Comments on: College Football Playoff Time

By: Joel McWaters

Joel McWaters — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:26:45 +0000

Here is the best way to keep both the BCS and the four main bowls.
Each Div-1 team may only play 10 regular season games, plus the potential conference game.
After the conference games are completed, the BCS comes out with their final rankings. Here is and example using recent standings:
1-Alabama
2-Texas Tech
3-Texas
4-Florida
5-Oklahoma
6-USC
7-Utah
8-Penn State

Here is the bracket (with game sites and supposed winners)

First-round of playoffs (First weekend of December)

8-Penn State vs.____winner____Alabama
1-Alabama @ AL

5-Oklahoma vs._____winner____Florida
4-Florida @ FLA

7-Utah vs.__________winner____Texas Tech
2-Texas Tech @ Texas Tech

6-USC vs.__________winner____Texas
3-Texas @ Texas

Second-round of playoffs (Second weekend of December)
4-Florida vs.________winner____Florida
1-Alabama @ AL

3-Texas vs._________winner____Texas
2-Texas Tech @ Texas Tech

Now, after the first round, the losers in the first round, Penn State, Oklahoma, Utah and USC fill in the first two BCS bowls:
Rose Bowl – Jan 1. Penn State vs. USC
Fiesta Bowl – Jan 2. Oklahoma vs. Utah
After the second round, the next BCS bowl is filled by the losers of that game:
Sugar Bowl – Jan 3. Texas Tech vs Alabama
And finally the fourth BCS bowl, is the national championship game, after a whole TWO Weeks of playoffs:
Orange Bowl (Nat’l Champ. game) – Jan 4. Texas vs. Florida.

You wanna home playoff game? Win more than anyone else. It works in almost every other major sport.

Sorry if you are #9 in the country, you don’t have a valid claim to play for the national title.

By: Mark L. Casey

Mark L. Casey — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:21:11 +0000

There IS something to be said for every game really counting. As you said, to get in the top 8 or even the top 16, each game still really matters. This will be very much unlike the NFL where it is possible to get into the playoffs as a wildcard team with a .500 record. In the current top 8 of the BCS there is a total of 6 losses. No 2-loss teams are in this group. This is an average of 0.75 losses per team.

When we expand it to the current top 16 teams, we add 2 undefeated teams (Boise State and Ball State), 3 2-loss teams (Ohio State, TCU, and Cincinnati), and 3 3-loss teams (Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, and Boston College). At the top 16 level, that is a total of 18 losses or 1.125 losses per team on average.

I would say that each game still matters. If you want to be in the top 8 you need to try to win every game. You can still make it if you have just one loss and other factors are in your favor. If you have 2 losses, the top 8 may not work for you most years, but the top 16 probably will.

Just for fun, what would the first round of a 16-team playoff this year look like?

1 Alabama v. 16 Boston College in Tuscaloosa, AL
2 Oklahoma v. 15 Georgia Tech in Norman, OK
3 Texas v. 14 Oklahoma State in Austin, TX (a rematch of a tight 28-24 Longhorn win)
4 Florida v. 13 Cincinnati in Gainsville, FL
5 USC v. 12 Ball State in Los Angeles, CA
6 Utah v. 11 TCU in Salt Lake City, UT (OK, another rematch but of a close 13-10 Ute victory)
7 Texas Tech v. 10 Ohio State in Lubbock, TX
8 Penn State v. 9 Boise State in State College, PA

Each of those games would be a tremendous draw at the stadium and on TV. The top 8 teams get rewarded with an extra home game.

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By: Ben Lee

Ben Lee — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:34:11 +0000

I agree completely. I think one important consideration for this to ever happen is proving to the conferences and universities, particularly those that are not in the playoff field, that they will still share in the revenue generated by such a system just as they do for the current bowls. This would be especially true given that it likely requires losing the revenue from a conference championship game and/or the recently added 12th regular season game.

Another opposing view commonly held has been that the regular season functions as a playoff since every game means so much and to many, that’s part of the excitement of college football. It should be obvious with recent events and numerous other accounts in previous years (split champions in 2003, Auburn snubbed even undefeated in the SEC in 2004, the obvious Big XII debacle this year) that the notion of the regular season settling anything is just not always true. I also think the 8 team playoff is fair but so highly selective that it means each regular season game is still of critical importance.

If only…