BCS Championship Game vs. Playoffs? (Part 2)

As I stated in Part 1 of this series, I would have preferred if the Florida win against Oklahoma for the National Championship would have been a result of a playoff system. If I were to put a playoff system together, it would go like this.

32 teams would make the playoffs, in two 16 team tournaments. We'll call the tournaments the NCAA and NIT (original, right?). The top 16 teams would play in the NCAA tournament, and the 2nd tier (next 16 teams) would play in the NIT. All 11 conference champions would automatically qualify for post season play, but not necessarily in the NCAA bracket (that means you Conference USA and Sun Belt). This would reduce the number of teams in post season play from a ridiculous 68 teams (57%) to 32 teams (27%). Allowing only 32 teams would make sure that only the top teams get rewarded for their seasons. No more 6-6 or 7-5 teams playing into December.

A selection committee would select and seed each team into the brackets. Games for the NCAA tournament would be played at rotating neutral regional sites, while the NIT tournament would be played at home sites until the championship game. This would allow for games to be played in the Northeast and Midwest, so Southern and West Coast teams won't automatically have a travel advantage.

Games would begin mid-December (after finals) and continue on four consecutive weekends, with games played on Friday and Saturday. This will help with the consistency of game play. No more taking 7 weeks off before playing in the post season. No temptations of missing curfew and getting suspended while spending a whole week on South Beach. No academic casualties (at least not until the championship game).

I didn't want to address the money issue as much, but just think how much more money NCAA member schools would make if they cut out the middle man (Bowl games/Bowl committee). Most teams are lucky to break-even with bowl trips. To guarantee a bowl bid to the Motor City Bowl, Florida Atlantic opted NOT to take their bowl payout AND guaranteed a total amount of ticket sales. They lost money on travel and took a loss on the tickets. This money could definitely help non-revenue sports and Title IX compliance at member schools.

16 teams would include all teams worthy of Championship consideration. The regular season will still be important, because it takes alot to be in the top 16. It will give teams a mulligan for one bad showing, an injury, a suspension, death in family, or any other reason a star player may miss a game. Here's a hypothetical. What would have been the backlash if Florida State would have had one loss, and the game they lost was the game Myron Rolle missed because of his Rhodes scholarship interview?

This change would also likely increase the likelihood of intersectional rivalries in the regular season (e.g. Ohio State vs. USC, Ohio State vs. Texas), since one loss won't hurt your championship aspirations as much. You also won't have teams (or fans) feel they were disrespected in not making the BCS Championship game (I'm talking to you Texas fans), because it would be settled where it should be. ON THE FIELD!!

DC is a contributor to The Sports Information Hub and can be contacted at dcthesportsguy@gmail.com