Duffy was going to write a blog about Afghanistan but decided to put that depressing subject away for another day and since tonight is the start of the college football season give you my thoughts on the BCS system and determining a National Champion.
Supposedly there is an overwhelming majority of support for abolishing the current BCS and staging a playoff system to determine the "true" national champion. Well, I've yet to see a playoff system format that makes sense to me or that would satisfy all critics of the current system. And, it appears that the folks who really matter, i.e. the college presidents and athletic directors are firmly against a playoff system. And I agree with them. And I'm just as avid college fan and anybody else out there. I think the current system is just fine. And here's why. From the very first game of the season, every game for every team in the BCS conferences means something. Every week's game is in essence a "playoff" game. Though LSU proved a two loss team can make it to the the NC game, I don't think that will happen very often if at all anytime soon. From the very start, every game means something to the BCS formula mix to determine the top two teams. Excitement every Saturday!
It seems to me that the REAL reason there is so much grumbling is that there are only the six major conferences who make up the BCS and the other seven "less major" conferences are outside looking in. The crux of the problem, in my view, all boils down to one thing: MONEY. The five BCS bowls last year distributed, I believe, $16 million to each team while the other bowls paid out anywhere from $5 million to $750,000. Sure, teams like Boise State, Utah and Hawaii don't get to play for the NC, but what really galls them is that their other conference teams play in lesser bowls with much reduced payoffs.
With that in mind, here is Duffy's solution to the BCS shortcomings. Do away with the top six conference monoply. ALL 120 teams in Division I football (I refuse to use the silly "Bowl Championship Division" classification) are to be included in the BCS system. No team is left out of being able to play in the NC game no matter which conference they're in. The big pot of gold of the five BCS games will be distributed to all 120 teams in Division I. However, to mollify the critics of this socialist redistribution of wealth, the conferences of the ten teams who do end up playing in the BCS games will get half of the payouts with the other half distributed to all the teams in D-I. In practice I can see that what will happen is that the six major conferences currently in the BCS formula will continue to supply most of the teams to the BCS bowls. But, teams like Utah and Boise State and other "lesser" conferences will have an equal chance to play for all the marbles.
Duffy believes that the current BCS conferences, The Big 10, Big 12, SEC, ACC, PAC 10 and Big East should quit being so piggy and agree to share the wealth or else somebody like Barack Obama or Congress will do it for them. Every game from the start will still mean something and everyone will have a chance for the NC. And most importantly, BCS Bowl money will be spread far and wide.
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