It is inevitable. Every year around this time people begin to discuss the BCS. Most of the time they are discussing how they would rather have a playoff system instead of the BCS so as to have a true champion. Other times, though seldom, they may be discussing how the BCS “got it right” that year. This isn’t one of those years. This year we have a Big East Champion in UConn that is playing in the Fiesta Bowl with a record of 8-4 while teams like Boise State and Michigan State with one loss get the shaft. It was most definitely a down year for the Big East and hopefully it doesn’t stay down for too long. With the addition of TCU, they may be able to make a comeback in 2011 and, if we’re lucky, one of their teams can crack the Top 25.
The reason UConn is in the Fiesta Bowl instead of the San Diego County Credit Union Water Reclamation Raw Sewage Treatment Poinsettia Bowl is because by rule of the BCS, the conference champions from the automatic qualifier schools will be assigned to a BCS Bowl. The problem we have had in recent years is that there are teams, Utah – Boise State – TCU, that are making runs. With only one loss, they lose their chance at a BCS Bowl and a boatload of money for their schools just because they aren’t part of an AQ conference.
I have heard people talk about doing away with AQ conferences and forming super conferences. This could solve a lot of the headaches that we receive every time we try to figure out the BCS formula. With super conferences, there would be a playoff system that is not. I know that sounds confusing but go with me on this one. The way I have broken it down, we have 4 super conferences known as the Big East, Big North, Big South and Big West. Don’t get hung up on the names, those are arbitrary. Each of these super conferences will include 30 FBS teams. There are currently 120 FBS teams so they would split well into 4 super conferences. Inside each conference, the 30 teams would be separated into 4 divisions, North, South, East and West. Two divisions would have 8 teams while the other two would have 7 teams. Each team would have a schedule that broke down as follows:
Minimum 6 division games
Minimum 3 conference games
Minimum 2 non-conference games (could be games against 1 of the other 3 super conferences or could be FCS opponent)
This would encourage teams to have at minimum an 11 game season. Bye weeks would be subject to scheduling.
Following the regular season, each divisions champion will be decided by best division record. If there is a tie, it moves to head to head. If the teams did not play each other, it can go by points for. It doesn’t really matter as there are many ways to break a tie. So this leaves us with 16 division champions in the FBS and allows the small time bowl games to start offering the other members of the super conferences.
In each conference, the North division winner will play the South division winner while the East plays West in what will be a conference tournament of sorts. Matchups will be determined before the season with no matchups repeating in consecutive years. Once we have two final teams in each conference, the former BCS bowl games will come into play. The Rose Bowl can serve as the Big North Championship, the Fiesta Bowl can serve as the Big West Championship, the Orange Bowl can serve as the Big South Championship and the Sugar Bowl can serve as the Big East Championship.
Now that there are 4 super conference champions, they will move on to play in the semi-finals for the National Championship. The teams will be seeded by their rankings with seed 1 playing 4 while 2 plays 3. Once we are down to the final 2 teams, they will meet at a previously determined location, a location that would change every year.
The season would break down something like this:
Regular Season: 1st week of September – 3rd week of November
Conference Tournament (Division winners face off): 1st week of December
Conference Championships: 2nd week of December
National Championship Semifinal: 4th week of December
National Championship Game: 2nd week of January
With this new system, all of the bowl games can maintain their integrity while the national championship gets its integrity back. I know this is obviously flawed, more so to some of you than others, but I was bored and this is what happens when I get bored. Below is a potential breakdown of the 4 super conferences. I tried to maintain distance and rivalry as much as I could but I must admit that towards the end I just wanted to finish it.
Big East
North Division: South Division:
Boston College Indiana
Wake Forest Iowa
UConn Purdue
Central Michigan Ball State
Eastern Michigan Rutgers
Minnesota Syracuse
Buffalo Miami (OH)
East Division: West Division:
Maryland Illinois
Virginia Michigan State
Pitt Michigan
Kent State Northwestern
Akron Ohio State
Penn State Northern Illinois
Ohio Toledo
Temple Western Michigan
Big North
North Division: South Division:
Colorado Kansas
Air Force Missouri
BYU Kansas State
Utah San Diego State
Washington TCU
Washington State Alabama
Bowling Green Georgia
Wisconsin
East Division: West Division:
Army Baylor
Navy Iowa State
Notre Dame Colorado State
New Mexico State Oregon
UNLV Oregon State
Wyoming Stanford
Kentucky Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Big West
North Division: South Division:
Virginia Tech Texas
Nebraska Texas Tech
Vanderbilt Texas A & M
North Texas Cal
Boise State Mississippi State
Nevada Troy
Utah State Fresno State
Louisiana Tech
East Division: West Division:
North Carolina Arizona
Duke Arizona State
NC State UCLA
LSU USC
Ole Miss Hawaii
Arkansas State Idaho
Mid Tenn State New Mexico State
San Jose State
Big South
North Division: South Division:
Cincinnati Miami (FL)
Georgia Tech South Florida
Louisville Southern Methodist
Marshall UAB
Memphis Florida
Tulsa FAU
Western Kentucky FIU
South Carolina
East Division: West Division:
Clemson Houston
FSU Rice
WVU Tulane
ECU UCF
Arkansas UTEP
Tennessee Auburn
Louisiana Lafayette Louisiana-Monroe
Southern Miss
