Appreciating Bill Belichick and Nick Saban

In the past two days, the greatest college football coach of all-time--Nick Saban--retired, and the greatest pro football coach of all-time--Bill Belichick--amicably parted ways with the New England Patriots. It is unclear if Saban will coach again, but it seems likely that Belichick will get another NFL head coaching job. It is fitting to discuss them in the same article because their careers are intertwined.

Saban and Belichick have been friends since the early 1980s when Saban worked with Belichick's father Steve on the coaching staff at Navy. When Bill Belichick became head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 1991, Nick Saban was the first assistant coach he hired. As the defensive coordinator, Saban played a key role for the Browns as they improved from 3-13 the year before Belichick took the reins to 11-5 in 1994. Belichick's Browns coaching staff included not only Saban but also Ozzie Newsome--the Hall of Fame tight end who later built the Baltimore Ravens into two-time Super Bowl champions--plus Kirk Ferentz (who has coached Iowa to 196 wins since 1999), and Pat Hill (who later won 112 games as an NCAA head coach). Belichick and Saban are football savants who share a love for dissecting the sport's intricate details and then preparing meticulously to exploit even the slightest possible advantage.

Saban left the Browns after the 1994 season to become the head coach at Michigan State. He led the Spartans to a 34-24-1 record in five seasons before becoming LSU's head coach. LSU went 3-8 and finished last in the SEC in 1999, the year before Saban arrived; just four years later, Saban led LSU to a 13-1 record and the national championship. After one more season at LSU, Saban left to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins went 15-17 in two seasons under Saban; their 6-10 mark in 2006 is the only losing season Saban suffered as a head coach (not including 2007, when Alabama was forced to vacate four wins due to NCAA sanctions stemming from misconduct that mostly took place under Saban's predecessor Mike Shula).

Saban left the Dolphins to become Alabama's head coach in 2007, and the rest is history, as Saban led the Crimson Tide to six national championships (2009, 2011-12, 2015, 2017, 2020) in 17 seasons. Saban has won more national championships (seven) than any coach in NCAA football history, and he ranks sixth on the all-time NCAA wins list with 292. Saban is the first and only coach to win a national championship at two different FBS schools since the inception of the AP poll in 1936, and he joined Paul "Bear" Bryant as the only two coaches to win an SEC title at two different schools. Saban was equally adept at recruiting elite athletes and developing innovative tactics; there have been many coaches who mastered one of those aspects, but it is difficult to imagine another coach matching Saban's acumen in both. Alabama never had a Heisman Trophy winner before Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa; the Crimson Tide had four Heisman Trophy winners on Saban's watch: Mark Ingram (2009), Derrick Henry (2015), DeVonta Smith (2020), and Bryce Young (2022). Only four schools have more Heisman Trophy winners than Alabama: Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and USC each have seven Heisman Trophy winners--but those schools accumulated their Heisman Trophies over several decades, while Saban moved Alabama to fifth on the all-time list in 15 years.

Belichick dominated the NFL in a similar fashion to the way that Saban dominated the NCAA. Belichick only coached one more season with the Browns after Saban departed; after Art Modell announced his plan to move the Browns to Baltimore, Belichick endured a tumultuous 1995 season. Modell fired Belichick after that 5-11 campaign. Belichick spent the 1996 season as assistant head coach with the New England Patriots under Bill Parcells, and then he moved to the New York Jets with Parcells, serving as assistant head coach from 1997-1999. After Parcells left the Jets, Belichick was the heir apparent, but Belichick made a shrewd assessment of the situation and decided to instead become the head coach of the New England Patriots. Belichick took over a team that went 8-8 under Pete Carroll, and Belichick's critics howled after the Patriots went 5-11 in 2000--but the Patriots improved to 11-5 in 2001, winning the AFC East and defeating the favored St. Louis "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. 

