Solving the Bowl Issue

As seen in a recent post, Mr. Walker was writing an article for our own Moon bay Times. Some of you may have been wondering what he wrote. Here it is.



Hello sports fans. It’s that time of year again. The days are growing steadily shorter and colder, the malls are full, and snow is blanketing much of the country. Naturally, every red-blooded American is turning their attention to the college football post season. It’s time once again for the eternal debate, not who should play in the national championship, but how we decide it. Division I-A college football remains the only division of any sport that utilizes this insane method of deciding a champion. Play a whole season, pick two teams you think are the best and let them play. Never mind any other teams that deserve a shot. Everyone else uses a playoff, to include Division I-AA.

There are a number of arguments annually trotted out to defend the bowl system.

1) A playoff would lengthen and cheapen the season. Not really, I espouse a 16 team playoff, 11 conference champions and 5 wild cards to fill out the bracket. Not one of the teams that make it in that manner have more than 3 losses, and there are only two teams with 3 losses. You still have to win every week, especially in your conference schedule. Conference champs are the only ones with guaranteed bids.

2) It would put too much pressure on the players. Really? You refuse to take off the pressure during the regular season so that you keep it on the post season. There’s actually less pressure when you have more shots. One loss no longer ruins your season (and tell me Florida doesn’t think that one loss ruined their season), you could still fight the rest of the way through with a shot at conference or a wild card.

3) It would cut into class time. Stop it. Really. Basketball players miss so much class they might as well be taking their classes by correspondence. A 16 team playoff takes 4 weeks, if you cut the regular season back down to a manageable 10 game season plus Conference championships, you could still have every thing done the week before Thanksgiving, which means you could have Thanksgiving weekend full of college playoffs. You can end up finishing earlier and none of second semester gets lost to football.

4) It kills the bowls. Let’s face it, only a handful of bowls really matter now anyway. The rest are fun and exciting, but have no ramifications on the championship. A 16 team playoff gives you 15 games. Give 14 of them to the top old school bowls. The other bowls could carry on like normal. They’re already essentially exhibition games anyway. This doesn’t change that at all. The 15th game, you could plan like the Super Bowl or the Final Four. Cities bid to host the game. Tell me Jerry Jones wouldn’t put together a Hell of a bid to get this game in his new Taj Mahal-like stadium down in Dallas, where he doesn’t have a bowl game right now.

So, now that we got that silliness out of the way. Here’s what you end up with. 16 teams. 11 conference champions and five wildcards, chosen from the 5 highest rated teams in the AP that did not win a conference (which still gives you all the argument potential of the current system so radio talking heads can calm down). They get seeded for the tournament also off AP rankings, which can be tricky for a smaller conference that has nobody in the Top 25, but you only had one conference champ this year not receive any votes for the AP poll, they get seeded last and we continue on.

So here’s how your bracket looks (did I say bracket, yes gamblers, I surely did):

Sweet 16:

Gator Bowl: #1 Alabama (SEC) vs. #16 Troy (Sun Belt) - Basically a walk in the park for Alabama, but you’re the top rated team, you deserve a benefit.

Cotton Bowl: #8 Ohio State (Big 10) vs. #9 Georgia Tech (ACC) - An outstanding, competitive game from your Big 10 and ACC champs. Both conferences complain they don’t get enough respect, earn it here. I give the win to an Ohio State team that plays tough in big games.

Liberty Bowl: #5 Florida (Wildcard #1) vs. #12 Virginia Tech (Wildcard #4) - A good game, but the edge has to go to a pissed off Tim Tebow taking revenge for the loss in the SEC Championship game. We all saw what a loss did to him last year.

Alamo Bowl: #4 Cincinatti (Big East) vs. #13 LSU (Wildcard #5) - Cincy wants respect for their undefeated record? Prove you deserve it against a tough SEC team. My one upset here. Give the edge to LSU and their experience against the green Cincy team.

Las Vegas Bowl: #6 Boise State (WAC) vs. #11 Penn State (Wildcard #3) - Another small conference team takes on a big boy. Give the win to the team that has something to prove.

GMAC Bowl: #3 TCU (MWC) vs. #14 Central Michigan (MAC) - TCU wins pulling away, but either way you’re guaranteed a small conference team in the second round. People love Cinderellas.

Holiday Bowl: #7 Oregon (Pac 10) vs. #10 Iowa (Wildcard #2) - Another game pulling in plenty of viewers. Final goes to Oregon in a tight matchup.

Champs Sports Bowl: #2 Texas (Big 12) vs. #15 ECU (Conf. USA) - Another easy matchup for a top team. Texas creams them.

Elite 8:

Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Ohio State - A chance for Ohio State to prove they belong. Too bad they fall when Alabama runs away in the fourth quarter.

Rose Bowl: Florida vs. LSU - A rematch of one of the most exciting games this year. How often do you see a rematch in college football? Never. That changes in this system. Give Florida their second win over LSU on the strength of a still pissed off Tebow.

Boise State vs. TCU - Again, two small conference schools fight it out to prove who belongs at the next level and guarantees one Cinderella in the semifinals. The pick: TCU.

Fiesta Bowl: Oregon vs. Texas - A Pac 10 team not USC fights for respect against Texas. Sorry, Texas beats them worse than they did USC a few years ago.

Final Four:

Orange Bowl: Alabama vs. Florida - You’re telling me this game doesn’t pull in money. A rematch of the SEC championship? Ratings and income go through the roof, Alabama goes to the big dance.

Sugar Bowl: Texas vs. TCU - The entire state of Texas holds its breath as these two in-state, former Southwest Conference rivals face off just across the state line in Louisiana. ESPN promos go insane showing vintage game footage from the decades of rivalry. Texas destroys them.

Championship:

Alabama vs. Texas - The same game you have now, only everyone feels so much better at how you got there. Or maybe Florida wins game two. You betting on beating Tebow twice? Or maybe TCU pulls one off and you have Cinderella at the ball. Any way the stories are outstanding, nobody can argue who’s playing, and everyone lines their pockets.