Wolverine Wednesday: My Plan To Fix The Bowl System

There are 40 Bowl Games out there now, which is really over kill.  Here is my take on the issues and plan to fix college football's post season.

The issues:

• With a month off, the football is pretty poor. 
• Bowl games are closer to an exhibition then anything else. 
• Bowl games are now about corporate marketing.
• The 4 team playoff system has made the bowl system obsolete.
• Current playoff games have been blowouts
• NFL prospects are sitting out bowl games. 
• Many programs lose money on bowl games with guaranteed ticket allocations.
• Nobody wants to watch a match-up of 6-6 teams.
• Attendance is declining 

The positives:

• Two weeks of extra practice for teams. 
• Young players get more time.
• Fans get to travel to warm places. 
• Bowl games are great for TV.
• Teams get to "bond" out of town.  

Now we know the positives and negatives, how do we fix this mess?

Power 5: 16 team playoff.  All conference champions qualify with wildcards.  Each game in round 1 would be at a regional bowl site.   For example, if Michigan and/or MSU make the playoff and highly ranked, they would host a game at Ford Field.   Miami, FSU, or UF in Orlando or Jacksonville and so on.   Each game would have a corporate sponsor.   No home games. 

Each team would fly in a one or two days before.  No trips to Dave and Busters and steak eating contests, etc.  These are business trips.    As the playoff continues, the bigger bowls hold the later rounds.  

Group of 5: Same 16 team playoff with a few twists.   If one or two Group of 5 teams are ranked in the top 16, they have the ability to join the Power 5 playoff system or be a 1 or 2 seed in the Group of 5 tournament.   Each round will be hosted by the higher ranked teams home stadium, so fans don't have to travel.   The championship game will be at a neutral traditional bowl site.   

These games would be played during the week, so not to compete with the Power 5 tournament.  

Teams that don't qualify for either playoff system:  Get an extra week to Spring Practice.   Two weeks now becomes 3 weeks, or if the team wants to do a week in January they can do that.    The teams that need the work now have an extra week of practice to try to improve.  Teams that make the playoff system, do not get an extra week during Spring Practice.

I know its not a perfect plan and people will yell about finals, starting games in early to mid December,  and the removal of the conference championship games, but I would rather see games with the best teams then a system right now that highlights bad teams.  

• Zach Gentry is heading to the NFL.  Now its basically up to Long and Hudson.  WOTS is that Long is leaning towards the NFL and Hudson is leaning on coming back.    I thought Zach could have used another year in college, but his NFL grade was higher then expected.   I still can't believe he never threw a pass in a trick play at Michigan.  

• Not much info out yet on the Temple re-hire.   Todd Bowles who was just fired as the Jets head coach could be a candidate at his alma mater.   My guess is, if they really wanted Don Brown they would have acted quickly.    They probably watched Michigan's last two games.  

• RIP Tyler Trent

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2019/01/wolverine-wednesday-my-plan-to-fix-bowl.html