ryan@fremen.DEC (12/05/84)
My opinion is that (although I have to admit Oklahoma is probably the best team in the country), if BYU beats Michigan and plays well in the Holiday Bowl, they deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt and ranked #1. They've done all that could be asked for, and as the only undefeated team in the nation there is no way it can be said they didn't earn the honor. No other team has clearly shown themselves to be superior to all their opponents; for the first time in a long time there are no obviously dominant college teams who have shown they deserve the #1 ranking. It's time the NCAA got their act together and instituted a Division I playoff system. The present system is unfair to both BYU and the other #1 contenders - Oklahoma may lose because of BYU's inferior schedule, and BYU (even if they are ranked #1) will not be taken seriously because of their schedule. BYU does deserve the chance to prove themselves against the best teams in the country. I propose the following system. The centerpiece of the NCAA playoffs should be the four major New Year's bowls: the Cotton, Sugar, Rose, and Orange. These bowls would be the quarterfinals of the national playoffs. The participants in these bowls should be the conference champions as they are now (there's a lot of tradition involved, especially in the Rose Bowl, and I don't think that should be tampered with), and the at-large bowl contenders could be chosen in a preliminary round of playoffs in the smaller, earlier bowls (such as the Independence, Holiday, Citrus, Sun, and Cherry bowls), featuring the top independents, winners of conferences other than those featured in the major bowls, and perhaps the best second-place teams in the major conferences (otherwise Oklahoma wouldn't have made it this year!). The remaining bowls (Freedom, Liberty, Gator, Aloha, Hall of Fame, Peach, Bluebonnet, and Fiesta) could be consolation games for the earlier losers and teams which barely missed making the playoffs. Semifinals games matching the Sugar-Cotton and Orange-Rose bowl winners would be held the second weekend following New Year's Day, and the championship would fit very nicely into the weekend preceding the Super Bowl. It would probably be a good idea to work with the NFL to minimize conflicts. Perhaps the championship game even could be arranged to be in the same place as the Super Bowl - just think of the possibilities (win a free trip to the college AND pro championships in lovely Miami/New Orleans/LA/...)! I know that individual details may provoke flames, but do people out there approve of the general idea? Mike Ryan (I take it back - forget BYU and Oklamoma, BC for #1!! Flutie Forever!!!)