Everyone has their own idea of how to fix the search for the rightful College Football Champion in FBS. With the beat down that Utah put on #1 all season Alabama, I'm in agreement with ESPN's Colin Cowherd, something needs to change. The Utah has shown its a BCS Buster. Boise State has shown on the right day it can play its way to a win over a big boy BCS team.
So how do you fix it? How do you keep Bowls happy? How do you keep all the conferences happy?
First off there are too many bowl games. 6-6 Teams don't deserve a bowl game. Iowa didn't deserve the Alamo Bowl in 2006 when the Hawks were 6-6. Some 7-5 teams don't deserve them. And watching the bowls, fans aren't going, and ratings are dropping (except for the Rose - and probably the BCS Title and Fiesta). Bowl games should be a privledge in college football, not a right by over 50% of the teams. So eliminate some of the bowls.
Next, there needs to be a better system to determine the top teams. Coaches pool is TERRIBLE. It's a bunch of crap full of bias rankings made by SID's. Get something similar to the RPI in college basketball. Incorporate some of these computer polls. The Harris poll has enough individuals involved that it could be used also.
Third, end the REGULAR season the weekend before Thanksgiving. Teams don't need 3 bye weeks (SEC Schools???). The Big Ten has a bye week, and gets a 12 game schedule done before the Thanksgiving break. Use Thanksgiving weekend as Championship Weekend for conference championship games.
Fourth. Either all conferences have a conference championship or none have it. HINT HINT Big Ten & Pac-10. Big Ten, add Notre Dame. Notre Dame, go to the Big Ten. You and the domers need it more now then EVER. Big Ten, it adds the Irish. Pac-10, add Utah and maybe Colorado State, BYU or Boise State. On Championship weekend, the Big East Champ plays the Conf USA Champion; WAC Champion plays the Mt. West Champion.
Fifth, a playoff. 8 teams. Big Ten Champion, Pac-10 Champion, ACC Champion, SEC Champion, Big XII Champion, Big East/Conf USA Rep, Mt West/WAC Rep, 1-At Large based on RPI ratings. Bowl Sites built in here. The Rose could still have the Big Ten & Pac-10 Champions or rank 1-8 and have a seeded tourney. Use the Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Orange for these games. The final 3 games could be played in Phoenix/Tempe at the site of the Fiesta Bowl. Play the four bowls on New Years Day. The semifinals a week later, the Championship the week befor the Super Bowl. Sure there will probably be some back lash about the fans having to travel 3 weekends, but somehow they always get there. Students take out new loans for bowl trips. And Phoenix/Tempe has the hotels and restaurants that could handle this, and also the weather.
It's not pefect, but what we have now isn't either.
