BCS Mulls New Postseason Format

The Bowl Championship Series released a memo listing new ways to decide who is college football's national champion.

(Image source:  Wikimedia Commons ) BY LUCAS GEISLER ANCHOR CARISSA LOETHEN   It’s the nation’s second most popular sport, and the one that probably receives the most heat.  Now, college football is looking to change what gets it the most criticism — how to decide its national champion. USA Today received a two-page memo from the BCS outlining multiple different ways it could change college football’s postseason.  It proposes four ways to decide a national champion, including an additional title game after the original bowl games, and, as an alternative, a four team event with seeded semifinals and a championship. (Video Source:  ESPN )   Among the four proposals, though, is one named “Four Teams Plus.” This proposal calls for the top four ranked teams to play against each other, while the Big Ten and Pac-12 conference champions play each other in the traditional Rose Bowl game.  A selection committee would then pick two of the three winners to play for the national title. (Image Sources:  Knock Around / Photo Pilot / Waiting for Next Year )) This proposal has received the most feedback.   Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples said … “Hopefully, that proposal exists because Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said something to the effect of ‘Do us a solid and throw the Rose Bowl a bone in that document.’ That is the only reasonable explanation for an idea so convoluted that it can’t be read aloud with a straight face.” So, what’s the takeaway?  Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel had this to tweet … “Only college football could come up with a four team playoff with three semifinals….” If the BCS has learned anything, though, it should be that the college football crowd is a hard one to please.   Matt Sanderson of PlayoffPAC told USA Today … “Only a limited playoff format is under consideration, no broader effort is underway to clean-up the scandal-plagued bowl system … Until the BCS commits to abandon its current two-team format, we assume that most of this talk is simply to give them political cover when they decide to maintain the status quo.” Opinions may vary on how the games are played, but one thing is certain — more games equals more money.   Chris Smith of Forbes says … “Currently, a school that makes a BCS bowl earns its conference about $18 million, which is then distributed among conference schools. The values associated with the bowl games may change, especially with teams playing in more than one, but more games likely means more money for the conferences and thus the schools.” The memo was released in advance of the BCS meetings later this month.  Nothing will likely be decided until the conference meetings take place in June.