The NCAA Is At It Again

Football-wise, that is.

Or football stupid.

While there remains no mention of the creation of a national playoff system for Division I-A football teams, the NCAA moved a step closer to allowing members schools in Divisions I-A and I-AA to schedule a twelfth regular season game. The point of this exercise seems to be to permit the schools to generate extra revenue (which, properly conducted, a playoff system also would do).

Once again, it's all about money. Not mentioned in this article is the potential risk to the collective health of young players by having them play an extra game. Considered, but ignored, is the ACC's opposition on the grounds tha the extra game is burdensome on the academics of the student-athlete. Kudos to the ACC for taking a stand on principle.

The irony, of course, is that one of the proffered reason not to have a national playoff is the time that the playoffs would take the kids out of class. Play an extra game for more money, take all of the kids out of class for, say, a week. Play, say, 11 regular-season games and have an 8-team playoff system, and then you're only taking 8 teams out of school for an extra week, 4 for an extra two, and 2 for an extra three. And it's not like the kids won't have time for tutors, homework and class. Heck, the NCAA men's basketball tournament has a lot of hoopla and men's (and women's hoops) has a long season, but no one really is complaining about the effect on academics. Ditto for Division 1-A football. (Dave Sez agrees).

I've blogged before that it's time for a playoff system in Division I-A football, and the time is long overdue. For as much as they can tweak the BCS formula year after year, the odds are that some situation will arise where there's an iniquity, manipulation of the voting, or both. The only good way to decide the national champion is on the field, not at the polls.

Gymnastics, diving and ice skating are judged sports, and look how pleased we are with who wins those titles. A slip up by a judge here, a screwup on the parallel bars by a South Korean there, a nationalistic French judge over yonder, and controversies abound.

Memo to the NCAA: Forget about a meaningless twelfth game that only helps the coffers of athletic departments. Get your priorities straight and arrange for a national championship tournament. If you have 8 teams, then give automatic bids to the winners of the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-10, and then give three at-large bids. Then have a seeding committee that seeds schools 1 through 8, and play the four first-round games at some of the traditional bowl sites. Ditto for the two national semi-finals. Finally, rotate the national championship game each year among the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls.

Those games would mean a great, great deal.

But a 12th game?

It would be as meaningful as some late December bowl game between two 6-5 teams.

The NBA and NHL give us those types of games, and look how enamored we are of them.

The NCAA, as far as Division I-A football is concerned, should reach higher.