My Solution to the BCS Mess

(Wow, I have had way too many thoughts these past few months. I should have started this blog months ago.)

We've heard politicians talk about the college football "championship" situation. Here is what I think they should do:

• Keep the BCS points system: this can be used to determine mid-major conference teams and seeding.
• Use the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls as National Quarterfinal games: this way if a team makes it to the Final Four but doesn't get to the championship game, they can still call themselves "Rose Bowl Champs", "Orange Bowl Champs", etc. Even better, keep them all as January 1st games to make New Year's Day the National Quarterfinal Day. Then you can have the semifinals around 1/8 (which is when this year's championship game took place) and have the national championship around 1/15. Better still, why not schedule the national championship game to take place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day every year?
  
• Select three new locations each year for the two semifinal games and championship game: cities fall over themselves trying to host college basketball's final four. Can you imagine how far they would go for college football even if they'll just be getting one game?

How would the teams be picked? Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten. If there is only one mid-major team in the top ten, pick the highest remaining team without an automatic bid. If there are no mid-major teams, pick the two highest teams without an automatic bid.

What if there are two or more mid-major teams in the top ten and a high ranked team, like Alabama in 2008, did not win their conference? Too bad. Win your conference or go to a lesser bowl. You deserve to go to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23rd for thinking you're better than you actually are. This suggestion is still not truly equitable for the mid-major conferences but at least it's better than what they have now.

Where would teams play? After the seedings are done, the best way to do it would be to send the #1 seed to the bowl closest to them, followed by #2 to the closest of the remaining three sites, etc. This would reward teams for finishing higher in the standings.

What matchups would this have yielded for the 2008-09 bowl season? Here goes (based on this past season's final BCS rankings):
#1 Oklahoma vs. #8 Virginia Tech (Sugar Bowl)
#2 Florida vs. #7 Cincinnati (Orange Bowl)
#3 USC vs. #6 Boise State (Rose Bowl)
#4 Utah vs. #5 Penn State (Fiesta Bowl)

Then the 1/8 winner would play the 4/5 winner, etc. You can also preserve the other "lesser" bowls that schools currently use to generate revenue for their schools.

How would things have turned out this year? I'm guessing Florida and Oklahoma would still have made it to the national championship game with the same result. However, as President Obama said in his interview with Matt Lauer before the Super Bowl, wouldn't it be much better if Florida had won through a playoff?