Your Thoughts on a College Football Playoff

And now I open up the comments to you the readers. I’m sure as you have read our playoff proposal you have either felt like jumping for joy or throwing your computer out the window. Share your thoughts with us! We know if you are a fan of college football then you feel passionately about this subject one way or the other.

So please, leave us a comment, we don’t care how long or how short. The only thing we care about is quality of content. If you’re going to say “A playoff would suck” then don’t bother, I will delete it. If you are for a playoff and think you can improve upon our proposal, then tell us how! If you are against a playoff and have a rebuttal to my points, then share them! This is an open forum for you to ramble, vent or otherwise state your point of view on a college football playoff.

Just remember, your comment must have some kind of redeeming value. If the content of your remark has nothing but petty namecalling, is vulgar or otherwise does nothing to contribute to the conversation, then please keep it to yourself.

Comment away friends!

Comments

The only fair and comprehensive payoff system is a 16-team tournament. The only way to make the regular season games “meaningful” is to give all 11 conference champions an automatice berth; any playoff system that makes arbitrary decisions between primary and secondary conferences (I thought that’s why we have the FBS, the FCS, etc.), undermines the conferences. (The BCS has caused the disrupting conference re-alignments.) And, with a possible 12th berth for independents (needing a 10-win threshold), there is still room for 4 or 5 at-large entries for stellar, non-conference champion teams. The bowls would be incorporated into the various levels, with the first round games being rotated among the minor bowls.

One problem with the current system is that it’s not based on merit, but on preseason polls. Almost every single controversy has been based on preseason polls. Florida State over Miami and Washington in 2000. Oklahoma and USC over Auburn in 2004. Oklahoma and Florida over Texas and Texas Tech in 2008. Alabama over Oklahoma State and Stanford in 2011. The voters got together in August and decided that (among other things) Alabama would be considered better than those two teams if they had comparable seasons.

Boycott the BCS Title game: http://www.facebook.com/events/260323834023708/

Use the current BSC rankings to select 16 teams. Any conference champion that is ranked in the top 25 of the BCS gets in. The ramaing teams will be slected in order based on the BCS ranking until 16 teams are slected. Conference champions ranked in the top 10 get a home game and are seeded based on thir BCS ranking. The remaining teams are seeded based on their BCS ranking. Top 8 teams get home games in the 1st round. 2nd round and semifinals are played at the highest seeded teams stadium. Championship game is rotated between Rose, Sugar, Fiesta & Orange. 1st round losers will play in the 1st Tier bowls (Cotton, Outback, Chik-fil-A and Capital One) around New Years Day, which will give the bowls 3weeks to promote the teams. Losers of the 2nd round & semifinals will play in the 3 BCS bowls that don’t have the championship game the saturday before the monday championship game, which will give the BCS bowls 2-3 weeks to promote the teams and 16days between the semfinal games and the championship game. This will still allow all the other bowls ton go on as normal and will still provide the bigger bowls good teams and games.
Seedings 1st round games per this proposal would be as follows.
#16 West Virginia at #1 LSU
#9 KSU at #8 Boise State
#13 Clemson at #4 Wisconsin
#12 Baylor at #5 Alabama
#14 TCU at #3 Oregon
#11 Virginia Tech at #6 Stanford
#10 South Carolina at #7 Arkansas (Virginia Tech & South Carolina could be switch to avoid conference teams from playing each other in the first round)
#15 Southern Miss at #2 OSU

I like the playoff proposal propsed by the author on this site but I do think it could be better. First of all, I would change the number of participants from 16 to 14. This would allow the 11 conference champs and 3 ‘wild cards’ instead of 5. This also would allow the top 2 teams to get a first round bye and keep alive that chase for the top couple of spots that the BCS has created.
The other thing I would change is the way the teams are seeded. I would follow more of the NFL model. I say seed the conference champs (and any qualifying independent)ahead of the ‘wild card’ teams. This would allow some of the non-power conference schools the opportunity to host a game on occasion as well as ensure a couple of marquee matchups right from the get-go with first round matchups of #14(third best wild card) at #3(third best conf champ), #12 (best ranked wild-card) at #5 (fifth best conf champ), etc..

One last thing, and this is just my personal preference, is that no conference have more than two teams in the playoff. If you finish 3rd in your own league, how have you earned a shot at the national title?

