Just about two months ago I, like most other people, was imagining an Alabama-Oregon National Championship game. Auburn and Stanford, though, had other ideas. Stanford upset Oregon for the second straight year and Auburn defeated Alabama very shockingly. As crazy as college football can be at times, how many people can say honestly that when the season began they predicted an Auburn-Florida State National Championship game? I know that I didn’t…

Florida State and Auburn will be battling for this trophy come January 6th 2014 in Pasadena. By User:Nikonmadness from the English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

Florida State Seminoles: (13-0, 8-0 ACC) Beat Duke in ACC Title game

Ranked #11 to start the season, not many people saw the Seminoles jumping to the #1 ranking by year’s end. Redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis “Famous” Winston is the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy and for good reason. He has posted 38 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and 3,820 passing yards. His explosive offense ranks 14th in passing and 27th in rushing in all of college football. Florida State’s defense also ranks first in college football only allowing 10.7 points per game. People may question the level of competition that Florida State plays being in the ACC but not only does Florida State beat their opponents, they dismantle them. Two examples are a 51-14 beat-down of #3 ranked Clemson at Memorial Stadium in Clemson and a 45-7 win against Duke in the ACC Title game. The Seminoles deserve to be in the National Championship game and they will look to break the SEC streak of seven straight National Championships.

Auburn Tigers: (12-1, 7-1 SEC) Beat Missouri in SEC Title game

After going 3-9 overall (0-8 in the SEC) last season, nobody saw Auburn coming except for maybe Auburn. Being unranked normally doesn’t bode well to make the Championship Game but the last two seasons an unranked team has made it (Notre Dame and Auburn). Coach Gus Malzahn took over the Auburn program after such a disheartening season and has rebuilt them within a year to make them title contenders once again. Led by their top-ranked rushing attack, Auburn is a force to be reckoned with offensively and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Every season there seems to be a team of “destiny” in the national title mix, and Auburn is most certainly it this season.

After an incredible Hail Mary win over Georgia to keep their title hopes alive, nobody thought Auburn could pull out another miraculous win but to the disbelief of college football fans everywhere, they did. Trailing by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Auburn tied the game at 28. Alabama then drove the ball down the field only to set up what would be the game winning field goal. The field goal was wide right and was improbably returned for a touchdown by returner Chris Davis to win the game and stun the college football world. They would go on to face Missouri in the SEC Title game, beating them 59-42 to secure their place in the National Championship game. Auburn now has a chance to keep the SEC dominance alive and win the school’s second National Championship in four years.

As we await the first wave of the BCS standings, the college football season thus far has not disappointed.  Every week there is something new to talk about and that is what makes this sport great. That being said, everyone has to be wondering and analyzing who will get the initial number one and two rankings when the season ends ultimately setting up a meeting of the two teams in the championship game. Thankfully this is the last season without any sort of playoff system.

Could this be the year a non SEC team wins the title in college football? By John Martinez Pavliga (Flickr: IMG_0020), via Wikimedia Commons

For the last three years, Alabama and Oregon have been two of the the so called “face” organizations of college football, with Alabama winning three of the last four titles and Oregon being known for their high powered offensive attack. I believe when its all said and done, Alabama and Oregon should be playing for the BCS National Championship. Of course neither one of them would be able to lose a game but seeing the way both have been playing, it’s unlikely that either will. I love watching the dominance that the SEC has been putting on college football but not all people agree. This might finally be the year where the title game matchup is what everyone has wanted all along, Oregon against Alabama. They look to be on a collision course to meet there and hopefully they do.

By the Numbers:

* Despite giving up 42 points to Texas A&M, Alabama is giving up an average of just 11.3 points per game.

* Oregon is averaging 56.8 points per game.

* Oregon averages 324 rushing yards per game.

* Alabama allows only 87.2 yards per game

* Alabama’s average margin of victory is over 26 points per game.

* Oregon’s average margin of victory is 43 points per game.

