What would a college football playoff look like this year? (Part 2)
I debuted this feature last week, but now that another week’s worth of games are behind us, it’s wise to take another look.
First, my assumptions:
1. There will be an eight-team playoff, with the six BCS-conference champs getting an automatic bid.
2. If a conference champ is ranked lower than #15 in the rankings, they give up their automatic bid and it becomes an at-large bid. (This rule is to ensure that the regular season keeps its meaning.)
3. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings can be tweaked, but they are fine for now. If an at-large team has a better BCS ranking than a conference champion, they will get a higher seed.
4. There will be three rounds of playoffs. The first round will be held at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team. The semifinals and the final will rotate amongst the four BCS cities (Miami, Pasadena, Tempe and New Orleans).
Off we go…
#8 Penn State (11-1) @ #1 Alabama (11-0)
#5 USC (9-1) @ #4 Florida (10-1)
#7 Texas Tech (10-1) @ #2 Texas (10-1)
#6 Utah (12-0) @ #3 Oklahoma (10-1)
In this case, since likely conference champions #16 Cincinnati (Big East), #17 Oregon State (Pac-10) and #20 Florida State (ACC) are not in the top 15 of the BCS rankings (and are therefore not one of the “elite” teams in the country), they give up their automatic berths.
Compared to last week, with the institution of the “Top 15 Rule,” Cincinnati would no longer get a berth, but since the Bearcats are at #16 and still have two games to play, they could still finish in the top 15. Right now, Texas Tech would be the first at-large team to lose its spot, and given the drubbing they took this weekend, that makes sense.
With Cincy no longer qualifying, #6 Utah moved into the playoffs. Undefeated Boise State is currently ranked #9 in both human polls and the BCS rankings. Their computer ranking (.630) just doesn’t measure up to Tech’s (.890).
Other than Boise State, the teams that are on the outside looking in — #10 Ohio State, #11 Georgia, #12 Oklahoma State, #13 Missouri and #14 TCU — all have losses to teams that made the playoffs, so the regular season still matters, despite what the pro-BCS crowd says.
So, how does it look?
I would like twelve teams in the playoffs with the top four teams given a first round bye.
Now you’re getting greedy. I’d take a four-team playoff at this point.
I think the 8-team playoff that John has illustrated above makes a lot of sense and appears to be fair in terms of what teams have to do to get in.
Although Utah-Oklahoma might be a massacre! The Utes have a solid defense, but they wouldn’t have the man-power to slow down Sam Bradford.
Keep up the good work, Paulsen – we’ll get this instituted sometime before 2098.
Seems like a pretty reasonable system, one example of one anyway. I like that it leaves two “at large” bids to capture that top ranked team who screwed up their Conference Championship dream but are still one of the elite teams in the country.
You could argue 8 teams vs more or less but 8 seems realistic. 10 teams could be an option with the top two seeds getting buys and it captures all of the “Top Ten” ranked squads.
Send it to Obama, I hear he wants to “change” this too…..
One Problem is – Oregon St will WIN the Pac-10 Championship, not USC. If you can’t win your conference, you don’t belong in the game – see Nebraska 2001! That was the biggest travesty ever.