It’s Time for a College Football Playoff …and here’s how

It’s finally time. College football fans everywhere have spoken loud and clear about their desire for a playoff. Never before has one single season been more of an indictment that a playoff system is needed. There are seriously at least 8 teams with a legitimate claim to their inclusion in the national title game. The system needs to be fixed. The question now becomes, how would it work.

The main arguments over the past couple of years against a playoff system have been the following:

1) The regular season is a playoff. If you lose one game, you’re destiny is now out of your own hands. Pundits argue, and I agree, there isn’t a more compelling regular season in any other sport.
2) The purists want to continue the time-honored tradition of bowl games.
3) It simply isn’t feasible given the students schedule.

I’ll now present to you my plan for a playoff system. It not only keeps the bowl games in the mix, but it also continues to make the regular season the most important of any other sport. More importantly, it gives the fans what they want, a champion that is crowned ON the field.

Here’s how it would work. The playoff would be a 12-team field consisting of the following:

1) The winners of the six BCS conferences would receive an automatic bid.
2) There would be two “at large” bids that would be selected by the highest remaining teams in the BCS standings (see, there is a use for the BCS after all!)
3) The winners of the 5 remaining non-BCS conferences would also receive an automatic bid. The two lowest rated schools of the five would have a “opening round game” to get into the 12 team field

In terms of seeding the teams and where the games would be played, I propose the following. The teams would be seeded by their final ranking in the BCS standings with the highest four teams receiving an opening round bye. In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the game is held at the higher seeded teams home field. For the semifinals, 2 of the 4 current BCS bowls would host the games. The championship game would be held at 1 of the remaining 2 BCS bowl sites. The semifinals and finals would rotate between the four BCS bowls, which would mean that the other BCS bowl game would only be left out once in three years and would be free to host their own game (just like the current system). For instance, this year the 12-team field would look like the following…



I know what you're thinking. Doesn't this de-value the regular season? What about the other bowl games? Won't that be too many games for our college athletes? When will they play these games and won't it interfere with final exams?

The answers to those questions above are more simple than you might think. First off, I think this setup would make the regular season even more exciting and meaningful. Now ALL those conference championship games will mean something because it is an automatic berth into the playoffs. Suddenly, the Boston College - Virginia Tech battle last weekend isn't just for a BCS bowl, but a shot at a national championship and another home game. The C-USA and MAC championships, what a snooze fest right. Suddenly, football fans from around the country will take notice as these teams might be possible first round opponents for their beloved teams. And after this season, you certainly can't tell me that the champion of one of these conferences wouldn't have a shot at beating a so-called big time college football school. Not only that, it would provide the little guys with a chance to make a run, much like the NCAA basketball tournament. But who I am kidding, that isn't a popular event right?

The other bowl games would simply be as they are currently. Sure, one or two bowl games might have to go away, but did you really care about the Insight.com bowl or the exciting International bowl? The four major bowls would also be happy as they now get to host the national semifinals or the national championship. Even on the year that they don't they could still choose from their traditional matchup. Instead of a USC-Illinois Rose Bowl this year, we'd be left with Arizona State-Illinois. Hardly a drop off.

Now, to answer the question of would it be too many games for our college athletes. Again, there is a simple solution. The first step wold be to scale the regular season back to 11 games. This would hardly be a stretch considering the regular season was 11 games only a few short years ago. Secondly, the maximum number of games anyone could realistically play is 15 games. That is only 2 games more than they play now.

Finally, the question as to when would these games be played. Since we scaled the regular season back by a game, the playoffs could start as early as December 1st (this year) for the play in game. The next two rounds of the playoffs would be flexible, with three weeks to choose from to play two rounds of games. The reason for the flexible schedule is to allow the student athletes to take a week off to focus on their final exams. Therefore, the national semifinals would be set at least a couple days prior to Christmas. The national semifinals could then be held at the bowl sites in the couple days following New Years with the championship game one week later. The after New Years schedule would remain the same and the students would still be home for Christmas and off for final exams.

The one added benefit to this proposed playoff system that we haven't discussed is the amount of parity it would add to college football. Suddenly, top high school students from around the country could choose just about any school and still have the opportunity to compete for a national championship. This would also help alleviate one of the major criticisms that fans who prefer the NFL have over college football. That criticism is that the same teams year in and year out are always good ...that there is never any new blood. Suddenly, seasons like the one we just had might become more frequent, which is a great thing for college football.

Final Regular Season College Football Rankings

It's OSU-LSU for the National Title in New Orleans on January 7th! My final computer rankings are in for the regular season and they agree with the voters selection. In addition, I've added final conference rankings for all of Division I. The final rankings are below.

