Here is my solution to determine the national champion of college football: 10 teams could play in the Bowl Championship Playoffs. The winners of the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC would receive automatic berths. The four remaining “wildcard” teams would be determined by a selection committee. Undefeated teams, within Top 25 rank, would be given preference as a wildcard team. A BCS formula could be used in determining all remaining teams similar to NCAA basketball RPI. While computers can assist in the decision, human selection alone determines wildcards. The wildcard selection would be ultimately up to vote by the committee. Top seeds would be placed according to geography if possible. First Round The first round of the college playoffs would play the week after conference championship games, usually the second Saturday in December. The wildcards would square off in two bowl games – Holiday (San Diego) and Peach (Atlanta) Second Round The second round would take place one week later and see the wildcard winners face the conference champions. One of the Big 4 Bowls - Fiesta, Orange Sugar, or Rose would be used in this round. The bowl that was used in the second round receives the national championship the next season. The other three bowls used would be Capital One (Orlando), Cotton (Dallas) and Outback (Tampa). Third Round The Third Round would occur on New Year’s Day. Top seeds would be placed according to geography if possible. Two of the Big 4 Bowls - Fiesta, Orange Sugar, or Rose would be used in this round on a rotational basis. Fourth and Final Round One week after New Year’s Day the championship game would take place. One of the Big 4 Bowls - Fiesta, Orange Sugar, or Rose would be used in this round on a rotational basis. The previous year it would have hosted a game in the second round. 2003 Example If the 2003 season had a 10 team playoff, the following could have occurred: Conference Champions: Florida State (ACC), Kansas State (Big 12), LSU (SEC), Miami (Big East), Michigan (Big 10) and USC (Pac-10) Wildcards: Oklahoma (Big 12), Ohio State (Big 10), Texas (Big 12), Tennessee (SEC) 2003 First Round December 13, 2003 Peach Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Tennessee Assume Oklahoma wins Holiday Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas Assume Texas wins 2003 Second Round December 20, 2003 Fiesta Bowl: USC vs. Oklahoma Assume USC wins Capital One Bowl: Michigan vs. Kansas State Assume Michigan wins Cotton Bowl: LSU vs. Texas Assume LSU wins Outback Bowl: Florida State vs. Miami Assume Florida State wins 2003 Third Round January 1, 2003 Orange Bowl: LSU vs. Florida State Assume LSU wins Rose Bowl: USC vs. Michigan Assume USC wins 2003 Fourth Round January 8, 2003 Sugar Bowl: LSU vs. USC Summary A 10 team playoff system is inherently more fair than the current BCS formula. There is less controversy discussing who is number 10 and 11 than 2 and 3. It allows automatic representation of the top six conferences and the four remaining best teams. A playoff system means more fan interest, more sponsorship money, higher television contracts, and a better game for all. Snake Plissken
An 8-team format "could" work better in a given time frame of 3 weeks ... and be over by the 4th of Jan ... overall a good idea
I want a playoff, but I would cast a wider net. Do it like every other NCAA sport, conference champions get automatic bids. Here is my system: I favor a 16 team playoff, with 12 automatic bids (11 conference champs plus the best 1-A indy) and four at large teams, using the current BCS formula (possibly tweaked a little bit) to seed them 1-16, using the current bowls as sites (a few extra bowls invented for geographic convenience). When the other bowls are not being used as playoff sites, use them as consolation prizes for good teams who didn't quite make it (this would work better than a football NIT). If my plan were in effect, this is what this year's first round would look like, starting next Saturday and ending on January 2nd in New Orleans. #1 Oklahoma (12-1) vs. #16 Navy (8-4), Liberty Bowl, Memphis TN #8 Tennessee (10-2) vs. #9 Miami (10-2), Outback Bowl, Tampa FL #5 Ohio State (10-2) vs. #12 Boise St. (11-1), Northern Bowl, Minneapolis, MN (made this one up for Geography's sake) #4 Michigan (10-2) vs. #13 Utah (9-2), Gateway Bowl, St. Louis, MO (another new one by me ) #3 Southern Cal (11-1) vs. #14 Southern Miss (9-3), Holiday Bowl, San Diego #6 Texas (10-2) vs. #11 Miami University (12-1), Houston Bowl, TX #7 Florida State (10-2) vs. #10 Kansas State (10-3), Peach Bowl, Atlanta #2 LSU (12-1) vs. #15 North Texas (9-3), Independence Bowl, Shreveport Bowls that make geographic sense in the first round. The national quarterfinals are the Motor City Bowl in Detroit, the Capitol One Citrus Bowl in Orlando, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, and the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix. The national semis and the finals rotate between Rose, Sugar, and Orange (this year's championship at Sugar). It's fair, it's balanced, it preserves the "meaning of the regular season," it gives all conferences and teams access, it preserves the bowls, and it will make more money than ABC and the BCS could ever come up with. C'mon! My system is flawless. Admit it!
