Crowning a plus-one champion, II

This post was published 4 months 9 days ago so the points made in the article may be outdated.

The BCS still has its problems, but admit it: most seasons it gets it right. However, the biggest thing lacking is the continued possibility that an undefeated (and deserving) team doesn’t make the BCS championship cut because others ahead of them are undefeated as well. As it stands now, the BCS has five bowls: the Orange, Rose, Sugar and Fiesta with one of those locations hosting another bowl, the BCS championship game one week following the rest of the bowls. Under this current arrangement, #1 and #2 remain so regardless of how the rest of the bowl shake out and obviously, neither of these two teams has to play elsewhere during bowl season.

Note: This is our second-in-a-series of reports on what a possible plus-one championship would look like.

Therefore, there is much talk about a plus-one formula where the top 2 teams standing after the bowl season would play in a national championship game. This would once and for all level the playing field, continue the very popular bowl season, plus not extend the football season, something that many college presidents are completely against.

So how would it work?

First, the BCS would have to designate another BCS bowl. Most likely, the Cotton Bowl would fit the bill. Since the advent of the BCS series (and the now-defunct Bowl Alliance which didn’t include the Big Ten and Pac-10), the Cotton Bowl has been weakened. In a plus-one system, the Cotton Bowl would be elevated.

Of these five bowls, in each year two would host a national semi-final. In this example, we will use the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl as these two bowls, although the two bowls used will shift yearly.

Next, following the release of the final BCS poll in early December, the Top four teams would go to one of the semi-final games, next the conference champions would be selected, followed by at-large teams, in order in which they appear in the Top 10. Using this week’s numbers.

Note: When available, the conference champions would still go to their traditional bowls, if that bowl is available, and we’d get:

National Semi-Final: Rose Bowl – #1 Florida (SEC champion taken) vs. #4 TCU (at-large)

- Pac-10 and Big Ten champs moves to another bowl since Rose Bowl would be unavailable.

National Semi-Final: Fiesta Bowl – #2 Alabama (at-large) vs. #3 Texas (Big 12 champion taken)

- Texas is here not because they are Big 12 champ, but because they are the #3 team in the nation. In our scenario, Florida will beat Alabama in the SEC championship game, but not enough to drop Alabama.

Orange Bowl – #7 Georgia Tech (ACC Champion) vs. #6 Boise State (at large)

- Traditional ACC champ is here.

Sugar Bowl – #5 Cincinnati (Big East Champ) vs. #10 Iowa (Big Ten Champion)

- Traditional Big East Champ is here, while Big Ten champs heads here.

Cotton Bowl – #9 USC (Pac-10 champ, moved) vs. #8 LSU(at-large)

- Pac-10 champ is here because the traditional slot in the Rose Bowl is unavailable since the bowl hosts ones of the semi-finals this season.

Then, the winner of the Florida/TCU game plays the winner of the Alabama/Texas game at another BCS bowl site, one week following the bowls, let’s say at the Sugar Bowl.

Therefore, in each year, two traditional bowl games will host semi-finals, while one traditional bowl (not one of the semi-finals) would actually host two games: it’s traditional bowl plus the national championship game.

The only caveat to this is the fact that depending on which bowls host the semi-final in any given year, will determine if a conference team goes to its traditional bowl or not. Also, unlike a true playoff system that would likely include sixteen teams, those teams ranked close to the Top 10 but out of it (like Ohio State, Pittsburgh and Oregon, this week) would be left out.

Still, it could work.

Note: We’ll update this scenario through the final BCS poll in December.

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