College Football, the BCS, and a Playoff System

After the Boise State Hooplah, there's been lots of talk about creating a football playoff for 1-A football. While it makes sense and would allow teams like BSU to have their deserving chance, a playoff system just does not work.

The creation of super conferences (Big 10, SEC, ACC...) caused the season to expand to 12 games in addition to conference championships. That's 13 games not including this playoff scenario. We're talking about the possibility of a 16 or 17 game season for the victor! That's way too much because:
1. These kids have to go to school and take classes
2. Playing that many games takes its toll on the players' bodies and minds (more practices, more traveling, time away from class). These kids are still college kids, and they don't have the strength and conditioning that NFL players have to have a traditional 16 game season plus playoffs.
3. The Bowl System would fade. This is a rich tradition of college football history, and I would hate to see it go, especially if the quarterfinalist losers exit from the playoffs and have no one to play.


So what can be done? If we are going to have a playoff, we need to reformat the conferences. Go back to an 8 team constant, get rid of conferences within conferences (ala ACC, SEC...), and let teams be independent. Also, go back to a 10 or 11 game season (12 games, if a team chooses to play a 1-AA team). This would make a 13 or 14 game season more reasonable.

Finally, this is a separate issue, but get rid of corporate sponsorships. I can't stand hearing the 'Nokia Sugar Bowl, the FedEx Orange Bowl, etc... At least the Rose Bowl isn't as blatant. Get back to basics. Money will still be generated, but let the bowl names stand alone. And have ALL college football (including the championships) end by January 4 or 5. No later.

Please comment or give your suggestions. Don't know how many sports fans we have here, but please share.

I think it needs to be changed, I don't know how, but it does.