The Patriots slipped to 9-7 in 2002 but then won back to back Super Bowl titles in 2003 and 2004 en route to posting 17 consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins; during that time, the Patriots won 16 AFC East titles (including 11 straight from 2009-2019), and three more Super Bowls (2014, 2016, 2018) while posting the first (and only) 16-0 regular season (2007) in NFL history. In 2008, the Patriots went 11-5 despite losing Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady to a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of the first game. When the Patriots beat the L.A. Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII, Belichick became the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl.  

Belichick made his name as a defensive guru--his defensive game plan as the defensive coordinator for the Giants' first Super Bowl win is an exhibit at the Pro Football Hall of Fame--but during his career he has proven that he can adjust with the times as well as with personnel changes. At the start of his New England tenure, the Patriots relied on stern defense and timely offense, but after Brady developed into an elite passer Belichick opened up the offense and the Patriots' offense became fearsome. Belichick was successful when he had superstar receiver Randy Moss, and he was successful when he had a receiving corps devoid of Pro Bowl receivers. Belichick has a grandmaster level understanding of situational football, and his special teams units contributed heavily to the success of his teams.

Belichick has won six Super Bowl titles in nine Super Bowl appearances as a head coach. He is the record holder in both categories by a wide margin, with Chuck Noll ranking second in wins (four) and Don Shula ranking second in appearances (six). In the pre-Super Bowl era, George Halas and Curly Lambeau each won six NFL titles.

Belichick holds NFL coaching records for most playoff wins (31, nine more than Andy Reid), most division titles (17, four more than Shula, Andy Reid, and Tom Landry), most conference championships in the Super Bowl era (nine), and most Super Bowl appearances (12, including three as an assistant coach). Belichick ranks third all-time in NFL regular season wins (302), trailing only Shula (328) and Halas (318); if you add up regular season wins and playoff wins, Belichick's 333 trails only Shula's 347. Belichick's 21 winning seasons are fifth on the all-time list behind Halas (40), Shula (33), Lambeau (33), and Landry (29).

It is no secret that New England has not played well during the four seasons after Tom Brady left New England to go to Tampa Bay--but people who have short memories or who lack knowledge of football history place too much emphasis on these last few years of Belchick's New England career, and they focus too much on whether Belichick or Brady deserve the most credit for New England's unprecedented success. Hall of Fame quarterback play is almost always required to win a Super Bowl, and after winning Super Bowls even the greatest NFL coaches rarely end their careers on a high note.

There are 13 coaches other than Belichick who have won at least two Super Bowls. Andy Reid is the only two-time Super Bowl winner who is currently coaching an NFL team.

Noll won all four of his Super Bowls with Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw at quarterback. Bradshaw retired after the 1983 season, and Noll posted a 2-2 playoff record in his final eight seasons after going 14-6 in the playoffs from 1969-1983. Noll had eight seasons with at least 10 regular season wins from 1972-83 but did not win more than nine games in a season after 1983.

Joe Gibbs and Bill Walsh are next on the Super Bowl coaches list with three championships each. Gibbs won Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks, none of whom are Hall of Famers. His Washington Redskins went 9-7 in the season after his last Super Bowl win, and he retired. Gibbs came back to the Redskins 12 years later, but he did not match his earlier success, posting losing records in two seasons out of four and failing to qualify for the playoffs in all four seasons before retiring for good. Walsh is the rare NFL coach who left on top, retiring in 1988 after his San Francisco 49ers won their third Super Bowl in an eight season span. Hall of Famer Joe Montana was the quarterback for all three of Walsh's Super Bowl champions. Walsh later came back as the head coach at Stanford, where he had posted back to back bowl wins before becoming the 49ers' coach; he led Stanford to a bowl win in 1992, but closed his coaching career with 4-7 and 3-7-1 records. 

Shula's Miami Dolphins won back to back Super Bowl titles in 1972-73 with Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese, and Shula led the Dolphins back to the Super Bowl twice in the 1980s, but in the 10 seasons after his last Super Bowl appearance the Dolphins posted a 3-4 playoff record and missed the playoffs six times. 

