djtestudo

I know there have been other threads on this subject, but since apparently search isn't working I don't feel like wading through five pages of threads to find them.

Basically, I was thinking about a playoff system for college football because of the crap going on right now, and this thought poped in my head: do it more like basketball.

There are 11 conferences in Division 1-A. You do a 16-team tournament over four weeks. Each conference champion gets an automatic bid. You then take the average of the coaches and AP polls, and the five highest ranked teams that aren't champions get at-large bids. Do a special combined poll to rank those 16, and seed them like a normal tournament.

Keep three of the BCS bowls around to alternate as semi-final and championship game locations, and let the other bowls make deals with conferences like now to stay alive, or just fold.

I know this isn't perfect, but it will do several things.

1) Eliminate controversy about who the champion is once and for all. If you go undefeated and lose in the first round, you have no valid complaints.

2) Allow teams from all conferences to have a shot. Since every conference has an automatic bid, a team like Miami of Ohio, N. Illinois, or TCU would only need to win their conference to make the playoff. It becomes more fair to all teams.

3) Keep the regular season important. While one late loss won't kill you anymore, you need to win the critical games in-conference to keep going. An example from this year; Michigan had two early losses, but finished 7-1 and won the Big Ten.

I think this is a fair proposal to make, as it makes the championship system fairto everyone while keeping conference championships and the regular season legitamite.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

archer2371

I would go for anything other than the BCS charlie fox right now.

__________________
"This ain't no Ice Cream Social!"

"Hey Grif, Chupathingy...how bout that? I like it...got a ring to it."

"I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell O'Malley is! My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif."

gov135

This proposal is better than others I've seen, djtestudo.

I still think, however, that you will witness the regular season schedule being devalued. You take the upset out of the equation - for instance - Texas was all but eliminated from national championship competition when they were defeated by Arkansas at home. But under your system, who cares? Texas sure doesn't - they know they could easily get one of your "at large" bids to get into a playoff. The point is that Texas proved it doesn't belong there when they lost.

As for allowing all conference champions in, this includes conferences like the Sun Belt?

QUICK - Name the top ten mens college basketball programs in the AP poll. Can't do it, can you? But early in the college football season I bet you could name the top ten. This is because with a playoff, noone pays college basketball the same amount of attention until it really counts. I wouldn't want this to happen to college football where losing to Arkansas at home isn't big news because you know you can play for it all in January.

Finally, look at the Oklahoma/K-State game last nite. Oklahoma wouldn't have even started Jason White last nite if we had a playoff system. They would have been in and they would have known it - and I doubt they'd much care if they were a 1 or 3 seed.

I have other arguements against, it dj. You add four possible games to the schedule of playoff teams. Would you eliminate non-conference games? College kids shouldn't be playing eighteen game schedules. If you do eliminate non-conference games, then the teams that don't make the playoff have less game to play! Do you really think, for instance, that Florida State deserves a chance to play for the national championship? Florida? After losing three games? I don't think so - but your system has them in.

Finally ( I promise this is it) someone is still gonna be crying rivers about being left out. You have five at large seats for teams like this years, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Washington State, Ohio State, West Virginia, Tennessee, etc. Who are you gonna leave out? Do any of the teams I just listed really deserve to play for a championship? I say no.

Sorry about the rant. This system is pretty good in alot of areas, djtestudo.

TitleFight

So one of your arguements against a playoff is that people won't pay attention to the college football polls in September? Get real. Us college BB fans could easily point out the top 10 currently. And the reason that others cannot is not b/c of the tourney, but its b/c they don't care! Moreover people pay attention at the end of the season b/c of GAMBLING. What office/friends/whatever does not have an NCAA tourney pool? Of course non-fans try to get interested in it at the end, they try to pick the sleepers. (not knocking gambling or tourney pools btw!)

What would be wrong with not starting Jason White if an event happened like it did last night in a playoff format? There's no fantasy college football so who would care? Why not let the kid rest and get fully repaired from the wear and tear of the season? Would going undefeated not justify being able to play your bench? And plus I doubt a team would play their second stringers if they were undefeated...something about that goose egg in the loss column looks mighty nice at the end of a season.

Someone will be crying rivers?? Of course man, you can't please everyone. People say this all the time how someone will be left out. Well I can guaran-damn-tee you it better to leave off an 8-3 or a 10-2 than USC example of this year. No questions.

Okay, that is all. Hope this didn't come off crass b/c if it did it wasn't my intention! I get heated over this topic.

__________________
"The radio reminds me of my home far away....."

The_Dude

they should just take like the tp 8 or so bcs teams and make 'em go head to head.

__________________
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal

djtestudo

They should care, because that would still hurt them in the rankings, and depending on when the loss is could knock them out.

Yes. Basketball does it, so why not football? It does two things:
it gives lesser programs a chance to play for a title if they win their conference, while taking away any reason they could give to whine about not being there.

That seed could mean the difference between playing TCU and playing Miami of Ohio, or a better team.

This is a good point. I think I just make it a flat 11-game schedule, and if you want to play exhibition games before hand, they don't count except likely when your team tires out at the end.

This goes back to the regular season staying important; if you win your games, you have nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the comments. I just made a lot of it up as I went along, so I knew it wouldn't be perfect.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

maximusveritas

I do think the 2 best teams are gonna be playing for the title this year, but I still think the BCS is deeply flawed and that a playoff system similar to the one proposed here would be much better. You never hear people dispute the college basketball title. You win the tourney, you're the champion period. Its true that the regular season games will not be as meaningful, but that's a sacrifice i think many are willing to make in order to get some meaningful games at the end of the season.

djtestudo

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/bracket/bcs.html

Apparently SOMEONE knows how to do this

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun