Under the Bowl Coalition and the Bowl Alliance, the two systems that were in place before the BCS, the winners of designated conferences would be obligated to play in certain bowls. A good example of this would be in 1997 when the Michigan Wolverines, who are from the Big Ten conference, played in the Rose Bowl and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, from the Big Twelve, played in the Orange Bowl. These teams played in separate bowls, and not against each other, because of alliances that their conferences had with these bowls. The result, as Tim Layden cleverly states, is that “the officials

The 2001 football season is one example to illustrate this point. At the end of the season Oklahoma was the only team that remained unbeaten so they were the obvious number one. However, a whole slew of teams with one loss were battling for the second spot and the deciding factor ended up being a computer figured strength of schedule output. The result was Florida State would be ranked number two, just ahead of Miami. The fact that Florida State had a slightly stronger schedule than Miami apparently out-weighed the fact that the Seminoles lost to the Hurricanes earlier in the season. Similarly, Miami lost to Washington, who was ranked fourth. Go figure.

The Bowl Championship Series was supposed to be the answer to all of the critics who opposed the previous bowl structures. It answered them to the extent that now we have the #1 and #2 ranked teams (by way of a formula) playing against on another and there will be no more split championships. It has created a new kind of controversy though, and that is the way in which the top two teams are figured. I propose that we put the BCS out of its misery, and adopt a simple eight team, three round playoff at the end of the season so the top ranked teams will have a chance to do what they do best-play. A playoff has been adopted by nearly every sport, including football at all other levels, and has not created as much controversy in two decades as the BCS has for college football in four years. This would be exhilarating for the players and fans alike and could be very lucrative for the NCAA. I agree with Candy Reagan when she states that, “When the winner yells, ‘we’re number one,’ at the end of the last game in January, the second-third-or even fourth placed team couldn’t disagree.” (Reagan)

This leads me to the first counter-argument that I would like to touch on. Many feel that if we did away with the current bowl structure, the NCAA would be losing money. I don’t know how this could even be possible, even by accident. Imagine how easy it would be to draw fan interest in a playoff system. Not only would there be as many games to make money off of, but there would be three more games with huge implications to cash in on. Everyone wins. The NCAA could make millions more off a playoff system, the players could live out there dream for that much longer (because a bowl game is the end for many of them), and most importantly, the fans will know who the real national champion is.

The main issue among those that would counter the proposal is that it would make the season too long. Many of those who feel this way also adhere to the above idea that the NCAA would be losing out on money. It was this ideology and those that adhere to it that are responsible for the season being as long as it is in the first place. Only recently have the seasons gotten as long as thirteen and fourteen games. Twenty years ago teams played eleven games at the most, and I feel that if college football went back to an eleven game schedule, my proposal would answer all critics. I recently saw an interview with the head coach of the Florida State Seminoles, Bobby Bowden. Bobby Bowden has been one of the most successful coac

Some topics in this essay:
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