My College Football playoff concept

[scraw28]

one week After the conference championships in december a final four round ,not that plus one crap

move the bowl selections show, college football awards and heisman trophy award a week later, andget rid some of theose crappy bowl games.

2 game doubleheader neutral site

Playoff Tree

BCS #4vs

BCS #1

BCS #3 vs

BCS #2

BCS Title Game

BCS Highest remainng Seed vs

BCS Lowest Remaining Seed

I think this is a good concept plus it keeps the traditional bowl matchups (rose bowl Pac 10 vs Big Ten)

[DDR]

one week After the conference championships in december a final four round ,not that plus one crap

move the bowl selections show, college football awards and heisman trophy award a week later, andget rid some of theose crappy bowl games.

2 game doubleheader neutral site

BCS #4

BCS #1

BCS lowest remaining seed

BCS highest remaining seed

BCS #3

BCS #2

I think this is a good concept plus it keeps the traditional bowl matchups (rose bowl Pac 10 vs Big Ten)

What?

[HedleyLamarr]

get rid some of theose crappy bowl games.

I can agree with this part.

[STL FANATIC]

How does it keep the traditional bowl matchups.

Honest to God, those are all I care about. I could care less how they decide who #1 is.

[infrared41]

How does it keep the traditional bowl matchups.

Like this. (I've already posted this in two other threads but I am pimping this idea everywhere because I think it's the ideal playoff )

8 team playoff. 4 Bowls. Use the traditional bowl tie-ins instead of seeding or polls. Polls would only play a role in selecting two teams.

Jan. 1

Rose Bowl: Big 10 and Pac-10 winners.

Orange Bowl: Big 12 and ACC

Sugar Bowl: SEC and Big East

Fiesta Bowl: The best of the rest.

Play the semi-finals a week later and the Championship game the following week.

The Semi-Finals and The Championship game can be awarded just like the Super Bowl. Any city that meets the criteria can bid to host the games. Or they can simply rotate them among the bigger bowl sites.

I know those tie-ins aren't exactly right but you keep the traditional ones and either add the ones I have or rotate the Big East and ACC between the Sugar, Orange, and Fiesta. Or The Fiesta hosts what would essentially be at-large bids which would come from either the traditional powers or would include a Hawaii or Boise State that breaks through. So to get in you either have to win your conference or play lights out all season long. It's very similar to the NFL. Division champs are in. Everyone else is playing for two "wild card" slots. That would preserve the regular season.

This system preserves the bowls so the money keeps flowing. The fans don't have to worry about where they're going every year. The Networks like it because they know who they're getting. And it adds a bunch of new revenue streams to the mix with the semi-finals and championship game being up for grabs.

Here's how it would have looked this year.

Rose: Ohio State-USC

Orange: Oklahoma-Virginia Tech

Sugar: LSU-West Virginia

Fiesta: Pick two from Hawaii, Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, etc. You could even use the BCS model for this game.

Just a thought.

[wdm1219inpenna]

The problem that I might have with this format, and I suspect others might as well, would be the fact that your four major BCS Bowl games (Rose, Orange, Sugar & Fiesta) would be relegated to nothing more than a quarter-final playoff game. When I hear "Rose Bowl" or "Orange Bowl", I think "last game of the season", while under this idea, it would be the 3rd to the last game of the season instead. Overall not a bad concept, I just think the fact that the 4 major bowls would be quarter-final games would detract from them a bit.

Incidentally, how is it that the Cotton Bowl isn't considered one of the "major" bowl games? It seems growing up the Rose, Orange, Cotton & Sugar Bowls were the 4 big ones.

Regards,

Bill

[infrared41]

Incidentally, how is it that the Cotton Bowl isn't considered one of the "major" bowl games? It seems growing up the Rose, Orange, Cotton & Sugar Bowls were the 4 big ones.

