UGA president proposes playoff system

[DaJudge]

By MARK BRADLEY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/08/08

University of Georgia President Michael Adams says it's time for the NCAA to replace the confusing and controversial Bowl Championship Series with an eight-team college football playoff — and he's in position to help make it happen.

Adams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he has written a letter to NCAA president Myles Brand that advocates a seven-game, single-elimination tournament run by the NCAA, which currently has no say in the BCS process. The Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls would become quarterfinal games in Adams' tournament.

Once an opponent of a playoffs system, Michael Adams now says the time has come to implement an eight-team, seven-game format.

Playoff proposals from fans, journalists and even coaches have become as familiar across the college football landscape as marching bands, and University of Florida President Bernie Machen tried and failed to get his fellow SEC presidents to back a playoff last June. But Adams contends this is the first time an administrator of his standing — he's the chairman of the NCAA's executive committee — has pushed such an idea.

He says many of his fellow college presidents are ready to support it after years of rejecting a playoff, and believes chances are "at least 50-50" it will pass.

"I do think I'm in a position where I can get a formal conversation started at the point where it needs to take place, and that's at the NCAA Division I [level]," Adams told the AJC in an exclusive interview. "Ultimately, I think we can come up with a better system."

Adams' goal is to have a playoff system adopted within "a year or two."

Establishing a Division I-A playoff would not require a vote of NCAA member universities but would require changes in NCAA rules. A playoff plan would have to clear various committees with a mix of stakeholders, including coaches, athletics directors, faculty representatives and university presidents. Final approval would have to come from the Division I board of directors, a group of 18 university presidents, each representing a different conference. Adams is the SEC's representative on the board.

Adams said he reached the conclusion that the BCS is unworkable and unfair not because Georgia wasn't chosen to play in Monday night's BCS title game but because the BCS bowls yielded such unattractive pairings. The Bulldogs beat Hawaii 41-10 in the Sugar Bowl and USC beat Illinois 49-17 in the Rose, but the match that could have been made — Georgia versus USC in the Rose — didn't happen because the Rose chose to further its long-standing policy of pairing a Pac-10 team against a Big Ten representative.

"I don't think this year's series of games in [total] reflect well on the process, maybe less so than in any time in recent memory," Adams said.

'It's not working'

The BCS has been in place since the 1998 season, its stated mission being to generate a championship game while preserving the bowl framework. But more than half the BCS title games have left it uncertain as to whether the two best teams were chosen for the game.

Over time, the BCS has tweaked its selection process and has added a fifth game to accommodate schools from the smaller leagues (such as Hawaii, from the Western Athletic Conference), but Adams believes there can be no real fix to such a system.

"A lot of people wanted this to work," he said, "but I'm just convinced that it's not working and that it's not going to work and it's fundamentally flawed, given the bowl arrangements with the various conferences and all of those cross-currents. I think what I'm suggesting is the fairest way, first of all for the [players]. ...

"When you look at the entity that has the best track record in the country of running playoffs, most would agree it's the NCAA. We run it in 30-some sports. You can argue who the 64th or the 65th team is, but nobody argues that Florida didn't deserve to be the basketball champion."

Adams' scenario calls for the top eight football teams to be chosen and seeded by an NCAA selection committee. The four quarterfinal games would be played in the existing BCS bowls on New Year's Day, with the semifinals to be staged the next week at unspecified locations and the title game the week after that. Said Adams: "I think this is the way that offends the most the least."

Under his plan, Division I-A would have a smaller version of what already exists in Division I-AA, which has a 16-team football tournament; Division II, a 24-team tournament; and Division III, a 32-team tournament.

The non-BCS bowls, such as Atlanta's Chick-fil-A Bowl, would remain unaffected, Adams said. And, to lessen the burden on players, he would advocate scrapping the recently added 12th regular-season game.

What convinced Adams the BCS needs to be junked? "I listen to kids a lot. ... There's a growing sentiment among student-athletes that they would like to see a playoffs, and there's a growing sense among the presidents that there are some inequities built into the present system — and some fairly serious inequities."

Such as? "The bowl games this year ... They ended up with some really screwy games."

Mood shifts

School presidents have long been viewed as anti-playoff. Few wanted to see football carry over into the spring semester, and many are less concerned with crowning a "genuine" champion than with preserving the idea that football programs should complement schools' academic missions, not overshadow or distort them.

"As far as a playoff system, there will not be one," Ohio State President Gordon Gee recently told reporters. "They will wrench a playoff system out of my cold, dead hands. It's too much like moving toward having universities being farm clubs for the pros.

"I think most university presidents would have the same opinion. What are there, 118 [actually, 119] Division I-A schools? I would suspect 110 presidents would vote against it," said Gee, formerly the chancellor at Vanderbilt.