In short, my proposal includes all conference champs, puts a priority on winning your conference, keeps alive the chase for a top 2 ranking like there is now, and with fewer wild cards keeps the importance of nearly all regular season games for teams wishing to make the playoff.

So what does everyone think?

Here’s a proposal for a sixteen team college football
playoff that includes all eleven Division 1 conference champions, keeps all bowl
games intact, and keeps the BCS rankings system.

All eleven Division 1 conferences deserve to be represented by their champion in
the national playoffs. The five highest ranking conference runner-ups each year, as
ranked by the BCS, would get an at-large berth in the national playoffs. No third
place teams would be included in the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs would
feature the eight highest ranked qualifying teams, as ranked by the BCS, hosting
home playoff games. The eight teams that lose their first round playoff games
would all go to mid-major bowl games against the highest ranked teams that do not
qualify for the national playoffs. The second round of the playoffs would consist of
four regional championships held at neutral sites; East, West, North and South.
These games would generate enormous amounts of revenue and interest. The
second round winners would be matched up in two of the major bowls, in two Final
Four semi-final games on New Year’s Day, while the four teams that lost their
second round playoff games would be matched up in the other two major bowls, in
National Consolation bowl games, also on New Year’s Day. The four major bowls, the
Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta, would alternate each year, two of them hosting the
Final Four semi-final games, and the other two hosting the National Consolation bowl
games. The two major bowls that host the National Consolation bowl games would
also host the National Championship game, which would be played two weeks after
New Year’s Day, and the Character Bowl National third place game, which would be
played ten days or so after New Year’s Day and have a huge payout to the winner.
This playoff system would bring fairness and more parity to Division 1 college
football, ensure that all conferences in the nation are represented, and give all
deserving teams a chance to play for the national championship.

The regular season would be limited to twelve games so that the most games any
teams would play is sixteen. Conferences determine their champions and runner-
ups. Conferences could still choose to hold championship games, but they would
need to be played by Thanksgiving weekend at the latest. In case of second place
ties, conferences should use BCS rankings as one of the tie breakers, thus increasing
the chance of their runner-up receiving an at large bid to the playoffs. No third place

in conference teams would be included in the national playoffs.

First round playoff games would be played the first weekend in December. The
BCS would rank the eleven conference champions and the five top ranked
conference runner-ups from # 1 – #16. Teams ranked one through eight would host
first round home playoff games. #1 would play #16, #2 would play # 15, etc. These
first round home playoff games would generate tremendous amounts of interest and
revenue. Ticket prices could start at $100 for student tickets, and go up from there.
Television rights would also generate much revenue. Revenue could be split 60 – 40,
with the conference of the winning team getting 60%. There could be four first
round playoff games televised on Friday, none earlier than 3:00 Pacific time, and
four more first round playoff games televised on Saturday, none earlier than 9:00
Pacific time. The eight teams that lose in the first round of the national playoffs
would still be able to participate in mid-major Bowl games. They would be matched
up with the eight highest ranked teams that did not qualify for the sixteen team
national playoff. The highest ranked team that lost in the first round would play the
highest ranked non-qualifying team (#17), the second highest ranked team that lost
in the first round would play the second ranked non-qualifying team (#18), etc. The
mid-major Bowls would know their matchups by December 7th, at the latest.
Officials for each home playoff game would be the best referees from neutral
conferences.

Second round playoff games will be four regional championships played at neutral
sites on the second weekend of December. These regional championship games
would be in addition to all of the bowl games, would be matchups between the top
eight teams in the country, and would generate even more national interest and
more revenue than the first round games.. The four second round games could all be
played on a “Super Saturday” played at 9:00 am, 12:00, 3:00, and 6:00 pm Pacific
time. If that is too much football for one day, there could be two second round
games on Friday, and two more on Saturday. The eight teams that won first round
playoff games would be placed in their most appropriate geographic regions: North,
East, South, West. The highest ranked teams could not be moved out of their region.
No eastern teams could be moved to the west region and vice versa, no northern
teams could be moved to the south region and vice versa. If need be, western and
eastern teams could be moved to the south or north regions, and southern and
northern teams could be moved to the west or east regions.