Regards,

Bill

I think the Cotton Bowl dropped a level when it wasn't included as part of the BCS. But yeah, back in the day it was one of the big ones. I've always wondered how The Fiesta became so big. When I was growing up it was the Big 4 you mentioned. I don't recall The Fiesta even being in the discussion back then but it was a long time ago.

On your other questions about my proposed playoff, it's essentially the same thing as the "plus one" format but it uses 8 teams instead of 4 and it keeps the Rose Bowl and traditionalists (like me) happy by maintaining the traditional tie-ins. I don't think the "major" bowls would lose any of their luster. I think they'd be that much more important. Also, every BCS bowl besides the title game was completely meaningless this year yet people still showed up for them. I don't think adding a playoff atmosphere would hurt anything. As I said the "major bowls" could rotate the semi-finals every year much like they do with the title game now.

My proposal isn't perfect by any means but it does address every issue the no-playoff crowd brings up. The regular season remains important. The Bowls are kept intact. The networks know who they're getting every year. The fans know where they're going every year. I think it would be huge. It's an 8 team playoff that could still manage to keep the traditional crowd happy.

[rams80]

IMO the Cotton's Bowl prestige dropped when the Southwest Conference collapsed in the 1990s. Without that Conference still being a going concern, there was no "major" Conference still feeding its champion to that bowl.

I'm not sure about the Fiesta Bowl. I guess they bought their way into the upper tier, although apparently the game shifted to January 1st in the 1980s, and also usually had "good" match ups between elite teams, including two that were de facto national championship games (apparently). Maybe we should study this model for the Holiday Bowl...

[Gary]

I guess you can say in 1987 the Fiesta Bowl became one of the top tier bowls when Penn State and Miami played for the National Championship and had one of the highest rated game in College football history.

[STL FANATIC]

I don't know, infared.

Your system really drags out the season, and I do think it knocks the prestige of the bowls some.

I really don't know what the right option is.

[infrared41]

I don't know, infared.

Your system really drags out the season, and I do think it knocks the prestige of the bowls some.

I really don't know what the right option is.

It doesn't drag out the season any more than a 16 team playoff would and it only drags it out for 4 teams. And how can a meaningless game lose prestige by gaining meaning? As I said before, my system is simply the plus one system with an 8 team playoff instead of 4.

[Mac the Knife]

I guess you can say in 1987 the Fiesta Bowl became one of the top tier bowls when Penn State and Miami played for the National Championship and had one of the highest rated game in College football history.

You could say that, but you'd be wrong. Like everything else, follow the money. The Fiesta Bowl became one of the "big four" because at the time it was among the highest four in terms of payouts to participating schools.

[Mac the Knife]

I'd like to see a 16-team playoff, with eight bowl games (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton, Fiesta, and rotate the last three) as first-round games.

Play the first-round games on NY Day. The 8 survivors move on to the second round, held on the second Saturday in January, at the sites of four of the Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton and Fiesta Bowls.

The four survivors from that round move onto semi-finals, held on the third Saturday in January at two of the three rotating first-round game sites.

Then have the National Championship Game on the Saturday between the AFC/NFC title games and the Super Bowl (the last Saturday in January) at whichever of the five game sites weren't used for the second round games.

[Seadragon76]

Since this seems to be the topic for playoff concepts, then allow me to introduce Seadragon's Division I- FBS Playoff system.

-16 teams enter (10 conference champions (including the best Independent) and 5-6 at-larges)

To be eligible for an at-large:

-Any school that does not win the conference championship is eligible for at-large consideration provided that school has the required 8 wins (This pool also includes Notre Dame, Army and Navy provided they win 8 games. The school that does win 8 games gets an automatic bid and if no school among the three can reach the required 8 wins, then a sixth at-large will be chosen in place of the Independent).

-Within the 8 wins, half of the wins must come against schools that in the current BCS (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC). Schools that have 8 wins but less then half of their wins against BCS schools will be considered but will have less consideration then a school who has 8 wins and half of the wins against BCS schools (A good example would be this year's Troy team. Troy went 8-4 but did not beat any BCS schools on their schedule. By rule, they would be considered for the at-large pool, but would not be chosen to compete)

-The current BCS formula will be simplfied in order to rank the best five (5) at-larges with the poll beginning on the first Saturday of October and the final poll taken place on the day after the conference championship games.

