Football!...is done for another season

I am a week late on this one, but such seems to be how I blog now.

Well — that was interesting. Not! The first BCS Championship Game played between two teams that met during the regular season was a huge bust given the incredible level of hype. Though I wanted LSU to win, I have to admit Alabama deserved to hoist the crystal ball, especially as a lover of hard-hitting, impenetrable defense. (The cliché is true: defense wins championships.) How crazy is it, though, that the national champions did not win their conference or even division?

So the state of Alabama is home to the FBS champions for the third straight year, and the SEC has claimed its sixth straight National Championship. Southern football is king, at least in terms of hardware. College football analysts and, especially, the folks at ESPN drool over the SEC, and I suppose much of it is deserved given the league’s talent pool and recent success. As annoying as it is for a Big Ten fan like myself, I have no choice but to endure it. (That SEC commercial during the game, touting the conference’s sixth straight BCS title, was a tad egregious. But I suppose they have the right to brag.)

Despite Bobblehead’s convincing argument that the Big Ten is the most balanced conference in the country, I cannot help thinking it is devolving into a glorified MAC with a television network. At least that is my fear. Michigan State’s victory against Georgia was definitely the bright spot of the bowl season for the conference, and Michigan’s return to the national stage is a welcome sign, but overall the Big Ten did a belly flop — again. Iowa got Bell-dozed. Northwestern left its regular season feistiness and stubborn resolve in Evanston. Penn State either underestimated Houston or just got whooped by a much better team. (It was probably a combination of both.) Nebraska made a good showing against South Carolina to represent the Big Ten for the first time, but came up short. As ESPN’s Big Ten blog put it, “Another strange finish haunts Wisconsin,” and Ohio State lost the Urban Meyer Bowl. But Illinois and Purdue won, which is a boon for two floundering programs. The conference sent an impressive 10 teams to bowls and came away with four victories. It could have done better, but it could have done worse. But how well can you assess a college football conference solely on its bowl record? Your guess is as good as mine.

Once again, the Hawkeyes are losing players left and right. The departure of Mika’il McCall and Marcus Coker have basically emptied the running back stable, and former back-up QB AJ Derby announced his intention to transfer. Derby’s decision was unsurprising since he wants to play quarterback, and I do not know why McCall left, but Coker, the focus of a sexual assault investigation, needed to leave. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but his reputation has been permanently stained and even the implication of his involvement should be enough to send him packing. The Iowa football program has fallen victim to the sickening rash of immature and thoughtless player criminality that has become all too common in major college athletics, and it needs to be dealt with swiftly and strongly (which, it seems, did not happen).

Somewhat fittingly, I read on ESPN’s bottom line ticker during the Championship Game that the NCAA powerbrokers will discuss changes to the BCS format during the off-season. I highly doubt any radical changes will be made — I bet the Cotton Bowl will be branded a BCS bowl — but here is my humble and current opinion of how a champion should be crowned at college football’s highest level: abolish the bowl system and institute a playoff similar to what is played at the FCS level (i.e. every other level of college football). I do not know exactly how teams are selected for the playoffs, but believe it functions much like the famous basketball tournament: tickets are automatically punched for conference champions and the remaining at-large spots are filled with teams chosen by a committee using obscure rankings and reasoning. Everyone else stays home. (Perhaps a tournament for those passed over, much like the NIT, would emerge.) The current Division I playoff includes 20 teams, 10 of which are conference champions. Many teams get a first-round bye. I have no clue how the at-large teams are chosen, but it is a system that seems to work. When Wikipedia returns from its rightful protest, check out the page for this year’s Division I season and playoff. Behold the blueprint for crowning a true champion on the field.

Obviously, the bowls would hate this, as would their myriad corporate sponsors. As a Big Ten fan I would be sadden by the loss of the Rose Bowl; its sanctity was one reason I was a longtime supporter of the bowl system. But I realized it is a dinosaur that needs to be wiped out by a NCAA Chicxulub. Sometimes you need to destroy something you love to make it better. Also, I am sure there would be a ton of backlash from the SEC and other programs based in more temperate climes. Just like in Division I, the playoff games would ideally be played on one team’s home turf, and everyone knows how cold and crazy the weather can be in the Midwest and Northeast in November and December. The home field advantage created by cold weather may be overrated, but I doubt if Alabama and LSU have ever played in the snow. (This could also be a linchpin of the current system as it takes cold weather out of the equation — a definite boon to warm weather teams.) Needless to say, though, this is probably all wishful thinking. Television revenue will dictate any changes, though I cannot help thinking a second round game in such a playoff would generate a lot more interest than the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. (Believe it or not, there are now 35 bowl games!)

Oh well. The countdown to next season has begun. I believe the festivities will kickoff (literally) on August 30.