College Playoffs? Why Not?

Every year in college football there is talk of a playoff system, how to make it work, why it will never work, and why the detractors of the broken BCS system should just shut up, because this is how it is, and this is how it always will be. Every other sport has a playoff system. Even NASCAR has a playoff system. Division II college football has a playoff system, but Division I cannot ever have a playoff system, because the Rose Bowl would disapprove.

Well, I think I may have come up with a system that works, keeps the major bowls in place, granted without their conference affiliations, but they remain in place nonetheless.

In the NFL, each conference sends 6 teams to the playoffs. The top two teams, by record, get first round byes. Then the remaining 4 teams play each other, the two division winners getting home games.

The proposal for college is simple:

Take the 6 BCS conference champions and rank them 1-6 in the playoff format, using their current BCS ranking as their position in the playoff bracket. The top four conference champions receive first round byes, thereby making the regular season mean something. I don’t understand why people think that a playoff in college football would make the regular season meaningless. Is it meaningless in college basketball? What about the NFL? No? But in college it would be.

So the BCS conference winners get in. Then you take the top 6 teams in the BCS after the champions are taken out, and put them into the brackets. The teams with byes would play their first match in the Quarterfinals, at one of the four BCS Bowl sites. The first round games would be played at the home stadium of the highest ranked team in the match-up (ex. 10. Texas at 7. Georgia).

Let’s use the final BCS standings from the 2007 season as an example.

1. LSU

2. USC

3. Georgia

4. Ohio State

5. Missouri

6. West Virginia

7. Kansas

8. Oklahoma

9. Virginia Tech

10. Texas

11. Boston College

12. Tennessee

Conference Champions: LSU, USC, Ohio State, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech.

Under my proposed playoff system, LSU, USC, Ohio State, and West Virginia would all receive first round byes. The other teams would then play each other in the first round, with the games being played at the higher ranked team’s home field.

Bracket 1

1. LSU – bye

4. West Virginia –bye

12. Tennessee at 5. Oklahoma

9. Kansas at 8. Missouri

Bracket 2

2. USC –bye

3. Ohio State –by

11. Boston College at 6. Virginia Tech

10. Texas at 7. Georgia

After the first round, the Quarterfinal Games are set. I’m using a hypothetical here, so don’t get mad. Remember, these are the standing from last season.

Bracket 1

9. Kansas vs. 1. LSU at the Sugar Bowl

5. Oklahoma vs. 4. West Virginia at the Fiesta Bowl

Bracket 2

2. USC vs. 11. Boston College at the Rose Bowl

3. Ohio State vs. 7. Georgia at the Orange Bowl

These games would be played at the current BCS Bowl sites, as indicated. As the Quarterfinals were played, and the Semifinals determined, the Semifinal games would be played at neutral sites, as determined on a rotation basis.

Bracket 1

1. LSU vs. 4. West Virginia at a neutral site

Bracket 2

2. USC vs. 7. Georgia at a neutral site

The National Championship Game would be played at one of the BCS Bowl sites, two weeks after the Quarterfinals. Under my system, and remember, it is my system, so I get to make the rules in this little example, Georgia would face LSU for the National Title.

And Georgia would win.

Now,

For some screaming Injustice time.

It's looking more and more like 2-loss Ohio State (10-2) is going to a BCS Bowl, but that 12-0 Boise State, ranked one spot ahead of Ohio State in the latest BCS Poll, will be lucky to get a berth in the Humanitarian Bowl, played at their own home field. It's just not right.