Landry led the Dallas Cowboys to 20 consecutive winning seasons and two Super Bowl titles, but in his final three seasons the Cowboys went 7-9, 7-9, and 3-13. Hall of Famer Roger Staubach was the quarterback for both of Landry's Super Bowl champions

Bill Parcells won two Super Bowls in a five season span--both times with Belichick running the defense--but his teams missed the playoffs four times in his final seven seasons, and he did not win a playoff game in his final five seasons. Like Gibbs, Parcells won his Super Bowls without having a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Tom Coughlin's New York Giants twice defeated Belichick's Patriots in the Super Bowl, but after that second Super Bowl win Coughlin did not make another playoff appearance in his final four seasons, posting losing records in the last three. Coughlin's two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Eli Manning is not yet Hall of Fame eligible, but it is a safe bet that Manning will be a Hall of Famer. 

Mike Shananan led the Denver Broncos to back to back Super Bowl wins in 1997-98 with Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway running the show. After 1998, Shanahan went 1-5 in the playoffs, and he finished his career coaching the Washington Redskins to three losing seasons in a four year span, including a 3-13 record in his final campaign. 

George Seifert succeeded Walsh, and won a Super Bowl in his first season with Montana as the quarterback. Seifert won his second Super Bowl in 1994 with Hall of Famer Steve Young as the quarterback. Seifert coached five more seasons (two with the 49ers and then three with the Carolina Panthers), posting a 1-2 playoff record and ending his career with back to back losing seasons, including a 1-15 record in his final campaign.

Tom Flores led the Raiders to two Super Bowl wins in a four year span, but he did not win a single playoff game after capturing his second Super Bowl title. The Raiders had losing records in each of his final four seasons. Jim Plunkett, who is not a Hall of Famer, quarterbacked both of Flores' championship teams.

Vince Lombardi coached the Green Bay Packers to five championships, including wins in each of the first two Super Bowls. Hall of Famer Bart Starr quaterbacked all five of Lombardi's championship teams. Lombardi retired after his second Super Bowl win/fifth championship, only to return a year later to coach the Washington Redskins. Lombardi led the Redskins to a 7-5-2 record in his only season with the team before he died of cancer.

Jimmy Johnson coached the Dallas Cowboys to back to back Super Bowl wins in 1992-93 before losing a power struggle with owner Jerry Jones. Hall of Famer Troy Aikman quarterbacked both of those Super Bowl champions, and then he won a third Super Bowl with Barry Switzer coaching Dallas. Johnson returned to the NFL in 1996 with the Miami Dolphins, posting a 36-28 regular season record and a 2-3 playoff record without reaching the conference championship round, let alone the Super Bowl.

It should be noted that Paul Brown led the Cleveland Browns to seven league championships in the pre-Super Bowl era--four straight in the AAFC and then three in the NFL. Hall of Famer Otto Graham was his quarterback for all seven championships. Brown coached the Browns for seven more seasons after Graham retired; during that time, the Browns lost twice in the NFL championship game. Modell fired Brown after the Browns went 7-6-1 in 1962. Brown returned to pro football in 1968 as the owner/coach of the expansion Cincinnati Bengals in the AFL, leading the Bengals to a 55-56-1 record in eight seasons (two in the AFL and six in the NFL). The Bengals went 0-3 in the playoffs under Brown.

The point is not to throw shade on any of these great coaches, but to just emphasize that Belichick's late career record is not unusual and does not in any way diminish what he accomplished during his prime. It will be interesting to see how Belichick fares if he is hired by another team.

For any football purist it was a joy to watch teams coached by Belichick or Saban, because their teams were disciplined, well-prepared, calm under pressure, and fundamentally sound.

