The BCS is BS. Here's How to Fix It.

So me and a couple of the fellas at work were discussing the merits of the BCS and why college football needs a playoff. If there's one year where a playoff is desperately needed it's this one. Here are the current BCS Standings:

1. Alabama 12-0

2. Oklahoma 11-1

3. Texas 11-1

4. Florida 11-1

5. USC 10-1

6. Utah 12-0

7. Texas Tech 11-1

8. Penn State 11-1

9. Boise State 12-0

10. Ohio State 10-2

With six one loss teams currently in the top 10 who's to say one deserves a shot at the title more than the other. Even if Florida wins the SEC Championship does that make them a better team than USC? Texas Tech? Penn State? I say no and that's where the BCS has major problems.So that got us talking at the job. College football needs a playoff. Craig, Dan, and I have three different playoff proposals. I'll list them all here and you tell me which is the best and why.

Kyle's Proposal

I suggest a 16 team playoff. Take the top two teams from each BCS conference and four at large teams and let them play it out. That way you get the cream of the crop and you give some of the smaller schools a chance to square off the big boys. Under this plan the eight BCS conference schools would be: Oklahoma, Texas, Penn St., Ohio St., Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Alabama, Florida, USC, Oregon St., Boston College, and Virginia Tech. The four at large teams would be Texas Tech, Utah, Boise St, and Ball St. That's the best of the best and would eliminate a lot of arguments.

Craig's Proposal
My proposal for a BCS playoff is to have the top eight teams in the BCS rankings make the playoffs. I believe with an eight team playoff it allows you to have the best eight teams in the country play for a title. With my system a non-BCS school still has the chance to play for the title. Utah is currently ranked six in the BCS and they would get its shot at a title. Now with my system it currently leaves Boise State and Ball State out. But Boise State still has a chance with a loss by someone playing in a conference championship to crack the top eight. In this system the current eight teams would be Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, USC, Utah, Texas Tech, and Penn State.

Now there would be no representative from the Big East or ACC but I believe the best eight teams in the country are in the playoff and have a shot for the title. No Big East or ACC team has less than two losses so I have no problem with the fact that they would not have a team in the playoffs. Now I will admit that Boise State has a strong argument to be in the title picture but I have a hard time saying they are better than any of the eight teams in front of them. With this eight team playoff I feel we would finally have a true champion. The BCS rankings have been tweaked through the years and are a good judgment of who teams have played and is a good judgment of who the top eight teams in the country are. With my system the regular season still matters. An ACC or Big East school can get in if they win in the regular season and not lose more than one game like all of its teams did this year. This system would be easy to put in place and would work.

Dan's Proposal

You guys keep debating ways to tweak the current obviously week system. (Notice not one of us want to keep what we have.) Craig’s system allows him to keep his SEC bias alive and well and Kyle’s got teams playing 18 games and trashes the Bowl system. If we’re gonna get this thing fixed, why not fix it all the way and in a way which addresses all the concerns of the play-off haters.

I'd mandate, force, impose, the Big 10, Big East and Pac 10 expand to 12 teams divided into 2 6 team divisions like the existing 12 team conferences. Then both division winners in the 6 BCS conferences play a defacto play-off game at their conf. championship. Take those 6 teams and add two at-large selections (smaller conf. champs or teams such as this year's Texas Tech/Oklahoma/Texas that lose their division, but still deserve a shot).

If you do not win your 6 team division, you can not complain that you do not qualify for the tourney even if you had a great year, win on your schedule and you are in. No more "polls are biased towards that conference" (that’s right I’m talkin’ bout you SEC); if you play in a BCS conference and win you will have a chance.

This is all very confusing, I admit, here’s how it would play out this season:

Week of Dec. 5-6. Conference Championships

Big 10 (12): Penn St.(EAST) v. Michigan State (WEST) (assumes PSU and OSU in same Div. of Big 10(12) (Pitt added)

Big 12: Oklahoma (SOUTH) v. Missouri (NORTH) Big East: Cincinnati (NORTH) v. E. Carolina (SOUTH) (Pitt out, ECU, UCF, Marshall, Notre Dame and Memphis added)

ACC: Florida St. (ATLANTIC) v. Georgia Tech (COASTAL)

SEC: Florida (EAST) v. Alabama (WEST)

Pac 10(12): Utah (NORTH) v. USC (SOUTH) (Utah and BYU added)

Week of Dec. 27 1st Round:
Capital One Bowl: #1 Alabama (SEC)v. Florida St. (ACC)

Fiesta Bowl: #3 Oklahoma (Big 12)v. Cincinnati (Big East)

Cotton Bowl: #5 USC (Pac 10) v. Texas Tech (At large)

Orange Bowl: #6 Penn St. (Big 10) v. Boise St. (At large)

*Texas and Ball State are left out. Texas can't gripe as they had their chance. They lost South Div. tie-breaker AND head-to-head with T. Tech. I like a system where an unbeaten mid-major could play in a conf. title game. Say Ball St. replaces ECU in Big East game and UC declared Big East champs. I am OK with leaving Ball St. out though as MAC needs more history.)

Week of New Years Semi-finals and other bowls:
Sugar Bowl: #1 Alabama v. #6 Penn St.

Rose Bowl: #3 Oklahoma v. #5 USC

Outback Bowl: Ohio St. v. Georgia

Holiday Bowl: Texas v. Oregon St.

Gator Bowl: Utah v. Florida

Peach Bowl: Ole Miss v. Ball St.
etc. etc.

As you can see, the second tier bowl games will actually get better teams as Missouri, all other ACC teams, 9-4 Northwestern, etc. have not even been accounted for yet.

Week of Jan. 5:
Nat'l Champ Game in Miami: Alabama v. Oklahoma.

My system keeps the importance of the regular season. It makes conference play of utmost importance which should lead to more compelling out of conference games as teams do not have to keep the losses to a minimum. It makes all bowls more interesting. It takes care of the BCS schools and their powerful presidents. It keeps the schedule roughly the same length for all but 2 teams. Basically I win.