Ok, I decided to post it anyway. I wrote this in 2007 using the 2006 season and rankings so take that into consideration:
COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
There have been many suggestions on how to improve the BCS and come out with a clear cut champion that everyone can be happy with. An issue also exists that any time the SEC champion does not get rewarded with a trip to the championship game their fans complain about how other teams have better records only because they play in âinferiorâ conferences.
I have determined that the solution comes from European soccer and their Champions League. In European soccer each country has its own league (comparable to a conference) in which the 18-20 teams all play each other twice meaning that they all have the exact same schedule. At the end of the season, the top 3 or 4 teams from each league will be rewarded by being able to play in the Champions League the following season. This makes virtually every game in the Champions League full of talent and fun to watch. The winner of the Champions League is indisputably the best team in Europe. After all, theyâve beaten the best teams from the other countries.
My idea is similar to that of Europeâs Champions League. Take the best 13 or 14 teams from college football and put them in a conference together. Whoever wins is the undisputable champion. The teams in this College Football Champions League would change from year to year depending on how the teams actually perform. Playing well one year enables you to be able to participate in the Champions League the following year. I have come up with four different methods on how this super league of sorts could work (in the order that I thought of them):
Method 1
SEC Champion Florida
SEC Bonus Arkansas
Big East Champion Louisville
Big Ten Champion Ohio St.
Big 12 Champion Oklahoma
PAC-10 Champion USC
ACC Champion Wake Forest
WAC Champion Boise St.
MW Champion BYU
Conf USA Champ Houston
Mid American Champ Cent. Michigan
Sun Belt Champ Middle Tenn. St.
Independent Champ Notre Dame
Highest Ranked Team LSU
If the Champions League were starting in 2007 then the league would include the champion from each of the 11 conferences plus the best Independent team. There would also be a SEC bonus slot since the SEC is the most competitive conference and would deserve to have two teams represented in the Champions League. This bonus slot would be awarded to the runner up in the conference title game. The idea of the Champions League is that every team will play each other once during the regular season and then the teams with the two best records face off in the championship game. With 13 teams, that would mean a 12 game regular season. As an option, a 14th team, which would be the highest ranked non-champion (LSU), could also be added to the league creating a 13 game regular season.
At the end of the regular season the two best teams face off while all other teams play a âbowlâ type game against their conference champion from the âregularâ league to determine who gets to play in the Champions League the following season. For example, with the above listed teams, letâs say USC and LSU play in this super championship game. That would mean Louisville would play the Big East champion from the regular season, say West Virginia. The winner of that game gets to play in the Champions League the next season while the loser plays in the regular league. The same happens for each conference. In this example the SEC has two teams not in the championship game, Florida and Arkansas. So, one would play the regular SEC champion and the other would play the regular PAC-10 champion since USC would already be having their bowl game by playing in the championship (both teams playing in the championship game get to stay in the Champions League regardless of who wins).
As a different example, letâs say, just for the heck of it, that BYU and Houston meet in the championship game. Their respective regular conference champions would then play one of the 3 SEC teams with the third SEC team obviously playing their own regular season champion.
This method would give us 7 very good bowl games as each team will really have something to be playing for. Also, we will have an obvious champion and it will also be obvious as to which conferences are strongest.
Method 2
SEC Champion Florida
SEC Runner Up Arkansas
Big East Champion Louisville
Big East Runner Up W. Virginia
Big Ten Champion Ohio St.
Big Ten Runner Up Michigan
Big 12 Champion Oklahoma
Big 12 Runner Up Nebraska
PAC-10 Champion USC
PAC-10 Runner Up California
ACC Champion Wake Forest
ACC Runner Up Georgia Tech
Best Non BCS Team Boise St.
2nd Best Non BCS Team Notre Dame
Method 2 shows what the Champions League would look like in 2007 if it included the champion and runner up from each of the âBCSâ conferences. For the conferences that donât have an actual conference title game I chose the two highest ranked (from my own personal rankings of all 119 teams) teams in that conference. That gives us 12 teams with the 13th being the best non BCS team, which would be Boise St. The optional 14th team would be the second best (highest ranked) non BCS team (Notre Dame).
Again, everyone would play each other once with the two best teams going to the championship game, but this time only the winner staying in the league the following season. The loser of the championship game plus the other 12 teams will have to play a âbowlâ game against their counterparts in the âregularâ league with the winner playing in the Champions league the next year. It is necessary for the loser to play again in order to preserve the layout of two teams from each conference. However, the conference of the overall champion will only be able to have one team possibly advance.
For example, letâs say Florida beats Ohio St. in the championship game. Ohio St. will have to play again in order to stay in the Championship League. They would play against either the champion or runner up from the Big Ten in the regular league. Since they were the better of the two Big Ten teams in the Championship League, then they could be rewarded by playing the runner up from the regular league. Likewise, if during the regular season Georgia Tech had a better record than Wake Forest, they would play the ACC runner up from the regular league while Wake Forest would play the champion. Since Florida won the championship, only one team from the SEC in the regular league (the champion) would have the opportunity to play a bowl game to get in to the Champions League. The two non BCS teams would not play teams from their own conference, but instead the two best non BCS teams from the regular league.
This method would give the Champions League better overall competition from top to bottom, but the conference who wins the championship is also penalized because only one team from the regular conference can move up whereas the other conferences could have two each.
My Rankings - Method 3 AP Rankings - Method 4
1 Florida 1 Florida
2 Ohio St. 2 Ohio St.
3 LSU 3 LSU
4 Michigan 4 USC
5 USC 5 Boise St.
6 Boise St. 6 Louisville
7 Louisville 7 Wisconsin
8 Wisconsin 8 Michigan
9 Notre Dame 9 Auburn
10 Oklahoma 10 W. Virginia
11 W. Virginia 11 Oklahoma
12 Arkansas 12 Rutgers
13 Auburn 13 Texas
14 Tennessee 14 California
Methods 3 and 4 go together because they are the same idea, but are using different rankings. The idea is that if the Champions League were starting in 2007, the top 14 ranked teams from 2006 go into the league, regardless of conference. The left half of the above table shows my own final rankings (I rank all 119 teams every week) from 2006 while the right half shows what the league would look like if the final AP rankings were used. The only difference for this specific year would be that Notre Dame, Arkansas, and Tennessee would be traded for Rutgers, Texas, and California. Of course, the BCS rankings could be used as well, but weâll just stick with these. Comparing the two above rankings, the following table shows how each conference would be represented:
Conference Method 3 Method 4
SEC 5 3
Big Ten 3 3
PAC-10 1 2
WAC 1 1
Big East 2 3
Independent 1 0
Big 12 1 2
ACC 0 0
MW 0 0
Conf USA 0 0
Mid American 0 0
Sun Belt 0 0
As with the other methods, every team would play each other once with the top two teams playing for the championship. The remaining 12 teams would play in relegation/promotion type bowl games against the top 12 teams from the regular league. The best team not to make it to the championship game would play the #12 regular league team with the next best team playing the #11 ranked regular league team and so forth with the worst team in the Champions League playing the #1 ranked team from the regular league.
With these methods there is no âeasy inâ such as winning a weak conference. Each conference will be represented differently each year; it just depends on how the teams perform during the regular season and if they can win their bowl game to either stay in the Champions League or gain access to it. There really would be no dispute as to which conferences are best. For example, regardless of which ranking system is used, the ACC is clearly the weakest of the BCS conferences as they had no teams in the top 14 last year and would not be represented in the Champions League. And if the Champions League Final did not have any SEC teams in it, their fans would not be able to complain about overrated teams in soft conferences making it to the championship game.