Instant Replay: Ohio State Routed Again in BCS Championship Game

Once again, Ohio State started well in the BCS Championship Game--and once again, the tide turned with a vengeance. Last year, Ted Ginn returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown that gave Ohio State a 7-0 lead but he was injured while celebrating the score and Florida went on to post a 41-14 win. This year, Ohio State jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead before LSU ran off 31 straight points en route to a 38-24 victory. On the surface this looks like a championship game version of the movie "Groundhog Day": a fast SEC team routs a slow Big Ten team. However, there are some important differences between the two contests. After Ginn's return, Florida completely dominated the game, with lopsided advantages in first downs (21-8), total yards (370-82) and third down conversions (10-19 for Florida, compared to 1-9 for Ohio State). This year, the statistical tale of the tape was much more even and Ohio State actually outgained LSU in total yards (353-326) and rushed for nearly as many yards (trailing just 152-145) while posting a much better yards per attempt average (4.8 to 3.1). Despite this, the outcome of the game was not in serious doubt for most of the second half and the final margin would have been even worse if Ohio State had not scored a touchdown with barely a minute remaining in the game.

How did LSU dominate the scoreboard without dominating the stat sheet? The answer is "hidden yardage." Ohio State committed seven penalties for 83 yards, while LSU had just four penalties for 36 yards. The most costly Ohio State penalty came right after the Buckeyes stopped LSU on the first possession of the third quarter. The Buckeyes trailed 24-10 and were set to receive the punt. Obviously, a touchdown drive at that point would have made it anyone's game but instead Ohio State roughed the punter. LSU retained possession and soon scored a backbreaking touchdown. Ohio State had three turnovers compared to just one for LSU and the Buckeyes saw a good second quarter drive go for naught after LSU blocked a field goal attempt. Penalties, turnovers and special teams gaffes do not show up in total yardage statistics but they prevent teams from converting that yardage into points.

The penalties and turnovers are indicative of a team that lost its composure at times and Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel will deservedly receive some of the blame for that. However, it is important to remember that most college football experts believe that Ohio State reached the championship game a year early. Prior to the season, this young Buckeyes team was not even supposed to win the Big Ten. If Ohio State had lost two or three games as expected but beat Michigan and won a lesser bowl game then this would have been considered a successful season. Instead, because Ohio State "overachieved" (I dislike that word but it applies here) and reached the championship game, this season will be viewed by many people as a failure and perhaps even an indictment of Tressel's ability to win "big" games. The reality--which became apparent during the game--is that LSU simply has more good players than Ohio State does. No matter how disappointing this finish is to Ohio State's coaches, players and fans, the Buckeyes did have a successful season when you consider what this team was reasonably expected to do.

Other than "hidden yardage," the biggest factor in the game may have been LSU's pass rush. Ohio State's problems in this regard resulted not so much from protection breakdowns as from the inability of their receivers to get open against man to man coverage. Quarterback Todd Boeckman often had enough time to throw but no one got open and then defenders eventually made it into the pocket. ESPN's Lee Corso said that Ohio State is one or two outside playmakers away from being a championship team.

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit took the "sky is falling" approach in his postgame analysis, saying that conversations with fans around the country convinced him that the Big Ten is perceived to be a second rate conference and that this result will only serve to reinforce that belief. That is just a silly thing comment on many levels. Even if fans think this, so what? NFL teams regularly draft Big Ten players who go on to have successful pro careers, so it is ridiculous to suggest that the Big Ten is not an elite conference. Is the SEC the best football conference right now? It certainly looks that way but that does not mean that the Big Ten is some small time league. Moreover, if ESPN viewers want to know what fans think then they can literally talk amongst themselves to find out. Herbstreit is a former player--at Ohio State, no less--who watches many games live and has access to players, coaches and game film and it is his job to explain whether or not the Big Ten is an elite conference, not simply to parrot what some fans told him during commercial breaks from the filming of College GameDay. He is in a position to provide an informed viewpoint, so there is no reason for him to waste airtime with the results of his unscientific "poll" of random fans.

