NCAA College Football; Discriminates on Mid-Major Schools

There are 120 division 1-A college football teams. Why? Only teams that are in the Bowl Championship Series have a legitimate chance to win a National Championship. Does the NBA have certain teams that no matter how the season unfolds they are not allowed to participate in the playoffs? How about we have the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees not allowed to be in the World Series? Does this sound ridiculous? Well it is, and something should be done.

"Mid-Major" schools are considered the lesser of the teams in division 1-A football and are not in Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Conferences. These teams are in the same division but are not equals. If a Mid-American Conference (MAC) team wins all twelve regular season games and the conference championship game the best outcome they can hope for is a berth in a non-championship BCS but even that is a long shot. A non BCS school will never have a chance to win the National Championship.

Let's look at the 2006 Boise State Broncos. In 2006 Boise State, a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) had a perfect 12-0 regular season. They were ranked only 9th due to their status as a non BCS school. They were placed in the Fiesta Bowl against the heavily favored Oklahoma Sooners. Even after the upset and completing a flawless season, Boise State was not given even a glimmer of hope at a National Championship.

There is nothing in sports like the playoffs. Imagine the NCAA basketball season without the 65-team tournament. Imagine a Major League Baseball season that just ends at the end of the 162 game season and the team with the best record from the best division wins the championship. Playoffs were made for sports and need to be included in all sports.

One of the criticisms of having a playoff system is that there is not enough time in the year to hold playoffs over several weeks. In 2007 the Ohio State Buckeyes waited 51 days between their last regular season game and the January 8, 2008 National Championship game. And there isn't enough time in the year to have playoffs?

Any team that is in a sports league should have a possibility of winning the championship! No exceptions. Why play if you can't win? Well because there is a lot of money involved for the schools, bowl games, and the possibility of a lucrative professional football career for the student athlete. But it's still not fair and needs to be changed. A 16 team playoff bracket would do the trick. The top 12 spots could go to BCS Conferences and the remaining four would go to the best of the "mid-majors". The bowl games would be played as a finale to the playoff system. Even those eliminated early from the playoffs would earn revenue from that game and be placed in a top notch bowl game. This would be a dream come true for almost all college football fans.

Please NCAA, give all Division 1-A teams at least a chance at a National Championship. Its only fair.