It is routinely accepted by the majority of college football fans that a playoff is needed because the current system has a terrible habit of leaving undefeated teams short of their goal, raising the coach’s trophy in early January.
An undefeated team has been slighted by this at the end of the last three seasons, and it is likely that it will happen again this season due to six teams being currently undefeated, though LSU and Alabama will square off this Saturday. A remedy is definitely needed.
I propose that the NCAA change a significant amount in regards to conference alignment. As of late, the Automatic Qualifier conferences, conferences automatically receiving a bid to a BCS, have been shuffling to realign to the larger "Super Conferences" that are forming before our eyes. With the way things are currently evolving, the Big East conference is being dissolved because institutions are moving to higher paying, more prominent football conferences, but this can be solved.
Suppose that there were only six large regional conferences ranging for 10-12 schools as suggested in a recent USA Today article. At the end of the season, the conference champion would receive an automatic bid without the need of a championship game. Then the rest of the teams to fill the 16 team playoff bracket could be decided by a committee. Teams that weren't selected for the playoff, would still be able to play bowl games.
Another big obstacle for the transitioning to a playoff is the money factor, but I think that could be easily fixed. If there was a payout to each playoff game, schools could still get paid for playing in the game. There are two ways you could go with this system. Pay the purse to the losing team or pay a purse to each team, which is currently how the bowl system payout works. If the second choice is selected, a team could accrue a very large amount of money. With this second choice, the school would have to pay more into their respective conference because of the profit sharing each conference has. The amount shared with the conference would correlate with how much they earned. Sponsors are a factor that needs taken into consideration, and a rather simple explanation can be given to satisfy them.
Each of the 14 playoff games can be sponsored by anyone interested. The teams that currently sponsor the BCS bowls may be allowed to represent the final four games including the National Championship game. They could also continue the rotation as they do now. A bidding system could be used to determine who will sponsor the playoff games. While all other sponsors may continue to sponsor their respective bowl games or bid for a playoff spot.
I imagine that there are many holes in my plan, but I think it could be a starting point.