People talk about the importance of the long layoff between the end of the season and the BCS Championship Game but they usually cite the fact that some conferences have a conference championship but the Big Ten does not; supposedly, the extra game enables teams to stay a little sharper (it must be added that conference championship games also expose teams to the possibility of a loss that would knock them out of BCS Championship Game contention). It turns out that the real reason that the layoff is a factor is not the cliched "rust versus rest" issue but rather that it enables players to heal from nagging injuries. There is so much time off that the BCS Championship game is literally played in another calendar year and sometimes figuratively seems to be part of a separate football season. Ohio State's Chris Wells scored the first touchdown of the game on a 65 yard run, the longest ever in a BCS Championship Game, and he finished with 146 yards on 20 carries. He put up good numbers during the regular season but was often hobbling around because of an ankle injury. The time off benefited LSU even more, because several key players who had been out of action or somewhat limited returned to full strength. My prediction of an Ohio State win was based too heavily on how LSU was playing at the end of the regular season; the outcome of this game may very well have been different if it had been played a month ago. I think that no one would dispute that LSU played better in the BCS Championship Game than in any other game this season, particularly considering what was at stake.

None of this takes anything away from LSU, a worthy national champion that successfully navigated a difficult conference schedule and beat a tough opponent in the BCS Championship Game.

Six Reasons Ohio State Will Beat LSU in the BCS Championship Game

One of the most topsy-turvy college football seasons ever concludes tonight when Ohio State faces LSU in the BCS Championship Game. Ohio State (11-1) is ranked number one, while LSU (11-2), the only team with two losses to play in a BCS title game, is ranked number two. Of course, it is only natural in this bizarre season that LSU has been installed as a four point favorite despite being lower ranked and having a worse record. Granted, a betting line is not actually a prediction but merely the way that bookmakers make sure that too much action does not go to one team or the other--and the public's perception of this game is heavily shaped by Ohio State's 41-14 loss to another SEC team, Florida, in last year's BCS Championship Game. Ohio State's 0-8 record in bowl games against SEC teams also does not inspire confidence but that statistic really has no relevance for tonight's game; the first time Ohio State faced an SEC team in a bowl game, Woody Hayes and Bear Bryant patrolled the sidelines.

While the first seven Ohio State losses to SEC teams in bowl games are easy to dismiss, Florida's blowout victory is hard to forget, particularly for the many Ohio State players who look at this game as a chance for redemption. Far from being a portent of doom, the sting of humiliation from that defeat has been a major motivating factor for the Buckeyes throughout this season. There is so much time between the end of the season and the championship game that the underdog team gets tired of hearing about how it has no chance to win; that is why six of the first nine BCS champions were underdogs going into the title game. The Buckeyes not only have that "standard" motivation working in their favor but they also have a core group of players who have vowed to not let their careers be defined by the Florida loss. That mindset is a major reason why I believe that Ohio State will beat LSU in a close game, 24-20. Here are five more reasons that Ohio State will win:

*** Defense wins championships and Ohio State ranked first in the nation in total defense (225.3 ypg), scoring defense (10.7 ppg) and passing defense (148.2 ypg). The Buckeyes finished third in rushing defense (77.1 ypg). LSU has a good defense, ranking between third and twentieth in those categories, but Ohio State has a great defense.

*** The coaching matchup of Jim Tressel versus Les Miles favors Ohio State. Even LSU's staunchest supporters will admit that Miles makes some curious decisions at times. That is not to say that he is a bad coach but Tressel has already assembled an incredible coaching resume, including five Division 1-AA national titles, a perfect 2002 season capped off by a BCS title, a 73-15 record at Ohio State and a 3-1 mark in BCS bowl games.

*** Ohio State has the best winning percentage in major college football since 2005 (33-4, .892) and the Buckeyes have won 30 of their past 32 games.

*** LSU not only lost two games to teams that are not championship contenders but the Tigers won three other games by a touchdown or less. Yes, Ohio State has that one Illinois blemish on its report card but no Division I team has a spotless record this season and the closest Buckeyes' win was a seven point decision over Michigan State, with the rest of their victories being by at least 11 points. People can say that the SEC is stronger that the Big Ten but try telling that to anyone who watched Michigan beat Florida on New Year's Day.

