After two failed bids to buy a baseball team, Mavs owner Mark Cuban has now set his sights on fixing the college football postseason.

“The more I think about it, the more sense it makes as opposed to buying a baseball team,” said Cuban, who tried to buy the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers within the last few years. “You can do something the whole country wants done.”

Cuban said he envisions either a 12- or 16-team playoff field with the higher seeds getting homefield advantage. The homefield advantage, Cuban said, would ensure the college football regular-season games would not lose any importance.

The bowl games could still exist under Cuban’s plan, but he said he would make it more profitable for programs to make the playoffs than a bowl.

“Put $500 million in the bank and go to all the schools and pay them money as an option,” Cuban said. “Say, ‘Look, I’m going to give you X amount every five years. In exchange, you say if you’re picked for the playoff system, you’ll go.’ “

I think 12 or 16 teams is too aggressive too early. In my proposed eight-team playoff, all of the teams that would miss the playoffs (Michigan State, LSU, Arkansas) had an opportunity to seal a bid earlier in the year, but failed to do so. This ensures the regular season keeps its importance, which is something that BCS apologists bring up every time they attempt to defend their flawed system.

Other than that, I’m glad to see Cuban focusing his efforts on this, because a college football playoff seems to be going nowhere fast. Maybe throwing money at the problem will convince schools to go to the playoff instead of the BCS, but it’s going to take a lot of convincing.

Last week, I outlined what my proposed eight-team playoff bracket would look like prior to Championship Weekend. Boise State got the 8th and final bid because they beat the Hokies straight up early in the season and were ranked ahead of VT in the BCS standings. Let’s see if anything has changed in seven days…

Here are my assumptions:

1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. There would need to be some sort of ranking system used. For now, we will use the BCS. I’d rather do a straight #1-#8 seeding based on the rankings, but in order for a playoff to get implemented the big conferences would need some preferential treatment. That’s just the way it is and we all know it.

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 and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

3. If a conference champ is ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule.

4. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, 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.

5. 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), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

So here is how an eight-team playoff would look at this point…

#8 Boise State @ #1 Auburn
Virginia Tech did their part, and beat Florida State in the ACC title game, but it wasn’t enough to pass the Broncos in the rankings, so Boise St. gets the bid due to the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule. (See #3 above.) I asked Anthony Stalter to preview this matchup and he said, “It would be the battle of the Heisman candidates, as Auburn’s Cam Newton and Boise’s Kellen Moore would go head-to-head in what should be an entertaining matchup. Boise has the edge defensively, but Auburn has played top SEC competition all year.”

#5 Wisconsin @ #4 Stanford
Both teams were idle so nothing changed here. The Big Ten champ would have to travel to the West Coast to face the Cardinal on their home turf. Anthony said, “Wisconsin has the fourth-best scoring offense in the nation and Stanford has the eighth. There would be no shortage of big plays.”

#7 Oklahoma @ #2 Oregon
Oklahoma beat Nebraska in what was essentially a play-in game. Now the Sooners have to travel to Eugene to face the Ducks. Good luck with that.

#6 Ohio State @ #3 TCU
The Buckeyes get an at-large bid after just missing out on the Big Ten title. Regarding a trip to TCU, Anthony said, “Everyone thought Oregon would run past Ohio State in last year’s Rose Bowl and the Buckeyes’ front four completely dominanted the trenches. Would a OSU-TCU matchup be a repeat scenario?”

In this case, Championship Weekend didn’t change the matchups from last week. Auburn won so they stayed at #1 and Virginia Tech was unable to pass Boise St. in the BCS standings (thanks to the two human polls that had the Broncos ahead of the Hokies), so Boise gets the final bid.

The first round of games would be held on December 18th. The semifinals would be held two weeks later on January 1st, along with a thousand other non-playoff bowls. The two weeks between games would allow for the celebration of Christmas and to give fans some time to make travel arrangements for New Year’s weekend. Finally, the title game would be held on January 8th.

Who gets screwed? No one, really. The next few at-large teams — Arkansas, Michigan State and LSU — all had their chances throughout the season, but in-conference losses (to Auburn and Alabama, to Iowa, and to Auburn and Arkansas, respectively) did them in. It makes sense that Ohio State gets the nod over Michigan State since the Buckeyes won at Iowa, while the Spartans were soundly thrashed in Iowa City.

Last year, I ran a series of posts examining how a college football playoff system might look. I’m getting a late start this year, but it might be for the best since the rankings are more settled.

Here are my assumptions:

1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. There would need to be some sort of ranking system used. For now, we will use the BCS. I’d rather do a straight #1-#8 seeding based on the rankings, but in order for a playoff to get implemented the big conferences would need some preferential treatment. That’s just the way it is and we all know it.

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 and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

3. If a conference champ is ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule.

4. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, 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.

