Great article on a college football play-off system

mammasan

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=dw-playoff112707&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I don't know about anyone else but I dream of the day when Division I college football ditches the BCS system and embrasses a play-off style system.

mca47

I hate the BCS. They should have gone to a playoff system long ago.
Every damn year people are still unsure who is "really #1, or really the best".

I LOVE college football, but I hate the BCS!!

soulsinging

im with ya. here's an article from espn i posted elsewhere:

So, because I care, the Three Myths of College Football:

The BCS Works
The BCS works as well as Kim Kardashian in the lead role of "The Eleanor Roosevelt Story." It is the Kim Jong Il of college football: dictatorial and isolationist. BCS cheerleaders figure if they ignore the logic of a playoff system long enough, maybe it will all just go away.

Chase Daniel and Missouri are No. 1. But would the Tigers survive a playoff?
The truth is, the BCS is held together by rolls of duct tape and stubbornness. First the well-intentioned Bowl Coalition, then the Bowl Alliance, and now the Bowl Championship Series. And they still can't get it right.

Just last week BCS administrators had to tweak their "system" for about the billionth time. The latest bandage was applied after it became apparent that the BCS might not have enough eligible at-large teams for its five games. Oops. The BCS works so well that the only undefeated team in the country, Hawaii, could finish the regular season 12-0 and still get squeezed out of a BCS bowl game. Meanwhile, two-loss Georgia, which didn't even win its conference division or qualify for its league championship game, could conceivably play in a national title game. Huh?

And the next person who smugly tells me, "We don't need a playoff system because we already have one: the regular season," is going to get a Mike Gundy-a-gram. Look, if the regular season were really a playoff, Ohio State would have been eliminated Nov. 10, when it lost at home to Illinois. West Virginia would have been history when it lost to a South Florida team that later experienced a three-game free fall. Missouri would have been through when it lost decisively at Oklahoma on Oct. 13. LSU would have been done after an OT loss at Kentucky on the same Saturday. Virginia Tech would have been cooked after a Sept. 8 loss at LSU and most definitely after an Oct. 25 loss at home against Boston College. And USC's hopes would have expired the exact minute it lost at home to a Stanford team that couldn't beat Notre Dame.

Instead, the Buckeyes, Mountaineers, Hokies and both Tigers are somehow still on the short list, while unbeaten Hawaii and its absolutely hellacious offense is placed in BCS quarantine. Explain that. And while you're at it, explain why the Hokies, who have the same 10-2 record as Boston College, are five spots ahead of the Eagles in the latest BCS standings. You can't.

Just think if you could take Ohio State, West Virginia, LSU, Mizzou, Hawaii, BC (sorry, Hokies -- BC won on your field), Oklahoma and USC (sorry, Kansas and Georgia -- you've got to win your conference or at least reach your conference championship game to qualify), and then start an eight-team, seven-game playoff. How's this for a first-round schedule:

Warriors vs. Mountaineers, Tigers vs. Tigers, Buckeyes vs. Sooners, and Trojans vs. Eagles.

But no, we're stuck with the BCS and its weekly standings weirdness. For example, Missouri is your No. 1 team in the country. This is like Homer Simpson picking up Eva Mendes at a Chi Omega party.

Nothing against Mizzou and quarterback Chase Daniel, but the Tigers aren't the No. 1 team in the country. They aren't even favored in Vegas to beat No. 9 Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship (Mizzou is a 3-point dog).

Missouri is ranked first because somebody needs to be there, and because there is no clear-cut No. 1. There are lots of No. 2s and 3s, which is yet another reason a playoff would work, as opposed to this BCS mess.

Just in case anybody needs instructions, contact the NCAA and its Division I-FCS, Division II and III football teams. They've had an actual playoff system for decades.

soulsinging

fuckin a that's right:

This would also be a boon to teams in the Midwest, which build their teams to deal with the predictably harsh weather only to play postseason games in generally warm, calm environs.

So how would say, USC fare if it didn't get a Big Ten opponent in Pasadena each January, but rather had to slip and slide around Ann Arbor or Columbus for a change? And who wouldn't want to see the Trojans invade one of those historic old stadiums, snow falling, and proving they have grit not just skill? "

that bracket makes me drool. let's see florida show their speed in columbus in fucking december.

Ledbetterus

Years ago, maybe 3 or 4, ESPN did what seemed like a 20 minute segment on how a playoff would work. I would love to find this again because it made so much sense.

Anyway, what they had come up with was a perfect system that allowed bowls to stay. I think it was a 16 team play off over 5 weeks (which is almost the time the players have off between their last game and their bowl games anyway).

-The first round of 8 games were held at the top seeds stadium.

-The second round of 4 games is where the bracket made perfect sense. They took the top 3 non BCS bowls and 1 BCS bowl and named the playoff game for that bowl.

So, for example:
1 seed Ohio State playing 8 seed Texas in the Rose Bowl
2 seed Florida playing 7 seed Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl
3 seed Notre Dame playing 6 seed Michigan in the Gator Bowl
4 seed USC playing 5 seed Boston College in the Capitol One Bowl (Tangerine)

-The third round, which was the "final four" consisted of two games.

Example:
1 seed Ohio State playing 4 seed USC in the Fiesta Bowl
2 seed Florida playing 3 seed Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl

-The final round becomes obvious at this point.

But here's an example anyway:
1 seed Ohio State playing 2 Seed Florida in the Orange Bowl

The 4 major BCS bowls get rotated yearly, and the previous championship game becomes the 2nd round 1 seed game the following year.

**Also keep in mind, the location of higher seeds to bowl games made more sense than they do in my examples, and I think the top 16 teams the year they did this segment worked out pretty well in the grand scheme of things.

Back when ESPN aired this they also did an estimate of money lost. I think the plan called for dropping 4 bowls total (I think they dropped the bowls just as an example of what little money they would lose, instead of just adding 8 more teams to those games). ESPN also estimated the possible revenue for having college football on during the 5 weeks that teams usually have off. Which came out to be a lot more than they would be losing.

Anyway, sorry for being long-winded. I just wish I had a copy of that segment, it sounded so good.

Indian Summer

I wonder if this system would force independents to finally pick a conference? Notre Dame thinks they are above everyone else in football (but they are in the Big East in basketball)...so would they have to to join the Big East football conference to get a playoff spot...or just take their chances on a at-large bid as they have in the past? with only 5 at large bids, it's in their favor to join up with a conference.

I agree, this would be awesome for conference play....not just trying to get 6 wins...but a conference title....competition would be at an all time high....don't see how it could be bad...even for smaller/weaker conferences.

Interesting...on paper it looks really good...and damn near flawless.....I would even like to see one of the 16 playoff spots be held for the Division AA champ to get a stab at it....I mean App. State picked off Michigan this year...why not let them make a national title run?

norm

i agree with everything said....for me, as long as the bowls are involved, i'm cool.....can't miss new years day and going to the rose bowl....:)

Phantom Pain

I agree, the format now sucks

Every year there is debate who is Number 1

It's seems like a no brainer to change it

reditalian

I just read a book called Bowls, Polls, and Shattered Souls which is like the bible for college football fans and it shows that basically there will never be a true playoff system. There are so many reasons why Presidents and Athletic directors don't want a playoff I just don't see it happening. There are reasons from tradition to less interest in regular season games and lots of others inbetween. It is bullshit that a bunch of rich white guys get to do want they want and not care about doing it right for the sport but as long as 100 000 fans fill the seats nothing will change......EVER.