When Jim Tressel's coaching career is over I expect that he will have won multiple BCS championships and that he will have a winning record in BCS title games. His mark in such contests is 1-1 right now but a win against LSU will be the first step toward making both of the preceding predictions come true.

The BCS Mess Produces an Ohio State-LSU Championship Game: Let the Debate Begin!

One of the wildest and most unpredictable college football seasons ever will conclude on January 7, 2008 when #1 Ohio State (11-2) plays #2 LSU (11-2) in the BCS National Championship Game. Fox Sports' Jimmy Johnson made an excellent point when he noted that these two teams combined to hold the number one spot for most of the season and Chris Rose added that not long ago this was the matchup that most people probably wanted to see. Of course, in recent weeks each of these teams lost a game, only to move back into the championship picture after other contenders fell by the wayside.

Most fans do not believe that this BCS system is a good way to determine a national champion. Major college football is the only notable sport that selects its champion in such a haphazard manner and it is obvious that it would be a major improvement if the BCS were replaced with a playoff system. It is ridiculous to say that the entire football season is currently a playoff; if that were the case, then Ohio State and LSU would have both been eliminated already (as would everyone else except Hawaii, the only undefeated team).

How did we end up with the BCS system in the first place? To paraphrase Bill Walton, I am old enough to remember when the various bowl games had contracts with different conferences; for instance, the Big Ten champion always played the Pac-10 champion in the Rose Bowl. After all the bowl games were over, various polls would vote to determine the national champion. Sometimes the polls came to the same conclusion but often they did not. For instance, in 1988 Notre Dame was a consensus national champion, while in 1991 the AP selected Miami (Fla.) while the USA/Today ESPN voters chose Washington. Due to the traditional conference affiliations of the various bowls, the two top ranked teams did not necessarily face each other in a bowl game during that era.

In other words, the way that things were done in "the good old days" did not make any more sense than the way things are done now. That is why college football administrators started tinkering with the bowl format in the early 1990s. Their first move was to to create the Bowl Coalition, which lasted from 1992-94. The idea was to try to have the best of both worlds, preserving traditional matchups as much as possible while also trying to maximize the chance that the two top ranked teams played each other in a bowl game. In 1992, the system worked, as number two Alabama beat number one Miami 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl and won the consensus national championship. Number one Florida State beat number two Nebraska 18-16 in the Orange Bowl to claim the consensus 1993 national championship. Things got sticky in 1994 when Nebraska and Penn State each finished the regular season with undefeated records. Top ranked Nebraska beat third ranked Miami 24-17 in the Orange Bowl, while third ranked Penn State--by then already a member of the Big Ten, which was not one of the participating conferences in the Bowl Coalition--defeated number 12 Oregon (the Pac-10 champion) 38-20 in a traditional Rose Bowl matchup. The major polls all picked Nebraska first and Penn State second but any system that produced two undefeated teams at the conclusion of the bowl season was deemed unsatisfactory, so in 1995 the Bowl Coalition was replaced by the Bowl Alliance. The Big Ten and the Pac-10 still declined to participate but the new system guaranteed that the top two teams would face each other in a bowl game unless one of those teams was committed to the Rose Bowl due to being from the Big Ten or Pac-10. This format worked out for a couple years; in 1995, number one Nebraska beat number two Florida 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl to win the consensus national championship and the 1996 season also produced a consensus champion when number three Florida State beat number one Florida 52-20 in the Sugar Bowl--but everything only worked out that time because number four Ohio State knocked off second ranked (and previously unbeaten) Arizona State in the traditional Rose Bowl matchup. The Bowl Alliance failed to produce a consensus champion in 1997: number two Nebraska beat number three Tennessee 42-17 in the Orange Bowl but after number one Michigan beat Washington State 21-16 in the Rose Bowl the polls disagreed: the writers kept Michigan in the top spot, while the coaches moved Nebraska up to number one--and that is what led to the creation of the BCS in 1998.