What makes Adams believe enough presidents will share his conclusion? "I think the [collective mood] was shifting before [the day of the BCS selections]. I think some of the shifting has been going on for some time. I think this year has impacted a lot of people," he said.

"I think we're closer to [a playoff] than we've ever been. The biggest resistance is likely to come from the Big Ten presidents, and even that may be mixed. Surprisingly, I know of several in the Pac-10 and the Big 12 and certainly [in] the SEC, the Big East and the ACC you'll find some growing support for something, whether it's this or a plus-one [a one-game playoff after the bowls]."

The ACC, SEC, Big East and Big 12 are open to discussing a plus-one format, the commissioners of the ACC and SEC told the Football Writers Association of America on Monday. But the Pac-10 and the Big Ten have been opposed, partly because they want to continue sending their champions to the Rose Bowl most years.

"We favor the current BCS format because it matches one and two while preserving the bowl system," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen told the Journal-Constitution. "We oppose a plus-one format because teams would be seeded out of their traditional bowls."

Not everybody shares Adams' view that opinions are changing in favor of a playoff.

"There is no substantial sentiment among university presidents and chancellors to move to a playoff system," University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer told the Journal-Constitution. "It would seriously disrupt the academic calendar, diminish the significance of the regular season, reduce the success of the many communities which support the present bowl system and do little to provide more decisive evidence of the most superior team," added Frohnmayer, who used to represent the Pac-10 on the board of directors and the executive committee.

Adams believes Brand will respond to his proposal by appointing "a committee to take a hard look, given what has happened this year and the fact I'm asking to put it on the [NCAA] agenda. Clearly there are TV contracts out there that would have to be honored or renegotiated, but I would think in a year or two we could get something done."

A year or two would be fast, by NCAA standards.

"Changing college football is like turning around a big battle ship," ACC commissioner John Swofford said. "It takes time."

Fox's contract with four of the five BCS games — the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls, and the national championship game — runs through 2010. Fox Sports President David Hill said Monday he has no objections to a change in the championship format. Complicating matters: the fifth BCS game, the Rose Bowl, has a separate deal with ABC that runs through 2014. So if the NCAA wanted to start a playoff before 2014, it might face legal obstacles if the Rose Bowl isn't on board.

Sour grapes?

The NCAA's annual convention will be held this week in Nashville, but the agenda for that, Adams said, is already set. He does, however, believe a process to consider his proposal will be in motion before his two-year term as NCAA executive committee chairman ends June 30, 2009. "It will either be moving forward or be dead by then."

Adams claimed the NCAA has never officially considered the matter of a major-college football playoff, but he said, without being specific, "I know them to be willing to help on the issue."

In a letter scheduled for release today, Adams wrote: "This year's experience with the BCS forces me to the conclusion that the current system has lost public confidence and simply does not work. It is undercutting the sportsmanship and integrity of the game."

Adams, who sparred with influential members of the Georgia fan base over the departure of popular athletics director Vince Dooley in 2004, said his proposal should not be read as a reaction to UGA's failure to reach the championship game this season. The Bulldogs were No. 4 going into the final weekend, but did not move up to No. 2 in the final BCS rankings despite losses by No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia.

"I think that allegation [of sour grapes] will be made," he said. "I could make an argument pro or con for us being in the national championship game. ... We were very happy to be in a BCS bowl. We could've been passed [up], like Missouri. We had a lot to be thankful for, and I can tell you that's not what's driving this. I said three years ago I thought there was a real danger of the BCS falling apart as a result of its own weight, and I think that has increased each of the last three years."

What chance, Adams was asked, does he see of his proposal becoming reality? "I think it's at least 50-50," he said, "and it's a higher percentage than that of people who feel that something needs to be done."

[Rob]

I've tried to tell you guys the Big 10 and PAC 10 were against a playoff.

[turbotim]

I've tried to tell you guys the Big 10 and PAC 10 were against a playoff.

On ESPN last night, Corso, Kirk and the others were talking about this. The Big 10 and Pac 10 have the easiest road to the BCS NC. Why in the world would they want to change that? That's what they said. Corso said Yeah, this would happen in the playoffs... Talking about the LSU win over OSU...

Even though the SEC has won 4 of the 10 BCS NC's, they want a playoff...

BTW: SEC 7-2 in Bowls this year... GO SEC!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paully_44]

I've tried to tell you guys the Big 10 and PAC 10 were against a playoff.

I love the Pac-10, but maybe the NCAA should leave it up to the conferences and if they don't want to give up the Rose Bowl, then they would be left out of the playoff selection process, Big 10 vs Pac 10 champ with no hope of ever having National Champion team. 119 Div 1 schools should not be held hostage by 2 conferences.