I like your plan Jetstorm but c'mon - are you serious? NAVY?? Navy in the first round against Oklahoma? You must really want to see a 100 point blowout. What conferences did they win? The only mid majors who would be deserving of a guaranteed playfoff position would be the winners of the MAC and CUSA.
I put Navy in there because they are the best of 1-A independents. Best 1-A indy gets an automatic bid. I do this because Notre Dame will whine if they are ever shut out of a playoff. I'll give the Irish access, but I absolutely REFUSE to give them anymore special treatment than they already get. And this year, Navy, not Notre Dame, is the best 1-A independent. So they go. If all indies join a conference, then you have five at-large bids, not just four. Just put Georgia at #12 and kick everyone else down a notch.
Out of all the teams in D1A there are only 5 or 6 that are not in a conference. Sure, I hate Notre Dame but lets face it, they are the only one of the independents who has been worthy of a playoff bid in the last 20 years. I wouldn't give an automatic place in the playoffs to the best independent. As bad as they were this year Notre Dame was still the best of the independents and they did beat Navy this year. You might have given it to Navy but if there was a playoff and the best independant got an automatic bid the powers that be would have put a 5-7 Notre Dame team in the mix. Any 16 team playoff system should try to put the best 16 teams in it no matter what their conference affliation is or how many other teams from their conference made the playoffs. Ole Miss, Missouri, Iowa, Florida, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Washington State, Marshall, Bowling Green, Boston College, Maryland, Northern Illinois, Miami of Ohio, Louisville, TCU, Purdue, Auburn, Hawaii, Nebraska, Boise State, Texas Tech, Houston or Georgia Tech are all better football teams than Navy or any other independent and would pound Navy into the ground or artificial turf, whatever. D1AA teams like McNeese and others are better than Navy or any other independent team other than Notre Dame. Navy may or may not be able to beat Vanderbilt or Duke but they would get hammered by also rans like Kentucky, Virginia, Wake Forest, Toledo, Syracuse or South Carolina. They are not even as good as Mississippi State. Give Notre Dame a playoff bid when their record and ranking warrant it but don't make a joke out of it by including "the best independent" from a pool of only a very few teams that maintain their independent status.
