Playoff system can save college fooball

Dear students,

Welcome to your NCAA Division I-A football final exam.

Question one: Why is undefeated SEC Champion Auburn not playing for the national championship?

If you answered rationally, you ought to be teaching the course.

The glaring injustice of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was exposed last weekend as the 12-0 Tigers were excluded from the Orange Bowl, while Texas jumped Cal for the coveted fourth slot in the BCS rankings to steal roses from the Bears.

Give credit to Longhorns coach Mack Brown and his pitiful lobbying tactics for that. The growing political action in college football is painted with such scandal and corruption that it has reached a point where the games are played in the political, rather than on the football, field.

And the BCS is responsible for all of this. It has turned a game graced by sportsmanship and integrity into one riddled with teams running up scores and pleading for votes. Yet, still the BCS fails to get it right.

Such a fraudulent system is hardly the way to settle a festive regular season.

Question two: How many other team sports concludes the season without having a playoff/tournament system?

"Zero" is looking like a very strong answer.

Every professional and college sports seasons culminate with a playoff of some sort. Included in that are the other divisions of college football: I-AA, D-II, D-III.

To retain what is left of college football's sanctity, Div. I-A must move to a playoff system.

This is how it could work:

Step 1: Assemble a selection committee -- much like the one college basketball uses to select its field of 65 -- to choose the teams.

Step 2: The selection committee chooses eight teams to participate, based on whom it views as the top eight teams in the country. The criteria would include record, strength of schedule and rankings.

Power conference winners would likely fit the committee's criteria, but selecting a one would not be binding, like it currently is in the BCS. Read: the committee would not have to select a team like Pittsburg or Michigan who barely won its conference. There is no doubt that some teams would feel left out of the field of eight, but it is unlikely those teams would win the tournament anyway.

Step 3: Seed the eight teams and place into two brackets. In the top bracket, No. 1 plays No. 8, while No. 4 plays No. 5. In the lower bracket, No. 2 plays No. 7 and No. 3 plays No. 6. Winners advance to the semifinals and those victors advancing to the national championship.

Step 4: Allow a sponsor for each of the seven playoff games so faceless corporations and the participating universities can get their money

Step 5: Maintain the bowl system for other post-season worthy teams. The bowls would become the secondary post-season, much like college basketball's National Invitational Tournament. This way, many teams still get to play in the post-season and earn bowl money.

Step 6: Remove one out-of-conference game from the schedule so teams play a 10-game season.

Shortening the season by a week allows the playoffs to begin a week earlier. Essentially, first-round games would begin the week conference-championship games are played now. Semi-final games would be played the following week. The championship game would be slated for right around New Year's, allowing the two teams a healthy break to prepare for the title matchup.

Step 6: Let the games begin.

Question three: How many bowl games matter?

I count one -- the national championship game -- and that's it. The other 27 are hardly consolation prizes. What does winning the Sugar Bowl mean for Auburn this year? Other than pride, it frankly means nothing.

The time allows for a playoff system. The money would still be there. It would be unbelievably exciting -- imagine the office pools. And fairness, something so far from visible in the BCS system, would exist.

If a playoff system were already in place, USC and Oklahoma could still meet in the title game, likely earning the top two seeds. But Auburn, or Cal, or Boise State, or Louisville or Utah, would at least have a chance to be the champion. That opportunity is all Auburn asked for this season.

Question four: Will a playoff system save college football?

There's no doubt that it will.