The best conferences in the sport are packed with potential champions, and even though there is no organized post-season bracket, it doesn’t mean the regular season can’t serve as a form of a week to week ‘win or go home’ from national title contention. The best of the best are so head and shoulders above the rest that the regular season clashes between the uber-dominant can be viewed as a playoff system. Try it, you’ll like it.

Teams like LSU and Alabama are so elite within their own conference that the only possible game they could lose during the regular season is the one in which they face off against each other. This in itself makes this Saturday’s clash the first round of the de facto (there’s that word again) playoff system. To say the winner of this contest is in the driver’s seat for the national championship game would be an understatement. It’s almost down-right guaranteed the winner will be there in the end.

So with all that we know to this point in the college football season, what scenarios are available to decide the possible national championship opponent that will end up facing the LSU/Alabama winner?

Oklahoma State is ranked 3rd in the BCS standings currently behind LSU and Alabama. They tangle this Saturday with the 14th ranked and previously unbeaten Kansas State Wildcats in Stillwater. Most see the Cowboys getting by the ‘Powercats’ at home without much resistance, but the real test for Okie State will be the annual Bedlam game on the final week of the regular season versus Oklahoma. If OSU gets by KSU, the Bedlam Game will undoubtedly serve as another de facto (and again!) playoff game.

If the ‘Pokes win the penultimate face-off with their in-state rival, they will get their shot at the crystal ball against the LSU/Alabama winner. However, what if the Sooners play spoiler and ruin Okie State’s run to the title game? This would be more than just possible, maybe even probable, due to Oklahoma’s big-game experience advantage over the up-and-coming Cowboys. If Boomer Sooner gets over, who then would be next down the totem pole to step into the National Championship game?

If Oklahoma State loses and 4th ranked Stanford wins out, they would be the next program to step into the big game versus the Alabama/LSU winner. There is one roadblock however to that possibility. The Cardinal face the 6th ranked Oregon Ducks next weekend, albeit in the friendly confines of the Farm in Palo Alto.

Oregon’s only loss was a kickoff weekend defeat at the hands of the top team in the land, LSU. This game was played at what was considered to be at a neutral site – the Jerry Jones compound in Dallas – but let’s be quite frank, Baton Rouge is a hop, skip and a jump from Dallas when compared to the distance from Eugene, Oregon. This was basically an LSU home game, and if it weren’t for turnovers due to opening night jitters, the Ducks might have very well knocked off LSU.

Oregon is no slouch and is extremely high powered. Their track-meet style of offense and scoring ability could cause major problems for Andrew Luck and Stanford. So what if Stanford falls at the hands of Oregon and has their national title hopes dashed as well?

If all the series of events described above were to unfold, who would then be next on the list to step into the national championship top-contender role? The simple answer are two words most BCS detractors have wanted to utter in the national championship discussion for quite some time – Boise State.

It would be a very long time coming, as over nearly the past decade the Broncos have had numerous undefeated seasons and has come out victorious when pitted against every big opponent that has been put in front of them. The argument for keeping them out has always been their weak schedule due to them competing in the WAC and Mountain West conferences. A valid point, however Boise has done everything possible in its power to schedule the very toughest of out of conference road trips. In recent years past they have gone on the road in September to both Virginia Tech and Georgia, and both times came away with a victory.

I am of the opinion that if Okie State and Stanford were to both lose and Boise ends up going undefeated, they would undoubtedly deserve a shot at winning it all. The Broncos going undefeated however is no guarantee. Boise has to get by a formidable TCU team a week from this Saturday on the blue turf.

Let’s get crazy. What if Oklahoma State, Stanford and Boise State all lose? You then get into the bizzare world of ‘one-loss’ and might as well let the real mind-boggling begin!

Oregon’s only loss would be to LSU and if LSU beats Alabama, who would want to see an Oregon/LSU rematch? Not many. There is even talk of an LSU/Alabama rematch if there is a garble of one-loss teams in the end. The argument behind that premise is that the loser of this Saturday’s game will have the ‘best loss’ of all one-loss teams.

