Posted on 12/06/2011 1:18:37 AM PST by Impy
I have a real radical idea, inspired by English soccer.
Have tiers of 13 teams each...the top level is the “Premier League”, each team plays the other 12 teams in their level (6 home, 6 away games), then the top four teams in each level, play the semi-finals and finals.....and the bottom four teams in each level get relegated next season, and the top four teams get promoted. Each level will have a champion. Of course the one problem is that levels will be widely dispersed throughout the country and travel costs could be quite prohibitive.
I see we did think alike...
And I do see eventually the big programs breaking away from the NCAA, and negotiating their own television contracts.
Let’s look at the FCS system:
11 regular season games (versus 12 with the possibility of conference championship games)
play-offs that begin before Thanksgiving and end after January 1 (versus ending the regular season before final exams and having a post season game after final exams)
No post-season exhibition-type bowl games
And three FCS conferences don’t participate in the FCS playoff system.
So, we are talking of losing perhaps a 100 million dollars in reduced regular season games and exhibition-type bowl games, and putting such a burden on student-athletes that a number of conferences won’t participate
I think there’s a way to schmooze the difference;
hard limit of 12 regular season games,
money to cover extra expense of travel to/from Hawaii (instead of compensating game), and
no conference championship games,
an eight-team playoff;
four Bowl Games on Christmas Day (no others allowed on that day),
two of the January 1 Bowl Games for semi-finals; and,
a championship game on January 8th.
1st Round: Fiesta, Citrus, Indianapolis and Cotton
Semi-final: Rose and Orange
Final: Sugar
(this line-up could be re-considered every so often, but I think what I have is pretty good)
Exhibition Bowl Games allowed FROM January 26 TO January 7
including All-Star Games for players from non-qualifying teams and FCS teams that didn’t make the playoffs, with a limit of one such game per player
I’m o.k. with AQ for conference champions that are ranked in the top 12 (as opposed to the top 8 ranks that are eligible for post-season play) and I’m o.k. with a max of two teams from any conference.
I think my playoff rules would preserve a lot of the Bowl tradition AND the meaningfulness of conferences without much cost to the schools or student-athletes
I tend to favor a playoff where the top 8 teams play it off to the end. The best four bowls could be used as the host sites(say the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange or Cotton).
On the other hand, the current BCS system is fun and lends itself to a lot of discussion around the water cooler!
But I have a different very radical idea, if you love tradition you’ll hate it. Get rid of the current conferences. They are silly anyway, Big “East” is adding Boise State and SAN DIEGO State. Big ten has 12, Big 12 has 10.
This would be fine as long as there is enough flex in the schedule to accomodate true legacy matchups.
RE: Playoffs, are DII Football and DI really the same game in terms of prep, money, corruption? So much for being a student athlete if you try that in DI.
Only a playoff will determine if the correct teams make it to a BCS championship game.
Well I guess so!
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