Plan For College Football

What college football needs is a benevolent dictator. Somebody who, at the end of the bowl games, will determine the next step. I’ll volunteer for the job.

Right now, we have four BCS games, followed by a championship contest at one of the BCS sites. What we need to do is add the Cowboys’ new stadium as a fifth BCS game, so you still have 10 BCS teams.

Then, after those bowls are played, you figure out what’s left to determine a champion. This year it’s easy. There are two unbeatens: Alabama and Boise State. They play each other, with the winner being the champion.

Some years, you might need a four-team playoff after the bowls. Some years, three teams might go into a playoff, and I will determine which one receives a bye.

Last year after the bowls, Utah was unbeaten and Florida, Southern Cal and Texas all had one loss. None of them had played each other. Simple solution: Four-team playoff.

In 2007, Kansas and Hawaii finished with one loss, while LSU, Georgia, USC, Missouri, Ohio State, West Virginia, and Brigham Young had two losses. That seems pretty convoluted. But Hawaii was roasted in the Sugar Bowl; Kansas and Missouri didn’t win their conference; Ohio State was pounded in the BCS title game; Georgia didn’t win its division of the SEC; and BYU hadn’t beaten anybody. I declare that USC will meet West Virginia for the right to play LSU for the title.

Some years, there won’t be any need for additional games. In 2005, Texas and USC were the only unbeatens. They played, Texas won. End of discussion.

See, this is simple? But it also requires a benevolent dictator. Because every year will be different, and the only way to cut through the clutter and arrive at common sense is to have one person in charge. Once you get committees involved, you end up deciding on the same format every year and adding tweaks that only add to the confusion.

But there’s no way that one system will work for every year. You need to decide what’s best after the bowl games. And I’m just the person to do that.