Tag: college football playoff (Page 3 of 8)

      If we had a playoff, this is what it might look like

      December 4, 2010 /
      TUSCALOOSA, AL - NOVEMBER 26: Head coach Gene Chizik of the Auburn Tigers leads his team onto the field to face the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium on November 26, 2010 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

      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?

      College Football, External Sports

      Has the BCS worked? Let’s take a look

      December 4, 2010 /
      PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 04: Vince Young #10 of the Texas Longhorns runs past Frostee Rucker #90 of the USC Trojans to score a touchdown and put the Longhorns up by one in the final moments of the BCS National Championship Rose Bowl Game at the Rose Bowl on January 4, 2006 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

      Earlier this week, I took a look back at all of the BCS championship games and whether or not they really pit the top two teams in the country against each other. But more importantly, whether or not it was a slam dunk that these were the top two teams, and you couldn’t make an argument that someone else possibly deserved a shot.

      Now, granted, my memory is fuzzy on the really early ones, as I was still in high school for the first two years of the BCS, but I have a pretty good recollection of the rest of these games/years.

      It’s a long post, but click through to see if the BCS has really gotten it right, or if we’ve been missing out all these years. Continue reading »

      College Football, External Sports

      What would a college football playoff look like this year?

      November 29, 2010 /
      Oct 21, 2010; Eugene, OR, USA; Fans of the Oregon Ducks cheer during the game against the UCLA Bruins at Autzen Stadium. Photo via Newscom

      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…

      Continue reading »

      College Football, External Sports

      Exective director Bill Hancock defends the BCS

      January 7, 2010 /

      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.


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      College Football

      House subcommittee approves legislation for college football playoff system

      December 9, 2009 /

      According to an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a U.S. House subcommittee has approved a legislation that would force college football to switch to a playoff system to determine a national champion.

      The bill, which faces long odds of becoming law, would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I football game as a national championship unless that title contest is the result of a playoff. The measure passed by voice vote in a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee, with one audible “no,” from Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga.

      “With all due respect, I really think we have more important things to spend our time on,” Barrow said before the vote, although he stressed he didn’t like the current Bowl Championship Series, either.

      The bill’s sponsor, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, said the BCS system is unfair and won’t change unless prompted by Congress.
      The vote came three days after the BCS selections were announced, including the Jan. 7 national title game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Texas.

      Something that just occurred to me is what if college football does implement a playoff system and teams like TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati and whomever routinely get knocked out in the first or second round?

      I get that the point of a playoff system is to determine a winner on the field as opposed to leaving the decision up to voters and a computer system. But it would be a tad ironic if all this clamoring for a playoff system eventually leads to the same conferences (SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, etc.) being pitted against each other in the national title game – especially if there has to be a law made in order to force college football to figure out a playoff structure.

      That said, I’m still all for it. I agree that there are probably better things for the congress to be worried about than college football, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to see it happen.

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      College Football

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