The field selection process:

-The day after the championship games are played, the selection committee will places the 11 conference champions and the 5 at-larges will be placed in the bracket as chosen by the committee. The matchups will be as follows:

-16 vs. 1

-9 vs. 8

-13 vs. 4

-12 vs. 5

-15 vs. 2

-10 vs. 7

-14 vs. 3

-11 vs 6

The first round will be played the week after the conference championship games (two games on Thursday, two on Friday and four on Saturday) with the first round played at the following sites:

-Charlotte, NC (Meineke Car Care Bowl)

-El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)

-San Francisco, CA (Emerald Bowl)

-Detroit, MI (Motor City Bowl)

-Birmingham, AL (Papajohns.com Bowl)

-Las Vegas, NV (Las Vegas Bowl)

-Nashville, TN (Music City Bowl)

-Albuquerque, NM (New Mexico Bowl)

The higher seeds will be the home team and placed at the site closest to the site.

The quarterfinal round will be played the weekend after the 1st Round and will be played at the following locations:

-Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl)

-Atlanta, GA (Chik-Fil-A Bowl)

-Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)

-San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)

Teams that play at the western sites (El Paso, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Albuquerque) will play their Quarterfinal game at either Dallas or San Diego. Teams that play at the eastern sites (Charlotte, Detroit, Birmingham, Nashville) will play their Quarterfinal game at either Atlanta or Jacksonville.

The Semifinals will be played on Christmas weekend with two of the four BCS games hosting the semifinal games on Saturday. The sites will rotated every year so that each site can host the National Championship game once every four years. The site that hosted the National Championship game the season before becomes the site for the third place game played on New Year's Eve.

The National Championship Game will be played on New Year's Day at the site on the top of the rotation (in this case, New Orleans, LA).

So, with that taken care of, here's an example of what the Tournament would look like:

16) Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt Champion) vs. 1) Ohio State (Big Ten Champion) [Detroit, MI]

9) Missouri (At-Large) vs. 8) Florida (At-Large) [birmingham, AL]

(Winners meet in Atlanta, GA)

13) Arizona State (At-Large) vs. 4) USC (Pac-10 Champion) [san Francisco, CA]

12) UCF (Conference USA Champion) vs. 5) Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion) [El Paso, TX]

(Winners meet in Dallas, TX)

15) Central Michigan (Mid-American Champion) vs. 2) LSU (SEC Champion) [Nashville, TN]

10) Hawaii (WAC Champion) vs. 7) Georgia (At-Large) [Charlotte, NC]

(Winners meet in Jacksonville, FL)

14) Navy (Best Independent) vs. 3) West Virginia (Big East Champion) [Las Vegas, NV]

11) BYU (Mountain West Champion) vs. 6) Kansas (At-Large) [Albuquerque, NM]

(Winners meet in San Diego, CA)

[slightly shotgunned]

Since this seems to be the topic for playoff concepts, then allow me to introduce Seadragon's Division I- FBS Playoff system.

-16 teams enter (10 conference champions (including the best Independent) and 5-6 at-larges)

To be eligible for an at-large:

-Any school that does not win the conference championship is eligible for at-large consideration provided that school has the required 8 wins (This pool also includes Notre Dame, Army and Navy provided they win 8 games. The school that does win 8 games gets an automatic bid and if no school among the three can reach the required 8 wins, then a sixth at-large will be chosen in place of the Independent).

-Within the 8 wins, half of the wins must come against schools that in the current BCS (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC). Schools that have 8 wins but less then half of their wins against BCS schools will be considered but will have less consideration then a school who has 8 wins and half of the wins against BCS schools (A good example would be this year's Troy team. Troy went 8-4 but did not beat any BCS schools on their schedule. By rule, they would be considered for the at-large pool, but would not be chosen to compete)

-The current BCS formula will be simplfied in order to rank the best five (5) at-larges with the poll beginning on the first Saturday of October and the final poll taken place on the day after the conference championship games.

