Fixing the College Football Farce

In NCAA Division I football we have a rabid fan base that follows with keen interest. At the end of every season a paper National Champion is given what is now the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) National Champion title. And every year it is basically a joke.

That is because it is based on a very subjective system. Yes there is criteria that is fed into a computer that is factored in but much of that is also arbitrary for the most part. For example the strength of schedule is influenced by human data. And in determining the BCS rankings human judgement is mixed with computer configurations.

Yes every year the declared winner is always a viable candidate, however there is always an argument as to the legitmacy of that team getting a shot to play in the Championship game. There are a couple major flaws in this system.

1 - Realistically only a small percentage of teams are truly going to get a chance to play for said title.

2 - Those teams have to go undefeated or only lose once. Maybe twice.

- which presents another big problem. Not all of the top schools play the same quality of opponents. The strength of schedule is supposed sort that out but it rarely does. For example the USC monster always gets a high ranking despite them not playing the same amount of ranked teams as others do. For example Penn State this year plays the same amount of ranked opponents this year as USC does. And if USC had not lost a game earlier in the season thus far, they would be ranked ahead of Penn State just because they are USC. And the conference schedule of each team is very similar in competition overall.

Of course PAC-10 people would argue against that.

But forget all that. People are screaming for a playoff system. That is never going to happen. So I offer a better solution. (which will also never happen)Let's re-configure the conferences. Let's have one Super conference that will truly compete for a National Title. This conference will be made up of schools that have a track record of being a major football school over the test of time. Every week would bring great football match-ups and bring competition every week. So why there will still be grumbling it will hard to complain about how we got the Champion. All the teams will have common opponents and an equally tough schedule. Every week will be an important week. You won't need a poll. The records and the standings will speak for themselves.

Then we should break the rest of the quality football schools into strong balanced regional conferences. This would also make every week have great match-ups and be very competitive. Then you can have the Bowl games as usual. The new conferences would set up the Bowl Games better also.

I would have every team play the exact same amount of games including a conference championship game. I also would have the first 2 games be out of conference match-ups. No cup cake games either! Clemson vs Florida Atlantic, for an example, would never happen. Michigan State against Akron? Forget about it; it's not happening.

You will notice below, I have not included every present Division I progam because quite frankly they shouldn't be. The schools not included are not going to ever get a chance to play for a BCS Title anyhow. Boise State proved that they can win on a big stage but that was a one in a million opportunity. And schools like Temple are way overmatched. No one in Philadelphia, where Temple is located, even cares. They get maybe 1,000 people to go to their games unless they play Penn State. With the new system they will play teams they can compete with.

Also I believe you can have the conferences reviewed every 2 years and add schools that have earned their way on to the scene. Anyhow below is the way I would break down the NCAA Division I landscape.

NATIONAL Conference

• Alabama
• Auburn
• Florida
• Florida State
• Georgia
• LSU
• Miami (FLA)
• Michigan
• Nebraska
• Notre Dame
• Oklahoma
• Ohio State
• Penn State
• Tennessee
• Texas
• USC

NORTHEAST Conference

• Boston College
• Maryland
• Rutgers
• Syracuse
• Connecticut
• Pittsburgh
• West Virginia
• Cincinnati
• Virginia

SOUTHEAST Conference

• Virginia Tech
• South Florida
• Wake Forest
• Clemson
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• NC State
• Georgia Tech
• Mississippi
• Mississippi State

CENTRAL Conference

• Michigan State
• Purdue
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Louisville
• Illinois
• Wisconsin
• Minnesota
• Iowa
• Northwestern
• Iowa State

MID SOUTH Conference

• Oklahoma State
• Kansas
• Kansas State
• Texas Tech
• Texas A&M
• Baylor
• Arkansas
• Vanderbilt
• Missouri
• TCU

WEST Conference

• Arizona
• Utah
• Arizona State
• Brigham Young
• USC
• Washington
• UCLA
• Washington State
• California
• Oregon
• Colorado
• Oregon State
• Fresno State
• Boise State

By Andy Natalie
DFN Sports Staff Writer