The four teams that win their second round playoff games would be matched up
in two Final Four National Semi-Final games in two of the four major bowl games
played on New Year’s Day: Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange Bowls. These two bowl
games would generate even more interest and revenue than they do now because
the winners would then advance to the National Championship game. The four
teams that lose in the second round of the playoffs would be matched up in National
Consolation games in the other two major bowl games played on New Year’s Day.
The National Consolation bowl games would still be very desirable bowl games as
they would always match two of the top eight teams in the nation. Teams that won
and lost in the West and North Regional Championship second round playoff games
would be matched up in the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. Teams that won and lost
in the East and South Regional Championship second round playoff games would be
matched up in the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. This would help maintain
traditional major bowl game matchups. The four major bowls would know their
matchups by December 14th at the latest. Teams would still get at least two and a
half weeks, and sometimes more than three weeks to prepare for the New Year’s

Day bowl games. The four major bowls would alternate each year between the two
Final Four National Semi-Final games and the two National Consolation games. The
years that the two major bowls host the National Consolation bowl games, they
would also host either the National Championship game two weeks after New Year’s
Day, or the National Character Bowl third place game ten days or so after New
Year’s Day. The Character Bowl third place game would be a great matchup between
two of the top four teams in the nation, and would have a huge payout. The four
major bowls would each host one of the Final Four games every other year, one of
the National Consolation games every other year, the Character Bowl third place
game every four years, and the National Championship game every four years.

This proposed Division 1 College Football Playoff would ensure that all eleven
conferences in the nation would be represented in the national playoffs. The five
most powerful conferences each year would get two teams into the national playoffs.
Revenue sharing in a 60-40% split to the winners in all four rounds of the playoffs
would benefit all Division 1 conference members more equally than in the present
system. The regular season games would still be crucial because they would
determine conference champions and BCS rankings. All bowl games would remain
intact, and many of them would receive more national interest and more revenue.
The first and second round playoff games would generate large amounts of extra
revenue for the NCAA and the member conferences. The Division 1 college football
championship would be won on the playing field. There would no longer be
any “mythical” national champions, no more argument or debate. This playoff
system will create enormous amounts of national interest, excitement and revenue,
bring more fairness and parity to Division 1 college football, ensure that all
conferences in the nation are represented equally in the national playoffs, and give
all deserving teams having great seasons a chance to play for the national
championship.

Instead of a pure playoff, allowing many mediocre teams a chance to get hot and win it all, a plus 2 system seems to make the most sense.
The Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange Bowls keep their conference tie ins to the B1G, Pac12, Big12, SEC, and ACC, while dropping the Big East’s AQ status. (Let’s be honest, the Big East is a mess and they will be losing their status as is) The at large spots are filled by teams much the same way as the current system, with a clause requiring a team to finish in the top 12 of the BCS standings to qualify. This eliminates things like a Michigan and Va Tech securing bids over K State and Boise. Only 2 teams from a conference can qualify unless neither #1 or #2 are champions of their respective conferences (this would have been the case had Georgia beaten LSU and the Tigers had dropped to #2)
The 4 BCS games are played, with the winners of those games moving on to the semifinals. The matchups between these bowls alternate annually. The Orange Bowl Champ vs the Rose Bowl champ this year, then vs the Fiesta Bowl next year, then the Sugar Bowl the year after that, etc. The winners of these 2 games meet for a TRUE national title.

The powers that be still make their precious millions especially with two more money making games between powerful opponents. You save the tradition of the bowls without compromising the integrity of the system as a whole. The regular season still has meaning. The players get a chance to prove ON THE FIELD who is the best team. Most importantly, the fans get rewarded with 7 GREAT games to finish the season, before ultimately seeing a deserving national champion crowned.

Donald, not sure that would work all that well, but a plus one model is being discussed. Would be nice to get a playoff no matter how small.

BEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PROPOSAL
It doesn’t Make a Lick of Sense for two teams that have already Battled Out to Win the SEC West Division to Meet Again in The National Championship Game! ‘Give Someone Else a Shot’! By The Way, Oklahoma State’s Schedule was Sixty-Percentage-Points More Difficult than Alabama’s This Season ! !
The ‘Old Boys’ Network Voting Shouldn’t Decide These Things. Let It Be Decided Only By The Numbers!