I've been against a playoff for some time, but I have warmed up to the idea for the last few weeks. I could accept a 4 team playoff, with the NC coming after the bowls in some crazy over commercialized made up bowl certain to be outdated in 3 years (think something named like the Globochem NCAA collegefootball Xtreme Bowl). But I think 16, 10, and 8 team playoff formats are too much and would ruin the meaning of the regular season. Atleast if each confernce adds a CG, that is like a mini-playoff right there. Play the bowls, matching up 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3. After that take the winners and settle it on the field. With a multi layered playoff, you are asking fans and the teams to travel a lot. Before you just add a playoff, you have to answer these questions: Can schools afford to send the band to 4 extra away games, after the CG, and if they are lucky enough after the playoffs to the NC? Can fans afford plane tickets and book all those hotel rooms during the months of December and Jan to support their teams should they play an extra 3 or 4 games (which would all be on the road in different cities? How can any playoff system justify a 2, 3, 4 loss team winning the NC? Finally, who in world can afford tickets to all these playoff games. Right now most of the BCS bowls have tickets with face values of 150 bucks, I imagine the prices would rise as the playoffs got closer to the NC. Those other NCAA Div's playoffs have very small crowds compared to bowls. It's just stuff to consider, other than how many teams truly deserve a shot at the NC.
Well....I started this thread about a month ago and I still think it is relevant and it started a pretty good discussion. Y'all are welcome to add to it... click here for link to thread "Scrap the BCS"
The other divisions playoffs might have smaller crowds but their fans who go to road games don't pay any less than fans of LSU or Oklahoma for gasoline, plane tickets or hotel rooms. I would have the first and second rounds of the playoffs at the higher seeded teams stadium. LSU as a high seed would play the first two rounds in Tiger Stadium. The third round would be played at a bowl site that was closest to the higher seeded survivng team In LSU's case that would be the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans unless the Sugar Bowl was that years designated Championship bowl. Fans who really wanted to go to away games will find a way to do it just like basketball fans find a way to go to away playoff games during March Madness. How can a playoff system justify a 3 or 4 loss team winning the championship? Tampa Bay lost 4 games in the regular season last year but they won the Super Bowl. If a team loses 3 or 4 games and still qualifies for the playoffs and then plays well enough to beat perviously undefeated teams and teams with only one loss that means that the 4 loss team is really the best teasm at the end of the season that played the best when it counted the most. If the other teams with no losses or only one loss don't beat the 4 loss teams when the title is on the line how can you possibly think they deserve it more than the 4 loss team? In 1983 a North Carolina State basketball team with 11 regular season losses made it to the championship game against a Houston team that only had lost 2 or 3 games. NC State pulled off a last second upset to become the National Champs. Would you say that NC State didn't deserve it because they had lost more regular season games than Houston? The Florida Marlins barely made the playoffs this year but they beat the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs to make it to the World Series. Then, despite having over 70 losses during the regular season they beat the Yankees who had the best regular season record in baseball. Would you say that the Marlins didn't deserve it? One of the great things about sports is that a team that is a huge underdog can put it all together for a championship run and beat the odds. In the 1980 Winter Olympics a team of college and minor league hockey players overcame all odds to beat a team of professionals from the Soviet Union for the gold medal. That was one of the great moments in the history of sports. Al Michaels last words of the broadcast has earned a place in immortality. "Do you believe in miracles? YES" Oh, I forgot. You don't believe that a team with a few losses deserves the right to rain on the parade of undefeated teams or the exalted one loss teams. In 2001 LSU was 4-3 in the SEC but then they put it all together and ended up as the league champions. If there had been a playoff then would you have bitched that a 3 loss LSU team didn't deserve to play for all the marbles if they had ended up playing Miami? In 2000 the LSU baseball team didn't look very good in the early season but they got a lot better and ended up beating a Stanford team that had fewer losses than LSU. Did you bitch then about how LSU didn't deserve it because they weren't very good early in the season? Last year the LSU baseball team got swept in a 3 game series by Kansas and lost 2 out of 3 to Houston early in the season. Do you think they shouldn't have been eligble to go to the College World Series because of that?
I think a simple 4-team playoff is ideal and a lot more practical. There are rarely more than 4 teams still in contention for the NC by December. It would add only one game to a teams schedule and would provide another week of good football for the fans. Take the BCS top four teams, match #1 with #4 and #2 with #3. This year, in playoff week, Oklahoma and Michigan could have played and LSU/ Southern Cal played in the other. Winner goes to the NC game.