1. LSU
2. Ohio State
3. Missouri
4. Virginia Tech
5. Georgia
6. Hawaii
7. Oklahoma
8. Kansas
9. West Virginia
10. USC
11. Florida
12. Arizona State
13. BYU
14. Boston College
15. Illinois
16. Clemson
17. South Florida
18. Tennessee
19. Boise State
20. Texas
21. Virginia
22. Cincinnati
23. Connecticut
24. Wisconsin
25. Central Florida

The final conference rankings are listed below.
1. SEC
2. Big 12
3. Big East
4. Pac-10
5. ACC
6. Big Ten
7. Mountain West
8. WAC
9. Conference USA
10. Sun Belt
11. MAC

College Football Computer Rankings

As a diehard fan of college football (especially my Ohio State Buckeyes) I have become fascinated by the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and its many flaws. At the same time however, I do think it is the best system that college football has had to date. Nevertheless, any system that ranks teams based on human opinion and mathematical formulas without letting them play it out on the field will inevitably lend itself to tremendous controversy. Therefore, I've developed my own "computer" rankings of all 120 Division 1-A (I refuse to use the phrase FBS) . The rankings are based on the following:

1) Win-Loss percentage - Simple team win-loss percentage

2) Strength of Schedule - The strength of schedule takes into account two separate parts. The first part, which is weighted more heavily, is your opponents win-loss record. The second part is your opponents-opponents win-loss record. This is done to reward teams whose competition doesn't appear as tough as they really are due to their own challenging schedule.

3) Recent Performance - The recent performance part of the formula takes into account a teams last 5 games and the quality of opponent in those games. This is meant to reward a team for playing great football and to address the question of who is the best team in the country right now... an argument used by many schools and fans to champion their team for a great bowl game.

Using these three components, I generated computer rankings. The rankings after 13 weeks of college football are as follows:

1. West Virginia
2. Missouri
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. Hawaii
6. LSU
7. Boston College
8. Kansas
9. Virginia Tech
10. Florida
11. Oklahoma
12. USC
13. Arizona State
14. BYU
15. Tennessee
16. Illinois
17. Clemson
18. South Florida
19. Oregon
20. Texas
21. Boise State
22. Cincinnati
23. Virginia
24. Connecticut
25. Wisconsin

I welcome your comments about this list. With the exception of Hawaii at #5, which I believe is too high for the Rainbow Warriors, I think these rankings are really accurate. Check back next week after the remaining regular season games as I reveal my final Top #25 prior to the bowl games. I'll also show conference rankings next week as well.

Football, NASCAR, and GASP ...Soccer do it right?

Raise your hand if you care about the NBA, NHL, or MLB regular season. In fact, do you even really care about any one of these three sports? Have you ever stopped to think about why you don't care for these sports or at the very least, don't watch till they reach the postseason? As I've settled in to watch a couple NBA & NHL playoff games, I've pondered the same question. What has happened to these three sports, the ones that coupled with football had come to represent the major 4 sports in American soceity. In addition, what has caused the rise of NASCAR? Why does Europe and the rest of the world love soccer so much and why is it slowly gaining popularity here?

The simple answer is that their respective regular seasons are far too long and have come to mean absolutely nothing. The NBA & NHL regular seasons are especially useless as half of both leagues make the playoffs. Couple that with the fact that the NBA players don't really seem to try in the regular season (don't watch enough NHL to even say for sure) and you have almost zero reason to tune in before playoff time. You want to talk about watered down, try 82 regular season games. MLB's season is an even more preposterous 162 games! The only saving grace about Major League Baseball is the fact that only 4 teams from each league make the playoffs. However, let me repeat, 162 games! I'll tune in when it's August. In the meantime, NFL and college football regular seasons consist of anywhere from 12-16 games. NASCAR has 30 some odd races a year including the all important 10 that consist of the chase for the championship. In addition, MLS and soccer leagues worldwide play only 20-30 games before deciding their championships. The simple fact is that Americans don't tune in to ordinary sporting events without the possibility of something amazing, tragic, or simply bizarre happening. How else do you explain the fascination with Mike Tyson long after he was washed up. But I digress. However, there is another missing component that these sports don't have that soccer, football, and NASCAR all do.

That missing component is TAILGATING! The only thing Americans love more than the sporting events themselves is the social aspect of tailgating. Not to mention the fine food and drinks that often adorn the tailgate. However, except for the outragious partiers, one cannot tailgate 162 games a year or for that matter, even 82. Therefore, a reduced regular season lends itself to tailgating and that lends its fans to enjoy the sport even more.

