(originally written in January 2003)
College football season is just right around the corner. Well, not exactly. The start of the season is still a couple of months away. But that isn’t stopping the sportswriters, pollsters, pundits, and others who make their living by observing the college football scene from cranking into high gear with their speculations on which teams are going to win their conferences, which conference is going to be the strongest, which players are going to have the greatest impact during the coming season, and which team is going to be No. 1.
I have an idea which could clear up a lot of the uncertainty in college football and its never-ending quest for a means by which to determine a true national champion. No longer would we need to worry about the BCS poll, the computer polls, strength of schedule, quality wins, or any of the incessant tweakings to the BCS formula to make it yield a true national champion. Why not make college football like contract bridge?
Contract bridge is played by two teams of two players. Each player gets thirteen cards. On his turn, he plays one card. Whoever played the highest card gets to take all of the cards that were played. This is called a trick. The game continues until all the cards have been played and all the tricks have been taken. Kind of like Spades, but with a twist: Before the game even starts, each player must bid on how many tricks he thinks his team can take. Whoever has the highest bid gets to play first. If his team wins at least the number of tricks that he bid for, then they win. If they come up short, they lose.
Here is what I am proposing. Before the start of the season, each team would bid on how many games they think they can win during the season. Any team that does not bid at least six wins is ineligible for a bowl. Any team that does not get the number of wins that they bid is ineligible for a bowl. A bid of six wins would get you into the Independence Bowl, the Seattle Bowl, the Continental Tire Bowl, etc. A bid of seven wins would get you into the Peach Bowl, the Gator Bowl, the Outback Bowl, the Citrus Bowl, or the Cotton Bowl, but they would give higher priority to a team that bids for eight wins. In order to get into the BCS, you have to bid at least nine. If you bid ten or eleven, then you get bonus points in the BCS poll.