Final Week – Top Twelve Univ Football (*based on losses; strength of schedule; & conference championship*)

schedule strength = combined won-lost Percentage of beaten ‘Bowl Subdivision’ opponents

1. LSU 13-0 / .609

2. Oklahoma St. 11-1 / .568

3. So. Mississippi 11-2 / .500

4. TCU 10-2 / .490

5. Wisconsin 11-2 / .483

6. Oregon 11-2 / .475

7. Arkansas State 10-2 / .370

8. Clemson 10-3 / .536

9. Northern Illinois 10-3 / .481

10. West Virginia 9-3 / .479

11. Brigham Young 9-3 / .346

12. Louisiana Tech 8-4 / .360

13. – 22.> = The remaining one-loss teams, then the remaining two-loss teams, etc., all ranked by schedule strength.

My Playoff proposal pits #1 v.#4 and #2 v.#3 at Neutral Sites, then ‘Plus-one’ National Championship Game. There ought never be More Than Four Teams in a Playoff, otherwise we’d be making college kids work like professionals and paying them nothing!
Any non-independent which does not win it’s Conference Championship would not be allowed to compete in the final-four under this plan.

Suggested Bowl Matchups =5v6, 7v8 and so on down the line if from different Conferences.

Bad idea, one that will never be accepted. Too many teams, too many bad teams from weak conferences. My idea is to let the current BCS do its thing, then after all conference title games and the FINAL BCS standings are determined…
The 2nd Sat in Dec, the top 8 BCS teams play, 1 vs 8, 2 Vs 7, etc.. with the higher ranked teams the home team. Then the 3rd Sat in Dec the 4 winners play in a similar format.
Then you have 2 teams to play for the National Championship on New Years as the last bowl game. Simple, and easy to understand… You have meaningful college football in Dec, and not have teams sit for month waiting to play a bowl game.

Well it is definitely crazy. It is way too over the top. You want to make minimal changes. All of a sudden we now have 8 conferences of 14 teams. You do realize this will never happen, right? Look at the conference realignment garbage going on now. You can’t force them to do anything. And then with the confusing scheduling and incorporating bowl games and everything, it’s just too much. We all need to put aside what we think is the most fair way to do a playoff and just do one. The easiest way is to simply take the top 8 in the BCS rankings at the end of the year regardless of conference affiliation or anything. 8 highest ranked teams play. Period. If this ends up not working, great, come up with a more fair solution. But we are never going to get a playoff implemented that is 32 teams, forces conference sizes and a million other things. Something simple and easy to implement is where we start.

I agree that college football needs a playoff system and I don’t think it would take away from the game or its uniqueness. Now my version calls for a deeper playoff and many people feel that more than 8 is too many, but when you look at all other sports, including college football at other levels, most sports have at last 30% of teams getting into the battle of the best for a shot at the title.
For instance, NFL has 12 teams in the playoffs out of a possible 32 teams that is 38%. NBA has 16 teams as well as NHL which is closer to 50% and MLB is 8 of 30 which is 26%. With that logic, if 30% of college teams made the playoffs, there should be roughly 32 teams (33.6 to be exact for you mathematician sticklers). So I have devised a major college overhaul that would still allow for an 11 game season, still keep rivalries, still allow for bowls and have a true playoff for a National Champion.
However, the one flaw is that you would have to limit conferences to 14 teams and seeing as conferences are individual entities and could sue the NCAA for posing such an action against them that would be tough to do. But for arguments sake, let’s just say that it was agreed and there was a 14 team limit per conference. With that, there are now 8 conferences of 14 teams in FBS, with 24 teams making it into the playoffs.
The new schedule is condensed to a 9 game season with 2 added games still making 11 games. The 9 games include 7 conference games and 2 non conference games to ensure as many rivalries are intact. Week 10 is Champions week.. this is the conference Championship games along with conference matchups based upon conference rank. For instance, PAC12 North 2 plays host the lowest ranked team in the PAC12 South that they haven’t already played, allowing for minimal chance to have rematches.
The winners of the conference title games are automatically in the playoffs and the other 16 spots are filled with the top 16 non-automatically qualified teams left in the BCS Style rankings. This way every team has a chance to get in and those who have a slipup along the way in tough conferences still have a chance for redemption. The way it works is simple. The top 8 teams by ranking have a first round bye, so playing for top spots still makes every game count and fighting to get in or to play spoiler still makes all games worth watching.
During the first week of playoffs, 9 thru 16 host 17 thru 24 with 9 hosting 24. Simple.. the rest of the teams who are not in the playoffs will now have inter-conference play. Broken into zones of 12 (example the top 12 highest ranked teams not in the playoffs will be lumped together. The highest ranked among them hosting the lowest ranked among them, avoiding rematches.), thus giving everyone their 11 game and something to play for during the season, an extra home game.
After this round, the lowest seeded team plays at the number 1 seed and down the list. The winners advance to the Quaterfinals which will be played the following week with the higher seeded team playing host. After this, there is a break like we normally have to allow for finals and the top 4 to rest and recover for a fair chance at the title.
Bowl games are no selected as normal pitting teams and games together that people want to see. The 4 major bowls serve as semi-final sites and quarterfinal loser matchups. There is also a new bowl introduced, known as the Best of the Worst. The two worst teams according to standings will play on New Years day to get some exposure and some cash for both programs to help them be more competitive in the future. The losers of the semi-finals will play one week later in the consolation game, followed by the National Championship game a couple of days later.
Yes, it is a bit different and slightly confusing, but it pleases everyone, all schools have a legitimate shot, all get their 11 games and the upper teams have bowl games and the playoff teams are rewarded with more chances to play and to win a Championship the way you are supposed to.
Feel free to tear it apart call me stupid, or crazy or whatever you will, but this keeps everything intact allows for a playoff, adds fairness and rewards greatness during the regular season so you all have something to play for and adds some excitement.

