With the 2008 NFL Draft having come and gone, the football world is starting to gear up for another season sans the ’07 senior class and a handful of juniors including Darren McFadden. In fact, it appeared as though the junior class got more attention than the seniors from the press, and Urban Meyer was thanking God that Tim Tebow was only a sophomore.

With the dismissal of QB Ryan Perrilloux for a myriad of offenses ending with a failed drug test, now would be an appropriate time for a short, but flowery diatribe about the character of LSU coach Les Miles and his principles as a leader, but let’s be honest, that isn’t going to happen. Instead the Tigers are in search to fill the QB position with red shirt freshman Jarrett Lee who’s never thrown a pass in regulation, and Harvard transfer Andrew Hatch who’s thrown two. After the loss of their two best quarterbacks and Glenn Dorsey, the Tigers may be in danger of a talent deficit to compensate for the decision making on the sidelines.

The Rich Rodriguez v. West Virginia saga continues, but honestly, does anyone really care anymore? He owes them money, they want it, he doesn’t want to pay… not living up to your responsibilities is a great lesson to teach your players… good quality selection for Michigan.

Michigan QB Ryan Mallett fled the Wolverine state upon arrival of the new coach, selecting Arkansas as his new home. The Razorbacks in true Petrino form, requested that Mallett not be required to sit out the mandatory year for a transfer, but was denied by the NCAA. Citing reasons such as “we want him to play,” and “why should we follow the rules, Rich Rodriguez doesn’t,” the Razorbacks knitted a well throughout case, but alas the mullet draped domes didn’t have enough brain power to get Mallett on the field.

The Big XII had a less than stellar outing in the 2008 Draft with only one player being selected in the first round. One could argue that’s because most of the conference was young and not many players were in the draft, but the level of play cultivated from last year’s season certainly didn’t warrant much respect from the NFL scouts. Whatever the reason, a lot of teams will have some very familiar faces, including virtually every quarterback.

After Alabama cleaned house in this year’s recruiting class, football upstart Kentucky has decided it wants to keep up with the Jones’, and is employing the use of a private jet for its football, and of course, basketball programs. Clearly this was an economical decision, because at $4,000 per flight hour, how could a program NOT go this route? If only there was someone on that plane named Saban.

After last year’s circus, it will be interesting to see how the 2008 season plays out… and being that the BCS commissioners have no interest in improving the system, you can almost guarantee controversy over rankings (Ohio State, USC), who’s in the national championship game (Georgia, Kansas, Hawaii), and why on earth the opinions of coaches and sports writers has any impact on the next national champion. God forbid we actually decide such things on the field.

The currently six conferences where the champion has an automatic BCS birth: Big 10, Pac 10, Big XII, ACC, Big East, and SEC. Of these conferences, the Big 10, Pac 10 and Big East are smaller and don’t have a conference championship game. Winning these conferences are direct tickets to a BCS bowl game, yet some have dramatically easier paths to get there.

Here’s how to fix it. Hawaii and Boise State join the Pac 10, making them the Pac 12 (or they can keep their name if math isn’t their thing). The Big XII gives up Iowa State to the Big 10 (since they only need one team to make 12 anyway), and the Big XII picks up TCU. Now this makes for a weak Big 10, so they could give up recently acquired Iowa State or Northwestern and pick up Notre Dame (not that ND is really a step up, but it can’t hurt). The Big East needs to pick up four, but that shouldn’t be too hard. Once these or similar moves are made, we’ll have each BCS conference with 12 teams, each split into halves.

Seasons will be reduced by two games to accommodate a playoff system. Teams that do not make the playoffs are welcome to play two more games that no one cares about anyway. The winner of each conference half gets an invite to the playoff. That will make for a bracket of 12. This allows for four wildcard slots. Seeding for the playoffs will be based on the BCS rankings. For the wildcard slots, teams must meet certain eligibility to be selected. First, a team must play at least one school from the BCS conference during the season. Second, they must have a record of at least 7 – 3 (10 game season). If a team meets these two criteria, then they will be eligible for the playoff and will be selected by committee.

A bracket of 16 will require a team to play four games to win the national championship. This will be only one more game than a national champion from a real conference would play anyway (sorry Big 10, Pac 10 and Big East, small conferences don’t count).

Will deserving teams get left out under this system? Sure. But if they get left out, they will be roughly one or two games above 500, and let’s be honest, that doesn’t give anyone much of a leg to stand on.

Under this system, LSU or Ohio State wouldn’t walk away with a trophy simply because enough coaches or sports writers liked them more than Georgia, USC, or Oklahoma, and it would allow the cream to rise to the top in a setting that doesn’t allow for a loss to be excused. This year, either Ohio State or LSU will be the champion, and if you can tell me one of them is the best team in the NCAA without any question in your mind, then you need to get the paint off your face.