My first act as commissioner of college football would be to ...
1. Give college football a commissioner: There is presently no single person or organization in charge of college football, and it shows. The sport is in a state of constant chaos, seeing as even the slightest changes have to meet the approval of, among others, the NCAA, university presidents, conference commissioners, athletic directors, bowl representatives and TV executives. So just having an overarching commissioner would be a huge step.
2. Add a "plus-one" championship game after the BCS bowls: I know, I know, most of you would rather I use my powers to bring about a full-fledged playoff. I'm not ready to go that far yet. I'd hate to see the day when Florida and Florida State rest their starters during their annual rivalry game because they've already locked up playoff berths. However, an extra game would help resolve some of the sport's more absurd injustices (like an undefeated Auburn team getting shut out of a shot at the national title) and make the major bowl games preceding the title game more meaningful.
3. Reduce the number of bowl games: There are currently 32 bowl games slated to be played next season, with literally every 6-6 Big Ten or SEC team assured a spot in the postseason, not to mention third-place teams from the WAC and Conference USA. I'd trim the list to these 15: national title game, Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, Capital One, Gator, Outback, Holiday, Peach, Alamo, Sun, Liberty and Independence. The champions of every Division I-A conference would be guaranteed a berth; everyone else would have to win at least eight games. And all (except the title game) would be played between Christmas and New Year's.
4. Install an early signing day: Recruiting is quickly turning into an uncontrollable headache for both coaches and prospects. A lot of the stress would be alleviated if football was to mimic basketball and install an early signing date -- say, Sept. 1 -- so that prospects can enjoy their senior years of high school without all the drama and distractions of the recruiting rat race. Obviously, a good number would still put off their decisions until February, but at least this way coaches don't have to babysit their early commitments for another six or seven months.
5. Outlaw the hiring of coaches prior to their bowl games: One of the season's most annoying rituals is when, after leading a team through an entire season, preaching the values of teamwork and loyalty, some hot coach bolts for another job right before his team's bowl game (see Dan Hawkins last year, Urban Meyer the year before), creating awkward situations in which he's either coaching a team he has already deserted or leaving some interim coach in his wake. Do like the NFL: No interviewing candidates until after his season's over.
6. Delay polls until Oct. 1: As long as there are preview magazines and websites like this one, there will always be preseason (and pre-preseason) polls. They're fun, and people love them. But they're also pure guesswork, and they create an unofficial "starting point" that creates a severe disadvantage for less-hyped teams that end up doing well. I'd insist that the two polls used by the BCS, the coaches and Harris, refrain from conducting their first edition until after a month of games. Maybe then their rankings would be less slavish to preconceived perceptions and more reflective of the action on the field.
7. Pick a uniform and stick with it: Part of the tradition of college football is that the uniforms are recognizable across generations. A Penn State jersey is unmistakably a Penn State jersey. An Alabama helmet is unmistakably an Alabama helmet. Lately, however, colleges have been mimicking their marketing friends in the pros and instituting all sorts of variations -- retro uniforms, prime-time uniforms, ugly Nike sleeve uniforms. If I was commissioner, each team would pick one uniform style and stick with it every week for at least a 10-year period.
8. No more Tuesday-night games ... or Monday night, or Wednesday night or Friday night: College football was meant to be played on Saturdays. While it's nice that some of the lower-profile teams get more exposure, the more games that get spread over the course of the week, the more it dilutes the sanctity of Saturday. I'd have one Thursday-night game to kick off the weekend -- because for some reason ESPN has a penchant for airing some of its most dramatic games on Thursday nights -- and everything else on Saturday.
9. Shorten the length of games: This one's tricky, because I can't exactly order the television networks to show fewer commercials, and I don't think teams are going to start passing less anytime soon. So the way I'm going to do it is to abolish the college rule of stopping the clock after first downs (except in the final two minutes of each half) and to restart the play-clock as soon as a play is whistled dead rather than waiting for the refs to spot the ball.
10. Prohibit coaches from flip-flopping quarterbacks: I don't know why, but this is may be my single biggest pet peeve in the entire sport. It's one thing for a coach to bring in a "change of pace" quarterback for a few series like Georgia's Mark Richt used to do with D.J. Shockley. But most of the time, when a coach rotates quarterbacks, he can't make up his mind. So from now on, once you name a starting quarterback, you have to keep him as such for at least four straight games, barring documented injury. Better make the right choice in fall camp, guys.
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