What Would Happen If...

Call me crazy, but what would happen if Boise State, TCU and Houston all finished undefeated? Boise is ranked 5th in both the AP and USA Today Coaches polls, TCU is 10th and 11th, and Houston is 12th and 15th.  Do their resumes warrant BCS bowl/title inclusion?

Title no, bowls yes.  

Boise has beaten Oregon and Fresno, TCU's defeated Virginia and Clemson, Houston has defeated Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.  Except the Virginia game, all of these wins are impressive and give support to the total body of work produced.  If all three finish unbeaten, exclusion from a BCS bowl would be shameful. 

This leads to my next point, the yearly call for a playoff.  I'll ignore all the baloney being shoveled by the university presidents and just advocate the system I think will work.

Top Eight teams in the final BCS standings get into the playoff.  Conference winners do not get automatic bids.  

Format:

Seeds one, two, and three play their quarterfinal game at home.  Seeds four and five play in one of the current BCS Bowl venues.  Do not reseed after the quarterfinals.

The semi-finals are played in two of the other BCS venues.  Winners play for the title in the final BCS venue.  Rotate the title game the way it is currently done. Keep the bowl names the same. 

This system protects the current bowl set up, protects the ad revenue, gives the top seeds an extra home game, minimizes the potential 16 game season to just two teams and gives non BCS conference teams the opportunity to compete for a championship.

There is a possibility that some teams, (e.g., Florida) will schedule easier teams in non-conference play because their conference competition is stronger and will suffice.  The reverse is possible too.  Maybe a weak OOC schedule combined with one loss in conference play kills the opportunity to get into the playoff.  Playing a stronger OOC schedule might insulate the team from this problem.  I think we'll get more of the same though.  A lot of teams will continue playing one or two tough OOC games coupled with a cream puff. 

Does this system eliminate all the issues?  No.  The Big Ten and Big East still need to find more teams to set up a system like the ACC, Big 12 and SEC.  My proposal does make the system more interesting and honest though.