[MrDanger]

This is sorta like Auburn's president having a change of heart after their year of getting left out of the BCS game.

More power to them. I have wanted it also for the fact of what if the two best teams were from the SEC. With us having a championship game, most likely, two SEC teams would not make it.

My question is this, is it Georgia's turn to beat The OSU next year.

[turbotim]

This is sorta like Auburn's president having a change of heart after their year of getting left out of the BCS game.

More power to them. I have wanted it also for the fact of what if the two best teams were from the SEC. With us having a championship game, most likely, two SEC teams would not make it.

My question is this, is it Georgia's turn to beat The OSU next year.

This was a good article

If you see a silver helmet and a sweater vest coming, contact authorities.

Because next year's BCS National Championship Game will be played in Miami, and the Ohio State Buckeyes aren't invited. Especially if the Southeastern Conference champion is invited.

If you've ever seen lions maul a water buffalo, you've seen the last two title games. You've seen a fierce pair of SEC teams -- Florida last year, LSU this year -- blow the vulnerable Buckeyes back to the Bratwurst Belt by a combined 41 points. You've seen the best of one league flex, and the best of an inferior league collapse.

Nobody wants to see it a third time. Give Ohio State credit for consistently being very good -- but until Jim Tressel's team proves it can step up to the highest level of competition and actually stay on the field with an SEC opponent, stay away.

When the program's bowl record is 0-9 against the SEC, the evidence is overwhelming.

[DaJudge]

I said this last year, and certain people scoffed at it, but I'll say it again. The reason there is no playoff in college football is that the other conferences know that the SEC would dominate a playoff, year in- year out.

[Paully_44]

I said this last year, and certain people scoffed at it, but I'll say it again. The reason there is no playoff in college football is that the other conferences know that the SEC would dominate a playoff, year in- year out.

But, until there is a playoff that will never be known for sure.

[Rob]

According to the research that I have done here are the records of BCS bowl games standings of conferences:

SEC 11-5
PAC 10 9-3
Big East 6-3
Big 12 6-8
Big 10 8-9
ACC 1-9

Guess which conference has the longest winning streak at the present?

[Paully_44]

According to the research that I have done here are the records of BCS bowl games standings of conferences:

SEC 11-5
PAC 10 9-3
Big East 6-3
Big 12 6-8
Big 10 8-9
ACC 1-9

Guess which conference has the longest winning streak at the present?

Uh-Oh, Doesnt that put the Pac-10 with the higher winning percentage???

[turbotim]

According to the research that I have done here are the records of BCS bowl games standings of conferences:

SEC 11-5
PAC 10 9-3
Big East 6-3
Big 12 6-8
Big 10 8-9
ACC 1-9

Guess which conference has the longest winning streak at the present?

Taken from here

The SEC has the most BCS bowl wins in the past three years with a 3-1 record.

LSU beat Notre Dame in the 2007 Nokia Sugar Bowl, Florida beat Ohio State in the 2007 BCS National Championship and Auburn beat Virginia Tech in the 2005 Nokia Sugar Bowl.

Georgia, who West Virginia beat in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl 38-35, is the only SEC team in the past three years to lose a BCS bowl game.

In those games, SEC teams outscored their opponents by a combined 133-79.

The Big Ten is 2-3 in BCS bowl games during that time, while the Big 12, the Big East and Pac-10 are all 2-1.

[Alan]

According to the research that I have done here are the records of BCS bowl games standings of conferences:

SEC 11-5
PAC 10 9-3
Big East 6-3
Big 12 6-8
Big 10 8-9
ACC 1-9

Guess which conference has the longest winning streak at the present?

Uh-Oh, Doesnt that put the Pac-10 with the higher winning percentage???

It also means that the SEC has had more bowl appearances.

[Rob]

For the last 3 years the Big East is undefeated in it's BCS bowls:

2006 WVU beat UGA
2007 UL beat Wake Forest
2008 WVU beat OK

[Full Quiver]

"As far as a playoff system, there will not be one," Ohio State President Gordon Gee recently told reporters. "They will wrench a playoff system out of my cold, dead hands.

Coming from a man, whom Vandy fans loved, that promised to put Vanderbilt football on the map but jetted to THE OSU as soon as he got the chance. He's saying what his alumni wants to hear just like he did in Nashville. Pac10 and Big Ten people are hung up on the Rose Bowl. The 2 conferences refuse to have a championship game and that alone should eliminate them from BCS play. If March madness doesn't affect education then an extra couple of football games sure won't hurt. In fact most teams are off for an entire month before they play their bowl games.

[MrDanger]

Gordon Gee said the exact same words when he was at Vandy. He was on 104.5 The Zone about once a week and he constantly stood by his statement that a play off would never happen as long as he had a voice.