I have been a fan of football for 10 years including college football, yet I will happily admit I still do not fully understand the bowl system. To me it appears very unfair and creates a lot of controversy. To top it all its all going to change again in 2 years. Today I will attempt to explain the system as well as add in my usual strong opinions.
The hope of writing this particular blog it to further develop my own understanding of the bowl system but create some discussions with people who do understand it a bit more than me. The first place to start may seem a bit simple but you need to understand this before going any further. College division I teams are all in conferences and whilst playing through out the season to win their conference teams are also ranked. This ranking is done by a whole host of things including polls, results and a very complicated computer system. It is from these rankings that the BCS or national championship game is decided, the top two ranked teams then meet in the final bowl game of the season for the national championship, this year number 1 ranked Norte Dame play number 2 Alabama.
Four other bowls make up the bowl championship they are the Rose bowl, Orange bowl, Sugar bowl and Fiesta bowl. The champions of the six leading divisions all earn an automatic birth to one of these bowls. For example the BIG 10 champions always play in the Rose bowl unless they have been selected for the national championship. The remaining places at the bowl games are then selected by the bowl committees but the team must be ranked inside the top 14. This is where I have a bit of a problem with the system because a bowl committee sole objective is to make their game the most lucrative game. Therefore when selecting teams to play in their bowl game they generally choose big colleges with not too much travelling so that they can make the most money. This seams really unfair to me how a team ranked low can be picked to go to a bowl game over a team ranked higher because they are a more attractive option.
Another rule I do not like is that only 2 teams per conference can play in the bowl championship. I again feel this is unfair, take this year for example the SEC has dominated college football and everyone knows all the best teams are in the SEC. Five of the top 10 in the BCS rankings were associated to the SEC. Therefore more SEC teams should be in the bowl championship. I would like to see all the top 6 conference champions represented but then the extra or at large spots filled by the best ranked teams, this year SEC teams.
Bowl season does not just comprise of the BCS bowl games but also includes another 30 non BCS bowls. These bowls have contractual agreements with conferences assuming their is enough bowl eligible teams available. For example the outback bowl is always played between the BIG 10 and SEC.
I'm not the only person to have doubts over the current system as come 2014 the whole system will change. College football wanted a playoff system something like Basketball has in March. The details of this system are still very unknown. From what I understand it will be made up of four teams selected by a panel or more than likely a ranking system maybe even the BCS. The semi finals will be rotated around the current BCS bowl sites with the championship final played some where neutral. I'm more than happy with this mainly from a supporters view because we finally get a college playoff system something that has been desired for a long time. We also lose this poor system where teams are selected to the more prestige's bowls based on attractiveness. The drama that is created in college hoops through march as they enter the playoffs is something special and now football will be able to achieve something similar.
There are still many factors to be decided such as what happens to the current BCS bowls and where are they played alongside lots of contractural negotiations for rights to these games. However I have had an idea which not only slightly expands this new system to make it even better and give the fans 1 more playoff game but also solves a lot of the contractual problems. Why not keep all four BCS bowls so they still make all their money and keep them happy but the teams who play in it are decided by this new panel. The four winners then play in a semi final and then final for the national championship. I maybe missing something but I think that's a good system for fans, colleges and bowl partnerships.
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