How To Fix College Football

Fix college football? Blasphemy! College football is the world's greatest sport. However, I think we all agree the system could use some tweaks. Here's my three big recommendations:

(1) Playoff system. Duh. Specifically, I think we only need to add one game. Rather than simply tacking on the BCS Championship game as an extra bowl game, what they should have done was play #1 vs. #4 in one of the BCS bowls, #2 vs. #3 in another, and let the other two bowls have their traditional rivalry. That way, each bowl stays intact, they still make a ton of money (possibly more money), and at the end of the year we have something we have never had in the history of college football...a system for determining the undisputed national champion. On top of that, the major bowls have their traditional rivalry every other year, and a playoff game every other year.

Sure, there may be years when a #5 team has a legitimate gripe that they should have been #4. However, that's a lot different than an undefeated #3 from a major conference who is excluded from a title shot because their preseason poll was low. That's garbage.

(2) Conference championship games for all BCS conferences. That's right, I'm talking to you, Big 10 and Pac 10. You need to find a way to become the Pac 12 and Big 10 (with 12 teams). You need to divide yourself into north and south, where the north teams play all of the other north teams every year and half of the south teams every year, and vice versa.

Texas and Oklahoma have a legitimate complaint that they have to play each other twice every year, and if they split those games, neither of them gets a title shot. They are right. That isn't fair, and it doesn't make sense. Moreover, a conference championship game gives the conference legitimacy, makes more money for the conference, and ensures that no team can slip into the national championship game without beating at least one high quality opponent.

Here's how I propose we do this:

Big 10 -- Easy. They already have 11 teams. Notre Dame is practically in the Big 10 already. Half of their schedule is Big 10 opponents, every year. Notre Dame doesn't have to officially join the conference (so they can keep their sweetheart deal with NBC, etc.), but they do have to play all the other teams in the Big 10 north (so that they can preserve their traditional rivalries with Michigan, Michigan State, etc.), half of the teams in the Big 10 south, and have to participate in the conference title game if they make it. They can play four teams in their out of conference schedule, who will probably be USC, Stanford, Army, and Navy most, if not all years. Take a look at their schedule...this would not make a big difference for them. They won't do it, you say? If the BCS says that you have to win a conference title to play for the national championship, guess what? They'll do it.

Pac 10 (Pac 12) -- Hello, BYU and Utah. Or UNLV and Nevada if you want to keep it closer to the coast, although I think BYU and Utah would be a better fit for the Pac 10 in terms of quality and style of play. Either way, two teams join the Pac 12 north with the Washington and Oregon schools, and the Pac 12 south is made up of California and Arizona schools. Best conference record in the north plays best conference record in the south. Head to head is the obvious tie breaker. No more controversy, no more complex system...all is fair in love, war, and football.

What about the Big East, you ask? The Big East shouldn't have been a BCS team in the first place. They get dropped. (That is, unless they want to take on TCU, Fresno State, Navy, and Boise State...wouldn't make sense geographically, but at least that would create a respectable conference schedule for Big East teams).

Now there are 5 BCS conferences, and each produces a champion. Most years, four of those champions will go on to compete for the national championship. Some years, a non-BCS conference will sneak someone in there, though I suspect that won't happen often. West Virginia or TCU might occasionally go undefeated and find themselves in the top 4, but otherwise it's not going to happen. Every once in a while, a conferece might get two teams into the top four, but this isn't likely given that they all have to play a conference title game, and late losses aren't good in the polls.

I know, I know...this isn't politically feasible. But if it could be done, it would improve college football dramatically. Having different sized major conferences, some of which have to play a championship game and some of which don't, is silly. The Pac 10's recent move of having each team play every other team in the conference every year helps, but I don't think it's enough. There needs to be a way to create consensus conference champions in all of the major conferences.

(3) Organized compensation system for players. Yes, I said it. If you want players to stop jumping ship to the NFL, you have to at least give them the opportunity to stay in college. These kids need to be taken care of, over the table, using legitimate means. Then, if someone cheats, you can really bring the hammer down, and the general public might actually care.

Right now, the quasi-amateur status of college football is a joke. I agree that they should be forbidden from endorsement money and professional agents. College players should not be millionaires. While a free education is a good start, it doesn't put food on the table.

Here's what I propose: Uniform stipend for each member of the active roster, plus a limited number of redshirted players. Let's say $25,000 per year. A college kid can live off of that reasonably. They won't be faced with a choice of staying in school and starving or going pro too soon.

Then, if a kid is caught taking extra money or perks, we can legitimately say that they are cheating, and that they should be sanctioned by the NCAA, kicked off the team, or whatever. Right now, the fact that Rhett Bomar needed a fake car dealership job to get by is really, really dumb.