The field selection process:

-The day after the championship games are played, the selection committee will places the 11 conference champions and the 5 at-larges will be placed in the bracket as chosen by the committee. The matchups will be as follows:

-16 vs. 1

-9 vs. 8

-13 vs. 4

-12 vs. 5

-15 vs. 2

-10 vs. 7

-14 vs. 3

-11 vs 6

The first round will be played the week after the conference championship games (two games on Thursday, two on Friday and four on Saturday) with the first round played at the following sites:

-Charlotte, NC (Meineke Car Care Bowl)

-El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)

-San Francisco, CA (Emerald Bowl)

-Detroit, MI (Motor City Bowl)

-Birmingham, AL (Papajohns.com Bowl)

-Las Vegas, NV (Las Vegas Bowl)

-Nashville, TN (Music City Bowl)

-Albuquerque, NM (New Mexico Bowl)

The higher seeds will be the home team and placed at the site closest to the site.

The quarterfinal round will be played the weekend after the 1st Round and will be played at the following locations:

-Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl)

-Atlanta, GA (Chik-Fil-A Bowl)

-Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)

-San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)

Teams that play at the western sites (El Paso, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Albuquerque) will play their Quarterfinal game at either Dallas or San Diego. Teams that play at the eastern sites (Charlotte, Detroit, Birmingham, Nashville) will play their Quarterfinal game at either Atlanta or Jacksonville.

The Semifinals will be played on Christmas weekend with two of the four BCS games hosting the semifinal games on Saturday. The sites will rotated every year so that each site can host the National Championship game once every four years. The site that hosted the National Championship game the season before becomes the site for the third place game played on New Year's Eve.

The National Championship Game will be played on New Year's Day at the site on the top of the rotation (in this case, New Orleans, LA).

So, with that taken care of, here's an example of what the Tournament would look like:

16) Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt Champion) vs. 1) Ohio State (Big Ten Champion) [Detroit, MI]

9) Missouri (At-Large) vs. 8) Florida (At-Large) [birmingham, AL]

(Winners meet in Atlanta, GA)

13) Arizona State (At-Large) vs. 4) USC (Pac-10 Champion) [san Francisco, CA]

12) UCF (Conference USA Champion) vs. 5) Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion) [El Paso, TX]

(Winners meet in Dallas, TX)

15) Central Michigan (Mid-American Champion) vs. 2) LSU (SEC Champion) [Nashville, TN]

10) Hawaii (WAC Champion) vs. 7) Georgia (At-Large) [Charlotte, NC]

(Winners meet in Jacksonville, FL)

14) Navy (Best Independent) vs. 3) West Virginia (Big East Champion) [Las Vegas, NV]

11) BYU (Mountain West Champion) vs. 6) Kansas (At-Large) [Albuquerque, NM]

(Winners meet in San Diego, CA)

i stopped reading where you said that schools could be considered if they had x number of wins. if i'm making a schedule, i'm playing the likes of Syracuse, Minnesota, North Carolina, Duke, Baylor, Iowa St, Stanford, and Vanderbilt every year just to make sure i get that number of wins against the right schools. i think you should amend that.

[McCall]

8-team Playoff

- Quarterfinals the week after Conference Championship Games

- Semifinals 1 week later

- Take 2 to 3 Saturdays off (Depending on when Conf. Title games thru Semi's are played)

- Top 2 teams NOT to make the 8-Team Playoff, automatically play in 5th bowl or the "9th Place" bowl, so to speak

- BCS Bowls (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange) rotate as being the 9th to 3rd place bowl games, with 9th Place bowl being played at site of BCS Nat'l Title Game (Bowls take place on currently set game days)

- 6 BCS Conf. Champs (ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, SEC) + 2 At-Large Teams (from 2 different BCS Conferences or qualified Mid-Majors)

Quarterfinals and Semifinals can either be played at home of higher seeded team, or at pre-determined neutral sites.

