College Football rankings have been all the talk this past week with the playoffs right around the corner. Everyone has an opinion for who they think should be in the final 4 and of course everyone’s opinion is wrong. The problem is that there is not set system to accurately make these decisions. Picking a champion out of 128 school is sometimes impossible, first they went with whoever is first in the polls at years end, wrong! College Football tried it with the BCS, just let a computer run the numbers and boom solution, wrong! Ok let’s have a committee that understands the numbers but also has the human element of watching the game to help make a decision, wrong! Well most likely wrong, the first few years under this system have been ok but this year will be the year that causes chaos and the world will demand a new system. The four best teams the CFB are probably Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, and USC (Clemson is right there too, calm down LJ). All those teams minus Bama lost games they couldn’t afford to lose and it might cost them a playoff spot, which I am fine with. This is sports we are talking about a game which the score matters no matter how good you are you need to win important games, looking at you Michigan.
I am here to give you that new system and it’s a radical one that won’t work but it would change college football dramatically! We are going across the pond for this one and stealing the soccer system of relegation, oh yea we are! Let’s create different leagues and from there we will find a champion. As mentioned 128 schools are in college football and we can’t have everyone play every or have big tournament to find a winner like basketball. The toughest part of finding the best team is scheduling so our new system will help with that too. Sorry traditionalists that love conference games and history game like USC/ND to end the year every year, that game is not helping us at this point. So let’s go step by step.
1. Make new leagues– you need a random starting point here to make these leagues. I thought just going with this year’s records wasn’t controversial enough so we are using team records from 2010-2016 This is college football so we need controversy. 128 teams 4 leagues (3 have 35 teams and the final league has 23). Cool let’s see how they look:
At first glance there are some outliners here. Northern Illinois and Toledo don’t fit in with the other teams but this is because they have had a soft schedule based on the old rules, we will take care of that so I wouldn’t expect them in league 1 long but for now they are the big time beneficiaries of Steve’s Football System (SFS) (working on better name). Teams that got the short end of the stick probably Cal and Colorado in leagues 3 and 4 respectively. Sorry dudes but they should be in League 1 in a few years.
2. Schedule – We don’t truly know how good a mid-major team is because of their soft schedule so we need to fix that. 13 games a year under SFS (see its catching on) each team must play 11 games within their league. A random computer will pick the games and where to play them, so every teams schedule has equal chance of being equal?? Or something like that. Since college football loves tradition and shit we will leave the last 2 games up to the teams. You want you’re the GAME still fine if Michigan and OSU agree to it then that’s fine. You can also play teams that are outside your league, you want that easy 50-0 game vs a league 3 team, go for it. It may come back to haunt you, tiebreakers may play a factor because its college football and of course they fucking do, more to come on that shortly, as it right below
3. Tiebreakers – We need set rules on what happens if teams are tied in the standings, so let’s vaguely come up with something that might work. First, head to head boom easy enough. Well what if those teams don’t play, ok end of season strength of schedule vs current league opponents. Ok that works for me and should solve everything. You played a harder schedule you go first. If we are still tied then we go to records vs like opponents in your league. Hopefully these 3 tiebreakers would end here but if they don’t the 2 games you can pick will come into effect. We know this will eventually happen so let’s try to figure it out. If you played teams in a lesser league and the team you are tied with didn’t whelp then you are out of luck. You can play down but it will cost you in the 4th tiebreaker so choose wisely. If you play up a league and win, well then congrats and you win a tiebreaker if the other team didn’t. Make sense? Maybe? Fucking tiebreakers.
4. Champion! – Ok now for the fun part and the reason this whole thing is being created. Let’s find a real champion! League 1 is the only league we will worry about here for now. Let’s make it easy, top 4 teams by record (including the 2 games out of league) play in a playoff and we have a winner. Boom done, SFS championship trophy and all the glory!
5. Bowl season – One of the best parts of college football is bowl season so we don’t want to change that, this will still happen and while some bowls are now given to conference winners and etc etc. This will need to be flushed out but if you have a winning record you get a bowl game. Sometimes it could be 5th team in League 1 vs top team in League 2, or two teams in the same league and so on! And of course here we get the sponsopship dollars and schools can make money and so, they are stundent first athletes second, wait that doesnt apply…
6. Relegation – Ok the bread and butter of SFS, relegation. You’re spot in each league is not guaranteed, you need to perform. We want league 1 to be the best of the best. So if you suck you are out. The bottom 3 teams in each league are dropped a league for the next year and the top 3 teams are move up a league. Everyone get that right? I know this is nuts for college football since recruiting is so important and why would a top kid sign to a league 3 team and shit but stop ruining the fun of my article. If you suck you are out. I think this creates great intrigue for college football. If you can build strong program the opportunity is there to become a champion, yes it will take some time but it should. Become the ultimate rags to riches story (and do it will not getting paid at all), join at League 3 school and graduate a League 1 champion.
Yes there are flaws and others things to consider, TV money blah, blah. But lets hear any additions to the SFS you would make and any things you want out in the comments. Go Sports!
Also published on Medium.