5. 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), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

So here is how an eight-team playoff would look at this point…

#8 Boise State @ #1 Auburn
Surprised to see the Broncos included? Me too, but they are the beneficiary of the (awesome) “I Drink Your Milkshake” rule. They beat Virginia Tech head-to-head, so they get the Hokies’ bid, assuming Va Tech wins against Florida State and is unable to surpass the Broncos in the BCS rankings. If the Hokies lose, then their spot would be given to Arkansas, who is currently on the outside looking in. I asked Anthony Stalter to preview this matchup and he said, “It would be the battle of the Heisman candidates, as Auburn’s Cam Newton and Boise’s Kellen Moore would go head-to-head in what should be an entertaining matchup. Boise has the edge defensively, but Auburn has played top SEC competition all year.”

#5 Wisconsin @ #4 Stanford
The Big Ten champ would have to travel to the West Coast to face Stanford on its home turf.
Anthony said, “Wisconsin has the fourth-best scoring offense in the nation and Stanford has the eighth. There would be no shortage of big plays.”

#7 Oklahoma/Nebraska-winner @ #2 Oregon
In this case, the Big 12 title game would essentially become a play-in game, with the winner given the reward of traveling to Eugene to face the high-powered Ducks. Congratulations!

#6 Ohio State @ #3 TCU
The Buckeyes get an at-large bid after just missing out on the Big Ten title. Regarding a trip to TCU, Anthony said, “Everyone thought Oregon would run past Ohio State in last year’s Rose Bowl and the Buckeyes’ front four completely dominanted the trenches. Would a OSU-TCU matchup be a repeat scenario?”

Who gets screwed? No one, really. The next few at-large teams — Arkansas, Michigan State and LSU — all had their chances throughout the season, but in-conference losses (to Auburn and Alabama, to Iowa, and to Auburn and Arkansas, respectively) did them in. It makes sense that Ohio State gets the nod over Michigan State since the Buckeyes won at Iowa, while the Spartans were soundly thrashed in Iowa City.

So, what do you think? Should we scrap the BCS and do this thing?

Bill Hancock officially began his tenure as BCS executive director this week and spoke with reporters on Thursday about the current state of college football.

Let’s go point by point…

“College football has never been better and I believe the BCS is part of that.”

This is actually a true statement, but it isn’t saying much. If something is better than asinine, does it make it good? No, it doesn’t. It makes it better than asinine. Yes, the BCS Championship Game is better than the pre-BCS system, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be drastically improved.

Hancock said the fact that other lower levels of college football use playoffs to decide their champions doesn’t mean it would work in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The second-tier of Division I football, the Championship Subdivision, has a 16-team playoff with all but the final played at home sites.

“It works at that level, I can’t deny it, but if you look attendance for those games, only Montana had decent attendance,” he said. “Many teams didn’t draw as well as they did in the regular season.”

All right, so because Hancock has some anecdotal data about lower level teams not drawing as well in the playoffs, we’re supposed to believe that home playoff games at the D1 level wouldn’t work either? Really? Like the Gators aren’t going to sell out the Swamp in the first round of an eight-team playoff? Give me a break.

This excerpt from ESPN (via the AP), Hancock throws out several debatable “facts” and says the case is closed.

Bill Hancock said a playoff at college football’s highest level would lead to more injuries, conflict with final exams, kill the bowl system and diminish the importance of the regular season.

More injuries? The current BCS system has five games. My proposed eight-team playoff would include seven games. Does Hancock really believe that the additional injury risk of two games is a valid argument against a playoff?

Kill the bowl system? The current system features a lot of lower-level bowls that feature teams that aren’t playing for a national championship. Players, coaches and fans attend these games as a celebration of a good season. How would holding a playoff affect this system in any way?

Diminish the importance of the regular season? If anything, it would increase the importance of the regular season. Under the current system, if a team loses a game it shouldn’t, it’s championship aspirations are effectively killed. With a playoff, that team would still have a fighting chance to make the postseason and compete for a title. And think about those fringe teams fighting for a playoff spot over the last couple of weeks. Every contest would become an elimination game. Under the current system, none of these teams would have an opportunity to play for a title.

Conflict with final exams? In an eight-team playoff, there are only four D1 teams in the entire country that would play more than one postseason game, and we’re worried about final exams?

Sigh.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Near the end of the Texas/Nebraska game, when it looked like the Cornhuskers might pull the upset, Brent Musbuger said repeatedly that a Texas loss would result in “BCS chaos.” But don’t we already have chaos? We have five undefeated teams — Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State — and only two get to play for a national title. Of course, BCS apologists think that the system got it right. They dismiss TCU and Boise State because they aren’t from power conferences, and they’re hoping that Cincy loses to Florida in the Sugar Bowl so that they can dismiss the Big East champs as well.

Based on the various polls that are out there, 90% of the public want to see some sort of a playoff in college football. Over the last few weeks, I have been outlining my proposed eight-team playoff. Here are my assumptions:

1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. There would need to be some sort of ranking system used. For now, we will use the BCS. I’d rather do a straight #1-#8 seeding based on the rankings, but in order for a playoff to get implemented the big conferences would need some preferential treatment. That’s just the way it is and we all know it.

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 and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

3. If a conference champ is ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule.

4. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, 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.

5. 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), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

Now that the regular season and conference championship games are over, how would a playoff shake out this year?