The only problem with rematches? Where would things stand if the team who lost the first matchup won the second? Yes, they won the “bigger” game, but the fact would still remain that overall, the two teams would end up 1-1 against each other. The vast majority of fans don’t want to see a rematch, they want to see newer and more intriguing matchups in the end.

The day the transparent gestapo of greed that is the BCS finally gets taken down will be a great day, quite possibly the best day in the history of college athletics. But until that time the current unfortunate circumstance can in fact be shoved aside. Forget about the injustice of the BCS and slam that pig back into the trough for the time being.

Go ahead and feel free to appreciate and celebrate the de facto. What did you do as a kid when you wanted the real thing but couldn’t have it? You made the best of it. Instead of getting that motorcycle you wanted but couldn’t have, you simply stuck a playing card in the spokes, remember?

Vroom! Vroom!

Greed is a byproduct of evil. It is a disease, not necessarily of biology, but of ego rising to totalitarian proportion. It is roundly defined as a level of selfishness that incorporates the oblivious with the addict.

Is tradition a proud and nostalgic comfort meal that is a reminder of what is right with the world? Or is it, in some cases, an inherited degeneracy, a gene that will eventually produce an abomination?

Alternate solutions are byproducts of good when they are transparently evident. The most logical and fair structures available to solve issues should always be considered and ultimately implemented, shouldn’t they?

When considering why there isn’t a playoff system in the highest division of college football, all of these dynamics have a seat at the table, and yet some voices seem to be heard more than others. The popularity of greenbacks is undoubtedly louder to the powers that be than the resonating voice of popular demand. This reality is arguably the most tragic and unfortunate situation in American sport today.

Admission of guilt comes in the form of diversion. Deviation from real solutions to an obvious problem is the favorite play that college presidents utilize in the game of the current lightning rod of college football – bowl system versus playoff system.

The excuses are like cards in a deck. They will be played, without difference, in the same order of priority over and over. It’s just too bad for them that this old trick is what is truly played out. It isn’t fooling anyone anymore, gentlemen.

They will lead you to believe that instituting a playoff system will erode the significance of the regular season. Is this what has happened in the NFL? Oh I’m sorry, is the NFL losing customers? Or is the NFL the biggest, most-watched sporting league in the United States, by far, without it even being close?

What these staunch fat-cats don’t realize is that the vast majority of college football fans operate at a pitch that is beyond belligerently diehard. They will view with the same intensity whether their hallowed program is playing a top ranked team in the nation or a consensus doormat. The love of the college football fan is unconditional, impartial and without waiver. To paint them, or the significance of their game schedule, they wait nine months for every year with finger-tapping anticipation as fickle is an insult to the intelligence of even the averagely rabid fan.

The college presidents will also lead you to believe that the learning experience of the student-athlete would be threatened with a playoff system, seeing as finals week would happen to fall during the elimination process within a December bracket.

First of all, if the student-athlete needs an entirely extensive amount of “cram time” to score outstanding on a final and achieve a passing grade, then let’s be honest, they probably aren’t cut out to be student-athletes anyway. They probably should have thought about study before they attended all those frat parties every weekend during the semester. It is widely known that procrastination is the downfall of any multitasker.

Second of all, and probably the most ‘slap-you-in-your-face’ obvious debunk of this supposed problem: If study hours are so important the week of finals, what happens on the week of mid-terms? Aren’t mid-terms smack-dab in the middle of the conference schedule? Heck, it might even fall on homecoming week! Are they skipping out on practice that week to make the grade? College presidents making this contention might as well cancel homecoming week for the sake of the bad study habits of the football team!

And of course, the ace of spades in this spin-cycle of a game; they will lead you to believe that the tradition of the bowls will be ruined. Herein lies the foremost smokescreen. College football has progressed. These fossils haven’t. This isn’t the age of only the dominant powerhouses whose logos and fight songs are household camouflage sustaining the upper crust of the caste system anymore. Parody has emerged.

