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NCAA Hopes Third Time Charm For Championship Game

© Chuck Bednar

College football has taken yet another major step in the quest to determine an undisputed national champion.

Roy Kramer, chairman of the Bowl Championship Series (formerly the Bowl Alliance), has announced his plan that will hopefully pit No. 1 against No. 2. As with the NCAA's previous system, the formula will involve a blend of The Associated Press media poll and the USA Today-CNN coaches' poll.

So what's different about Kramer's plan? A new "power system," which will be incorporated to measure strength of schedule and strength of opponents' schedule - not just wins and losses.

"The formula would be weighted for two-thirds credit for your opponent's record, and one-third credit for your opponent's opponent's schedule," he explained. "You would then take that and that schedule would be calculated to determine what quartile that falls in."

"If you're going to run it, you're going to have to have a pretty good computer to do it. I'm not going to sit around and add (it) up every weekend."

Also, the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions will join the alliance beginning this season. Kramer hopes the result will be an undisputed championship game.

"It's been time consuming and difficult at times," said Bowl Championship Series spokesman Charles Bloom. "But the mindset has been to come up with the best formula possible."

However, the plan is not without its flaws. There is no contingency plan should three or more teams finish the season with unblemished records, or if no team is unbeaten but several have identical records.

"No system is perfect," said Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. "But I think we're all in the same boat. I know there's been tremendous thought and planning that has gone into it. I'm optimistic it will work well."

Another big question mark in the process is Notre Dame. As it stands, the Irish are currently the lone major independent left in Division I, and could be shunned from the championship series format. The Bowl Championship Series has been negotiating with the Irish. According to reports, Notre Dame may also be considering joining the Big Ten, but any deal wouldn't take affect until 1999 at the earliest.

While not infallible, Kramer's plan is a definite step up from the past two systems. Combined, those prior failures produced an average of one No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle every three seasons, and forced a pair of undefeated squads, Nebraska and Carr's Wolverines, to share the title of National Champions last season.