Many people have tried to come up with a good system for putting together a playoff system for college football (yes, I know there are already playoffs for teams that most people don't care about). So, since I love college football more than any sport in the world, I thought I'd take a crack at it as well. And please, save your cynicism until the end.
First, we need to decide how many teams to allow into this playoff. Too many teams, and you lose the significance that every game during the regular season currently has. But too few teams and you risk leaving out maybe the best team in the country at the end of the season that might have lost a couple games early. Therefore, I think the perfect number of teams is eight. The Awesome Ocho. Eight is great. The Elite Eight. Not too many teams, but just enough to provide three rounds of incredible football to crown the National Champion.
There we go. That was the easy part. The tough part comes in choosing which teams get to play, and when and where those teams meet up.
WHO gets to play?
The average, simple-minded fan might think that this is an easy question. Just take the top 8 teams in the final BCS standings and there you have it! However, for starters, the BCS is already way too complicated to take such a simple approach. And, conference commissioners might cry foul if there are three SEC and three Big XII teams in the playoff every year, leaving the other guys to fight for the scraps. Therefore, I have come up with these ground rules that, to me, seem fair and logical.
1) The first playoff spots will go to the winners of the 6 major conferences, provided that they finished in the top 10 of the BCS Standings. 'Winners' can be defined as either winning the conference championship game (ACC, BIG XII, SEC), or, finishing first in your conference as designated by the rules of each individual conference (BIG East, Big 10, Pac 10). If a conference winner does not meet the Top 10 rule, see rule 1a.
1a) If a conference champion does not finish in the top 10 of the final BCS Standings, but another conference member is somehow ranked in the top 8, they will get an automatic spot in the playoffs. For example, in 2005, Florida State upset #5 Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship Game, thus by definition, becoming the ACC Champions. Florida State finished at #22 in the final BCS Standings and Virginia Tech fell all the way to #10. However, Miami finished at #8, and even though they did not win their conference, would represent the ACC in the playoffs. I feel this rule is important because it gives a conference another chance at an automatic spot should something crazy happen. It will be better for college football if each major conference has at least one team in the playoffs, as long as they have one team that is somewhat deserving.
2) The next playoff spots would go to non-major conference teams that finish in the top 8 of the final BCS Standings (see Boise State in 2006 and Notre Dame in 2005 as examples). If there is only "room" for one team and two or more qualify, the team with the highest ranking will be the nod.
3) If playoff spots still remain after this, then the teams ranked the highest in the final BCS Standings will get the remaining spots.
Here is how this would have played out the past 3 years:
2007
#1 Ohio State versus #9 West Virginia
#2 LSU versus #7 USC
#3 Virginia Tech versus #6 Missouri
#4 Oklahoma versus #5 Georgia
*#10 Hawaii doesn't make it to the playoffs, thank goodness*#8 Kansas also doesn't make it since WVU gets the automatic spot for winning their conference and finishing in the top 10. But with 2 Big XII teams already in the playoffs, I'm cool with this.
2006
#1 Ohio State versus #10 Oklahoma
#2 Florida versus #8 Boise State
#3 Michigan versus #6 Louisville
#4 LSU versus #5 USC
*#7 Wisconsin doesn't make it due to the automatic spot given to Oklahoma. However, 2 Big 10 teams are plenty to have in the playoffs.
*Also, with #14 Wake Forest being the highest-ranked ACC team, the ACC would not have a team in the playoffs. I am cool with this.
2005
#1 USC versus #8 Miami (who didn't win their conference but gets in due to rule 1a)
#2 Texas versus #7 Georgia
#3 Penn State versus #6 Notre Dame
#4 Ohio State versus #5 Oregon
*with #11 West Virginia being the highest-ranked Big East team, the Big East would not have a team in the playoffs. Again, I am cool with this.
And, if the playoffs started today, November 14, 2008, here is what it would look like for this year.
#1 Alabama versus #8 Penn State
#2 Texas Tech versus #7 Utah
#3 Texas versus #6 USC
#4 Florida versus #5 Oklahoma
*at #9, Boise State just misses the automatic spot, but they potential would have one by the end of the season.
*Top ACC team = UNC at #16; Top Big East team = Pitt at #21 ---- both conferences would not have a team in the playoffs, which is fine because they are pretty horrible this year.
WHEN and WHERE do they play?
This is probably the hardest question of them all, mostly because it has to do with money, and who gets that money. This is in fact the reason that we don't have a playoff system already. So, I won't get into the politics too much, because then we would never get anywhere. Only when the people in charge care more about the game of college football than they do about money will we ever see this happen. So, here is my scenario in a world where I get to make the decisions.
