Screw the bowls, let's have a play-off!

[TxRangersFan]

I know others have posted their ideas for a playoff system. Here's my idea, which is probably similar (if not identical) to others previously posted.

First, here is how it would work (process is similar to how the NCAA committee puts the basketball tournament together)...

1. The top 12 teams in the BCS standings qualify.

2. Teams #1 through #4 in the standings receive #1 seeds. Teams #5 through #8 receive #2 seeds. Teams #9 through #12 receive #3 seeds.

3. The teams are then placed into 4 regions - East, Midwest, South, and West. While making geographic sense is important, intra-conference match-ups are prohibited in the first round and avoided, if possible, in the second round.

4. Single-elimination tournament, #1 seeds receive a first-round bye.

Anyway, here is what the 2010 tournament bracket would look like...

[JQK]

C'mon NCAA... this isn't that hard...

[ESTONES6]

The Bowl Games are definitive, one, singular, stand alone. No one is going to be coughing up big money to be 1 of 4, 3rd-to-last bowl game.

[slightly shotgunned]

The Bowl Games are definitive, one, singular, stand alone. No one is going to be coughing up big money to be 1 of 4, 3rd-to-last bowl game.

They would to be the NCG though.

[rams80]

The Bowl Games are definitive, one, singular, stand alone. No one is going to be coughing up big money to be 1 of 4, 3rd-to-last bowl game.

Really? Outside of the old January 1st games they're pretty much forgettably interchangeable. And even the old stand-byes aren't that meaningful.

[JQK]

With the implementation of the "National Championship Game", all other bowls ARE meaningless. They have no value. They mean nothing.

[Breakwood]

With the implementation of the "National Championship Game", all other bowls ARE meaningless. They have no value. They mean nothing.

Blasphemy!

The Beef 'O' Bradys Bowl and the GoDaddy.com Bowl are the definition of traditional college football games! The world need more Sun Belt vs. MAC matchups, instead of pointless SEC vs. Pac-10 or Big 10 vs. Big 12 games.

[Panhead1]

I know others have posted their ideas for a playoff system. Here's my idea, which is probably similar (if not identical) to others previously posted.

First, here is how it would work (process is similar to how the NCAA committee puts the basketball tournament together)...

1. The top 12 teams in the BCS standings qualify.

2. Teams #1 through #4 in the standings receive #1 seeds. Teams #5 through #8 receive #2 seeds. Teams #9 through #12 receive #3 seeds.

3. The teams are then placed into 4 regions - East, Midwest, South, and West. While making geographic sense is important, intra-conference match-ups are prohibited in the first round and avoided, if possible, in the second round.

4. Single-elimination tournament, #1 seeds receive a first-round bye.

Anyway, here is what the 2010 tournament bracket would look like...

If the BCS does go with a 12-team playoff, this is probably the best format they can use. Personally, I think 12 slots is too few. The only good number of teams in the playoffs is, in my opinion, 16. But if they don't go with 16, 12 is the next best thing.

[McCall]

I know others have posted their ideas for a playoff system. Here's my idea, which is probably similar (if not identical) to others previously posted.

First, here is how it would work (process is similar to how the NCAA committee puts the basketball tournament together)...

1. The top 12 teams in the BCS standings qualify.

2. Teams #1 through #4 in the standings receive #1 seeds. Teams #5 through #8 receive #2 seeds. Teams #9 through #12 receive #3 seeds.

3. The teams are then placed into 4 regions - East, Midwest, South, and West. While making geographic sense is important, intra-conference match-ups are prohibited in the first round and avoided, if possible, in the second round.

4. Single-elimination tournament, #1 seeds receive a first-round bye.

Anyway, here is what the 2010 tournament bracket would look like...

If the BCS does go with a 12-team playoff, this is probably the best format they can use. Personally, I think 12 slots is too few. The only good number of teams in the playoffs is, in my opinion, 16. But if they don't go with 16, 12 is the next best thing.

