Fixing College Football (Part I)

It’s time to fix college football. Now, I know you cynics out there are saying, “Isn’t college football already fixed?” So, let me be clear. I am not talking about gambling. I am talking about a game that is so broken, that fans of just about every school admit going into the season that it is entirely possible for their team to win every game and not play for the “National Championship.” College football is so behind the times that several coaches that vote in the Coaches Poll admit that they rarely watch other teams play. College football is so lost that even though the Bowl Championship Series has been revised just about every year since its inception, it is still considered the ugly step-sister to every other NCAA-sanctioned method of determining a champion. (See tournament in your dictionary.)

So, before I come to you with my all-encompassing, change everything and see what happens solution, let’s ask the question. Why is college football broken? The game itself is incredibly exciting, the talent on the field has never been better and the passion of fans is off the charts. So what’s the problem? The answer, of course, is money. You see, money changes everything and when it comes to money and the NCAA, the bowl system is the proverbial cash cow (or, in the case of the Chick-Fill-A Peach Bowl ad campaign, quite literally a cash cow). Last season, there were 28 bowl games. There will be about that many again this year. Of those bowl games, one – maybe two – have implications on the National Championship. But all of those bowl games have an effect on the NCAA bottom line. Through sponsorships, ticket sales and broadcasting rights, the NCAA and its schools and conferences make money on each and every game – even when the stands are only one-third full. The bowl organizers make money on all but a few games. The advertisers make money on most games. It’s a delicate balance and the NCAA is terrified to disrupt it.

Who loses in this deal? The fans. The fans pay the money and buy the cable packages and listen to the advertising and watch 27 games that are meaningless to the national title picture. And what are they left with on January 6th or 7th or 8th or whenever the championship game is played these days? Most of the time, we’re left with a disputed National Champion. Does that happen in college basketball? Not a chance. That first Monday in April always ends with a CBS playing “One Shining Moment” while the last team to win cuts down the nets. That’s a champion. No questions. One champ. College baseball? One champion? College softball? One champion. College volleyball, swimming, diving, tennis, wrestling, fencing, tiddlywinks? One champion for each level of competition. Heck, even the Division II and NAIA schools can pick one champion! We don’t get that in Division I college football. And it’s time for that to change.

Now, I’m not much for writing a series, but my plans to change college football is going to come in two columns. That’s because I have a lot to say and don’t want to run on forever in one column. The last decade of BCS confusion will indeed take me two installments to fix! First is conference alignment. Part II will include scheduling and bowl games. That way, you can rant at me if your team isn’t treated well not once, but twice!

Okay, let’s get on to the conference system in college football. There are too many conferences and they are not created equally. Even at the super conference level, the current conference alignment doesn’t make sense. The Big East is a great example this year. Though once somewhat powerful, the Big East is a shell of its former self as schools have jumped ship to other conferences. West Virginia is a title contender this year because the Mountaineers should run the table this year. It will be a huge upset for them NOT to be undefeated in December. That’s based on the fact that they are clearly the best team in a weak conference. But because the Big East has an automatic BCS birth, they are virtually guaranteed a spot in the national title equation. That’s not right.

When dealing with re-aligning the conferences, we’re going to start with some automatic disparity differences. For example, North Texas and USC are both Division I college football teams. However, the money that USC puts into their program is millions above the North Texas budget. They aren’t – and shouldn’t be – on a level playing field. However, if North Texas wins its conference and USC wins its conference, both ought to have an opportunity to make it to the national title game. This is the college basketball corollary – that smaller schools aren’t looking for an automatic spot in the championship game, but they are looking for a realistic path to reach that game. The result will be four Super-Conferences with 16 teams each, 8 in two divisions. The remaining Division 1 Teams would form 7 Conferences with 8 teams each. (We’re actually one short, so one team conference could have seven teams or the NCAA could induce another school to move up.) Conferences and divisions are based on geographic area and rivalry history. Here’s how I would break the four Super-Conferences down – we can think of catchy names for them later:

East Coast A
Boston College
Maryland
Penn St.
Pittsburgh
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
East Coast B
Clemson
Kentucky
Louisville
North Carolina
North Carolina State
South Carolina
Wake Forest
Vanderbilt

Southern A
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Florida St.
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Miami (FL)
Tennessee
Southern B
Arkansas
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi St.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St.
Texas
Texas A&M

Midwest A
Miami-OH
Michigan
Michigan St.
Minnesota
Notre Dame
Ohio St.
Purdue
Wisconsin
Midwest B
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Iowa St.
Kansas
Kansas St.
Missouri
Nebraska

Western A
BYU
California
Oregon
Oregon St.
Stanford
Utah
Washington
Washington St.
Western B
Arizona
Arizona St.
Colorado
Colorado St.
Fresno St.
San Jose St.
UCLA
USC

I understand that everyone may not agree. Baylor, Texas Tech, Northwestern and Duke would be irate. But, the cuts had to come somewhere and frankly, I liked your programs the least! Also, it’s time for the NCAA to strong arm Notre Dame into a conference. No more special treatment. If they want a shot at the National Championship, they need to play by the same rules, special TV contract or not. And, finally, don’t call me a homer for including BYU in a Super Conference. BYU is a premiere program with a huge national following and the rivalry with Utah pushes them over the top. Plus, my brother-in-law would have clogged my inbox for the rest of the week had I not put them in.

Now, as I said before, the remaining teams would be aligned into standard 8-team conferences. There would be a total of seven. I’m not going to try and organize those conferences. Suffice it to say that the organization should be done by region. The process is simple. Take the final 56 teams and plot them on a map. Then organize them so that the eight closest are together. Pretty straight forward, plus you may actually develop some regional rivalries. There’s a novel thought.

So, there’s phase one – 120 teams in four Super Conferences and seven Standard Conferences. Now, before we move to schedules and bowl games in my next column, let me add one more thing. The BCS Poll stays. In fact, it needs to be expanded. I want it used to rank all 120 teams from top to bottom. The only changes I would make are that it needs to be released weekly starting with the first week of conference play and it needs to be somewhat static. Decide which polls and computers and college football insiders are going to be used and try and keep some continuity from year to year. The poll should be managed by a group of athletic directors and conference presidents that can rotate from year to year. It would be similar to the NCAA Selection Committee. I know many people hate the BCS poll, but in this scheme, I think it would actually work. But, for that revelation, you’ll have to wait for Part II next week. . .


The Race for 62! Though I haven’t written for a while, that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped following my favorite baseball team. The Royals have actually improved and don’t seem to be in danger of setting any major league loss records, though they are still flirting with the franchise loss record. After sweeping the A’s in a double-header on Friday, they lost the last two games of the series for a split. However, if they can play .500 baseball through the rest of the year, they will finish the season at 63-99! It’s still in reach! Current record: 45-81. Projected record: 58-104.