With the release of the initial Bowl Championship Series standings on Monday, the race for the Orange Bowl and the accompanying National Championship trophy has begun.

Since its inception in the 1998 season, the BCS standings have been looked at as the guiding force by which I-A football determines the best two teams at the end of the season.

But some people fail to see it for what it really is.

A huge load of crap.

Having a mathematical formula determine who should play for a championship in football? That’s like saying, “Let’s have a wrestling match to see who wins the spelling bee.”

It simply makes no sense.

All other college sports have playoffs. The four major sports have playoffs.

Playoffs are more exciting for everyone – not just the fans, but also the players and coaches involved.

Need evidence?

Turn on Fox and the Major League Baseball playoffs this week.

So if playoffs are more exciting, then why are there none in college football?

Wait a minute. All other college football levels, with the exception of I-A, have playoffs.

Then why only I-A?

The reasons heard most often for maintaining the current bowl structure range from the bowl games being a sacred part of college football tradition, to not lengthening the regular season, to the need to maintain revenue through corporate sponsorship.

It’s mostly just the stubbornness of NCAA officials.

Their inability to see that the answer is right in front of them will force the current championship-determining formula to be clouded by controversy.

In 2000, Miami was snubbed in favor of a Florida State team that was not as skilled as previous editions.

The following year, two teams – Colorado and Oregon – made claims that their rightful place was to face Miami in the Rose Bowl. The team that did play, Nebraska, didn’t even win their conference championship and was eventually manhandled by the Hurricanes.

Then there was last year, where two one-loss teams, LSU and USC, stuck claim to the national title. USC was replaced in the national title game by an Oklahoma team that was trounced in the Big 12 Championship Game a month earlier and suffered the same defeat at the hands of the Tigers.

That’s a controversy in three of the six years the rules have been in existence.

Fifty percent is decent if you’re talking about completing passes, but not if it’s your success rate at finding a national champion.

So, what’s the solution?

There are many ways that the NCAA could approach this situation when the BCS contract expires in 2005.

It could continue on the path of confusion it is on now, which appears likely, considering the talk of adding a fifth BCS bowl.

Or, they could take the road less traveled and quench the thirst of playoff-desiring college football fans everywhere.

Here’s the solution I think will appease all parties involved.

I-AA and the other college football divisions involve 16 teams.

Eleven of these teams would be the champions of the I-A football conferences, including the mid-majors.

The other five teams will come from the BCS formula. The top five teams that are not conference champions would be put into in the pool, and all 16 teams would be seeded according to the BCS standings.

Where will they play?

In order to make up for the loss of corporate sponsorship and naming of bowl games, as well as the dwindling attendance at bowls like the MPC Computers Bowl and the Viagra.com Bowl, games in the first two rounds would be played on the home field of the higher-ranked team.

Fans would pack the stands every game and companies could recover the money they lost in bowl game naming rights by latching on as sponsors of the entire NCAA playoffs.

The final three games would be played at the four current BCS bowl sites on a rotating schedule so that one locale would be left out each year.

Any college student out at a bar after a couple pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon could have come up with a better solution than the one the suits at the NCAA offices in Indianapolis concocted.

While I can’t say what would have happened if this had been in place when the BCS started, this seems like the best way to remedy what’s ailing the current championship-determining procedure and the state of college football.

College football players, coaches and fans deserve better.

Jeff Feyerer is a senior in applied life studies. He can be reached at [email protected].