Let's hope LaVell's idea bowls them over

WASHINGTON — Back in 1984, when Brigham Young University was winning its one and only national football championship, "LaVell Edwards for President" signs sprouted throughout Provo.

Now, surprisingly, he actually is proving to be a talented politician.

He showed that last week by proposing a compromise in Congress over how to more fairly determine the national football champion. His proposal has a real shot at bringing warring sides together to avoid battles in court or Congress.

To understand what Edwards proposes, first realize that Division I-A football is the only collegiate sport whose champion is not determined through a playoff system. Even Divisions I-AA, II and III football use playoffs with brackets.

But in Division I-A, the champion is chosen through the complex Bowl Championship Series.

It was formed five years ago by six elite conferences — the Southeastern, Big 12, Big East, Pacific-10, Big Ten and Atlantic Coast — to help arrange a national championship game between the top two ranked schools each year. That game is rotated among the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls.

In the system, six of the eight available slots in those four BCS bowls go to champions of the six BCS conferences. The two remaining slots may go to other BCS schools or to an outside school if it is ranked in the top six nationally in a complex BCS system that combines several polls and rankings of schedule strength.

No team outside a BCS conference has ever been invited to a BCS bowl. Most say they likely never will. The system as designed gives BCS conferences too many points for their schedules and for poll rankings that tend to favor them.

Edwards told the Senate Judiciary Committee that had the system been in place during BYU's 1984 championship year, BYU would not have been invited to the championship game. In 1995, the Bowl Championship Alliance, a precursor to the BCS, excluded BYU even though it was ranked No. 5 nationally and had a 12-1 record.

So the 54 Division I-A schools not in BCS conferences are virtually excluded from a national championship before their seasons begin. Also, 96 percent of money from big bowls goes to the BCS conferences. BCS schools also boost recruiting by telling students they must play at a BCS school if they want to be in a championship game.

Purists say the solution is simple. Use a playoff system like every other college sport— and use the existing bowls to sponsor the various games needed.