I still believe an 8-team playoff to begin with would be the best thing. Heck, you can even just go with the top 4 teams to start and then build up from there. But to immediately go to a 12-16 team playoff right of the bat might be pushing it a bit. I may just be repeating what I previously posted, but here is my thought:

- 6 Power Conference (formely BCS) Champions get automatic bids AS LONG as they are ranked in, for now I'll say, the top 15 (12 might be better with just 8 teams, but this is purely for showing of the plan at the moment).

- Top 2 ranked teams, in a power 6 conference or not, that aren't automatics get last 2 spots.

+ (Still, no more than 2 teams from any conference in the playoffs.)

- Seeding goes by rankings, so if a Power Conf champ is just in at 15th, they are the 8th seed... with of course, no same conf match-ups in opening round.

- With an 8-team format to start, there's only 2 weeks of playoffs:

= Last 2 play for National Championship

= Other 4 "BCS" bowls pick teams from other 6 playoff teams and top 2 playoff non-qualifiers (or just the 6 and the bowl that's hosting the NCG gets the 2 non-qualifiers) with bowl game rotation year-by-year of top picks.

[Epiphanic]

Why not just say the that the top 6 ranked conference champions in the top 15 (regardless of conference) get automatic bids? Part of the reason why people dislike the BCS (although maybe it's just me projecting my opinion on every other BCS-hater) is the systematic bias toward power conference teams. Let's be real, the power conference teams are ranked higher for reasons other than the fact that they are in a "power conference". They shouldn't need the assistance to get into a playoff field automatically.

[pcgd]

The Sun Belt Conference champion has no business being in the playoffs unless they are ranked that highly.

I have no problem with the BCS...for ranking the teams. I think generally speaking it typically nails the rankings. There are a few where the 3 seed should be the 2 in everyone's eyes and what not but generally speaking its pretty close. Will you have an argument every hear about the 17 school should be in while the 16 school sucks? Sure...but who cares. Its better having a team withheld from winning 3 games for the national championship than missing out on the single game.

I understand the conference winners get an automatic bid in the lower levels like D3 but this isn't D3 where you are in a conference because of location. In D1, as someone said, you could end up with Texas or even a lesser school joining a crappy conference to qualify every year. You'd hope there is more integrity but you've already got it going on the opposite direction with TCU joining the Big East purely to get a automatic qualifier for the BCS.

I'd take the top 16 regardless of conference affiliation and just go. Simple 16 team bracket. No Notre Dame or BYU rules. If they are ranked top 16 they are in. If a Troy wants in...schedule some hard opponents in non-conference and get your SOS up.

I won't type out what that means would have happened this year because honestly who reads every one of those?

[JQK]

If your conference is in Div.I-A, your champion goes to the playoffs. That's it.

[Lights Out]

Yeah, in a playoff system, the AQ crap would have to go. It's unfair and disingenuous to determining a champion.

The NFL doesn't leave the AFC and NFC West out of the playoffs. Why should the smaller college conferences be excluded? The reasoning is crap, too: smaller schools play in "weak" conferences, would not stack up against AQ schools, and therefore don't deserve a chance. I mean, you can't honestly tell me that Boise State or TCU wouldn't at least give AQ schools a game in the playoffs, if they don't end up beating them.

[RyanMcD29]

Yeah, in a playoff system, the AQ crap would have to go. It's unfair and disingenuous to determining a champion.

The NFL doesn't leave the AFC and NFC West out of the playoffs. Why should the smaller college conferences be excluded? The reasoning is crap, too: smaller schools play in "weak" conferences, would not stack up against AQ schools, and therefore don't deserve a chance. I mean, you can't honestly tell me that Boise State or TCU wouldn't at least give AQ schools a game in the playoffs, if they don't end up beating them.

Teams like TCU and Boise are fine, but do you really want to see a 7-5 Sun Belt team get completely annihilated by an unbeaten team? It's the equivalent of a 16 seed going up against a 1 in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. At the very least, if there's only gonna be 16 schools in it, then have the cream of the crop instead of only having 5 at larges because we need Florida International represented for winning their conference. If that were the case, having each conference represented, Boise State would just barely be in the tournament as the last at-large in your proposition, but safely in if there was no auto-bid for each conference.