Cinderella stories of only recent years past have taken the quantum leap in becoming major players. These programs are starting to arise on an annual basis. This competitiveness yells and screams for a fair template. Without it, you have nothing more than an ongoing Notre Dame hall pass–the “they aren’t in a conference, so there is no real way to judge them, but since they are ‘Notre Dame’ we will give them the benefit of the doubt” current state of affairs.

If Notre Dame finishes in the top 8 of the BCS with their ‘vaunted schedules’ (Western Michigan, Tulsa, Wake Forest, Army, Navy, Air Force, just to name a few) they receive an automatic BCS berth, even if they have two losses! That’s right. Two losses. It happened in 2000-2001 (a 9-2 Notre Dame team lost to Oregon State in the Fiesta Bowl, 41-9), in 2005-2006 (a 9-2 Notre Dame team lost to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, 34-20) and in 2006-2007 (a 10-2 Notre Dame team lost to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, 41-14). Three strikes and you’re out.

Just this season, Michigan State finished 7th in the AP Poll with an 11-1 record and was not included in the BCS. Different rules for different people I suppose? I would imagine the President of Notre Dame has shared more splashes of scotch with BCS high-ups than the president of Boise State, TCU or even Michigan State for that matter. There is only one reason why this special deal is struck with Notre Dame. Money. They have more fans, so they will generate more money. That this exists in amateur athletics is absolutely disgusting.

All of this aside, the goal of this seemingly never-ending crusade is to reach a point where we are able to decide a champion on the field, like every single other high school, college or professional sport does. Having the annual fight for the crystal ball live within the spinning webs of computer code and the back-scratching voting practices of coaches only invites corruption.

The fundamental question becomes: would you rather give the gladiator the chance to slay the mighty lion himself, or would you rather have Caesar decide whether he gets the chance to with the whim of a thumb? We have seen how that screenplay has played out before.

The solution lies in a number of ways that differ from the current design. A basic tournament is the handyman’s way. Anywhere from a four to a sixteen-team, single elimination tournament would prove sufficient in many ways. A starting point could be to make the size of the bracket as large as the cut-off point of two-loss teams. We are a country of second chances. Third chances are few and far between–yes, even if you are ‘Irish lucky.’

An altering solution that doesn’t eliminate the current bowl structure as it stands would be the lawyer’s way. You add a clause for a post bowl season playoff, eliminating all unbeaten until one remains as the champion. If there was only one unbeaten left at the end, no need for the clause that particular year. If there were still let’s say, three remaining, you would pit the two lowest ranked against one another for the right to play the highest ranked the next and final week. In the case of this particular season it would have been easy–the winner of Auburn/Oregon will be unbeaten and TCU is still unbeaten. A week after the Auburn/Oregon game, you would have one final showdown involving the two remaining unbeatens, Auburn or Oregon versus TCU.

The bottom line remains evident to you college presidents. With some form of a playoff system you wouldn’t have to scrap your sacred bowl system that apparently is carved in stone next to the ten commandments. If you dissolve the BCS and implement a playoff system, yes, the elite programs in the top five to ten would not be a part of the bowl system. However, it would allow for a return the of the original purpose of the bowl system and preserve your traditional model, the classic matchups of conferences.

The classic Pac 10 vs. Big 10 Rose Bowl matchup could be assured, instead of having the BCS alter it, most recently in the past decade with Miami, Oklahoma, Texas and TCU. This year, for example, Stanford, USC or Washington could have matched up against Ohio State, Michigan State or Iowa – depending on how many of these teams the national championship bracket would include. These schools were all either 2nd, 3rd or 4th in their respective conferences. All of these fan-bases travel exceptionally well, therefore allowing the pageantry of the event to hold true. This model for re-instituting classic conference vs. conference matchups could revamp the entire bowl schedule without the BCS interfering.

