Table of Contents ● Dedication ● The Opening Chapter . . . ● The Computer Polls . . . ● The Human Pollsters . . . ● Analysis and Discussion . . . ● The Bowls . . . ● What If . . . ● Shall We Have . . . ● Appendix I ● Appendix II ● Appendix III ● Appendix IV ● Bibliography

The Opening Chapter . . .

I am writing to present an ongoing concern with respect to college football and the potential for a playoff elimination system that could identify some of the woulda', coulda', shoulda' questions and denials that we hear from today's poll voters and viewers.

1902 to Present – a sonopsis of the evolution of the bowls and contributing factors . . .

The long term situation goes way back to the beginnings of all the bowl games. The bowl games were held as a tribute to the best of the conferences that participated in the bowls. . . a reward to the winning teams. The announcement of the polls as to the #1 team was even decided before the bowls were played. Along around the 1960's decade, things began to change. A number of cities began to see the potential revenues that could be had in the form of tourism and the number of bowls grew. The polls now took a stand to announce the #1 team after the last of the bowl games. Conferences that only allowed the winningest team to attend a bowl, now allowed all teams in their conference to attend other bowls. Not only did the cities who hosted bowl games prosper from the additional tourism, the conferences began to benefit by larger dollar amounts being paid for teams/conferences participation in these bowls. Bowls that were televised by regional carriers were now taken over with bigger contracts by national networks who offered more dollars for the exclusive rights to broadcast these bowl games. With the added attention of fans and the attraction of dollars, teams like Ohio State with a nine game schedule, went to a 10 game schedule. And then the conferences agreed to an 11 game schedule, and all teams participated. It became apparent that with schools changing conferences, like the Big Eight becoming the Big Twelve [Big 12], and the Southeast Conference [SEC] going from eight to twelve teams, that there should be a 12th game added to the regular season schedule. Accounting for the creation of a North/South and East/West divisions in the Big 12 and SEC, set the stage for a divisional playoff game, adding a 13th game for the seasonal play. This could create the addition of another regular season game for all the teams, or not. And now with the longer season, there are several teams that have included a bye week, either to provide a rest for the teams or to accommodate a scheduling situation. A season that generally ended on Thanksgiving weekend is now carried over into December, [with the exception of the Army Navy Game, which has been in December as long as I can remember in my life]. The season going to a 12 game schedule was a decision made by the universities and colleges. The presidents of these institutions made these decisions based on the realization that it was not necessarily damaging to the educational standards of the students, and the extra game was a windfall profit for teams and conferences that usually drew large crowds for their games. Most stadiums will hold a minimum of 35,000 plus spectators, and there are several with seating capacity of 85,000 to 100,000 range as well. With 100,000 tickets at a conservative average cost of $25.00 per ticket brings in $2,500,000 just for the gate income. Add on broadcasting rights and this potential team/conference income becomes more than the cost and expense of providing scholarships for the team and their equipment for the season from just one or two games. It is apparent that the same dollars are the reason for the perpetual preservation of the bowl system by the Presidents and Board of Directors at these universities and colleges. The Rose Bowl was called the "Granddaddy” and with good reason. It was not only the first bowl game, but it also always paid more to each team than any other bowl. And in the 1960's and early 1970's, the Rose Bowl would pay about $6 million per team, while the closest other bowl, the Orange Bowl, was at about $4.5 million per team, and the Sugar Bowl was at about $3.25 million per team, with all other bowl games declining in revenues from there.



Today's Ranking Authorities . . .

Now, with three authority figures to pronounce the rankings of teams, the Sports Writers of the Associated Press, the Coaches via the USA Today/ESPN poll, and the Bowl Champion Series [BCS] rankings, we do have some continuity as to who is the best team, since the bowl games are now paired up in relation to the BCS rankings, and since those games are played prior to the the final rankings. The Coaches are in agreement that if the #1 team, per BCS wins, then they shall be #1 and reign as the National Champions. If the team that plays the #1 team beats them, then they have the right to be the National Champions, since they did beat the #1 team. In the past, even with the BCS formula, there were some teams who may have been equally as good, and possible contenders for the #1 position with the same record as the #1 team du jour, were not given the right to play, or even be #1. The 3 or 4 teams that all had the same records should have had the plus one bowl game to really determine such finality as to 'who' should be #1. The BCS and/or bowl system has not added this bowl, and a some of the universities and colleges have ignored this often suggested reconciliation to the BCS mix. There are many Press Writers and Broadcasters today who continually, at every opportunity have expressed the plus one system. This would translate to the winner of the #1 and #4 teams match up would play the winner of the #2 and #3 match up. An immediate flaw could be that if only 3 teams have had a no loss season, and #1, could lose to a #4 team, or lower ranked team who would have the opportunity to play and beat the next #1 ranked team. And if this game were instituted, there are no assurances that there would be a need for this scenario. . .