Another year, another debate against the BCS

So Alabama won the national championship last week.

     Congrats, Tide.

      But what if they played Boise State? Or even Ohio State? The hot topic of discussion in the world of college football the last few years has been whether or not the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) actually crowns the right team as the national champion each year.

     The talk of a college football playoff is on the minds of plenty of important people.

     For example, President Barack Obama. The day before elected our nation's president, he said a playoff would be best for Division I college football.

     Many sportswriters agree with Obama, as evident in Sports Illustrated. On si.com, during the regular season, a pretend playoff bracket would be posted every Sunday to set up how the "true" national champion would be selected.

     So I toss this question your direction: Is the BCS system fine just the way it is, or is it about time we get a college playoff in Division I football?

     Allow me to make my best argument. Every other division in college football, whether it is Division II or Division III, has a successful playoff system in place. Why should Division I be any different?

     A playoff system would give every team a legitimate shot at earning the right to be called national champions.

     Even teams like Boise State, who have had two undefeated seasons in the last four years, but havn't earned the respect of BCS authorities as far as championship opportunities go.

     A playoff would set up multiple interesting match-ups and provide fans more chances to watch games.

     On the other hand, there are people who put up good arguments that the current BCS system is fine just as it is.

     Senior accounting major and college football enthusiast Dave Schart said, "A playoff would give the players way too many games. They're in college, not the pros. The number one priority is education, and too many games would interfere with that."

     Another opposition of the playoff may be corporate sponsors. The BCS gives them opportunities to put their name in the titles of the games and reach a substantial amount of viewers. There are also people who say the BCS has helped enrich the tradition of games such as the Rose Bowl, which is annually held on the first day of each year and includes a pre-game parade.

     Let me set up a scenario in which a playoff system would work.

     There are eight teams, six of which are the conference champions of the six major conferences (that includes the Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, ACC, SEC and PAC-10). The last two teams would be at-large bids from non-major conferences.

     For example, the winner of the Big Ten and PAC-10 meet each year in the Rose Bowl.

     This year, that happened to be Ohio State and Oregon. Those two schools would play in the Rose Bowl in the first round of the playoff, allowing the Rose Bowl to continue its tradition and allow sponsors to keep doing what they do. The winner of the Rose Bowl would then move on to play whoever won another bowl game, such as the Fiesta Bowl or Orange Bowl.

     There is more than one way this could work, but I feel any playoff system would work smoother than the mess we call the BCS. "A playoff system would be much more interesting, and it would lengthen the college football season, which every fan would like," senior Brian Hiscox said.

     Sophomore Kevin Genter agrees. "Using a system like a playoff would give teams like Boise State a chance to prove themselves, since they haven't been elected to the national championship, even when they went undefeated."

     The people have spoken. It's time for the NCAA to listen. t&c;

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