Opinion
Solution to BCS mess available, teams would compete against best
November 10, 2010
No.3 TCU trumped No.5 Utah 47-7 Saturday, sending a message to college football that they are a legit undefeated team. No.4 Boise State walked all over unranked Hawaii 42-7.
How would the BCS respond? How about with a resounding yawn.
Boise State has the longest winning streak in major college football at 22 games, yet they need a miracle to make the national championship. TCU has only lost one game in two years to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl last season, and they are 10-0.
Unless Oregon or Auburn loses, they will not play for a national title. Even if one of those teams do lose, both teams have a chance to be leap-frogged by a one loss team such as LSU, Stanford and several others.
There is one easy solution to the mess called the BCS and that is to make a 16-team playoff system, with the eleven conference winners receiving automatic bids with the remaining five spots to be filled by teams receiving at-large bids.
In this scenario, every conference still gets their money for playing the bowl game, and several other bowls could count towards a national title.
This will make the teams prove they can beat the best of the best to get to the title game. Boise State and TCU would have a shot to get to the national title and control their own destiny rather than wait and hope.
I know we need to wait until at least 2013 before a playoff is implemented, but this is a scenario that needs to become reality.
Robert Silvers is a student at UW-River Falls.