Bottom line is that this issue is really killing college football. It's like steroids in baseball. It's clear that there is a lot of cheating going on, and that the enforcement is ineffective and arbitrary. Unlike steroids, a zero tolerance policy on getting money for playing college football is not the way to go here. In light of the millions of dollars they are bringing in to the school and other interested parties, it is only fair to let the kids have enough legitimate, clean money to live a normal life while they are in college. Then you won't have to have phony car dealership jobs supporting college football...college football can support itself.

Razing Arizona

The big news in college football...Arizona State has sent its senior QB Sam Keller to the bench in favor of sophomore Rudy Carpenter. This will likely prompt Keller to transfer elsewhere (rumor has it he'll be running Callahan's offense at Nebraska next year), leaving ASU with a freshman backup QB.

Unless something happened behind the scenes that the public is not aware of, this is a bad move on general principle. Here's why:

(1) This sends a bad message to young QB's at Arizona State, as well as future recruits. It says that if you pay your dues, learn the system behind a more experienced QB (in Keller's case, he played behind Andrew Walter), and stick with the program, so long as you have some success on the playing field and show that you are capable of leading the offense...you still might lose your job to some kid if you break your thumb. Not very encouraging. Young gunslingers who want to go to a school with a pass-happy offense, take note: You are better off at Texas Tech.

(2) If you start Keller and he goes down, you have Carpenter. If you start Carpenter and he goes down, Keller has (wisely) transferred elsewhere, and you will find that the cupboard is bare, and ASU's season is over. Keller was the safer bet. By going with Carpenter, you are giving away your insurance policy.

(3) It was particularly bad form for Koetter to name Keller his starter and then yank the job out from underneath him a few days later. Once you have named your starter, that should be your starter...at least on opening day. If you aren't sure yet, then don't name a starter.

A much smarter move would have been to start Keller in the opener and pull him if he struggles. That way, you at least retain him as a backup. If he doesn't struggle, then there is no problem.

Carpenter would have waited for his turn. This is Keller's turn, and he can't afford to wait, so he is essentially being forced to transfer. Keller is a very good QB and likely will have a job in the NFL someday, and perhaps then he can look back on this situation and laugh. However, I don't think that ASU will be laughing, even if this move works out in the short run. This is going to hurt recruiting and hurt Koetter's rep as a QB's coach, and that will ultimately be detrimental to the program.

At a time when the Arizona Wildcats under Stoops lite are gaining strength and credibility as a threat in the Pac-10, this could be the beginning of the end of a respectable football program at Arizona State.

California Love

The pre-season USA Today poll is showing some much deserved love to the Pac-10, and to the California Golden Bears.

Three Pac-10 teams in the top 20 (USC #3, Cal #12, Oregon #20) sounds about right for a conference that will be STACKED this year. Four more teams received votes (Arizona State #26, and UCLA, Arizona, and Oregon State also receiving votes). That sounds about right. The Pac 10 should be deep this year, with each team a threat to any opponent they face.

Even the teams left off of the poll are dangerous. Washington has had a little time to grow under Willingham, and they return an athletic QB with a great arm in Stanback. Washington State returns 14 starters, including QB Alex Brink, and should have a strong offense. Stanford returns one of the 10 best QB's in the nation, Trent Edwards...if they can protect him, Stanford could win 7 games this year.

A pre-season ranking of #12 for Cal says a lot about how much Jeff Tedford has done for the program. Cal had a disappointing season last year, largely because they lost their starting QB for the season in the opener and Ayoob was a disaster. This year, Nate Longshore will be ready, and assuming he can stay healthy, Cal has a legitimate shot at winning it all. No kidding.

Cal will feature a balanced attack this year for the first time in a very long time. The defense will stack up with anyone in the country. The offense features a running back who is arguably the best in college football, and the young talent at WR is now less young and more talented. A new offensive coordinator was brought in to add a taste of the spread offense, which will empty the box and allow Marshawn Lynch to run through, over, and around opposing defenses. Even without a legitimate passing threat last year, Lynch put up incredible numbers. This year, if they can't stack 8 or 9 in the box, they can't stop Lynch. DeSean Jackson is more than enough of a deep threat to keep defenses honest. Lynch and Jackson will give each other opportunities to make big plays.

Cal will get an early test at Tennessee, and another shortly thereafter against Minnesota...but neither of these teams will be in the top 3 opponents Cal will face this year. (Those will be USC, Oregon, and UCLA). Look for Cal to win at least two of those three games, take at least one out of the two of Tennessee and Minnesota, and finish their season in Pasadena this year...because 10-2 will be good enough to win a dog-eat-dog Pac-10 this year. If Cal can do a little better, 11-1 may be good enough for a shot at the title this year.