Every year, the same debate arises: should the bowl system be eliminated in college football? Some people are for this change, such as former USC head coach Pete Carroll, and Mike Leach, former Texas Tech head coach. Even President Barak Obama is ready to see a change in college football. However, these people are not the norm. In fact, according to rival.com, 85 percent of coaches today prefer the college bowl system.
The Bowl Championship Series is the current playoff system for Division One College Football. The BCS is made up of five games: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship. These bowls feature the top 10 teams in the country. Besides these games, there are 27 other bowl games that feature teams that were not good enough to make it to the BCS.
According to the BCS official website, “The BCS is a five-game showcase of college football. It is designed to ensure that the two top-rated teams in the country meet in the national championship game, and to create exciting and competitive matchups among eight other highly regarded teams in four other bowl games.” However, this system does not create exciting matchups and it does not always assure that the two top rated teams play in the championship.
With this playoff system, there are many problems that the bowl system faces. First, the BCS is run by a confusing computer system. According to College Football Poll, the computer system uses a series of polls and averages to decide where teams rank. “The percentage totals of the Harris Interactive Poll, USA Today Poll, and the computer rankings are then averaged. The teams’ averages are ranked to produce the BCS Standings.” The BCS committee then puts teams into different bowl games based on the generated computer data.
The second problem with the BCS is it does not always have a defined, clear-cut champion. With this system, teams that have had an amazing college football year are not always allowed to play for the National Championship because their computer ranking is not high enough. For example, last year five teams finished the regular season undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Boise State, Cincinnati, and TCU. Only Alabama and Texas were allowed to play for the National Championship because they were number one and two in the BCS system. The other three teams, Cincinnati, Boise State, and TCU, were forced to play in smaller bowls because their computer ranking was not high enough. These teams were not allowed to play in the national championship game, even though they finished the regular season undefeated.
A third problem is the bowl system celebrates mediocrity. Teams can finish .500 in the regular season and still make the playoffs. Last year, eight teams had a .500 record going into their respective bowl game. Eight teams made the playoffs that didn’t even have a winning record.
For all the problems that the bowl system faces, there is one simple solution to fix these problems: play a tournament. Every other major sport, both college and professional, uses a tournament for the playoffs. Even the other smaller divisions in college football have a tournament.
One solution would be a 32 team tournament. The top 25 teams at the end of the regular season would automatically make the tournament, and then a committee could choose seven at large teams to also enter the tournament.
This type of playoff system has many advantages over the bowl system. First, a tournament would crown a true national champion. The national champion would be decided on the playing field instead of having a computer system choose it for them. Second, a tournament would weed out the mediocre teams. Teams that do not finish with a winning record would have no chance of making the tournament. Third, a tournament would take relatively the same amount of time as the bowl season. The bowl season currently lasts about one month. If you played one round of the tournament each weekend, the tournament would only last six weekends.
Overall, the current bowl system has many flaws. Each one of them could be easily fixed by transferring the college football bowl system to a simple tournament style playoff. Pete Carroll said it best when he described the current bowl system, “I think it stinks. I don't think it's the way it should be.”
The Bowl Championship Series is the current playoff system for Division One College Football. The BCS is made up of five games: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship. These bowls feature the top 10 teams in the country. Besides these games, there are 27 other bowl games that feature teams that were not good enough to make it to the BCS.
According to the BCS official website, “The BCS is a five-game showcase of college football. It is designed to ensure that the two top-rated teams in the country meet in the national championship game, and to create exciting and competitive matchups among eight other highly regarded teams in four other bowl games.” However, this system does not create exciting matchups and it does not always assure that the two top rated teams play in the championship.
With this playoff system, there are many problems that the bowl system faces. First, the BCS is run by a confusing computer system. According to College Football Poll, the computer system uses a series of polls and averages to decide where teams rank. “The percentage totals of the Harris Interactive Poll, USA Today Poll, and the computer rankings are then averaged. The teams’ averages are ranked to produce the BCS Standings.” The BCS committee then puts teams into different bowl games based on the generated computer data.
The second problem with the BCS is it does not always have a defined, clear-cut champion. With this system, teams that have had an amazing college football year are not always allowed to play for the National Championship because their computer ranking is not high enough. For example, last year five teams finished the regular season undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Boise State, Cincinnati, and TCU. Only Alabama and Texas were allowed to play for the National Championship because they were number one and two in the BCS system. The other three teams, Cincinnati, Boise State, and TCU, were forced to play in smaller bowls because their computer ranking was not high enough. These teams were not allowed to play in the national championship game, even though they finished the regular season undefeated.
A third problem is the bowl system celebrates mediocrity. Teams can finish .500 in the regular season and still make the playoffs. Last year, eight teams had a .500 record going into their respective bowl game. Eight teams made the playoffs that didn’t even have a winning record.
For all the problems that the bowl system faces, there is one simple solution to fix these problems: play a tournament. Every other major sport, both college and professional, uses a tournament for the playoffs. Even the other smaller divisions in college football have a tournament.
One solution would be a 32 team tournament. The top 25 teams at the end of the regular season would automatically make the tournament, and then a committee could choose seven at large teams to also enter the tournament.
This type of playoff system has many advantages over the bowl system. First, a tournament would crown a true national champion. The national champion would be decided on the playing field instead of having a computer system choose it for them. Second, a tournament would weed out the mediocre teams. Teams that do not finish with a winning record would have no chance of making the tournament. Third, a tournament would take relatively the same amount of time as the bowl season. The bowl season currently lasts about one month. If you played one round of the tournament each weekend, the tournament would only last six weekends.
Overall, the current bowl system has many flaws. Each one of them could be easily fixed by transferring the college football bowl system to a simple tournament style playoff. Pete Carroll said it best when he described the current bowl system, “I think it stinks. I don't think it's the way it should be.”
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