A nighmare for the ncaa

[JQK]

I am a traditionalist. I love traditions. And college football is full ofthem, especially when it comes to the Big Bowls. THe Rose, Cotton, Sugar, and Orange. However, there comes a time when sometimes even tradition can't win againsr what is right. And the BCS has already ruined traditions, so we might as well go all the way, and make the Playoffs happen.

[Notch Novelty]

How does Division 1 AA do it and Division 1 A doesn't? How does the Division 1 AA playoffs work, anyone know? Regional?

[Notch Novelty]

By hosting a playoff game wouldn't that mean more money for a school? This way mid-major team could be in the playoffs. I just want a playoff, you can keep the bowls for teams not in the playoffs.

Playoffs could be 6 major conferences and 2 at large teams. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5

[jkrdevil]

Well, as I said earlier I feel the polls are the problem with college football and you should get rid of them. It also needs a playoff. I've come up with a system that keeps the regular season meaningful, keep bowls, and adds a playoff and gets rid off the polls.

It works like this. There are 12 division 1a confernces and 4 inpendents. Take the top records 8 records among the conference winners and independents. Use strength of schedule for tie-breakers. Seed according to record. The seeds would only detirmine match-ups, the games would be played at bowls, no home field. This year the match-ups would be

1. LSU

8. Utah

2. Miami, OH

7. Florida State

3. Boise State

6. Michigan

4. USC

5. Miami, Fl

This would have Mid-Majors involved, so you could have big upsets. If a team like Boise State sneaks in thier they would knocked out. Rating would be good becuase the scheduling would work out where the first round is a week before new years (christmas), The second round on New Years, and the championship round a week after new years.

The Bowls would work like this. The BCS bowls would rotate. One get the championship, 2 get the second round, and the remaining one would get to pick which match-up it would want. The other 3 first round games would be other bowl (Cotton, Citris, and maybe Gator).

The regular season would still matter because you must win your conference. While thier would be a playoff, but best of all no biased polls.

thanks jrh, the linked helped out.

[vicfurth]

Last I heard, it was LSU vs. OU. This miffs. I'm ticked. K-State (K-STATE) routs, smears, put a whuppin' on the Sooners & Oklahoma is in the Suger Bowl. I hope & pray (but seriously doubt) that this is the demise of BCS. This is an outrage. It's ridiculous. It shoulda been LSU & USC in the Sugar Bowl. Oklahoma deserves to be ther about as much as I do.

[MonkeyWrench32]

So wether you like them or not, root for USC, they are the key to bringing down the BCS...

I hate the BCS, but I'd never root against Michigan.  So, sorry.  

[Notch Novelty]

BIG 12 Title Game does it again. Messes everything up.

OK, noone wants Utah in there besides Utah, Oklahoma is clearly better than Utah, that wouldn't work. 2 spots left open for mid major conferences but also gets a team like OU in.

1. USC - PAC 10 Champs

2. LSU - SEC Champs

3. Michigan - Big 10 Champs

4. Florida St. - ACC Champs

5. Miami - Big East Champs

6. Kansas St. - Big 12 Champs

7. Oklahoma - At Large

8. Ohio St - At Large

[Discrim]

So wether you like them or not, root for USC, they are the key to bringing down the BCS...

I hate the BCS, but I'd never root against Michigan. So, sorry.

as a Notre Dame fan i can never root for the University of Spoiled Children, no matter how crappy the Bullplop Championship is.  i'd sooner cheer on Michigan, which is probably what i'm gonna do

[JQK]

I'm an Irish fan too. But i know what is needed for the greater good. Yes, it will be hard to root for those Condom bastards, but i have to, pluse they would have beaten Michigan, which i'm all for...

[ChicoStater]

My hairbrained scheme nobody here is going to like, but I am going to do it anyways:

*16-team playoff over 4 weeks

*Use current bowl games for playoff games

*11 conference winners get automatic bids (unfair to ind. teams, but as far as I'm concerned, they all need to join a conference anyways...yes, Notre Dame, that means you.)

*12th-16th teams would be selected at-large utalizing current BCS ranking system for highest-ranked non-conference winner.