Ultimately, I believe the paramount question is: if the current BCS system compromises the classic conference champion versus conference champion matchup, like the Rose Bowl, by almost annually having the Pac 10 or Big 10 champion in the BCS championship game–then what is the downside of having the same dynamic exist, with a playoff system for the elite, and getting to design the bowl season to satisfy your hunger for classic tradition? The answer seems almost ridiculously simple to me.

With an eight-team playoff, for example, you could cut the bottom four bowls that currently exist. I’m sure we would all really miss the GoDaddy.com Bowl, the Little Caesar’s Bowl, the BBVA Compass Bowl and the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl.

Having to at least recognize a certain amount of counterpoint, a playoff system might slightly downplay the bowl system and create a country-club culture for the elite–but let’s be honest and forthcoming college presidents, isn’t that right up your alley? This seems like a small price to pay to assure that it is ultimately played out on the field, and there are no corruptible factors when deciding a champion.

Making the encompassing culture wholesome and about something more than money should be what amateur athletics is really all about, shouldn’t it? What kind of example are you setting, college presidents, as figures to look up to for these young men and women involved in college athletics? Aren’t things like greed the antithesis of what should be gained from being a part of a higher institution?

It’s no wonder your student athletes, exposed or not, are constantly subscribing to the black-eye of amateur athletics: taking money and goods for their services in secret. They are learning from you, college presidents, that it is greed and money that is important and not what it is all about and always has been at its core–being part of something greater than yourself.

We all should be confident that there will come a day when the greed will be curbed and ‘tradition’ will be moved slightly aside for the sake of logic and equality. We all know how the screenplay unfolds. The obvious solution can not longer be denied. Dissent leads to revolt. Revolt leads to change. There will come that day. The king dies and the populous prevails, just like every other good versus evil plot is played out.

-Andrew Stevens

Earlier this week, I saw a bowl game on television. I was flipping through and saw it for a minute on ESPN. I think it was the Compass Bowl. It wasn’t a BCS bowl game and it was after the first of the year, so I figured it was ESPN re-playing an old bowl game from sometime in December. Sitting here on January 7th, a week into the new year, I realize that I was the fool. I always thought the majority of bowl games were supposed to be played on New Years’ Day. This year there were six.

The “big” games were supposed to happen after the first day of the year. This year, the Fight Hunger Bowl, the Godaddy.com Bowl, and the BBVA Compass Bowl were all played during the week after New Years Day. The National Championship Game will be played on the 10th of January. And the schools will make significantly more money than if they’d competed against each other on New Years Day.

To spread out all these bowl games over the course of six weeks from the beginning of December through January 10 is bad for the game and bad for fans who would love to watch some of these great matchups.

As a sports fan, I was at-first embarrassed that I haven’t watched even half of any bowl game this year. In my teens, I would wake up on New Years Day and park in front of the TV. Even if the hustle and bustle of the holidays didn’t allow me to watch pre-New Years bowls, I was able to sit and take in a solid three to four very good college football games. It was my time to watch good football and afterward I could go on with my life.

With only six bowls on New Years Day this year, there is no longer any reason to get excited for the bevvy of games that used to be there. Flipping channels while on the couch is no longer an option. There is just one game at a time and if it isn’t a great one, the viewer is left with the choice to watch a bad game or find something better to do. So far this year, I’ve found better things to do.

Instead of competing which other games on other stations- a competition they could win, bowl games have begun to try to compete with the rest of my life.

My point is this- When the final tally is made, I might watch the BCS Championship game this Monday. If there is nothing better to do and if the game stays competitive, I’ll probably try to watch it. But for me, who is a married 29-year old with a job and a disposable income (are you listening bowl sponsors?), the movement toward having one bowl game each night for the better part of a month and a half causes me to *gasp* not watch any football at all. In the end, the games competing with the rest of my life might conclude with my life winning and a sports fan like me not watching any of the bowl games. And the amazing thing is, I’m not as disappointed about it as I thought I might be.       –Owen Main