Time For A NCAA Division 1 Football Playoff

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

Here we go again. USC beat Penn State 38-24 in the Rose Bowl on Thursday. And Utah dismantled Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl last night.

Let the debate begin. There are many people this morning that are making the case...and rightfully so... that the Trojans should be the Number one NCAA football team in the country and not one of the two teams playing for the BCS Championship next week.

This whole yearly national debate could be settled by a playoff. Almost all NCAA sports including lower division football have a playoff. A playoff at the Division 1 level is now a no brainer.

How would it work? Very simple. First of all you don't throw out the BCS ranking system...maybe you try to improve the process...but you don't get rid of the concept. Top eight teams at the end of the regular season are in the playoffs.

First week number eight plays number one, number seven plays two...and so on. Second week, reseed and have the semi-finals and third week is the championship.

What about the revenues for and from the current bowl games? Simple. You don't get rid of the bowl games. First of all, you already have a championship game set up on a neutral site so that doesn't change. Each year, cities would bid for the championship game...much like the Super Bowl. Revenues to the schools involved would increase.

Then you got four quarterfinals and two semi-finals. Six bowl games could serve as those games. Those six games would be bid on by the Bowl committees. All the other cities get to have their bowls like they usually do...sort of like the NIT tournament in basketball. Say the Rose Bowl wants to keep the traditional Pac Ten - Big Ten matchup...they don't have to bid on a game for the playoffs...then again...maybe they want to if a Pac-Ten team is involved.

What about the argument that it creates more games? This arrangement creates two additional games for only two teams in the country. Think about it. These teams are currently playing in a bowl game already so that's one game. Take away the League championships and that's another game. That argument has never flown with many people. And if you really want to be safe...drop one of the preseason games which are usually unnecessary.

Here's how the Playoff System could have worked this year. The operative word here is "could". No emails about who I projected to win the games.

In the first week, the quarter-finals: Oklahoma beats Penn State in the Orange Bowl, Florida beats Texas Tech in the Sugar Bowl, USC beats Alabama in the Rose Bowl, and Utah surprises Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

In the second week, the semi-finals: Florida beats Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and USC edges by Utah in the Fiesta Bowl.

In the Championship Game held at Ford Field in Detroit....USC beats Florida and wins the national championship.

See how simple and cool that was?

Hopefully it will be a reality next season. President Obama and I will be working on it.