*BCS ranking system is used to determine seeding, but an at-large team can't get one of the top four seeds.

*Only take one of the four major bowls out of it's traditional matchup for the national championship. Give them to the second place teams instead of conference champions

So, using that setup, here is how the seeds would work:

1)LSU- SEC Champion

2)USC- Pac-10 Champion

3)Michigan- Big Ten Champion

4)Florida State- ACC Champion

5)Oklahoma- At Large Team

6)Ohio State- At Large Team

7)Texas- At Large Team

8)Tennessee- At Large Team

9)Miami (FL)- Big East Champion

10)Kansas State- Big XII Champion

11)Miami (OH)- MAC Champion

12)Georgia- At Large Team

13)Boise State- WAC Champion

14) Utah- Mountain West Champion

15) Southern Miss- Conference USA Champion

16) North Texas- Sun Belt Champion

Sure Oklahoma is still the #1 seed, but they don't get the trophy handed over to them for winning one game-

Okay, the playoff games (I just picked bowls at random here, substitute as you wish, dates would be when these game would have been played this year):

WEEK 1 December 11-13 (2-3 games a day to make sure all get national TV exposure):

New Orleans Bowl: Miami (FL) vs. Tennessee

GMAC Bowl: Kansas State vs. Texas

Tangerine Bowl: Miami (OH) vs. Ohio State

Fort Worth Bowl: Georgia vs. Oklahoma

Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State vs. Florida State

Hawaii Bowl: Utah vs. Michigan

Motor City Bowl: Southern Miss vs. USC

Insight Bowl: North Texas vs. LSU

WEEK 2 December 19-20

Continental Tire Bowl: Lowest Seed Winner vs. Highest Seed Winner

Alamo Bowl: 2nd lowest seed winner vs. 2nd highest seed winner

Houston Bowl: 3rd lowest seed winner vs. 3rd highest seed winner

Holiday Bowl: 4th lowest seed winner vs. 4th highest seed winner

WEEK 3 December 26-27

Citrus Bowl: Lowest Seed winner vs. highest seed winner

Cotton Bowl: 2nd lowest seed winner vs. 2nd highest seed winner

WEEK 4 January 3

Sugar Bowl: Last two teams left

Other bowl games left out of this (in my setup, this was Humanitarian, Peach, Gator, Outback, San Francisco, Independence, Liberty, Sun, Music City, and Silicon Valley) has their pick of the many-a 9 and 10-win teams that would get left out of the national championship playoffs or their traditional bowl matchups (plus-side...no more damn teams with .500 records making it into bowl games because they play in a big conference!!!)

It's not a perfect system, I'm expecting y'all to tear it apart, but it could be a starting block that will make people a little more happy.

[JQK]

I'mma take your idea and tweak it a lil bit. This is by far the best and most well-thought out idea i've seen.

*16-team playoff over 4 weeks

* Use current Bowls for later-round games.

*11 conference winners get automatic bids, as does the Independent team with the best record

*12th-16th teams would be selected at-large utalizing current BCS ranking system for highest-ranked non-conference winner.

*BCS ranking system is used to determine seeding, but an at-large team can't get one of the top four seeds.

So, using that setup, here is how the seeds would work:

1)LSU- SEC Champion

2)USC- Pac-10 Champion

3)Michigan- Big Ten Champion

4)Florida State- ACC Champion

5)Oklahoma- At Large Team

6)Ohio State- At Large Team

7)Texas- At Large Team

8)Tennessee- At Large Team

9)Miami (FL)- Big East Champion

10)Kansas State- Big XII Champion

11)Miami (OH)- MAC Champion

12)Georgia- At Large Team

13)Boise State- WAC Champion

14) Utah- Mountain West Champion

15) Southern Miss- Conference USA Champion

16) North Texas- Sun Belt Champion

Sure Oklahoma is still the #1 seed, but they don't get the trophy handed over to them for winning one game-

Okay, the playoff games (I just picked bowls at random here, substitute as you wish, dates would be when these game would have been played this year):

WEEK 1 Second Weekend of December:

