BCS College Football Playoff System in High Demand

After yet another controversial end to the college football season fans are lobbying college football powers for a playoff scenario to determine next year's national champion. College football remains one of the lone major sports that do not determine their season champion on the field. Instead, a rather elaborate algorithm of computer magic ranks teams based on their strength of schedule, their average ranking in the human polls, and various other factors. Fans of the system say it is an improvement over the previous national championship selection process which used only human polls. Others say it doesn't do enough for those teams ranked third through eighth, whose records are often similar to the top teams, but their schedules or conference association may not be as strong.

Parity in today's college football game begs for a playoff system. No longer are the perennial powers immune from defeat by weaker opponents in smaller conferences. Improved competition, new offensive schemes, and upgrades to small-conference facilities have evened the college football playing field. In a year where there are several very successful teams (such as 2004 when USC, Oklahoma and Auburn were undefeated), or several teams with one or two losses, it is nearly impossible to objectively pick the top two. In an eight-team playoff system those teams would have a chance to stake their claim for number one on the field, rather than relying on human polls and a computer aggregator - both of which are subject to geographic and conference biases.

It's the economy, stupid. College administrators and bowl officials are concerned with the financial impact of a playoff system. Proponents of a BCS playoff advocate using the existing bowl platform to host the final playoff rounds, with the top two teams advancing to the BCS national championship game as they do now.

Round 1

Under an eight-team playoff scenario teams would be seeded based on their final BCS ranking. Number 1 and Number 8, Number 2 and Number 7, Number 3 and Number 6, and Number 4 and Number 5 would play each other head to head. During this first round of playoffs teams with the higher BCS ranking would host their lowered-ranked opponent.

Round 2

The four winners from Round 1 would then meet in one of the current BCS-designated bowl games (Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl). Bowl officials would select which teams play in each venue to maximize attendance, minimize travel time for both teams, etc. The two winners from Round 2 would then square off in the national championship game under its current format.

The proposed eight-team BCS playoff scenario would preserve financial incentives for participating schools and conferences, and all remaining bowls could be played as consolation games for those teams ranked higher than number eight with the minimum number of victories for bowl eligibility. There are advantages to round one games being hosted at a team's home stadium. The higher ranked team would enjoy increased ticket revenues, added television compensation, and a boom to their regional tourism industries. Many high school playoff implementations use this home field advantage in the early rounds, as does the National Football League.