BCS Playoffs

Tradition can be a good thing and I enjoy how bowl games make college football unique, but I'm ready for some college football playoffs. However, a 4 team playoff will not satisfy me. Yes, there definitely comes a point where you have too many teams in a playoff. I really really wish college basketball had not expanded beyond 64 teams. I would have preferred a contraction to 32 over an expansion.



Back to topic, here is what two playoff scenarios would look like if the season ended today:



16 teams. Every conference gets an auto bid including an independent. I debated not including an independent as an auto-bid, but as a BYU fan I just have to. 5 at-large bids. Rankings come from BCS if available and from Sagarin if not. 4 team playoff will be better than nothing, but I really want to see a 16 team playoff. I favor each conference getting an auto-bid over just taking the top 16. Every team really can make the playoffs. You get the cinderalla storylines. And you reward the top teams for having a relatively easy first round game.



In this scenario BYU gets in right now. We would match up againsst Oregon. What do you think? I mean, wouldn't this be FUN??



**Edited to replace Baylor as #3 with Oregon.

You have Baylor twice. I know that's an easy mistake to make though--no one offense should be putting up those numbers.

It would be too good to be true. Each team should know at the beggining of the year that they control their destiny and if they win they'll get a shot. The 4-team playooff doesn't deserve to be called a playoff.

snoscythe wrote:
You have Baylor twice. I know that's an easy mistake to make though--no one offense should be putting up those numbers.

Fixed. The #3 Baylor should be Oregon. Thanks.

No way they give independents an automatic slot in any sort of playoff.

I've touted the 16 team for a while. But the thing I was hoping that would catch on would be that the bowl games could stay intact as well. First eight out are released to whatever bowl game they can get. Next four out go to two of the "old" BCS" bowls. Next two out go to the thrid place BCS Bowl and the last two standing play in the final BCS Bowl that was designated as this years Champ bowl.



I agree that the Indy's (old WAC slot) don't get an auto but that the slot goes to an at large.

What the mighty SEC only gets two teams? And ACC gets three? And no Notre Dame?



TIC

The main problem with a 16-team playoff is that there are FIVE at large bids. That is too many. The beautiful thing about college football is the importance of the regular season. If you start handing out at large bids, then the regular season and conference championships become less important.



In the proposed scenario, you have Missouri, Stanford, and Miami that are all hosting first round games...but they didn't win their conference. In the case of Stanford, they wouldn't have even played for their conference championship. Other scenarios are easy to come up with where, say, Clemson and LSU host a first round game without even having played in the championship game. The system must reward conference champions and make it more difficult for at large teams.



A great solution is to have an 8-team playoff with a "play-in" round. This limits that number of at large teams that actually participate in the 8-team playoff and still gives the weak conference an opportunity.



Here is what it would look like using current rankings/standings (no way do the independents get an auto bid unless they finish with a top-10 ranking):



Auto Bids

(1)Alabama (SEC)

(2)Florida St. (ACC)

(3)Oregon (PAc 12)

(4)Ohio St. (Big Ten)

(5)Baylor (Big 12)

(6)Fresno (MWC)

N. Illinois (MAC)

UCF (AAC)

LA-Lafayette (Sun Belt)

Rice (C-USA)



At Large:

(7)Missouri

(8)Miami



PLAY-IN ROUND (Four games over Dec. 12-14 at higher seed home field)

Rice at N. Illinois, DeKalb, IL

LA-Lafayette at UCF, Orlando, FL

(8)Miami at (5)Baylor, Waco, TX

(7)Missouri at (6)Fresno, Fresno, CA



[It would be nice to actually have 4 at large bids that play EACH OTHER in the Play-In round, but there just aren't enough weeks in December (with Christmas in the way) between Conference Championship weekend and New Year's Day to have that many rounds. But for kicks, it could look like this:



Rice at N. Illinois, DeKalb, IL

LA-Lafayette at UCF, Orlando, FL

(10)Clemson at (7)Missouri

(9)Stanford at (8)Miami



Then, Clemson/Missouri winner at Rice/N.Illinois winner and Stanford/Miami winner at LA-Lafayette/UCF winner. Winners go on to play at #1 Alabama and at #2 Florida St.



(5)Baylor and (6)Fresno St. would just automatically move to Round 1 to play at #4 and #3]





PLAYOFF ROUND 1 (four games over Dec. 19-21, at higher seed home field)

(1)Alabama v. Rice/N.Illinois winner, Tuscaloosa, AL

(2)Florida St. v. UCF/LA-Lafayette winner, Tallahassee, FL

(3)Oregon v. Missouri/Fresno winner, Eugene, OR

(4)Ohio St. v. Miami/Baylor winner, Columbus, OH



[Preferably, re-seed after the Play-In round (like NFL), so Alabama gets the easiest opponent in the first round and so forth]



SEMI-FINALS (play on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1 at the sites just like the new CFP)

(1)Alabama v. (4)Ohio St. at Chik-Fil-A bowl in Atlanta, GA

(2)Florida St. v. (3) Oregon at Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX



The other Play-In and Playoff participants would get to play in Dec. 31 or early January bowl games, including some (current) BCS bowls. Fiesta, Cotton, and Chik-Fil-A (and a couple others (including some lesser bowls for the weaker conference champs) could rotate to matchup eliminated playoff teams.

