2. Since people get queasy at the notion of a 7-5 non-BCS conference winner taking up a spot in the playoff field, we’ll establish a rule that a team must either be in the BCS top 25 or have less than four losses to qualify.

3. The four best teams in the nation should get some sort of reward for their regular season exploits.

4. Sometimes, the best teams in the nation fail to win their conferences, so there should be a few spots left for “at-large” teams. Since everyone is enamored with the BCS computers, we’ll let the at-large spots be filled in order of finish in the BCS poll. Are teams still going to complain that they didn’t get a shot at the title? Yes. But the complaining will come from teams that have distinct profiles from the top five teams in the country, thus lessening the legitimacy of their arguments.

5. The playoffs should involve as few games as possible in order to arrive at a true champion.

In concordance with those views, I present my 12-team playoff. Most years, two at-large teams and six conference winners will be seeded fifth through 12th, and take part in the first round of the playoffs. These games will be played during the second Saturday of December at rotating bowl sites, which will host their traditional bowl match-ups later in the month.

The winners will advance to the quarterfinals and be re-seeded for the final time. The four quarterfinal games will take place on the third Saturday in December at New Years Day bowls and a rotating BCS bowl. These bowls will be allowed to host their traditional games in January as well.

The semifinals of the playoffs will be played on the fourth Saturday in December at two of the BCS bowls—Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar—and the championship game will be held in the final BCS bowl on the first Saturday in January.

The only way to distinguish between teams that are equal on paper is to let them battle it out on the field. The BCS is a mistake and a playoff is the answer. But don’t look for the BCS representatives to pay this argument much heed—they’re too busy mortgaging the game to the highest bidder.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.