There are two things that I love the most about college football. One of them is the passion of the fans. Soccer is by far the best sport in terms of fan support, but of all of the sports out there, only college football, with its loud, boisterous, and crunked student body, its tailgating, and its body painting, comes even comes close in this area (along with BU hockey). The other thing? How each game is relevant. One loss can make or break where a college team ends up in the standings, and the level of respect for it. Every weekend matters. Every play matters. There is a reason to watch every time. It’s must-see TV…what will happen next? Who is the next domino to fall?
Unfortunately, college football also has a major flaw, one that is so large that it almost makes me want to boycott the games, and only the passion of the fans and the importance of every game make me keep coming back. The way that a national team is selected is a complete joke. One team with an identical record as another one, which may have scored more points while giving up less, even, goes to a better bowl game than the other team, because of complicated computer formulas and because of the strengths of the teams in its conference, that it can’t control, for the most part. It’s kind of disgusting, actually. Are we sure that Alabama better than Oklahoma State or Stanford this season? Why are 10-2 Arkansas and 11-2 Oregon ranked higher than 11-1 Boise State So How is Houston, with its 12-1 record, ranked lower than 9-3 Nebraska or 10-3 Michigan State? So what is the solution, you may ask? I have a pretty radical, but neat one, actually. Please hear me out, and then let me know what you think.
First of all, beginning next season, I would make a whole new conference…The “Top 26 Conference”, composed of, you guessed it, the Top 26 teams (you’ll see why 26 instead of the original 25 in a sec), by ranking this season. I shall get back to the other 93 teams a little later (there are 119 teams in Division IA football) in a couple of paragraphs, but here is what would happen to the Top 25 ones. Conferences would be eliminated altogether. Instead, there would still be 12 games, but each of the Top 25 teams would play ALL OF THEM against a ranked opponent. Teams ranked evenly would play all evenly ranked teams; teams ranked oddly would play against all odd ones. So the school that is ranked #5 would play the schools that are ranked: #1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, and 25, not necessarily in that order. Likewise, the school ranked #18 would play the teams ranked: #2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 22, and 24, and 26 (see why 26 now? So that each team could play 12 games!). Imagine such a system! No more meaningless blowouts by a ranked contender against a school with no skill. Think about it. Would you rather watch Boise State play Notre Dame, or UNLV? Michigan State play Wisconsin, or Indiana? LSU play Houston, or Ole Miss? If you answered the first choice for all three, then you understand how much more exciting EACH game of the season would be. Each game would be close. Each game would require showing up. Each game would become that much more relevant. Each game would be the prime time game of the weekend. Pride, a ranking, the chance to prove who belongs in what ranking, would all be at stake.
What would happen if several schools finish with identical records, if the strength of their schedule is so close, you may wonder? Easy. The school that has the largest difference between: (the net points scored –the net points allowed) would be ranked higher. In the unlikely event that they are STILL tied, the affected teams would play an extra game against each other, for their ranking. Or my personal preference, have the cheerleaders go against each other in a game of flag football (hey, a man can dream, right?). Oh and one more thing. For my system to work, the rankings of the beginning of next season MUST be identical to those at the end. Players graduating, new coaches, new systems, etc…all of that stuff should be irrelevant. If the school does not deserve its ranking, we shall find out in a year, when it either drops out of the Top 26, remains there, or moves up to it!
Now, as promised, I’ll get back to the 93 teams. First of all, to evenly have all 12 games for them, it is necessary to have a multiple of 26 teams…so 104 teams…so I suggest that 11 teams in Division I-AA are automatically promoted into the first division. Surely we can find 11 teams from that division willing to make the jump? (If not, I volunteer Boston University to restart their defunct football team, undefeated since 1997, in the top division (once again, a man can dream. Shut up.) So now the 104 teams would be playing out in a second, LOWER division. After their 12 games, the top 5 teams( *#) from the division (using the same differential ranking systems as the “Top 26 Division”) play the #25, 24, 23, 22, and 21 seeds, respectively. In other words, *#1 squares off against #25, *#2 against #24, *#3 against #23, *#4 against #22, and *#5 against #21. The winner moves up or remains in the top division, while the loser remains or is relegated to the second division.
Now, you may notice that there are no bowl games here. This is because there are absolutely no need for them. Bowl games are just…dumb, unless it is in the National Championship, and I usually don’t bother to watch them, anyways. There’s a winner and a loser…who cares! They don’t move up in the rankings because of that game. They have nothing to play for, except pride. Why even play those games? Instead, replace them with the five games that actually mean everything for 10 schools…*#1 against #25, *#2 against #24, *#3 against #23, *#4 against #22, and *#5 against #21. Then I’ll watch…because now it becomes relevant…VERY relevant for the next season!
For those of you who know anything about European soccer, this system is pretty similar to their relegation system. Think about the benefits. The teams actually worth watching will be playing each other every time! The pretenders will go on pretending in their league…and only the Top 5 of them will have the chance to demonstrate that they are actually “contenders” by beating one of the 5 lowest ranked teams in the Top 26. Like I said before, each game matters. Each game is scrutinized that much more closely. Each team wants to make that #1 or #2 ranking…while avoiding falling below #20…and if they do, they literally have a must-win game…to save their next season. Is it a little unfair toward the weaker teams? Sure. But if they are not hungry enough, they don’t deserve it anyways. The USA is capitalist, damn it, let the teams who are the most motivated to work harder to achieve the American Dream of playing with the Big Boys and being relevant! Besides, we will no longer have any more controversies about who deserves to play in the Title Game!
