I’ve long been a proponent of a college football playoff. I gave a persuasive speech on why we needed one when I was a freshman in college. I got an A. No big deal.
But just to show what exactly we’re missing out on without one, I went ahead and set up a bracket of what this year’s playoff would look like. I went off the “Death to the BCS” formula, which includes the 11 major college football conference champions, and five at-large bids.
The seeds were set up using the BCS standings — I did make a change with Oklahoma and LSU to avoid an all-SEC first-round matchup — and I just went ahead and predicted the conference championship games that are still being played.
Here’s what we would have to look forward to over the next month:
1. Auburn (12-0 SEC)
16. FIU (6-5 Sun Belt)
8. Michigan State (11-1 At-large)
9. LSU (10-2 At-large)
4. Stanford (11-1 At-large)
13. UConn (7-4 Big East)
5. Wisconsin (11-1 Big Ten)
12. Va Tech (10-2 ACC)
3. TCU (12-0 Mountain West)
14. Central Florida (10-3 Conference USA)
6. Ohio State (11-1 At-large)
11. Boise State (11-1 WAC — don’t know the tie-breakers in the WAC)
7. Arkansas (10-2 At-large)
10. Oklahoma (10-2 Big 12)
2. Oregon (11-0 Pac-10)
15. Miami (OH) (9-4 MAC)
The top seeds would play at home through the semifinals, and the title game would be hosted by whichever stadium had the game that year (the book argues the Rose Bowl should host every year. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I do like the idea of rotating the site).
Is this system perfect? Probably not. Does it have the 16 best teams in college football? No. But does it have all the teams that could possibly make a claim to be the best in the nation? Yes.
It also keeps the regular-season relevant. Forget for a moment that if you’re a TCU fan, you’re all of the sudden interested in the MAC Championship game, and just look at the at-large bids.
Last week’s game between Arkansas and LSU had pretty big implications for both teams last week, because the winner was likely to get an at-large BCS bid and play in the Sugar Bowl (barring a South Carolina upset in the SEC title game). While that’s a big thing to play for, think of what would have been on the line for them if a playoff was their destination: Arkansas would have been playing for a spot in the field. LSU, meanwhile is playing to perhaps host two playoff games as opposed to having to travel to East Lansing in the first round.
As for the teams not in the playoff, they’d go to the other bowl games and play for nothing but pride, kind of like they do now. Sure, the non-title BCS games would be less attractive, but that’s a small price to pay.
Is there anything negative about this? How do people not see that it’s a much better option?
