I Did It My Way

So you’ve heard it all before, what would college football look like if we had a playoff system? A lot of theories have been established since before the current BCS system was put in place back in 1998. The current system was installed because of the split national title between the Michigan Wolverines and the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1997.

Personally, I think a playoff system would be exciting. You want blueprints on how to do it? Just look to the junior FCS, or the division formally known as Division I-AA. Even Division II and III have been holding playoffs for decades. Why is the FBS so far behind? Well, money. I don’t think that will come as a shock to anyone.

Here is what I would like to see with the current teams on top in a playoff picture. This is presupposing the fact that Missouri wins the Big 12, USC wins the Pac-10, Virginia Tech wins the ACC and LSU wins the SEC.

This is the way I would draw it up if I had a say. Make it more like the other divisions in college football and more like the NFL. The first thing I would do is take all the conference champions from the top six conferences (Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, Pac-10 and the Big East) and decide your top six seeds based on placement in the polls. For the final two spots I would pick the highest ranked team from a “non-BCS” conference. Or an independent. This year’s representative would of course be the undefeated Hawaii Warriors from the WAC (Western Athletic Conference). To round out the top eight headed to the playoffs I would take an at-large team from one of the “BCS” conferences.

This of course is not all set in stone. Consider the fact that Notre Dame could get it's stuff together in the next couple years and they could potentially be in the playoffs every year. You could exclude the second BCS school should this happen. Then you could take a Hawaii and Notre Dame and everyone would be happy.

You want it? Well, I'm going to give it to you. This is how my playoff system would look this year in order of seeding.

#1 -

The Missouri Tigers after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Championship game will cement their place as the number one team in the land and secure a number one seed for the playoffs.

#2 -

The West Virginia Mountaineers don’t play a championship game against a top 10 team from a tougher conference, so the Mountaineers come in at number two.

#3 -

The Bucks may have lost at home to Illinois, but wins over ranked opponents on the road against Penn State and rival Michigan and over Wisconsin at home put the Scarlet and Grey at the number three spot.

#4 -

After losing to Stanford at home and Oregon on the road, the Trojans are looking like the team they were at the beginning of the year before losing former Heisman candidate John David Booty to injury. USC wins the Pac-10 by defeating UCLA at home and earns a spot in the postseason.

#5 -

Nothing hurts more than a late season loss at home to a conference opponent in triple overtime. Being removed from the #1 spot in the country may hurt a little more, but after beating the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC Championship the Tigers find themselves in position to still win the national title.

#6 -

VT takes care of business in the ACC by getting revenge over the Golden Eagles of Boston College and advance themselves as the third two loss team in the playoffs.

#7 -

The Dawgs earn the first spot as one of the at-large teams. Why is a two loss team who didn't win their conference or division in front of an undefeated team who will come in at number eight? Quite simply because Georgia is playing great football in one of the toughest conferences around. Georgia nudges out the Jayhawks of Kansas because of this fact.

#8 -

The Warriors of Hawaii round out the playoff picture as the at-large team from a non-BCS school. Just as an example, last year’s team would have been Boise State. And who else besides me would have loved to see the Broncos take on LSU or USC in the second round of the playoffs after taking out Goliath Oklahoma? I know I would have.

Breakdown

How will all of this play out? I’m not sure and maybe I’ll do a follow-up post on the match-ups themselves, provided this is how the conference champions shake out. Maybe if the teams swap a bit, I’ll plug in the teams that won their respective conferences.

This makes things simple in my mind. Win your division. I don’t believe that any team that does not win their division should have a shot at earning a national title. Well, almost. How does Georgia work out then? You have to have some team in there from another major conference I guess, if there is one flaw in this system. Who wants to see BYU play West Virginia? Not I, sir.

What do we do about all the teams that did not make it into the playoffs? Sorry, better luck next season. Maybe you can keep the bowls around to make for a bowl/playoff hybrid. It's probably about the only way you can get away with it. You'd just play normal bowl games around the teams that are in the playoffs. Give the playoff games the prime spots on Saturday and play the other games during the week or earlier on Saturday or on Versus or something.

So what about the major bowls, IE Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar? This is what I would do. The BCS Championship game that started last year (right? no bowl affiliation), I would 86 it and rotate the bowls each year. One of the big four, the Sugar let’s say, would host a non-playoff game with maybe the next two teams after the two at-large teams in the playoffs. The next two (Rose, Orange) would host the semi-finals of the playoffs and then one (Fiesta) would host the final championship game. Let’s break it down.

Here We Go

The first round would be played at the higher seeds home field. This is how it would look to me in Week One of the “bowl season” that would take place the week of December 17^th.

1 Missouri Tigers vs. 8 Hawaii Warriors in Columbia, Missouri

2 West Virginia Mountaineers vs. 7 Georgia Bulldogs in Morgantown, West Virginia

3 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. 6 Virginia Tech Hokies in Columbus, Ohio

4 USC Trojans vs. LSU Tigers in Los Angeles, California

Ok, next we’ll look at where each winning team would play. These wouldn’t be my real picks, like I said earlier, I’ll do a breakdown when the conference championships are settled. So, I’m just going to take the higher seeds for now.

Week Two of “bowl season” during the week of December 31^st. Hey, you have to have an off week for Christmas.

1 Missouri Tigers vs. 4 USC Trojans in Pasadena, California in the Rose Bowl. I know, I know, this is going to piss a lot of people off but hear me out. You can still have it on New Year’s Day and have your little “Parade of Roses” business. Sometimes tradition for the sake of tradition is silly. You can even still have all your New Year’s Day bowls.

2 West Virginia Mountaineers vs. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes in Miami, Florida in the Orange Bowl

Remember the consolation game between the two other at-large schools? How about Kansas versus Florida? Let’s test KU to see how good they really are, or aren’t, this season. Mark this one on the calendar for January 1^st at 8pm for New Orleans, Louisiana in the Sugar Bowl.

Week Three of “bowl season” on Monday, January 7^th 2008.

1 Missouri Tigers vs. 2 West Virginia Mountaineers in Tempe (or is it Phoenix now?), Arizona in the Championship Game in the Fiesta Bowl.

I don’t see how as a fan you can have any arguments with this type of a system. It's time to grow up and start crowning real champions. I’m sure I missed some issues, but as far as just a skeleton system in where the top teams would have a playoff, I don’t see too many faults.

Comments? Suggestions? Make sure to leave 'em for this entry.