Here's how this season would have played out in this format, using pre-bowl BCS Standings to determine seeding. Georgia and Mizzou are 2 at-larges and automatically 7th and 8th seeds (though Mizzou and Hawaii could easily be interchanged... and I'm a Mizzou fan. But, just for sake of showing the set-up, I'm choosing Mizzou ):

1. Ohio State vs 8. Hawaii

4. Oklahoma vs 5. USC

3. Virginia Tech vs 6. West Virginia

2. LSU vs 7. Mizzou

[Seadragon76]

Since this seems to be the topic for playoff concepts, then allow me to introduce Seadragon's Division I- FBS Playoff system.

-16 teams enter (10 conference champions (including the best Independent) and 5-6 at-larges)

To be eligible for an at-large:

-Any school that does not win the conference championship is eligible for at-large consideration provided that school has the required 8 wins (This pool also includes Notre Dame, Army and Navy provided they win 8 games. The school that does win 8 games gets an automatic bid and if no school among the three can reach the required 8 wins, then a sixth at-large will be chosen in place of the Independent).

-Within the 8 wins, half of the wins must come against schools that in the current BCS (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC). Schools that have 8 wins but less then half of their wins against BCS schools will be considered but will have less consideration then a school who has 8 wins and half of the wins against BCS schools (A good example would be this year's Troy team. Troy went 8-4 but did not beat any BCS schools on their schedule. By rule, they would be considered for the at-large pool, but would not be chosen to compete)

-The current BCS formula will be simplfied in order to rank the best five (5) at-larges with the poll beginning on the first Saturday of October and the final poll taken place on the day after the conference championship games.

The field selection process:

-The day after the championship games are played, the selection committee will places the 11 conference champions and the 5 at-larges will be placed in the bracket as chosen by the committee. The matchups will be as follows:

-16 vs. 1

-9 vs. 8

-13 vs. 4

-12 vs. 5

-15 vs. 2

-10 vs. 7

-14 vs. 3

-11 vs 6

The first round will be played the week after the conference championship games (two games on Thursday, two on Friday and four on Saturday) with the first round played at the following sites:

-Charlotte, NC (Meineke Car Care Bowl)

-El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)

-San Francisco, CA (Emerald Bowl)

-Detroit, MI (Motor City Bowl)

-Birmingham, AL (Papajohns.com Bowl)

-Las Vegas, NV (Las Vegas Bowl)

-Nashville, TN (Music City Bowl)

-Albuquerque, NM (New Mexico Bowl)

The higher seeds will be the home team and placed at the site closest to the site.

The quarterfinal round will be played the weekend after the 1st Round and will be played at the following locations:

-Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl)

-Atlanta, GA (Chik-Fil-A Bowl)

-Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)

-San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)

Teams that play at the western sites (El Paso, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Albuquerque) will play their Quarterfinal game at either Dallas or San Diego. Teams that play at the eastern sites (Charlotte, Detroit, Birmingham, Nashville) will play their Quarterfinal game at either Atlanta or Jacksonville.

The Semifinals will be played on Christmas weekend with two of the four BCS games hosting the semifinal games on Saturday. The sites will rotated every year so that each site can host the National Championship game once every four years. The site that hosted the National Championship game the season before becomes the site for the third place game played on New Year's Eve.

The National Championship Game will be played on New Year's Day at the site on the top of the rotation (in this case, New Orleans, LA).

