still possibly make the playoffs is a joke.

Contrast to years where Miami scheduled OOC games at FSU, PSU, Arkansas, top 5 Houston, etc.

Then, while USC beat an undefeated Okla team by 40 points, Auburn struggled to hold off a 3-loss VaTech team 16-13.

As if that wasn't enough, even Auburn *themselves* doesn't regard them as Nat'l Champs that year!

If USC is worthy, then there's no problem. If you like debating the merits of the 2 teams, even better! [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[iggymcfly]

Najdorf, do you see anything wrong with my system? Quarterfinals at campus sites before bowl games/finals start. Semifinals at bowl sites on New Year's Day. Championship a week later at the bowl site of the semifinal where the #1 team played.

It would still be somewhat difficult for fans but not impossible, as the fans of one team would just have to extend their reservations one week and push their flights back, and there could probably be flights on stand-by to take fans from whichever team wins semifinal B to the championship site. There would still be some fans that couldn't go to both, but I don't think it would be completely unworkable. It would still be much easier than trying to coordinate getting Final Four tickets/reservations after winning an Elite Eight game for example.

[NajdorfDefense]

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, I think we can see an 8 team playoff in 1A without compromising the traditions of the sport

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So, polls are good for 8 teams. 8 is the magic number ldo and this is your idea of a logical argument?
But not for 2 teams. LOLOL.

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or, try not to laugh, the academic integrity that every school strives for.

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Insulting student-athletes at top-tier football programs is not an argument. Darren Smith was a 1st Team All-American, and Academic All-American, and went on to several Pro Bowls. But, according to you, he should ignore his classes/finals because he's just some dumb nobody you want to watch on TV? Because that's what you're insinuating.

A few guys not caring about school <> 75 guys at every top football school don't go to class, or study, or strive to earn their degree and also Master's Degree in some cases like at least one Heisman winner I know.

[iggymcfly]

Also, even if you think Auburn didn't deserve a shot at the title due to their OOC scheduling, (pretty ridiculous IMO telling the players who worked hard through spring ball and summer conditioning that they should be eliminated before the season started due to something their athletic director did 5 years ago), what about Utah? There was literally nothing they could do short of scheduling USC that would have gotten them in the title game that year. If USC didn't want to play them, it wouldn't matter if they scheduled 3 tough OOC opponents and beat everyone on their schedule by 40 points. They just had no shot. That's a broken system and it needs to be fixed.

I hate the idea of a huge college basketball-esque playoff as much as anyone and I'd rather go back to the old bowl system and not even have a championship than have as many as 16 teams playing. But if the players on the field go undefeated when playing at least a reasonable schedule (which even Boise did), they deserve a shot at the national title, period. Otherwise, just make a FMS between the FBS and FCS that crowns its own champion. If they have to play a quarterfinal against the Gators in the Swamp in late November, fine, at least they had a chance. Just don't eliminate them before the season starts.

[NajdorfDefense]

I don't know a single person outside of Auburn [and even some Tiger fans] that thinks they were better than USC, esp after barely beating a mediocre VaTech team while the Trojans annhilated a very solid Okla team by 40, when Okla was undefeated.
Okla was favored for 3 weeks until about the day of, I think they went off as the favorite at some books. Nobody thinks VaTech was remotely as good as them.

If you go undefeated with a top 2 SoS [relative or absolute] you go to the BCS. Simple. If you schedule patsies, you forfeit ALL rights to complain.

What's the nightmare scenario? Okla, USC, PSU, Fla all go undefeated this season. So say Okla and PSU win v the other 2. Oh noes!! Worlds be ending! Both teams and fans and students and alums and communities get to celebrate!
The horror. The horror.

[iggymcfly]

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But, according to you, he should ignore his classes/finals because he's just some dumb nobody you want to watch on TV? Because that's what you're insinuating.

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I tend to watch a lot of bowl games and every year, there are at least a couple where the announcers do a video package about how someone like Memphis had to take their finals 1000 miles away from home in between practice and media day for a bowl that hardly anyone really cares about.

If the NCAA really cared about academic concerns, they'd change the scheduling on those games so that there were no conflicts. You can't tell me that it's impossible to get a round of playoffs in before the players get into their hardcore studying time. If you have to, you can always just chop a game off the regular season.