So based on week 11 results here are 3 possible scenarios for playoffs:


BCS Playoffs 2013 Wk11.PNG

With the 8 team playoff I went with the 5 conference champions from the "power" conferences + the top 2 teams from the non "power" conferences + 1 at large (the best non-champion). Somewhat similar to a scenario described by someone else but with no messy play-ins.



Which do you like the best?

What if we follow Divsion II's playoff format and take the top 24 BCS? It could look like this (I know Oregon lost, this is LAST week's BCS rankings):


BCS Playoffs 2013 Wk11 Div 2 Format.PNG

This would give access and reward top teams with top SOS.

It should just follow the I-AA format...forget the bowl games really who watches half these boring nobody cares bowls anyway...c'mon NIU could not even sell all of its tix, nobody else wanted to watch that..16 team playoff best way to decide a true champ...The fiesta bowl is prob paying some refs off to throw one of the NIU and frez st game.lol

Rant time....





The current system is both awful and corrupt. So many meaningless bowls that any team that goes 500 gets into one. It's the NCAA equivalent of everyone gets a trophy. Everything is based on biased polls and ridiculous computer rankings rather than on the field.



I'm all for tradition as far as teams continuing to play their rivals. But the current bowls? Get rid of 'em, starting with the Rose Bowl. How I wish some terrorist would blow that place up. They and their stupid parade are part of the problem.



What they've done so far is a step in the right direction but nowhere near enough. They need to start from the philosophy that every team, whether it's Ohio State or New Mexico State, has a chance to play for the National Title game....a real National Title game and not a quasi-legit BCS title game...if they do their part.



The 16 team playoff, with every conference (including independent) and some at large bids, would probably be the most fair. That would mean a team plays 4 games to become national champions. For those who think that would mean too many games, the games a team plays during the regular season could easily be cut back to make room for post-season games.

Here are my updated playoff scenarios:



I am really hoping an SEC does not make the title game. That will make my Christmas.

byufan4ever wrote:
Here are my updated playoff scenarios:



I am really hoping an SEC does not make the title game. That will make my Christmas.

In the 4 team playoff, I would replace Alabama with Oklahoma St. Alabama had a chance to win their conference, they didn't. Oklahoma St. with the same record, did (Assuming they beat Oklahoma).



I also feel that beating Oklahoma, Baylor, @Texas, @Texas Tech, and Mississippi State is superior to beating @Texas A&M, LSU, Mississippi, Virginia Tech and @Mississippi St.

I just went straight BCS rankings for the 4 team playoff but I would have no problem kicking out an SEC non-champion.

No way, man. I am hoping for an Alabama v. Auburn rematch in the BCS title game. I just need Ohio State and Florida State to flame out in epic proportions. ;)

IMO, the BCS' biggest problem has always been that it didn't take its model far enough out. If you have 10 BCS games, then the teams in the top 10 of the BCS standings should go - period. Regardless of conference. If the SEC is good enough for 4 teams then four teams go. If the AAC isn't good enough for one, then they get zero. If any team is in the top 10, those should be the teams gonig to the BCS.

Cougarfan87 wrote:
No way, man. I am hoping for an Alabama v. Auburn rematch in the BCS title game. I just need Ohio State and Florida State to flame out in epic proportions. ;)

:sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick:

SpiffCoug wrote:
IMO, the BCS' biggest problem has always been that it didn't take its model far enough out. If you have 10 BCS games, then the teams in the top 10 of the BCS standings should go - period. Regardless of conference. If the SEC is good enough for 4 teams then four teams go. If the AAC isn't good enough for one, then they get zero. If any team is in the top 10, those should be the teams going to the BCS.

I'm with you all the way, but no conference commissioner would ever agree to a system where his conference could get shut out. It's the same reason we don't have European-soccer-style relegation in US pro sports, no owner would ever agree to it.

SpiffCoug wrote:
IMO, the BCS' biggest problem has always been that it didn't take its model far enough out. If you have 10 BCS games, then the teams in the top 10 of the BCS standings should go - period. Regardless of conference. If the SEC is good enough for 4 teams then four teams go. If the AAC isn't good enough for one, then they get zero. If any team is in the top 10, those should be the teams gonig to the BCS.

I've always thought the top six or eight is where we will end up eventually. I think that is probably as far as it will go for a long, long time. If you think about who controls the money, it is the BCS conferences. They will want to assure that their conference champ is in every year, which top four does not do if Notre Dame has a great year. Hence, they will eventually move it out to six or eight to ensure that their conference Champ has a place in the playoff, as well as the possibility for one or two more of their conference teams to sneak in as well.