#8 Georgia Tech @ #1 Alabama
Tech’s win over Clemson in the ACC Championship clinched the final playoff spot. Alabama looked strong against the Gators, and they’d host a geographical rival in Tuscaloosa.

#5 Florida @ #4 TCU
On the heels of their loss to Alabama, the Gators would have to beat the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth to get another shot at the Crimson Tide (assuming they beat Georgia Tech).

#7 Ohio State @ #2 Texas
Texas survived the Big 12 Championship, so they would host the Buckeyes in Austin. This would be a matchup of two of the biggest programs in the country.

#6 Boise State @ #3 Cincinnati
The Broncos get Oregon’s bid because they beat the Ducks earlier in the season and are ranked ahead of them. They’d have to play the Bearcats in Cincy.

Who gets screwed? The Ducks have a beef, but they lost to Boise State early in the season, so they lose their bid via the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule. If the two teams hadn’t played, it would be the Broncos that would miss out on the bid since all of the power conference champs were ranked in the top 15 and there would be two at-large bids (Florida and TCU) ranked ahead of Boise State. But the Broncos beat the Ducks, so they’re in.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

For the last two weeks, I’ve constructed an eight-team bracket for a “what if” college football playoff.

Here are my assumptions:

1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. There would need to be some sort of ranking system used. For now, we will use the BCS.

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 and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

3. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, 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), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

5. If a conference champion is ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule.

Georgia Tech lost to Georgia this week. How does that affect our bracket?

#8 Georgia Tech @ #1 Florida/Alabama
The Yellow Jackets still have to play Clemson in the ACC Championship. If they lose that game, they’ll be in danger of falling out of the playoffs altogether. The winner of the SEC Championship is a shoe-in for the #1 seed.

#5 Cincinnati @ #4 TCU
These two teams are very close in the BCS standings, so it’s possible that the Bearcats could leapfrog the Horned Frogs (pun intended) if they get a win over #15 Pitt next week. Pitt’s loss to West Virginia last weekend makes this less likely, however.

#7 Ohio State @ #2 Texas
The Buckeyes move up due to Georgia Tech’s loss to Georgia last weekend. Texas has to beat #22 Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship to secure the #2 seed.

#6 Boise St. @ #3 Alabama/Florida
The loser of the SEC Championship might fall further than #3 in the BCS standings, but I doubt it. Unless the loser looks awful, they’ll probably stay ahead of TCU, Cincy and Boise State. We will see. Meanwhile, the Broncos take Oregon’s spot due to a regular season win over the Ducks. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule in effect.

Who gets screwed?
The GT loss complicates matters. Oregon and Ohio State both move up, but the Ducks are left out due to a loss to Boise State. Usually, a major conference champ that is ranked 7th is going to make the playoffs, but it just so happens that the Ducks lost to a non-BCS school that is ranked ahead of them. The Broncos beat the Ducks on the field and deserve the berth. Oregon plays #16 Oregon State next week and the Ducks would need to win big to convince the voters to put them ahead of the Broncos.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Every Monday through the end of the college football season, I update my “what if” eight-team college football playoff. (Want to see how this bad boy has developed? Here are links for Version 1.0 and Version 2.0.)

Here are my assumptions:

1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. If they are ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. (I debuted this rule last week to account for Boise State’s head-to-head win over Oregon. I call it the “I Drink Your Milkshake” Rule.)

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 and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

3. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, 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), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

People want to know why I don’t utilize a 12-team or 16-team format. Simply stated — I don’t think that either format is feasible given our current situation. Maybe we can get there down the line, but there are too many anti-playoff pundits who say that a playoff makes the regular season meaningless. (I’m looking at you, Kirk Herbstreit.) The larger the playoff, the more “meaningless” the regular season becomes. This playoff needs to be as exclusive as possible while still being inclusive enough that there isn’t a sh*tstorm when the bracket is announced.

That said, what does a college football playoff look like this season?

#8 Ohio State @ #1 Florida/Alabama
This week Florida plays Florida State and Alabama plays Auburn. Then the two teams will play in the SEC Championship for the right to have the #1 seed. The Buckeyes clinched the Big Ten title, but are #10 in the rankings, so they’re the #8 seed.

#5 Cincinnati @ #4 TCU
TCU plays New Mexico at home on Saturday, while the Bearcats have Illinois this week and #9 Pittsburgh next week. These two teams are pretty close in the standings, so it’s possible that a pair of Cincy wins might vault the Bearcats over the Horned Frogs and into the #4 seed. That would move the game from Fort Worth to Cincinnati.

#7 Georgia Tech @ #2 Texas
Texas has Texas A&M this week and Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship. Georgia Tech faces Georgia and #18 Clemson in the ACC Championship.

#6 Boise State @ #3 Florida/Alabama
Boise State takes Oregon’s spot due to the “I Drink Your Milkshake” Rule. (The Broncos beat the Ducks, 19-8, early in the season.)

Who gets screwed?
Nobody. #8 Oregon lost to #6 Boise State, while #9 Pitt has its shot when they face Cincy. #11 Iowa lost to Ohio State and #12 Oklahoma State lost to Texas. The regular season still matters…a lot.

Photo from fOTOGLIF