Can something so broken be fixed?

Over the next two weeks, bowl games will put the finishing touches on the 2019 college football season. While it is an exciting time for the sport, it also showcases one of the most broken, and ignored, systems in sports.

I'm not referring to the College Football Playoff (CFP) either!

Instead I'm talking of the other bowl games, that are aligned with collegiate conferences across the country. This process sets up a destination for school that removes the suspense of finding out where one may play, So, unlike the 68-team NCAA Basketball Tournament where teams find out if they make the field on Selection Sunday, college football teams have a decent idea if they're "going bowling."

That's because to become bowl eligible, one simple task must be met: have more wins than losses. This basically means that a team needs to reach the six win mark while avoiding many games against lower level schools, like the Football Conference Subdivision. Exceptions for bowl eligibility can be made, such as a schools's Academic Performance Record, but simply having a winning record is guarantees a bowl bid.

Once a school reaches that mark, all that is left is finding out their destination for the final 2 weeks of December. That should still add some suspense, right? Not exactly. That's because conferences make affiliations every so often, that ties them to a certain number of bowls.

In essence, the rich get richer.

That's because of one major factor: money. This trifecta comes together to decide what conferences should be connected, what could bring the most fans, and get the most eyes on the television screen.

So, it makes sense for bowls to attract the bigger, and more well known, conferences to get the casual fan to turn in. It's why the Power Five conferences - ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac 12 and SEC - have tie-ins to a larger number of bowls.

Take for example the ACC. With 15 members - including Notre Dame for bowl reasons - is connected to 11 bowl games. This, according to Stadium's Brett McMurphy, would cover 73 percent of the league, most in the FBS.

As the chart shows bowls are tiered in a way for the best teams to get into the bigger bowl games and work down from there. While Clemson is set to play in the CFP, UNC headed to the Military Bowl at 6-6, just making the cut.

This is about where my issue with the system comes up. Remember how I stated the trifecta goes after the "for sure" targets, the moneymakers. It hangs other programs out to dry.

That is evident no more that this year with teams such as Appalachian State and Boise State. Both schools finished the regular season as conference champions, with a record of 12-1 and nationally ranked at numbers 20 and 19 respectively.

By Sunday, Dec 22, both programs will have completed their season.

While one has a a feel good story, in Boise State facing off against its former coach Chris Peterson in his final game, the other is more lackluster.

ASU is facing off against UAB, the runner-up in Conference USA. Appalachian won the most games in school (and state) history and defeated two P5 teams. They don't even face a conference champion, and are headed to the same bowl that played in last year, the New Orleans Bowl that is a tie-in for the Sun Belt Conference.

It just so happens one team Appalachian beat, UNC, is playing almost a week later in arguably a more prestigious bowl, and what should be a better game.

This is where my problem with the system comes from. Sure, fuel is added to the fire because my Alma Mater is involved. But, this problem happens year after year as smaller programs step up to the challenge, only to be sent packing for familiar grounds.

You rise up, and get knocked back down. It's the story for these programs, and it's unfortunate it happens in meaningless bowls.

Outside of the CFP, that's what all the bowl games are. These games are sendoffs, essentially. A way for schools and teams to celebrate a successful season. You get match ups that may otherwise not happen, and that's about it.

Is it possible to fix this? Is there a solution to add some interest in more than a handful of bowl games? Can you even fix a system that has been broken for so long, that such a fix might be impossible? I'm sure people can remember the anger over the Bowl Championship Series of the 2000's.

Since the creation of the CFP in 2014, there's been support for increasing the number of schools in it to eight, rather than four. As the years have gone by support has increased as the tone has changed from if, to when.

You'd have to think that increasing the teams in these games, would trickle down and improve the rest of the bowls, right? I'd like to think that, but there's got to be something done for the other 35+ bowl games some additional meaning.

A few ideas I had:

1) If tie-ins, or just conference guarantees need to be a thing, so be it. But, why not have ranked teams face off against each other? You could see something like ASU facing off against Minnesota or Southern Cal, for example. Talk about teams likely never meeting.

2) With the CFP currently keeping one P5 conference champion out of the playoff, they could face another conference champion. That would be the highest ranked G5 school, that just so happens to be guaranteed a spot in the New Year's Six games. Then other conference champions would link up, in a rough best-of-the-best style bowl games.

3) Let there be a selection process similar to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Some bowls could keep their tie-ins, but conference champions would be the first off the board. There can be tiers even, similar to the chart I showed for the ACC. It adds more mystery and excitement to the selection day.

4) Make bowls regional. Rules would have to be made, obviously. There's not enough bowls to cover the ACC & SEC in the Southeast for example. Plus, Boise State shouldn't have to play in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl that's on its own campus. Would there even be enough teams in the Northeast to not the have Big Ten playing each other? But, potential match ups could be interesting. Games such as SMU against Texas or West Virginia against Pittsburgh, both games feature former conference members with storied histories. Even consider a game like Appalachian against Wake Forest, that could be played in Charlotte. It would be a game in the hotbed of both school's alumni.

Now these are just thoughts that I personally thought about in ways to help bring luster to the rest of the bowls that fill out the postseason of college football. While these ideas are likely not feasible, I've always been one to pitch any idea to get the conversation going.

But, who's to say these ideas will go anywhere other than this blog? I don't have any pull or sway with the powers that be, who make these decisions. I am not a part of the trifecta.

Who's to say their concerns go beyond lining their pockets? Because until they decide the process is broken - or just how they can make more money - this problem will be ignored.

And the problem will just stay broken, and that's a real shame.