Cy the Cyclone
Starter
I know this has come up before but the BCS system, quite frankly, sucks. Given that this is the majority opinion of all college football fans, it surprises me that a lot of suggested solutions for putting together a playoff system suck just as badly. Therefore, I have taken a few moments to devise a workable playoff system that will determine an actual football champion based on play, not on computer models and moronic sports writers
There are 11 major conferences within NCAA D-1 football…and those losers who claim to be independents…I lumped them into one category for this…
ACC
Big-12
Big-10
Big East
Conference USA
Mountain West
Mid American
Pac-10
SEC
Sun Belt
WAC
Ind
The two top teams from each conference are picked to be in the playoffs. For conferences with division titles, the winner of the championship game plus the runner up would be chosen. For the other conferences the top two teams are selected according to conference records…for 2009, the playoff contenders would have been
ACC – 1) Georgia Tech 2) Clemson
Big 12 – 1) Texas 2) Nebraska
Big 10 – 1) Ohio State 2) Iowa
Big East – 1) Cincinnati 2) Pitt
USA – 1) East Carolina 2) Houston
Mid American – 1) Ohio 2) Central Michigan
Mountain West – 1) TCU 2) BYU
Pac 10 – 1) Oregon 2) Arizona
SEC – 1) Alabama 2) Florida
Sun Belt – 1) Troy 2) Middle Tennessee
WAC – 1) Boise State 2) Nevada
Ind – 1) Navy 2) Notre Dame
You then seed these teams using the entire conference’s strength of schedule…for instance, without looking I would rank the conferences thusly:
SEC
Big 12
Big 10
Pac 10
ACC
Big East
Mountain West
WAC
USA
Mid American
Sun Belt
Ind
(okay…I didn’t do my homework and see how the conferences actually ranked but you get the idea). The top teams in the conferences would be ranked seeded 1-12 with the #2 teams seeded 13-24 leaving the seeding list as
1) Alabama 13) Florida
2) Texas 14) Nebraska
3) Ohio State 15) Iowa
4) Oregon 16) Arizona
5) Georgia Tech 17) Clemson
6) Cincinnati 18) Pitt
7) TCU 19) BYU
8) Boise State 20) Nevada
9) East Carolina 21) Houston
10) Ohio 22) Central Michigan
11) Troy 23) Middle Tennessee
12) Navy 24) Notre Dame
So December 12th 1st round match-ups would come out this way
Alabama – Notre Dame
Texas – Middle Tennessee
Ohio State – Central Michigan
Oregon – Houston
Georgia Tech – Nevada
Cincinnati – BYU
TCU – Pitt
Boise State – Clemson
East Carolina – Arizona
Ohio – Iowa
Troy – Nebraska
Navy – Florida
Lets say the winners came out to be:
#1 Alabama
#2 Texas
#3 Ohio State
#4 Oregon
#20 Nevada
#21 BYU
#7 TCU
#8 Boise State
#16 Arizona
#15 Iowa
#14 Nebraska
#13 Florida
The top remaining seed would play the bottom remaining seed and so on, making the December 19th playoff rounds:
Alabama – BYU
Texas – Nevada
Ohio State – Arizona
Oregon – Iowa
TCU – Nebraska
Boise State – Florida
The December 26th (or whenever) games would feature (in this example)
Alabama – Nebraska
Texas – Florida
Ohio State – Oregon
Leaving (in this example) Nebraska, Florida and Ohio State. Because they are the top seeded team remaining, Ohio State gets a bye week while Nebraska takes on Florida on January 2, 2010
The Championship game for all of college football takes place between Nebraska and Ohio State on January 9th and Nebraska is crowned the football champions of 2009 after crushing Ohio State 2-0 on a Suh safety.
For all the traditionalists out there who demand that they continue to have bowl games, there are plenty of good teams available who were eliminated in earlier rounds. Keep 11 bowls and take the 22 losers and divide them up amongst yourselves and have a ball…
That…my friends…is how a playoff system should be organized.
There are 11 major conferences within NCAA D-1 football…and those losers who claim to be independents…I lumped them into one category for this…
ACC
Big-12
Big-10
Big East
Conference USA
Mountain West
Mid American
Pac-10
SEC
Sun Belt
WAC
Ind
The two top teams from each conference are picked to be in the playoffs. For conferences with division titles, the winner of the championship game plus the runner up would be chosen. For the other conferences the top two teams are selected according to conference records…for 2009, the playoff contenders would have been
ACC – 1) Georgia Tech 2) Clemson
Big 12 – 1) Texas 2) Nebraska
Big 10 – 1) Ohio State 2) Iowa
Big East – 1) Cincinnati 2) Pitt
USA – 1) East Carolina 2) Houston
Mid American – 1) Ohio 2) Central Michigan
Mountain West – 1) TCU 2) BYU
Pac 10 – 1) Oregon 2) Arizona
SEC – 1) Alabama 2) Florida
Sun Belt – 1) Troy 2) Middle Tennessee
WAC – 1) Boise State 2) Nevada
Ind – 1) Navy 2) Notre Dame
You then seed these teams using the entire conference’s strength of schedule…for instance, without looking I would rank the conferences thusly:
SEC
Big 12
Big 10
Pac 10
ACC
Big East
Mountain West
WAC
USA
Mid American
Sun Belt
Ind
(okay…I didn’t do my homework and see how the conferences actually ranked but you get the idea). The top teams in the conferences would be ranked seeded 1-12 with the #2 teams seeded 13-24 leaving the seeding list as
1) Alabama 13) Florida
2) Texas 14) Nebraska
3) Ohio State 15) Iowa
4) Oregon 16) Arizona
5) Georgia Tech 17) Clemson
6) Cincinnati 18) Pitt
7) TCU 19) BYU
8) Boise State 20) Nevada
9) East Carolina 21) Houston
10) Ohio 22) Central Michigan
11) Troy 23) Middle Tennessee
12) Navy 24) Notre Dame
So December 12th 1st round match-ups would come out this way
Alabama – Notre Dame
Texas – Middle Tennessee
Ohio State – Central Michigan
Oregon – Houston
Georgia Tech – Nevada
Cincinnati – BYU
TCU – Pitt
Boise State – Clemson
East Carolina – Arizona
Ohio – Iowa
Troy – Nebraska
Navy – Florida
Lets say the winners came out to be:
#1 Alabama
#2 Texas
#3 Ohio State
#4 Oregon
#20 Nevada
#21 BYU
#7 TCU
#8 Boise State
#16 Arizona
#15 Iowa
#14 Nebraska
#13 Florida
The top remaining seed would play the bottom remaining seed and so on, making the December 19th playoff rounds:
Alabama – BYU
Texas – Nevada
Ohio State – Arizona
Oregon – Iowa
TCU – Nebraska
Boise State – Florida
The December 26th (or whenever) games would feature (in this example)
Alabama – Nebraska
Texas – Florida
Ohio State – Oregon
Leaving (in this example) Nebraska, Florida and Ohio State. Because they are the top seeded team remaining, Ohio State gets a bye week while Nebraska takes on Florida on January 2, 2010
The Championship game for all of college football takes place between Nebraska and Ohio State on January 9th and Nebraska is crowned the football champions of 2009 after crushing Ohio State 2-0 on a Suh safety.
For all the traditionalists out there who demand that they continue to have bowl games, there are plenty of good teams available who were eliminated in earlier rounds. Keep 11 bowls and take the 22 losers and divide them up amongst yourselves and have a ball…
That…my friends…is how a playoff system should be organized.