Miami (FL) at Tennessee

Kansas State at Texas

Miami (OH) at Ohio State

Georgia at Oklahoma

Boise State at Florida State

Utah at Michigan

Southern Miss at USC

North Texas at LSU

WEEK 2 Third Weekend of December

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Lowest Seed Winner vs. Highest Seed Winner

Alamo Bowl: 2nd lowest seed winner vs. 2nd highest seed winner

Independent Bowl: 3rd lowest seed winner vs. 3rd highest seed winner

Cotton Bowl: 4th lowest seed winner vs. 4th highest seed winner

WEEK 3 Fourth Weekend Of December

Orange Bowl: Lowest Seed winner vs. highest seed winner

Sugar Bowl: 2nd lowest seed winner vs. 2nd highest seed winner

WEEK 4 January 1st or First Saturday of January

Rose Bowl: Last two teams left

The Orange and Sugar are perpetually the Semi-Final sites, and the Rose Bowl will host the National Championship every year.

[IowaFan26]

This is pretty messed up. But figure in a few things.

* Oklahoma held the #1 spot in the polls practically all year long and only lost in the last week, that's when USC snuck in. Oklahoma was only hurt by losing late in the season.

* What the heck is the Humanatarian Bowl doing being played on January 3rd? Especially when it's Georgia Tech V.S. Tulsa? It should be like the Rose Bowl on New Years Day, FedEx on the 2nd, Tositos on the 3rd, and the Sugar on the 4th, the four major bowls on four separate days.

* And how much does it stink to be TCU, stroll through the season until you get beat by Southern Miss. Could be the only undefeated team left in the nation, now you're playing in the Fort Worth Bowl.

*Right now I'm in favor of them going back to the way it was, but if they don't want to go back to the way it was, go to a playoff, I really like where JQK and Chico are going with their playoff setup, but you have to draw a line with the mid majors.

* I think you should make it a 24 team tournament, adding a round before the first round you have set up right now to allow 8 more at large teams to take shots at the teams that might not really deserve to be there. Like adding some of the 9-3 teams from major conferences and TCU, who finished 11-1.

[KCScout76]

16-team playoff over 4 weeks

*Use current bowl games for playoff games

Won't happen, too many teams left out of the picture, yes it would eliminate the 6-6 & 7-5 teams, but the $$$ is too big, the fans who follow their teams even to the small bowl games, spend a lot of dollars to watch their teams. Cities & their bowl would die out, much like the 1980s when cities no longer could get sponsers (ie. Blue Bonnet Bowl in Houston) so they died out.

They might go with the top 8 teams, that only requires 7 different bowls (4 for week one, 2 for week two, and the final)

They certainly can do better that what they have. . . any way the circle of chaos continues into 2004

[shiznit1083]

Here's my thought to incorporate Bowls in the mix.  Why not some how have all of the losers in the tourney play bowl games in the week leading up to the Champ game.  i.e. the 8 first round losers would play bowl games according to seedings on the monday before the saturday champ game seeing as how they would have plenty of time to prepare for the game and by friday the losers in the semifinal round would play in a bowl game.  The later the in the week the game is, the more prestigious bowls finish off the week while still keeping a rotating championship bowl.

Also, a really interesting thing would be that the comittees for each bowl woul be drooling at the prospect of having a team like Miami in the Las Vegas bowl after being upset in the first round.  It would be a March Madness type atmosphere.

[JQK]

16-team playoff over 4 weeks

*Use current bowl games for playoff games

Won't happen, too many teams left out of the picture, yes it would eliminate the 6-6 & 7-5 teams, but the $$$ is too big, the fans who follow their teams even to the small bowl games, spend a lot of dollars to watch their teams. Cities & their bowl would die out, much like the 1980s when cities no longer could get sponsers (ie. Blue Bonnet Bowl in Houston) so they died out.

They might go with the top 8 teams, that only requires 7 different bowls (4 for week one, 2 for week two, and the final)

They certainly can do better that what they have. . . any way the circle of chaos continues into 2004

That's why in my adaptation of Chico's plan i gave back some of the bowls. You can't eliminate all bowl games. It's not right to tell some of the smaller schools just because you couldn't hang with the big boys you don't get jack. Let the teams who havn't made the playoff picture have their bowls and make their money. They are as entitled to it as anyone else.