HOW DOES A NON AQ TEAM SIGN AGAINST A MAJOR OPPONENT ON ANOOC WEEK IF THE MAJORS ARE ALL SIGNING WITH A SURE WIN OVER A WEEK APPONENT FOR A WELL DESERVED REST AND HOW DO THE MAJORS STACK UP AGAINST OTHER CONFERENCES WILL NEVER BE SEEN UNTIL THEY SIGN GAMES OF THAT CALIBER. THEY SEEM GOOD AGAINST THEIR CONFERENCE APPONENTS BUT ON THE FEW OCCASIONS THEY HAVE SIGNED WITH A REAL THREAT AND NOT A SURE ROMP THEY HAVE NOT LOOKED SO GOOD. STYLE POINTS ALLOW AUBURN TO NOT BE HARMED BY A LAST MINUTE ON SIDE KICK AGAINST UTAH STATE WHILE A LESS THAN50 POINT WIN OVER UTAH STATE DROPS BOISE STATE AT LEAST 2 SPOTS AND POSIBLY 9 OR TEN. EXPLAIN TO ME AGAIN WHY ONE TEAM NEEDS TO OVER ACHIEVE AND ANOTHER NEEDS NOT PLAY AN APPONENT THAT MAY POTENENTIALY EXPOSE THE FACT THAT OUTSIDE THEIR CONFERENCE SOME OF THESE POWER TEAMS MAY NOT FARE SO WELL.

