Just 3 weeks until opening day—can I get a hallelujah from the choir (‘HAH-LAY-LOOOO-YAAAAAAHHHHHHH!’)… a-men my brothers and sisters in this great football congregation!—and I’m still trying to wrap my head around these new conference alignments.
Who is in the B1G 10 (+2) Legends division? I honestly have no freaking clue because there is no rhyme or reason to it. The current ACC lineup has been around since 2005 and I still can’t name the teams in the Atlantic Division nor the Coastal Division; and even if I could, I couldn’t tell you which division was which. At least the Pac-12 changed their name and organized their divisions geographically.
I give the Big 12 credit for not trying to change their name… the only thing holding that conference together is the existing TV contracts and potential BCS money that can be acquired and minimally shared (Texas doesn’t play well with others in the sandbox)… and just like a marriage that is all but officially divorced on paper, they will only cohabitate when necessary, but are simultaneously all posturing to protect their assets and move to a new conference. The Big 12 (-2) looks and smells like a wooly mammoth (old, hairy, and too slow to adjust to the changing climate of college football). As such, we should not be surprised in the slightest that rumors are already beginning to spread of defections of TAMU to the SEC, and UT-Austin & Oklahoma to the current Pac-12.
While we’re all playing BCS roulette, the Big 10 (+2) could pick up Mizzou and Notre Dame. Obviously the SEC would need to pick up another if it added TAMU. The SEC wouldn’t overcomplicate things like other ugh-hum “prestigious” conferences. So we know that team would need to be east of Auburn. FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, or Georgia Tech all make attractive candidates. The ACC would soon try to match the 14 team line-up of the other 3 BCS conferences, and would be forced to raid the Big Least… uhhh… I mean Big East. Such a move would leave only 4 BCS conferences surviving, which is a nice round number and much easier to set up a playoff format… insert a synchronized gasp from the congregation. Yes, that’s right a playoff! Regardless of your thoughts on whether or not a playoff is a better way to crown a champion (it’s not better, just different)… the bottom line is, well just that, the bottom line. And the bottom line increases significantly with a playoff… in addition to a bowl system. Below I outline an eco-friendly proposal to institute a hybrid (that’s the eco-friendly part) playoff-bowl system.
While we all know there are going to be major changes in the power football conferences, for the sake of simplifying this proposal, let’s just assume their will remain 6 ‘BCS’ conferences. But let’s also assume that they all expand and incorporate a Championship game to increase $$. With these assumptions there are a few things we will need to account for:
1. How many teams will compete in the playoff?
2. How will the teams be selected?
3. What will be the format?
4. How will the Bowl games be selected and when will they be played?
5. When will the playoff games be played?
1. To begin with, 12 is the perfect number of teams for a playoff. Just like the NFL, 4 teams can be rewarded for having really good regular seasons by receiving a bye in the first round, while the other 8 teams duke it out. This will allow the polls and the BCS to remain important factors and maintain media buzz during the regular season. The top 4 teams in the BCS will receive the first round bye.
2. The conference champion from each BCS conference will receive an automatic bid into the playoff. The remaining available slots will be filled by the highest ranked teams in the final BCS poll. This will allow for non-BCS conference / independent (I’m talking to you Notre Dame and Texas) teams to qualify for the playoffs (and subsequently get whooped… in the case of Non BCS teams and Notre Dame... long before the championship game).3. The playoff format will include 4 games in the first and second rounds, 2 games in the third round, and a final championship game in the fourth round; totaling 11 football games. All playoff games other than the championship game will be played at the home field of the higher seeded team.
4. In 2010-2011, there were a total of 35 bowl games played from early December to January 10th. For the remaining teams not qualifying for the playoff, they will be able to play in a bowl game if they are bowl eligible and the minor bowls will be able to be played during the same time period as the traditional bowl line up. For the 12 playoff teams, they too will be eligible to play in a bowl game once they are eliminated from the playoffs. The 10 teams eliminated prior to the championship game will be able to be selected for a traditional January 1st bowl. These bowls will include the 4 BCS Bowl Sites (with the championship game rotating as a second game at those 4 sites), and most likely the Cotton Bowl in Jerry-World being the sixth location. So, of the 35 bowls played in 2010-2011, 6 of these will be filled with the 12 playoff teams (only the championship game would be a part of the playoff). That allows all existing Bowls to be serviced in the traditional dates and times, and the format has added 10 additional games for TV; generating revenue for the cities and universities hosting playoff rounds leading up to the Championship game. While also rewarding these teams and their conferences with playoff and bowl payouts.
5. Some might be asking how you could squeeze this all in and it’s quite simple actually. Begin the 12 team playoff the week after the conference championship games. This would be around December 10th. The second round would then be December 17th, the Third Round December 24th. Teams eliminated December 10th or the 17th would then have roughly 2-3 weeks to prepare for January 1st Bowls. The two teams eliminated on the 24th would play their bowl the day before the championship game, which in this case would be January 7th (“third place” bowl game) & January 9th (championship game).
Such a format keeps the best of both worlds and generates significantly more money and media buzz. I.E. everybody wins! Yes, people will still watch the bowl games; they watch them now and they don’t mean anything. Yes, fans will still travel to bowl games; for most it is an excuse to go to a warm city during the dead of winter, and one last excuse to get drunk and talk football before the long, football-less winter ensues. No, it will not take longer than the current season schedule. No, it will not minimize the importance of the regular season and conference championships. Yes, it will allow non BCS conference teams an opportunity to “compete” for the national title. YES IT WILL MAKE MORE MONEY on TV and in ticket sales!
20 Days until Football Season!
~March Hare~
I still would prefer the idea of 4 super conferences with the winner of each conference advancing to a 4 team playoff. Everyone else can go bowling.
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