[KCScout76]

That's why in my adaptation of Chico's plan i gave back some of the bowls. You can't eliminate all bowl games. It's not right to tell some of the smaller schools just because you couldn't hang with the big boys you don't get jack. Let the teams who havn't made the playoff picture have their bowls and make their money. They are as entitled to it as anyone else.

Amen JQK - my schools would be going to those bowl games.  But I like the idea of the championship bowl playoff!

[smzimbabwe]

Here's a funny little sidebar to the whole mess. By contract, the coaches must vote the winner of the BCS title game as the #1 team. If USC wins the Rose Bowl, Pete Carroll MUST vote for the winner of LSU-Oklahoma as the best team in the country over his team. Or he could abstain, is that allowed under the rules?

[ChicoStater]

I like the fact that you get to pick your opponents...especially when the "big school" gets beat!

I like the fact that you only need one foot in bounds.

I like the ridiculous marathon overtimes, beats the hell out of sudden death

I love the option. NEVER diss on the option. Who cares if you run a damn single wing, so long as you win.

I hate the midriff jerseys and low socks...okay, I'll agree with you on the jersey, but don't diss the socks...those long socks aren't always that comfortable, trust me.

I hate that you are whistled down when you fall. (I'll agree with you there)

I love the wide hashes and goal posts. Those short field goals aren't as automatic.

I love the STRIPES ON THE BALL, it looks so pretty.

[Joshawaggie]

I like the bands.

[yh]

I am a Sooner fan, so I am glad they still get a chance to play for the National Championship and this probably biases my perspective, so I want to make that disclosure up front.  Losing big to the hottest team in the country (K State) is probably no worse than losing to a decent but unspectacular Florida team or an unremarkable Cal squad; it just it still comes down to a "beauty pageant" to winnow 3 contenders (each of whome had exactly one bad Saturday at some point during the season) down to 2.  Ultimately, I think this came out right, although I can certainly see where USC has a right to say "hello, what about us?"  

What would have been really interesting to see is what would have happened if the USC administration decided to take a stand and refused the Rose Bowl bid.  Let's keep in mind that Notre Dame won national championships in years when they refused bowl bids.  If they are contractually forbidden from winning the National Championship in one poll, who's to say that they'd be any worse off if they decided to sit out the Rose Bowl in protest?  I really don't think the Pac 10 would impose any kind of serious discipline on the Trojans, because they could turn around and say "do what you want, we're bolting."  And don't think that some geographically nonsencical conference wouldn't come a calling -- hello Big Ten, Big XII, hell even the ACC!

I happen to like the bowl system the way it is.  I'm a Mizzou grad and a Tiger season ticket holder since 1979 and yes, I am excited that my team is going to a bowl even if it happens to be the Bowl Formerly Known As The Weed Eater Bowl.  I like the fact that just about any team that avoids a losing record gets a chance to play an extra game in the post season.  And I don't want to see the bowl system used as a playoff.  

Frankly, I think the biggest thing that has loused up the system is the revenue vehicle known as the conference championship game.  Unless every conference uses one (which the NCAA has already said won't happen for conferences with less than 12 teams), the games are meaningless - 2001 and 2003 have proven that.  Simply put, so long as there are at-large BCS berths and BCS eligible conferences that don't have a championship game, the notion of winning your conference championship game as an absolute condition precedent to a national title is fallacy.  Even with the loss in the Big XII title game, OU's conference record was 8-1 which would have still been enough to win the conference outright and therefore from a merit standpoint, who's to say they still shouldn't be exactly where they are?

I think the solution that might best appease the traditionalists and those who absolutely must see an elimination playoff in order to declare a true champ is to have a 4 team playoff after the bowls.  Take the top 4 BOWL-WINNING teams (under the BCS formula) after the bowls and play 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 on the first Saturday after January 7.  The winners of those games would meet nine days later (on a Monday night) for the National Championship game.  The sites for the playoff should be bid out on an annual basis just like the NCAA basketball tournament (with each playoff game being played at a different venue).  Will this ultimately result in a fair method of naming a national champ?  Well, define "fair....."