I THINK THAT A DIFFERENT SYSTEM THAT DOES NOT FUNNEL CHAMPIONSHIPS AND ITS REWARDS THROUGH THE MEDIA AND BOLL PAY OUTS TO CERTAIN TEAMS IN SPECIFIC CONFERENCES IS WELL OVER DUE. A PLAY OFF SEEMS TO BE THE MOST LOGICAL IDEA YET THE CONFERENCES AND TEAMS THAT ARE PRESENTLY BENEFITING FROM IT DO NOT AGREE. THIS PUTS A LOT OF FUNDS AND MEDIA INFLUENCES IN THE WAY. I WOULD SAY TO THOSE WHO WOULD OBJECT TO EXTENDING THE SEASON AND KEEPING THE EXISTING AMOUNT OF GAMES THUS LEAVING EVERYTHING UN CHANGED. THAT ALL AQ CONFERENCES AND THE TEAMS WITHIN SHOULD BE ASSIGNED A GAME IN THE FOLLOWING SEASON BETWEEN THEIR CHAMPION AND A NON AQ CONFERENCE CHAMPION FROM THE PREVIOUS SEASON, AND EACH OF THE OTHER TEAMS IN THESES CONFERENCES ALSO SHOULD SIGN ,OR BE ASSIGNED A GAME WITH AT LEAST ONE TEAM FROM A NON AQ CONFERENCE IN PLACE OF THE SUB DIVISION FOOT BALL TEAMS THAT THEY CURRENTLY SCHEDULE EACH YEAR. THIS WOULD AFFORD THE NON AQ CONFERENCES AND TEAMS A CHANCE TO PROVE THEIR STRENGTH AND ALSO PROVIDE THE AQ CONFERENCES A STAGE TO PROVE THEY DESERVE THE STATUS THAT THEY ARE AWARDED EACH YEAR. THE CURRENT SYSTEM ONLY AVOIDS ANY KIND OF COMPARISON BETWEEN AQ AND NON AQ CONFERENCES AND ELIMINATES THE NON AQ’S FROM BEING GIVEN AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY NO MATTER HOW GOOD THEY MAY BE. THIS WOULD PUT CREDABILTY TO THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE MINDS OF THE FANS THAT GENERATE THE FUNDS THAT ARE PAID OUT FOR BOWL GAME PARTICIPANTS AND WILL GIVE ALL THE TEAMS THAT WORK HARD EVERY YEAR AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TO CHALLENGE THEMSELVES AND TO ACHIEVE A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STATUS IN ANY SEASON THAT THEY MAY DESERVE THAT TITLE. I BELIEVE THAT ANY TEAM FROM ANY CONFERENCE SHOULD APPRECIATE THIS IDEA IF THEY HONESTLY FEEL THAT THEY ARE THE BEST AND ARE NOT ONLY HIDING BEHIND A SYSTEM THAT FAVORS THEM AND ELIMINATES ANY THREAT FROM ANY OUTSIDE SOURCES MAKEING THEM FEEL MORE WORTHY OF A TITLE THAT IS EARNED IN A MANNER THAT IS DESIGNED TO NOT JUST CHOOSE A CHAMPION AND THAT ALLOWS THE BEST TEAM TO NEED TO EARN THE TITLE. GOOD LUCK TO ALL NON AQ AND AQ CONFERENCES IN A FUTURE SYSTEM THAT IS BETTER DESIGNED TO DESIGNATE THE TRUE CHAMPION, WHAT EVER THAT SYSTEM MAY BE.

I agree 100% with the need of a playoff system but I think all of you are making things WAY too difficult! For one thing a 16 team playoff would add 4 extra games to make the championship…too many games and too many teams. And, it takes away the best aspects of the current system; every game of the season having a playoff-like feeling and importance, and the obsessive watching and debating of rankings that we all do. My idea for a playoff addresses these problems as well as making a conference championship much more meaningful. So here it is:

1) 8 teams, this makes 3 rounds, kick off bowl season with round 1 on Saturday a full week before New Year’s day, semis on New Year’s, championship the following Friday night. Have all other lesser bowl games between these.

2) All undefeated teams at the end of the regular season are in. This gives everyone a way in, smaller conferences and independents now have a chance to be champions. In the extremely unlikely event that there are more than 8 undefeated teams, the bottoms ones would play an extra round to get in, for example #8 vs #9 for the 8th spot.

3) The remaining teams must be conference champions. This makes winning the conference extremely meaningful to a team, and by proxy makes conference championship games a first round of the playoffs. Conferences would continue to choose their champions however they want but a championship game would obviously be ideal.

4) The remaining spots will go to those conference champions that finish highest in the BCS rankings. This gives teams from stronger conferences a better shot at getting in, and makes the rankings continue to be all important for the entire season.

5) So, if there are 2 undefeateds, the remaining 6 spots go to the conference champions that rank highest.

6) Seedings are determined entirely by BCS rankings, no committee or selection Sunday or any of that jazz; 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 play in 1st round and continue like a typical bracket tournament.

7) Games are at the 4 current championship bowls + add 3 more to be determined by NCAA, have rotating schedule so every 7th year each bowl gets the championship, 2 of 7 years semis and 4 of 7 years first round. Higher ranked team is “home” team for the sake of all rules. Perhaps every 7 years let other bowl games bid to replace those that have it.

That’s it-simple, 8 teams, 3 rounds, everyone has a chance to be champion, BCS rankings matter hugely, every single regular season game matters, and conference championships matter hugely!

