What would a college football playoff look like this year? (Version 5.0)
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.
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Wow – a playoff would be awesome. Can you imagine Ohio State going back down to Texas, this time with Terrelle Pryor vs Colt McCoy?
One thing, however, that I would change would be to simply go with the top 8 teams in the BCS and get rid of the automatic bids.
I understand the rationale that you have to convince the top conferences, but they already have a built in advantage since the computers and the voters give more respect to their conferences on the criteria of strength of schedule.
By just going with the top 8 teams in the BCS, you make it simple so everyone can understand it and every fan can explain it.
Either way, the playoff would make the final two or three weeks very exciting. Ohio State fans would have been glued to the TV for the Oklahoma St. – Oklahoma game hoping for a win by the Sooners so the Buckeyes could sneak in.
Florida would still be alive, though they would have lost the top seed and a home game in the first round.
Also, Northern teams would finally be able to get the chance to play at home late in the season against the Southern teams (at least for the first round), who now have an unfair advantage.
It’s never going to happen. Fans cannot afford to travel to the games. Stadiums won’t fill. Advertisers won’t pay the big bucks. It cost a fortune to have a team travel. Players, coaches, staff, band, cheerleaders, etc. Not enough money. It’s the money. Get it?
11 or 12 games in the season. Conference championship and then add as many as 4 more games? 17 games? Not enough money to support a playoff.
MontanaTrace — Don’t fans travel now to the bowls? Why would that suddenly change because a playoff is implemented?
The semis and finals could be sponsored just like they are now. The ratings for all seven games would go through the roof because they would all mean something. Instead of six meaningless bowls and one BCS title game, every contest would impact the national championship. Bigger ratings = more revenue. It’s the money, right?
By the way, this plan would only add three more games (for only two teams), not four.
I’ll never buy the money argument because there is so much money being left on the table by not having playoff games.
As John said, the playoff games could all be sponsored and everyone wins. Instead of the Tampon.com bowl on Tuesday between Nobody vs. Nobody, you could have the Tampon.com first round matchup with everything on the line.
Why not take just the conference champions. This way all of the non conference games don’t mean squat but the conference games mean everything. This way all of the non conference games are more like practice games and teams can play them sort of like preseason games in the NFL. Also, in order to be eligeble for the playoff system you would need to be part of a conference so teams like Notre Dame would have to give up their freedom and CBS contract to be eligeble. I believe you would have 11 teams that would make the playoffs and then you could give the top 3 records a bye week for their great records and would also make them play hard against non conference teams. Pretty simple actually and isn’t simple what everyone wants.
It would only mean 1 more game for 2 teams, and 2 more games for 2 teams.
As it is now, all 8 teams that would be in the play-offs will be playing in a bowl game this season. Therefore, the 4 losers would have played the same amount of games (the first round would be the equivalent of their bowl game). Then, with 4 teams left, the 2 losers would be done, which would be the 1 extra game, and only the 2 teams left, who would be playing for the Title, would have 2 extra games.
MONEY??? NOT ENOUGH?? Are u kiddin? There is money now, to have all of the major bowls isn’t there? Then what makes u think that there wouldn’t be EVEN MORE money for those same bowls, which would then have national title implications? Hell, there’s enough money to make this a 16 team affair…..Money is abundant in college athletics!