Let me preface this by saying I like the system as it is right now. National Title arguments are fun and bowl games are enjoyable. With all but Boise St. and BYU amongst the have nots in BCS leagues by the beginning of 2012, we are near having no real contenders outside of those leagues. The system looks stronger than ever and while there are some major problems with it, I still think it is better than a similarly exclusionary playoff or a playoff that allows too many teams into the mix and devalues the regular season, the best in all of sports. That said, this season's bowl games have shown the need for some changes to be made. There are too many bad teams and not enough quality matchups.
So what needs to change?
Lower the number of bowl games – I like my football and my bowl games. I have the Music City Bowl on as I type this. I am a junkie though. There are too many bowl games for normal person consumption. When ESPN has games on all day from 9 AM to after 10 PM on a non-weekend or Holiday (such as today), there are too many games on the schedule.
Re-compress the schedule – Not too long ago (15 years or so), there was only one game played before Christmas and all of the games were done by January 2 at the latest. I recognize the need for BCS games to be spaced out. That's fine. With five games, the games should be done by January 5 at the latest, January 4 in many years when there is no Sunday in the middle of the BCS (like this year). That also no more games on dates like January 7 and only one or two games before Christmas.
Eliminate the conference tie-ins – I'm sure many SEC and Big 10 fans will gladly get rid of some of the annual Big10-SEC bowl games as long as they get equal games and the same amount of money. Ditto for the Big 12 and Pac-10. This also allows the bowls to take who they want with some limitations to allow top non-BCS teams to reach any bowl game and to make sure all conference champions are in a bowl game no matter how bad.
Makes some major changes to the BCS – The general idea remains the same. Get the top two teams and then let everything else work itself out.
Change #1: Eliminate the BCS National Championship Game and bring the Cotton Bowl into the rotation. This system minus the Cotton was how it worked for the first eight years and it was fine. The need for two more teams led to another game being created. Get rid of it. With the Cotton Bowl being moved to JerryWorld, it can rejoin the major bowl game rotation.
Change #2: The top leagues can retain their auto-bids, with one caveat. The team must be ranked in the top 16 (the absolute minimum threshold for a non-BCS league team to get into the BCS) or that team loses its auto-bid.
Change #3: Move the two from a league rule to three from a league. We can't have one league overrunning the BCS entirely, but three from a league with ten slots works, especially when there is no Notre Dame to worry about and no auto-bid form all six leagues.
Change #4: While I understand forcing the Rose Bowl to take a non-BCS team that is eligible, let common sense reign. When there is a team that only the Rose Bowl would want (like Stanford this season), let them take the Cardinal in the interest of the other games health. Wait for a season like when the Rose took Illinois to force the non-BCS team down their throats.
How would this season's bowl season look different?
Bowl Game (Date) and Matchup
Fiesta Bowl National Championship (Jan 5) Auburn vs Oregon
Cotton Bowl (Jan 4) Oklahoma vs TCU
Orange Bowl (Jan 3) Michigan St. vs Virginia Tech
Sugar Bowl (Jan 1) Arkansas vs Ohio St.
Rose Bowl (Jan 1) Wisconsin vs Stanford
Citrus Bowl (Jan 1) Alabama vs Nebraska
Outback Bowl (Jan 1) LSU vs Texas A&M
Gator Bowl (Jan 1) Mississippi St. vs Penn St.
Peach Bowl (Dec 31) South Carolina vs Florida St.
Sun Bowl (Dec 31) Notre Dame vs Miami
Liberty Bowl (Dec 31) Central Florida (CUSA Champ) vs Northern Illinois
Armed Forces Bowl (Dec 31) Air Force vs NC State
Holiday Bowl (Dec 30) Boise St. vs Missouri
Alamo Bowl (Dec 29) Oklahoma St. vs West Virginia
Music City Bowl (Dec 28) Connecticut vs North Carolina
Independence Bowl (Dec 27) Maryland vs Florida
Motor City Bowl (Dec 26) Miami (OH) (MAC Champ) vs Michigan
Hawaii Bowl (Dec 24) Hawaii vs Navy
New Orleans Bowl (Dec 23) Florida International (Sun Belt Champ) vs Tulsa
Las Vegas Bowl (Dec 22) Utah vs Nevada
I think that looks a whole lot better. Sorry to all the teams that would not get to go to a bowl game in this scenario. Win more games.
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