I’m a HUGE NFL fan and not into CFB as much, but I watch it sometimes. I’d like to get into it more though, and I’d love a playoff in college football. I’ve loved the idea of a CFB playoff ever since I came across the Wetzel Plan (no offense to your plan, I just like the general 16-team proposal since it’s the most objective). Some people may say, “The Sun Belt champ doesn’t deserve to play for the title.” Why not? They’re a D-1 FBS school just like the SEC champ. EVERY FBS team deserves to play for the title. But, you have to set guidelines for them to follow every year. This plan does that. This will also level the playing field more for the mid-majors. It’s not like the mid-majors will get preferential treatment, the Power 6-conf. schools just won’t get preferential treatment (at least when it comes to conf. champs, as some conferences could boast 3-4 teams in this system, but I’m fine with that since every conf. sends at least one school). But some people still might complain and say, “Ohio St. (not picking on them, just using them as an example) is better than the MAC champ!” Maybe, but YOUR conf. champ is better than YOU. Had you won your conference, you’d be in without a doubt. Which leads me to the “regular season importance” point: People say that the regular season would become meaningless. I say it could lose a little bit of its meaning for a few teams, but it would mean more for the FBS as a whole. In my above scenario, the snubbed Power 6-conf. team should’ve won its games that they lost, and then they’d be in. Someone else on the Internet said that the BCS gives viewers a good shock value or something like that, but losing the shock value wouldn’t be too bad if it meant crowning a true national champ. But people would still probably complain about how the 17th ranked team got left out “in place of” the C-USA champ. Maybe the rankings could be cut down. It seems far-fetched, but it’s just a thought. That way, all ranked teams could get in and not complain about getting snubbed. Some anti-playoff may respond to how the BCS is unfair by saying, “Well, life isn’t fair.” True, but that’s no excuse to keep being unfair. I’d love for this to happen.

I would love to see a playoff in college football, but I think most of the plans encompass too much. I prefer the baby steps approach. Start off with the “plus one” playoff scenario which gives us at least a 4 team playoff. with its success, it will only be a matter of time for the number of teams to expand.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me say this, I am for a playoff system. I don’t care if its an 8, 12, 16, or 20 team playoff. The reason why it will not happen until the BCS contract comes up for renewal in 2015 is that the BCS is MAKEING MILLIONS apon MILLIONS of dollars for there so called BCS. So why would they want to change any format. Right now they are making bank so why take a chance at something like a playoff and jepordize there money making scam on us! I’m sick of the BCS and the guy who created it, we will never have a playoff system until that guy leaves College Football ALONE!

I must reiterate to everyone, you cannot have a playoff that uses the bowl games for the sites of games. The purpose of a playoff is to have home field advantage and make sure the games sellout so that the schools get the money and not some sleazy bowl executives. Bowl games can be played in the week off before the semis of the playoffs and continue as they are just fine. But you cannot use bowl games as playoff locations or it just won’t work.

And before anyone tells me that I’m a southerner who thinks that the South is unjustly picked on Let me tell you this. There were a couple of teams in the SEC who “could” have made the men’s basketball field of 68 this year. (Bama being one) But they didn’t in favor of eleven Big East teams. Although I was disappointed that Bama only made the NIT, I didn’t complain. Out side of UK and Florida (recently, not historically) the SEC just doesn’t play as good a basketball as the Big East. I know that after the first weekend their were only two of those teams left but still I have no room to complain there is better basketball in the Big East just as there is better football in the SEC.

I totally agree that there needs to be a college football playoff. But I think that we have to look at least a 32 team field to make it as fair as possible. While only leaving room for only five at large bids their will be teams on the outside looking in every year. Not just any teams but teams that probably could play competitively with any team in the field. For example let’s say that VA Tech starts off 0-2 and wins every game until the conference championship game where they loose to a competitive Clemson team who squeaked past FSU with a record of 8-4. In the midwest there is an independent named Notre Dame who finishes their season with the same three loss record as VA Tech. But because of who they are, and the northern media’s love affair with the Irish, they would definatly slide in front of Va Tech in the final BCS rankings. Trust me it would happen. I am a Bama guy so take this with a grain of salt (although I believe it’s true) SEC teams like Bama, Auburn, UGA, and Miss State would virtually have to win a conference championship to make the playoff in the 16 team field. Eventually all of your at large bids would go to the USC’s, Notre Dame’s, Penn State’s, and Ohio State’s.

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