So, with that taken care of, here's an example of what the Tournament would look like:

16) Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt Champion) vs. 1) Ohio State (Big Ten Champion) [Detroit, MI]

9) Missouri (At-Large) vs. 8) Florida (At-Large) [birmingham, AL]

(Winners meet in Atlanta, GA)

13) Arizona State (At-Large) vs. 4) USC (Pac-10 Champion) [san Francisco, CA]

12) UCF (Conference USA Champion) vs. 5) Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion) [El Paso, TX]

(Winners meet in Dallas, TX)

15) Central Michigan (Mid-American Champion) vs. 2) LSU (SEC Champion) [Nashville, TN]

10) Hawaii (WAC Champion) vs. 7) Georgia (At-Large) [Charlotte, NC]

(Winners meet in Jacksonville, FL)

14) Navy (Best Independent) vs. 3) West Virginia (Big East Champion) [Las Vegas, NV]

11) BYU (Mountain West Champion) vs. 6) Kansas (At-Large) [Albuquerque, NM]

(Winners meet in San Diego, CA)

i stopped reading where you said that schools could be considered if they had x number of wins. if i'm making a schedule, i'm playing the likes of Syracuse, Minnesota, North Carolina, Duke, Baylor, Iowa St, Stanford, and Vanderbilt every year just to make sure i get that number of wins against the right schools. i think you should amend that.

Well, who said that those schools are always going to have bad seasons? There have been years where a school like Iowa State or Syracuse has been decent enough to reach a bowl game. Just because a school has had a few bad years doesn't always mean they suck.

You also missed another point I made in that you CAN have less then half of the wins against BCS schools, but in at-large situation, they would more likely consider the team that has met the requirements then the team who hasn't. Of course, this is all avoided if you win your conference.

This idea would also be used for those smaller schools. Instead of having to play the likes of Florida and Michigan and so forth every year and get spanked, they can go ahead and take some of the weaker BCS schools, even at their home field, and potentionally beef up their resume for an at-large bid.

[rams80]

I made this post about a month ago, but it contains my playoff projection, based on the system I keep on advocating. A note on the "seedings=my whim" thing-I decided to procedure shift the MAC and Sun Belt Champions so they would play the Big Ten and SEC champions.

Well...I finally had time to kill, (bleeping finals and papers)....It's time for the Rams80 Pizza Hut 2007-08 NCAA Division I-A football playoffs. Pizza Hut...the official Pizza of the Rebellion. Grab a slice today. (And I think only Fred T. Jane will get the reference).

Seeding done by BCS rankings/my whim. Other Bowls are sill around, so fans of those teams not in the tournament still get nice vacations to go on. First Round Games are played at the home of the top seed.

1st Round

@Columbus, Ohio

(1) Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten) 35

(16) Central Michigan Chippewas (MAC) 10

Big Ten teams clobbering MAC teams never gets old

@Lawrence, Kansas

(8) Kansas Jayhawks (at large) 37

(9) West Virginia Mountaineers (Big East) 38

West Virginia pulled the upset when a KU kick drifted wide right thanks to Mark Mangino's Gravitational pull. He subsequently ate the kicker. The smoke from the couch burnings made it impossible to fly to Morgantown the next day.

@Athens, Georgia

(5) Georgia Bulldogs (at large) 35

(12) Florida Gators (at large) 28

The World's biggest excuse for drinking, Part II, was characterized by Urban Meyer calling a "Code Red" of his own to celebrate Florida's first touchdown. Sadly, it was not enough for the Gators.

@Norman, Oklahoma

(4) Oklahoma Sooners (Big XII) 27

(13) Brigham Young Cougars (MWC) 14

The pride of the Mountain West had little chance against the relentless attack of Oklahoma.

@Blacksburg, Virginia

(3) Virginia Tech Hokies (ACC) 31

(14) Central Florida Knights (C-USA) 7

One of Central Florida's players boasted that playing in Blacksburg would not be a problem because it wasn't a problem in NCAA 07. He was last seen shivering in the visitor's locker room muttering "The horror....the horror....."

@Columbia, Missouri

(6) Missouri Tigers (at large) 26

(11) Arizona State Sun Devils (at large) 23

The Missouri Tigers climbed to an early lead, and then desperately tried to hang on as Arizona State mounted a furious second half charge. Dennis Erickson even attempted to run over Chase Daniels with his golf cart to no avail.

