I don’t want you to imagine a perfect world. I want you to imagine a better one. This world has equal opportunity. Disputes are settled directly by the parties involved. No one is given anything, and playing it safe is not rewarded. I want you to imagine a Division I college football playoff system. It’s easy if you try. Those who oppose a playoff system often cite the college football season as too long and its extension as a hindrance to student-athletes’ academic success. The argument lost some weight when the NCAA recently expanded regular season scheduling to 12 games. Clearly, if the money is there, expanding the season is not an issue for even those whose priority is the welfare of the scholar-athlete. If there were to be a playoff, the first hurdle would be choosing how many teams would get in. The so-called power conferences – the Southeastern, Big-10, Big-12, Big East, Pacific 10 and Atlantic Coast conferences – deserve representation in any postseason tournament. They have the premier teams in the nation in both talent and revenue. The smaller conferences also deserve a chance to play, as the success of the 2005 Fiesta Bowl Champion Utah Utes proved. In this playoff system, the underdogs will get their chance if they earn it. Two at-large selections would join the champions of the power conferences in an eight-team playoff. The at-large teams would be chosen by an NCAA selection committee. Like the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, a computer rating system would supplement the selection committee’s subjective judgment of each team. The committee and fans would have somewhere to turn for guidance on which two teams belong. The committee would seed the teams just like they do in basketball. The consensus No. 1 team would be the one seed, facing the eight seed in the first round. The other games would be 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5. There would be no need to cater toward Notre Dame as the Bowl Championship Series does currently. If the Irish were the best non-power conference team in the nation, their record and computer ranking would say so. Even college football purists could appreciate the fact that if a two-loss SEC team was the best team in America, it would be able to prove it by beating the rest of the nation’s best in the postseason. Aggressive scheduling would be rewarded in both seeding and potential knockout games between programs on the at-large bubble. This might actually give the NCAA’s claims of an “11-game playoff” regular season some credence, particularly in light of the potential Ohio State University-Michigan national championship rematch, which remains a possibility. The fans would be given the best eight teams, a magnificent seven games and a true champion decided on the field. Unlike the BCS, this system would be well received, because it rewards winning and leaves nothing to chance. Fans would know if LSU could have defeated the University of Southern California for the 2003-2004 national title. No more co-champions – ever. Each of the seven games would have a marketable match-up, eliminating much of the politics in bowl season that Louisiana’s governor seems so fond of. There would be no more double-dipping for the rich bowls as seen in the current +1 format. The seven biggest bowls in America would become permanent NCAA playoff hosts. The Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls would rotate the championship, semi-final, and 1 vs. 8 quarterfinal games. The Capital One, Cotton and Gator bowls would rotate the other three quarterfinals. With the eight teams and sites chosen, the committee could reward the best teams with bowls nearer to their home while giving the underdogs their shot at Goliath. In just three weekends, the NCAA could have an unquestioned champion and perhaps even more money than the BCS provides. I know it’s hard to believe, but the NCAA could keep its overstuffed wallet and its fan base could still be pacified with a true champion. Imagine that.
—–Contact David Hebert at dhebert@lsureveille.com