By CHRISTOPHER KNAUF is a Santa Monica resident and attorney. He
THE BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES/PLAY off/plus one controversy continues to plague our great football nation. Congratulations to the LSU Tigers, a worthy choice for national champion in 2008, but alas, by no means an undisputed one. It is simply not becoming of a true champion, or their opponent, to miraculously receive an invitation to the championship game. Such invitations must be earned in a clear, indisputable fashion.
Various constituencies tell us that a college football playoff is not realistic, and that the only change to our current format would be a “plus one” championship game played after completion of the bowl season. Unfortunately, for those of us who want a system that works, a plus one would not have given us a clear No. 1 this season, because who gets to play in the Plus One Bowl against LSU? Would that be Georgia or USC? Mizzou, maybe? There’s no clear answer, and thus, we would still have uncertainty and controversy. It is clear that plus one is not the answer.
I consider myself relatively well informed on the details and business behind college football and have yet to hear a clear reason why a playoff is not possible. I conclude that it is possible, it’s simply a matter of human will — the will of the major conferences and university presidents. To these power brokers I say you knew segregation was wrong and you now have the same uncomfortable feeling toward the BCS. Ladies and gentle-men of said good conferences and universities, the time has come to end the madness!
Explain to me how an eight-team playoff system is not the answer to our gridiron prayers. After playing 11 conference and non-conference games, the top eight BCS computer selected teams play for glory. You have the top tier of the football polls and no riff-raff. I’m sorry nine and 10, we love you, thanks for the memories, but there’s always next season. You get sympathy, but no tears from me. The minor bowls will still happen, they just won’t be part of the “All New & Improved Actual Championship Series” because all students and athletes know that an A is better than a B.
The ACS playoff games can and should be incorporated into weeks 12, 13, and 14 of the college football season, with each game retaining its traditional bowl name, sponsor, pomp and circumstance, with the championship game rotated as it currently is in the BCS. A handful of teams would simply enjoy up to three bowl weeks — how is that a bad thing? The playoff would begin after all Division I teams have played 11 games, which, like now, in most cases includes a full conference schedule and one or two non-conference games. Teams vying for a national championship would need to schedule quality non-conference games to influence the BCS system determining the eight play-off teams. You top conferences, keep your conference championship games. But please, I don’t need or want to see UCLA- San Diego State ever again.
Teams from weaker conferences would be disadvantaged, true, but I submit that the eight spot in the playoffs could easily allow for a cinderella — Hawaii this season or Boise State last year. If you’re as good as you say you are, then prove it in the first ACS game against the No. 1 seed. And if you pull off a miracle win, then you get all the glory of a winner but you need to prove it again, twice actually, to really convince us that you deserve the national championship.
There would always be controversy about which teams are selected for the play-off. But unlike the fictitious BCS No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, I am far more comfortable letting the computer tell us which teams get No. 7 and No. 8. As we all well know after beating this poor dead pigskin of a horse, controversy is inevitable. Given the inevitability, we are picking the lesser of two evils here, and it’s the one that will not leave us asking the nearly perennial question of “Who’s Really No. 1?", will still generate tremendous revenue for our great universities, one that remains true to the tradition of our bowl season, and one that requires two teams of student-athletes to miss one additional week of class at the beginning of the Spring semester.
I don’t pretend to know it all, but if I’m mistaken here, can someone please give me a really good reason why? If not, then together let’s end the madness — sports fans, alumni, and TV networks unite!
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 11, 2008. Read the original PDF.