RIP BCS

After another exciting college football season that included everything from App St. beating the winningest football program in history, to a top 5 team losing to an unraked opponent 13 times, to a WAC team going undefeated again and pulling out some really exciting wins, to Stanford (a 44 point underdog) upsetting USC, to the top 2 teams in the nation losing on the final day, and countless other exciting moments that can only be witnessed in college football, we are once again faced with the reality that the season will end on a down note. The BCS is once again ruining another thrilling season with a bowl process that leaves us all wanting more. Here are some of my biggest problems with this years selections.

- How did LSU jump ahead of VT. I am not forgetting the beating LSU gave VT back in September but look what has happened in the last two days. VT was ranked 6th with a BCS rating of .7811 going into this weekend while LSU was right behind them at #7 with a rating of .7744. VT then beat #11 ranked Boston College by 14 while LSU beat #14 ranked Tennessee by 7. This week, LSU comes in at #2 with an average rating of .9394 with VT finished at #3 with a rating of .8703. LSU jumped 5 positions and gained .165 points in the ratings while VT jumped 3 spots and gained .0959 points in the ratings. LSU gained .0691 more points that VT while beating a lower ranked team by less points. How in the world is this possible.

-So sorry MIZZOU. Missouri was the number one team going into the weekend coming off a great game aganist the then #1 Kansas Jayhawks. But Missouri fell short in the Big XII championship game against #9 Oklahoma for the second time this season. Missouri lost the conference title and had to hope to receive an at large bid to get into a BCS game. The invite never came. Instead, Kansas got a bid. That's not the worst of it. Illinois, a three loss team who lost to Missouri earlier in the season also got a bid. Are you telling me a team ranked #6 in this weeks BCS poll, ranked 2 spots higher than Kansas, ranked 7 spots higher than Illinois, doesn't get a bid. When you factor in the fact that Kansas has the 106th toughest schedule (out of 119), and they don't even have a win against anyone who even received a vote to be placed in the top 25, tells me that something is not quite right with the system in place.

- The Ohio State Luckeyes. I realize Ohio State has a pretty good team. They won 11 games in a major conference and beat the likes of Wisconsin, Michigan and Penn State. But they also played the 75th toughest schedule in the nation. Perhaps my biggest problem with OSU being given a spot in the title game is the fact that they did not play. For the past two weeks they have been sitting on their butts back in Columbus hoping and praying for a scenario just like this. They don't have a tough title game added on to the end of their schedule so why are they rewarded for doing nothing. I think a playoff would be a perfect end of season test to tell how good these buckeyes really are. Also it will be interesting to see if they get this special treatment again if they get blown out like they did last year.

So those are my major problems with how the current BCS system has played out. Now for the real question. What system could be put in place that would reveal who the best team in college football is. Here is my solution

-An 8 team playoff. The first round would put the #1 team playing the #8 team, the #2 team versus the #7 team, the #3 team versus the #6 team, and the #4 versus the #5. These bowls would retain the names of the current BCS bowls. In round 2 the highest ranked team remaining would face the lowest ranked team remaining with the two teams left facing off in the other round two game. Finally, the winners of these two games would face off in the National Championship.

-The conference champion from the 6 major conferences (ACC, SEC, PAC 10, Big XII, Big 10, and the Big East) automatically get a bid to play in the tournament. The final two spots would be filled by at large teams.

-The problems a system like this solves
1) You're no longer arguing about who the #1 and #2 teams are which is far more controversial than arguing about who the #8 and #9 teams are.

2) The regular season still matters. The added bonus to win the conference championship would push teams excite fans.

3) Money. Those lousy corporate heads that are sucking all the fun out of college football would be able to make even more money now because there are three more huge games to sell out.

4) Its a college football playoff!!! Whats not exciting about that!!! Each week the best teams in the nation face off to determine who gets to go on to another exciting game against another of the nations best!!!