Hypothetical - You've been granted the power to create a playoff in college football. How do you set it up?

Question

I would have a sixteen team bracket - eleven conference champions and five at large (a lot of teams, but that way no one can complain they didn't get a shot). No one gets a bye. Take one weekend off following conference championship games, one round per week for the next four weeks, a week off, then the national championship game. Rotate the national championship between the four locations as it is now. It would be a lot of games in one season (up to 17), but still fewer than the NFL.

Answer 1

Why not have a 32 team bracket modeled after the basketball tournament(just not as big). Or do away with the BCS, the polls, and also do away with the schools scheduling their own games. Isn't that what the NCAA is for? If each school had to play honest competition throughout the season, not just 1 or 2 games a year(you are telling me that some extension of Florida, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, etc, belongs on the same field with Miami? Florida State? USC?) Have an honest schedule with Miami having to play USC, UCLA, Oklahoma, Michigan, etc during the season, and then at the end of the season, conference playoff in the event tie-breakers do not work, then seed them based upon record, and head to head wins. Then you will find out who is the best teams, for real, and have an actual champion. As in the NFL, conference winners(division) and an even number of wildcards. Home teams play at home, with the exception of the REAL championship game, which is at either the Rose Bowl, or the Orange Bowl. The playoffs would have to start first week of December, to have the final game on New Years. The NFL system works, and would make for the most exciting college football since the 80's before the "who's your daddy bowl" and the " i like it rough bowl", and can't forget the classic and tradition rich "the schools are making bank on these bowl". More money and legitimacy would be there for the taking if there were playoffs. I do not watch college ball because it has a paper champion, that is decided by reporters............. yes reporters. If they did this in the NFL, then you would never have the 6th seeded Steelers winning the Super Bowl in 05, the Colts last year, and on and on.

Answer 2

Top 4 teams in a mixed poll (Coaches Poll, Harris Poll, AP Poll) face off in a playoff. #1 versus #4, #2 versus #3. The winner of the games plays at a rotating national championship spot as it is now. The losers of the game would then become eligible for other bowls based on their in season accomplishments. The problem I have with your playoff system is that it is way too long. 16 teams is way too many. That would mean that by the time they get to a national championship game, the teams playing in it would have had to play 3 more games just to get there. Therefore you are essentially addind 3 more games to there seasons. That's a lot of games for these guys. I dont know if you have ever played football but it takes a lot just to get through the regular season. You are also forgetting another key aspect. You seem to be assuming that the guys on the college football teams are not students. Do you know why they have that big 3 week break between conference championships and bowls. Cause that's when those guys are studying for their finals, taking their finals, and then getting a couple days with their families. How are they gonna study for their finals and actually pass their finals when they have to worry about having practice and playing a game the next Saturday. I've seen some of the answers on here and they want these huge tournaments. Remember these are student athletes, not just athletes.

Answer 3

I would still keep the BCS system, only to determine the seeding in the brackets.

At the end of the season, the bracket would be set up using the top 16 BCS teams. Since there will be 5 conference championship games played at the end of the year (ACC, Big-12, C-USA, MAC, and SEC), the 5 teams that win will get a first-round bye. As a result, 5 additional "At-Large" bids will be given out to play in place of the 5 conference championship teams. This would be the example from last year:

1. Ohio State
16. Texas
(Florida, SEC champ, will play winner of 8/9)
8. Auburn
9. Notre Dame
(Houston, C-USA champ, will play winner of 5/12)
5. Louisville
12. Virginia Tech
(Central Michigan, MAC champ, will play winner of 4/13)
4. USC
13. Rutgers
(Wake Forest, ACC champ, will play winner of 6/11)
6. Wisconsin
11. West Virginia

3. LSU
14. Tennessee
(Oklahoma, Big-12 champ, will play winner of 7/10)
7. Boise State
10. Arkansas

2. Michigan
15. California
*The 5 teams with first round bye weeks would be: Florida, Oklahoma, Wake Forest, Houston and Central Michigan.

The system would be set up so that the best conference championship team with a bye would play in the second round against the pair that has the worst, best team in it, excluding the top-3 pairs (when I say top-3 pairs, I'm talking about Ohio State, Michigan, and LSU). So, Florida would be paired against the winner of the 8 vs 9 pair (between them, the 8 seed is the best, and compared with the other best seeds in the other 4 pairs: 4,5,6,7; 8 is the worst). So, Florida will play the 8 vs 9 winner, Oklahoma would play the 7 vs 10 winner, Wake Forest would play the 6 vs 11 winner, Houston would play the 5 vs 12 winner, and Central Michigan would play the 4 vs 13 winner. Try to create this bracket on paper, and you will see the true format. In this bracket, Boise St. could still play Oklahoma, and Florida could still play Ohio State. When the bracket gets down to the final four, the games will be played at the 4 major venues (Rose Bowl, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange). Then, the Championship game will be played in the same stadium that it was played in last year with OSU and Florida. I think that this will work, because the teams that had to play an extra game will get some rest, and the other 3 best teams will get a bye week if they win their first round game.

I know that this is kind of confusing, but I think that it is fair.

Answer 4

Use the BSC rankings for the Top 8 teams.
Put #1, #4, #6, & #7 in one bracket.
Put #2, #3, #5, & #8 in the other bracket.
Use some of the current Bowl Games as playoff games on a rotating schedule.
That would mean 3 weeks of playoffs, currently there is over 4 weeks off between the end of the season and Bowl time so the playoff would fit just fine.
For the teams that DIDN'T make the 8 team playoff then they could still be invited to other Bowl Games around the country.