Football is obviously king of the American sports universe. You could make a sound argument that a large portion of that success is due to tailgating. It is the now the event that makes the sport more than anything else, and two great examples of that are the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft. What else could explain the throngs of people that flock to New York City for the annual snooze fest that is the NFL Draft. In addition, the tailgating or partying makes the Super Bowl. Every year, tons of people who have no interest in football tune in only for the social aspect of the sport. Finally, the fact that every single game matters in the NFL season makes it a must watch.

NASCAR is very similar to football in that the event makes the sport. Hours before any NASCAR race there are tons of fans setting up shop in a nearby parking lot grilling, drinking, and discussing the varied possibilities for that day's race. To someone who views NASCAR as "drive fast, turn left", tailgating, coupled with zero meaningless races, is the only possible reason for the sudden and steady rise in it's popularity.

Finally, that brings me to soccer. As a fan of soccer, I could never quite understand why it hasn't caught on in the U.S.. It has all the qualities I just talked about that seems to make Americans gravitate towards a sport. It's regular season isn't watered down and tailgating is encouraged. While I've never been to Europe for a soccer match, I can guarentee that if Americans tailgate for soccer (as Sam's army parties long before and after any U.S. national team game) that Europeans are far wilder in their "preparation" for a soccer match. I realize that soccer is considered a sissy game, but anyone that has actually played the sport at a level greater than grade school realizes that isn't the case. So give it a chance. You may just find another interesting sport that allows you to "socialize" for hours before the game.

One Man's Dream is Another's Nightmare

Let's imagine for a second. Imagine a story about a fictional man named John. John went to school at an acclaimed university and graduated with a degree in business management. He was an honor roll student, both admired by his peers and praised by his teachers. He came from a great home with wonderful family support. After college, John accepted a job with one of the best business firms in Chicago. He had it all...

John became lonely in Chicago. In an effort to seek companionship, he started to hang around with the wrong crowd. That crowd got John involved in drugs. Eventually, he got so involved in drugs that it cost him his job... and nearly his life. However, with great family support and a strong desire, John slowly pulled away from his addiction. He had spent close to 2 years of his life battling the addiction, but he's now been clean for nearly 3 years. John currently works at the food court in Walmart. He has tried, unsuccessfully, to get back into the business world, but no one wants to hire a former drug addict that could potentially ruin the companies image. He continues to toil though, praying for a second chance in his chosen profession...

Ask anybody who covers baseball what the story of the year so far is and they'll immediately proclaim Josh Hamilton. By now, Hamilton's story is well documented. Drafted number one in all of MLB straight out of high school, supremely talented, a can't miss prospect. The catch was that Hamilton's career hasn't turned out like we all planned. He spent years of his life battling drug addiction... to the point where it almost cost him his life and nearly his career. Sound familiar? This year, after not playing for two years and never higher than Single A ball, Josh Hamilton has arrived. From day 1 in training camp to the end of the first month of the season, Josh Hamilton has displayed all the skills we knew he always had. He's crushing major league pitching to the point where the Cincinnati Reds can't keep him out of the lineup. He's a star outfielder with a golden arm. The fans embrace his honesty and appreicate that he freely admits and discusses his mistakes. His second chance, to this point, has become a dream come true.... John works in the food court at Walmart.

Please don't look at this as a knock on Josh Hamilton ...because it's not. I'm a huge Josh Hamilton fan. I root for his continued success not only because I'm a Cincinnati Reds fan, but because it's a story about a man overcoming his demons and straightening out his life. He was given a second (maybe third or fourth) chance and he's made good. Isn't it a shame that our boy John isn't afforded, or never will be afforded the same opportunity. The reason ...he's not an athlete. See, in today's sports world it's okay for a talented athlete to be given a second chance. Professional sports teams can withstand public relations nightmares. Today's businesses can not. One major mistake by taking a chance on the wrong guy and there goes your credibility and your future. In terms of sports teams, look no further than right across town at the Cincinnati Bengals. Nine players arrested in 1 year. A lifetime of embarrasment for the organization ...that plays in front of a sold out crowd with record merchandise sales.

Doesn't seem fair does it? What does this tell you? I'll tell you what it tells me. That is, if you screw up, you better be able to run a 4.4 40 or hit a baseball 450 ft. If you can't do that, make sure you can nail a 23 foot jump shot or one time a drive into the back of the net. It isn't fair and it never will be. Josh Hamilton is a great story. He's a guy we can all root for, a guy we all want to succeed. John works in the food court at Walmart. He runs a 5.3 40 and has absolutely no jump shot.