@Los Angeles, California

(7) USC Trojans (Pac 10) 49

(10) Hawaii Warriors (WAC) 24

USC took advantage of Hawaii's flimsy defense, having their way with it as a Cosmic Era Gundam would with a Grunt. Facing a real defense on their own, the Hawaii offense could not put up enough points to compete.

@Baton Rouge, Louisiana

(2) Louisiana State Tigers (SEC) 39

(15) Florida Atlantic Owls (Sun Belt) 13

Assuming you are not Alabama, the Sun Belt is to the SEC what the MAC is to the Big Ten. The suffering was over fast, at least.

Quarterfinals

@Orlando, Florida (Capital One Bowl)

(1) Ohio State Buckeyes 35

(9) West Virginia Mountaineers 31

Ohio State vanquished a game and feisty West Virginia squad following an epic back-and-forth battle, with OSU only getting the winning points with 5 minutes to go, and a desperation Mountaineer pass falling incomplete in the end zone at the end of the game.

@Dallas, Texas (Cotton Bowl)

(4) Oklahoma Sooners 23

(5) Georgia Bulldogs 42

Oklahoma historically played poorly away from Norman this season, and today was no exception. The Bulldogs were "crankin' that Soulja Boy" all throughout the second half, as they set their sights on a deep title run.

@Jacksonville, Florida (Gator Bowl)

(3) Virginia Tech Hokies 17

(6) Missouri Tigers 27

Only an estimated 40,000 saw Missouri end "the healing". The playoff committee followed up by announcing plans to investigate replacing the Gator Bowl with the Holiday Bowl.

@Tampa, Florida (Outback Bowl)

(2) Louisiana State Tigers 27

(7) USC Trojans 34

Disaster finally struck gamblin' Les Miles in regulation, as an effort to go for it on 4th down late in the game resulted a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Les never returned to Baton Rouge, instead hopping on a plane to Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Semifinals

@New Orleans, Louisiana (Sugar Bowl)

(1) Ohio State Buckeyes 14

(5) Georgia Bulldogs 28

Ohio State remains winless against the SEC in a Bowl Game setting. See also: Weeping, Gnashing of teeth. The server of a certain well known blog site exploded following the end of this game.

@Miami, Florida (Orange Bowl)

(6) Missouri Tigers 10

(7) USC Trojans 38

Nobody wants to play USC right now. Nobody. And now they are heading for another de facto home game in the Rose Bowl.

National 3rd Place Game...for mad millionz!

@Glendale, Arizona (Fiesta Bowl)

(1) Ohio State Buckeyes 23

(6) Missouri Tigers 17

Confronted with a team that lacked the SEC's "speed", the Buckeyes endeavored to take out their peasant fury and rage upon it. Missouri did put up a valiant fight, but the score was much closer than the game was.

National Title Game

@Pasadena, California (Rose Bowl)

(5) Georgia Bulldogs 31

(7) USC Trojans 34

One team didn't win their division. One lost at home to Stanford (LOL). When the smoke cleared, though, these were the teams playing for the National Title. In a hard-fought game watched by many on television, USC and Georgia played a knock-down, drag out game (Georgia actually led at half 21-17). In front of a roaring crowd in the Rose Bowl, though, USC ultimately walked out the winners, hoisting the crystal trophy.

[illwauk]

IMO the Cotton's Bowl prestige dropped when the Southwest Conference collapsed in the 1990s. Without that Conference still being a going concern, there was no "major" Conference still feeding its champion to that bowl.

The collapse of the SWC is THE reason the Cotton Bowl is no longer a big deal. The game was devised and hosted by the SWC and its champion. So when the SWC started to get rocked by scandals in the 80's, the Cotton Bowl lost its credibility.

The actual stadium isn't in the best shape either... but that doesn't seem to effect the Rose Bowl.

[rams80]

Since this has become the playoff clearinghouse thread.

I guess baby steps are better than no steps at all.