With a Roland college football playoff ~ it would now be December Madness and the Final Eight would be squaring off next weekend for a widely supported and legitimate national championship college football series: Allen L Roland

To his credit, Coach Urban Meyer is still calling for a playoff system even after his Gators were selected to play for the national championship.

As Michael Wilbon wrote today in the Washington Post BCS Still Leaves A Sour Taste ~ " There's nothing bad about an Ohio State-Florida matchup for the final game. The Gators appear to some of us to have a slight advantage because they've played twice since Thanksgiving, while Ohio State will have been idle for 51 days by Jan. 8.

But it would have been so much better to have, next week, Michigan and Florida meet in one semifinal game while Ohio State played undefeated Boise State in the other. That would be two undefeated teams and two teams with one loss. Nobody else this season need apply.

Then, the Michigan kids wouldn't be sitting at home feeling awful about the only blemish on their schedule being a three-point loss at Ohio State. We'd find out if a mid-major (Boise State) could have the same kind of impact on the college football season that George Mason had on the last college basketball season."

So there you have it ~ the coaches, the columnists and the fans detest the BCS system but here's a way we can tweak the BCS system and end up with a widely supported college football championship series that would rival March Madness in college basketball.

This is what it would look like ~ if it was happening this year

THE FINAL EIGHT ( DECEMBER MADNESS )

1. Ohio State 12-0 .9999

2. Florida 12-1 .9445

3. Michigan 11-1 .9344

4. LSU 10-2 .8326

5. USC 10-2 .7953

6. Louisville 11-1 .7944

7. Wisconsin 11-1 .7480

8. Boise State 12-0.7099


Starting the weekend of December Dec 15 & 16th ( two week preparation ) FIRST ROUND

#1 Ohio State plays #8 Boise State / #2 Florida plays #7 Wisconsin / #3 Michigan plays #6 Louisville / #4 LSU plays #5 USC

Let's say the top seeds all win ~ the following weekend would be the SECOND ROUND

#1 Ohio State plays #4 LSU / #2 Florida plays # 3 Michigan

The following weekend is the true national championship which, in this scenario, would be #1 Ohio State versus #2 Florida ~ which would indeed be a true national championship game.

Making the BCS FINAL EIGHT would be the realistic goal of all top football programs and would result in stronger schedules, more fan interest and greater revenue for both the colleges and advertisers.

It's a WIN,WIN deal for everyone but particularly the fans ~ who won't have to wait six weeks, like this year, to watch two rusty teams play for a disputed national championship.

Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2006/12/04.html