The BCS brought the Big Ten and Pac-10 into the fold but did not offer a good answer for what would happen if there were more than two undefeated teams at the end of the regular season--and that "doomsday" scenario was narrowly averted in 1998 when two of the three remaining unbeaten teams (Kansas State and UCLA) each lost their final regular season games, setting up a championship game matchup between 12-0 Tennessee and 11-1 Florida State. In 1999 the system worked without a hitch as two unbeaten teams, Florida State and Virginia Tech, played in the championship game. Things did not go quite so smoothly in 2000, as three one-loss teams vied for the opportunity to face undefeated Oklahoma; Florida State received the nod and Oklahoma beat the Seminoles to claim the title. If Florida State had won then Miami (which beat Florida State during the regular season) and Washington (which beat Miami during the regular season) would have had a legitimate beef.

In 2001, the Nebraska Cornhuskers lost their final regular season game after spending most of the season as the second ranked team but they retained that spot after several other teams suffered upset losses. Undefeated Miami beat Nebraska in the national championship game, which was hosted by the Rose Bowl, marking the first time in 55 years that the Rose Bowl participants were not the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions. The 2002 season may have been the best one of the BCS era: undefeated, second ranked Ohio State beat the undefeated, top ranked defending national champions Miami in double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl. Obviously, that matchup would have never happened prior to the BCS because Ohio State would have played in the Rose Bowl.

LSU claimed the 2003 BCS title by beating Oklahoma but AP voters selected USC as the national champion. In 2004, three teams were undefeated after the bowl season--USC, Auburn and Utah--but both the BCS and the AP voters tapped USC as the national champion. USC and Texas were the two top ranked teams throughout the 2006 season and Vince Young led Texas to a 41-38 Rose Bowl victory over USC to win the national championship. Last year, of course, Florida routed Ohio State in the first stand-alone BCS National Championship Game.

What we used to have in college football were traditional bowl matchups between rival conferences followed by polls to determine the final rankings. That method obviously could not be assured of producing a consensus champion every year but the various entities involved (the NCAA, college presidents, the television networks) could not agree on a playoff format, which led to the hybrid solution of the Bowl Coalition; that initial change was the first step toward destroying the tradition surrounding the bowl games and inevitably led us to where we are now: the old traditions are shattered yet we only end up with a consensus champion if everything breaks just right. The obvious, correct approach that should have been taken nearly two decades ago was to have a playoff after all the traditional bowl games were played; that would have kept tradition intact while at the same time maximizing the likelihood of producing a consensus champion. Now, several years after tradition has been cast aside, that solution would not fly because the involved parties are making too much money under the current system to accept a change. So how should the current BCS system be reformed? The obvious solution is still a playoff: select the top eight teams and have a three round postseason with the current bowl games being slotted into various rounds on a rotating basis. The NCAA, bowl presidents and conferences can work out the details about which bowls will host which games so that the financial ramifications (the number one concern of all the involved parties, despite their pious rhetoric about academics, tradition or anything else) are resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Obviously, even with an eight team playoff the ninth and tenth ranked teams will say that they have a beef but that would be preferable to the current system--and I seriously doubt that there will ever be a season when the ninth ranked team will have a legitimate claim to being the best team in the country (yes, Hawaii went 12-0 this year and is currently ranked ninth but that is because of their strength of schedule; if your program is trying to win a national title then you have to play tougher opposition).

An eight team playoff this season using the final BCS standings would include Ohio State, LSU, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri, USC and Kansas. Wouldn't you like to watch those teams square off on the final two weekends of December, with the National Championship Game being played in the first week of the new year? There could still be complaints about seeding or about possibly having to play a team that you already beat in the regular season but at least each of these teams would have a chance to compete for the title on the playing field instead of having their coaches appearing on TV stumping for pollsters' votes.