Shape shift

Like a molded-over strawberry parfait that was left in a broken refrigerator for two weeks, college football's powers-that-be's current system to decide who plays for the National Championship has again soured the fans of the sport. Three of the last four years have now been marred with controversy, rather than giving the true supporters of college football a legitimate No. 1 vs. No. 2 match-up.

So what can be done to clean up this mess? This is where I step in to mop things up and put them the way they should be. Here's what I would do if I was in the shoes of NCAA President Myles Brand.

Obvious to the most common observer, more games would be added. This would be accomplished by establishing a plus-one format or a traditional eight or 16-team playoff. As with this year, it's unclear what team deserves to play against Ohio State in the title game. You can make a strong case for either Michigan or Florida to play for the Championship. With the addition of more games, both schools would get the ample opportunities that they deserve.

As NCAA president, I would want my highest revenue generating sport to have the most exciting tournament system in place. Thus the new Division I-A playoff would be modeled after the most exciting post-season playoff that exists in sports: the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. A field of 64 teams is not feasible in football, but 16 is a much better fit.

Also like in college hoops, all conference champions would earn automatic bids into the playoff while the rest of the spots are determined by at-large bids. This would be music to the ears of the 54 programs that are not in Bowl Championship Series Conferences that have been cheated in the past of being able to compete with more traditional powers in post-season play.

This would also be big for UB. If Buffalo were to ever win the Mid-American Conference, it would ensure the Bulls a chance at the National Championship, no matter how slim it may be.

But unlike most of my pro-playoff brethren, I am not for the total annihilation of the BCS. There is still one very useful tool that can be salvaged, that being the BCS formula and rankings themselves. With some tinkering, the very own sword that is stabbed in our hearts can be used to determine who the remaining at large bids go to and how to decide on playoff seating. It would be very similar to how basketball uses the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) to help fill out its bracket.

Next up would be on what to do with the bowl games. A 16-team tournament results in a total of 15 games to be played. Currently, the BCS has five bowl games: the National Championship, Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls. These five bowls represent the most prestigious in college football games of the year and I want that to continue, so under my new format they would rotate to host the quarterfinals, semifinals and playoff championships with two other bowl games.

The preliminary rounds would be played at the sites of the higher seeded teams. This would still free up a very large group of bowls that non-playoff teams would still be able to go to and extend their team's seasons a little further.

My plan does have critics. The old school conservatives of college football claim that the bowls would lose their luster and that a 16-team playoff is way too long to play, as it would interfere too much with the student's class work. These assessments are complete balderdash.

Truly, what meaning do the majority of the bowls have? Not as much as you will be led on to believe. Although one of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to curl up and watch two schools play on the Smurf Turf at the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, I have always realized that that game has no effect in deciding the national champion. Same could be said for every other bowl game played outside the title game.

So the bowls would suddenly be discounted on the prestige level with the introduction of a playoff? Sorry, but it wouldn't effect them at all. It may enhance the honor of a small number of them if anything.

Complaints are also made that the playoff would be too long and cause too many scheduling conflicts. Every other Division of football from I-AA to III runs playoffs with 16 teams and they have managed to this without any problems, so what could possibly hold Division I-A back? If having too long of a season was a big issue, the top division of college football could just shorten its season from 12 to 11 games.

Thus in one column, a senior history major has just solved one of college football's biggest dilemmas. Now to the Middle East crisis...