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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