Answer 5

8 team playoff. The champions of the five major conferences, the highest ranked minor conference champion, and the two highest ranked teams that are not conference champions as wildcards. This makes conference championships WORTH something, it gives the minor conference teams a spot in the big dance, and still enables the two non conference quality teams a shot. Use the bowl system having the first 4 playoff games on Christmas weekend Saturday, the semifinal bowls on new years day, and the championship following. This system leaves little debate as to who is in the playoffs and is all encompassing. Any more than 8 teams just adds too many games to these college kids year. They are probably playing too many games as it is.

Answer 6

Good thought but 16 is too many. The bottom 10 or 12 would get crushed by the top four in the country. I think the way the ESPN announcers have been talking has been great. Top four at the end of the year. 1 vs.4, 2 vs.3, winners play, just like a final four in College Basketball. But maybe top 8 would work as well. Either way, I hope it happens. Would be great for the game.

Answer 7

Saying I didnt have to worry about paying for transportation, school, and TV schedules:

I would have a 16 team tourney (I want a bigger # preferably 24 but it wouldnt work, because 16 is too small but 32 is too much). The winners of the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Big East, ACC, MAC, PAC 10, WAC, MWC, Conf. USA, and the Sun Belt as the automatic entrants into the playoffs. The 5 at large teams with the best records would be the remaining teams in the tourney.

There would be 4 divisions, and the 4 Confrence Champions with the best records would be placed as #1 seeds. An undefeated season would automatically result in a #1 seed, no matter which confrence you play in. In the event of 5 undefeated teams, the team with the toughest schedule is awarded the #1 seed. My 4 divisions would be named after the 4 major BCS Bowls: Sugar, Rose, Fiesta and Orange. The division championship would be the Bowl of your division. So, say you are USC, and are in the Rose division. You win your first game, so you are moving on to the division championship game in hopes of moving on to the Final 4. You would play the team that won their first game in your Division in the Major BCS bowl. This way, the tournament would work, and the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl would still happen.

Heres an example

1 USC>
4 TCU
__________1 USC <---- Rose Bowl Game
__________2 Va Tech <----
2 Va Tech>
3 Rutgers

USC and Va Tech both win. They play in the Rose Bowl for a berth in the Final 4. The same applies for all 4 divisions, just with their repective Bowl names.



The winners of the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange Bowls would all go to the city where the National Championship is going to take place, Which could either be at a neutral site, like an NFL stadium, or it could be done the same way its done today, the 4 major Bowl stadiums rotate each year in which hosts the National Title game. Either way, the winner of each bowl game would go to the Natl Title host city to play the Final Four. So say the Orange Bowl was to play host to the National Title game, thats where the Final 4 would be played.

Each BCS Confrence Championship game in the regular season would have to be finished a week before Thanksgiving, so that the teams could get two weeks off for Selection Day (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) and to travel to wherever they have to go and practice for the first round. The second week would be the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. The third week would be the Final Four. The 4th week would be the week off before the National Championship game, in which all the minor BCS Bowls could be played be teams not in the tournament. (For example: the Holiday Bowl, the Music City Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Gator Bowl, Alamo bowl, Cotton Bowl...all the small bowl games). This way, it gives 2 weeks for the smaller bowl games to be played, and if 2 games are played each night, all of them could stay. After the 4th week and the two weeks off, the National Title game will be played. This game will be in the city that was host to the Final Four, just like the rotating system in place by the BCS today.


I believe my system would be costly, but better. Giving more than two teams a shot at the National Title is what alot of people wanted, and with all the Bowl games still intact, everyone would be happy. The only problem is the team transportation costs, and the fact that it would last from early December till early/mid January, and may cut into the NFL Playoffs, which wouldnt be good.


Arguments brought up by the BCS would be in the nature of "Well, we would never have had that Boise State Vs. Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl Classic." And heres what I have to say "Well, we would probably not have had the LSU vs. Notre Dame Sugar Bowl blowout or that Florida vs. Ohio State rout." Look at the NFL, if the top two seeds in the league would have played, we would have had a Bears Chargers Super Bowl, and that AFC Championship Classic with the Colts making an amazing comeback against the Patriots would have never happened. The Bears Seahawks game would never have happened, the most memorable moment of the 2006-07 Playoffs, Tony Romos fumbled game winning Field Goal, or Reggie Bush getting absolutley destroyed by Sheldon Brown, would all have never happened. Also, this way, teams like Ohio State wouldnt have had to wait 50+ days to play another game. What if Boise State had went on to play Florida or Ohio State in the National Championship and won it last year? We'll never know now. This way, the absolute best team in the land wins the Title, just like in College Basketball. Thats the way America wants it, when the absolute, undisputed best teams in the country are going at for the chance to be Champions, like this years March Madness Championship. There was not a single shred of doubt that Ohio State and Florida were the two best teams in the land in Basketball, and thats the way it should be in College Football.

Answer 8

there are usualy onlt 3 or 4 teams that have a realistic shot at a national champoinship. I would say a 6 team bracket with top 2 getting bye weeks. like the NFL

either that or a 4 team playoff

Answer 9

I would bump it up,Bam!!,20 team bracket,just like that.And to make it interesting,make it a double elimination tournament. The loser bracket plays on a weekday,at the school with the most points of the season.The winners bracket,the team with the most points of the season plays home on a saturday. the final championship game is played where the assembly of college coaches votes on at the beginning of the year,and they cant vote for there own stadium.

Answer 10

Take final 16 in BCS poll.....first two rounds at higher seeds house in standard 1-16, 8-9, 5-12, 6-11/2-15, 7-10, 3-14, 4-13.....no re-seeding....semis and finals at same neutral side that is not a Bowl game. but could be Bowl site.