The first two first-round games will be on January 1st (one afternoon, the other at night), followed by one on the 2nd and one on the 3rd. Then, the semifinal games will be about a week later, at night, making sure to schedule around NFL playoffs games. And the BCS Championship game would be about a week after that, again, scheduling for maximum viewership.
The #1 and #2 seeds would be rewarded for their high ranking and get to host their first-round playoff game, with the other 2 games being played at one of the four major bowl sites, which would rotate annually like they currently do. Let's say this year it would be the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl. Then, the semi-final games would be played in the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls, giving preference to the highest remaining team as to where they want to play. And finally, the BCS Championship Game would be played at the same site as one of the four major bowl games like they do now. We'll say the Orange Bowl for this year, which would give the people at the Orange Bowl two weeks between games to prepare for the Championship Game.
Also, I might be in favor of a BCS Committee that would have the power to re-structure the seedings to keep teams from the same conference from playing each other in the first round, kind of like they do for the basketball tournament. I did not have to do that in the four scenarios above, but it would be nice to swap say, the #7 and #8 seeds to ensure that a team doesn't play a conference foe in the first round.
So, there you have it. Not perfect, but maybe between all of us we can come up with the perfect solution to the current college football mess. In the meantime, I am already getting pumped about another full day of college football tomorrow.
- RyanR
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Very interesting. I like it. I think we are all in favor of a playoff and agree that they can work the bowls around it to ensure they still all make their money.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Oklahoma vs. Georgia in the Sugar Bowl last year would have made people much happier than Hawaii. And I'm sure we all would have watched it....and the Sugar Bowl people would have been in heaven.
If things stayed the same this year the Rose Bowl people could be looking at a Texas vs. USC repeat.....
I hope they figure this out one day while I'm still alive.
Hey Ryan! This is Greg Stone! Well Done! My only suggestion would be to have your first round games of the top 8 be the four major bowls (Sugar, Rose, Fiesta and Orange). The semi-finals would be the next week at a selected site, with the games happening back to back! Then, have the Championship game the next week. You could have the other bowl games before the big tourney as well. How's that?
ReplyDeleteI see two problems with this scenario, Greg.
ReplyDelete1) While it might be cool to have both semi-final games at the same site on the same day, logistically that would be impossible. To have hundreds of thousands of rabid fans from four different teams in the same city, outside of the same stadium, would be horrible. Hotel rooms would be impossible to come by. Parking would be a complete mess. People couldn't tailgate for the second game because everyone from the first game would still be parked outside the stadium. Streets, highways, and interstates would be disaster. It is tough enough to handle all the logistics for ONE game, but two games would be unrealistic in my opinion.
2) I still like my idea of rewarding the top two BCS games with first-round home games. Otherwise, what is the benefit for working so hard all year to get to the top of the standings? They do this type of thing in the basketball tourney every year, like when teams like a #1-seeded UNC team doesn't leave the state of North Carolina for the first four rounds. They reward them for a hard-fought #1-seed by giving them games close to home. I think it would give teams a little more incentive to be one of the top two teams, thus providing us with better, more intense regular season games.
Now that the final BCS standings are in for the 2008 season, I thought I'd apply my formula to the current standings to see what would happen if we got a playoff.
ReplyDelete-Oklahoma, Florida, Southern Cal, and Penn State would get automatic bids as per rule #1. Cincinnati and Virginia Tech would be left out as neither are in the top 10.
-No teams apply to the 1a rule.
-Utah would get in as per rule #2, but Boise State would be left out since they finished at #9 instead of the required #8.
-the remaining spots would be filled by Texas, Alabama, and Texas Tech as per rule #3.
So, here's how the playoff would look:
Game 1: Texas and Utah would play in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in the afternoon.
Game 2: Penn State would play at Oklahoma on Jan. 1 at night.
Game 3: Alabama would play USC in the Orange Bowl at night on January 2nd.
Game 4: Texas Tech would play at Florida on the night of January 3rd.
The winners of games 1 and 4 would play in the Sugar Bowl on Saturday, January 10 during the day.
The winners of games 2 and 3 would play in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday, January 10 at night.
The winners of those game would meet in Miami to play for the National Championship on Monday, Jaunary 19 at night.
My prediction would be for UF, UT, USC, and OU to advance, with Florida beating Texas in round 2, and for USC to beat Oklahoma in round 2, with the Gators beating USC for the National Championship.