Opinions are like ********, everybody's got them. We've seen a ton of playoff proposals from the "Plus-One" model to various numbers of teams.

So tell us HOW you would do it. How many teams, how would you select them, and where would they play? What dates would you use?

I have one, but I'll share mine later...

As is.

As is. It is why the season is so exciting. A playoff would make college football like the NFL. You only have to be good enough to get to the playoffs and then with a little luck on your side you can waltz into the Superbowl.
A highly ranked 3 loss team does not deserve the chance at a playoff. Sorry just my two cents.

12 teams. using the final BCS standings

This years dates would be:
12/12

#1 - #4 get round one bye.
#5 - #8 get home game (#12 at #5, #11 at #6, etc)

12/19

#1 -#4 get home game ([#12 at #5 winner] at #1, etc)

12/26

semifinals in 2 of the 4 big bowls

about 2 weeks later the championship game in another of the rotating bowls.

The reason i like this is it addresses a few issues:

1) the regular season stays very important for seeding purposes and home field.
2) if a team has injuries and loses a few, they can still have a chance when the injured get healthy.
3) it gets a few mid majors a chance to prove their worth.
4) pissing off team 13 is better than pissing off team #3 or #5.
5) you can still have some bowls with everyone else #13 and lower.
6) doesn't cause a problem with school.
7) makes it easier for fans to attend (only 2 schools would travel to 2 neutral site games)

other than that, this plan sucks

I would be happy with the +1 system to see how it worked out.

The problem is that there are going to be at least 4 teams deserving of the NC and there is going to be complaints of which two teams to put in. Have 4 teams play and the winners play for it all.

This will give non BCS conferences a legitimate shot at the title.

Of course there will be controversy of the 4 teams, but less than with 2 teams. If there are 3 or 4 undefeated teams, as we have this year, then throw them into a small playoff and settle it on the field.

I also think you can't use existing bowl games for playoffs. You can't expect a fan base to be able to travel to several venues. That is asking a lot of $$$ from people.

If they went with an 8 or 12 team playoff, they would have to use the regular stadiums, as the NFL does. You really can't expect people to travel to Atlanta, and then New Orleans and then the National Championship. That is a lot of days off of work, a lot of money on hotels, travel, food and game tickets. It wouldn't work.

quote:

Originally posted by gatoraces:
12 teams. using the final BCS standings

#1 - #4 get round one bye.
#5 - #8 get home game (#12 at #5, #11 at #6, etc)
#1 -#4 get home game ([#12 at #5 winner] at #1, etc)

semifinals in 2 of the 4 big bowls

about 2 weeks later the championship game in another of the rotating bowls.

KEY POINT: pissing off team 13 is better than pissing off team #3 or #5.

This is the one Machen proposed to Slive. I agree. The status quo is broken.

quote:

Originally posted by TriathGator:
I would be happy with the +1 system to see how it worked out.

The problem is that there are going to be at least 4 teams deserving of the NC and there is going to be complaints of which two teams to put in. Have 4 teams play and the winners play for it all.

This will give non BCS conferences a legitimate shot at the title.

Of course there will be controversy of the 4 teams, but less than with 2 teams. If there are 3 or 4 undefeated teams, as we have this year, then throw them into a small playoff and settle it on the field.

Agreed. I would also like to add that only conference champs should be allowed for the four seeds (or a top ranked independent, if the independent is ranked #4 or higher). If a team does not win its conference, then that team should not be the national champ.

Seed #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3.

+1 should be enough for a playoff, no more. As others have said, we want the regular season to be worth something. And I think that being conference champ should be worth something also.

Form 8 major conferences with every conference having a championship game. The 8 champions make up a playoff for the National Champion. If you can't be the champion of your own conference then you can't play to be National Champion.

Any playoff plan should be conference-based and only a conference champion can advance.

IOW, if you are not good enough to win your conference, you cannot play for the NC.

Such a system would insure the importance of the regular season as well as conference integrity. (Independents, such as ND, would have to affiliate or be left out.)

Each conference will be required to have a conference championshiop game which, in essence, is the first round of the playoffs. (The Big 10 and Pac 10 will have to change the way they do business.)

From that point it is a matter of a bracket, and seeding will be based on conference strength ranking and not team SOS.

Depending on the number of teams involved, lower ranked teams may face a play-in game Existing Bowls will be incorporated in the plan as much as possbible.

IMO the biggest bar to any playoff plan is the bowl system which stands to suffer huge financial losses if a playoff is implemented and they are left out.

Any bowl that doesn't get a taste will tie things up in the courts for years.

quote:

Originally posted by -THE DUDE-:
Form 8 major conferences with every conference having a championship game. The 8 champions make up a playoff for the National Champion. If you can't be the champion of your own conference then you can't play to be National Champion.

The tendency would be to quit your difficult conference and play in the Big East or ACC.

Larry Vettel had an idea a while back I believe and I liked it a lot. I think it was a +1 system but the main thing was that a panel of 'experts' would be voting and creating a poll, no more coaches poll etc...too much bias and regional ties there.

As is.

However, I wouldn't mind the Plus-1 format. 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Winners of those 2 games play for it all.

1. Chances are, if you're not worthy of a Top 4 ranking, you're not good enough to win a MNC.
2. Even if you're a "non-bcs" school, if you're undefeated (bsu, tcu), the pollsters might be willing to vote you into #4 to prove yourself if enough bcs teams look like pretenders*.

* This year, there are lots of questions, but as usual I expect many will work themselves out. Iowa can't keep the escape-artist act going all year (the nuts will probably beat 'em). Cincy looks good, but I think Pitt will give them a loss. acc isn't in the Top 4 picture. Does anyone think 1-loss oregon (yes, they look good right now) should jump bsu?

I am also in favor of a plus-one format because it would reduce a lot of the controversy (not all but neither would a playoff), it is the simplist format to implement without making many changes to the current system, and it still makes the regular season the most important regular season in all of sports.

Here's how I think it should be done in a nutshell: decide who should play for the national championship after the bowl games are played. Have the top 4 teams play in BCS bowls, and when the games are over, take the top 2 teams from the latest BCS poll and have them play a couple of weeks later for the national championship.

It would work best if the Pac-10 and Big-10 dropped their ties to the Rose bowl so a 1 could definitely play a 4 and a 2 definitely play a 3. I don't think the other conferences would have a problem droping their tie to a certain bowl since each BCS conference will still get an automatic bid to a BCS bowl.

Like I said earlier, I think this format is the best because it is the simplest to implement without changing too much of the current system. The bowls, which are very important to college football, are not affected at all, except that a couple of the BCS bowls will be more important than they are now. I understand Triath's concern that it could get really expensive for fans, but I don't think one extra game will be too hard for the fans and prevent them from coming.

quote:

Originally posted by -THE DUDE-:
Form 8 major conferences with every conference having a championship game. The 8 champions make up a playoff for the National Champion. If you can't be the champion of your own conference then you can't play to be National Champion.

What will you do with Boise State and TCU? ND can be forced into Big 10 (plus PSU)? Don't you need 12 teams to play a conference championship? Who would you add to Pac 10?

Just a one game playoff. Have the best team from the SEC East play the best team from the SEC West. The winner is the national champion, and gets to play an exhibition game in January against a team picked by the polls and the computers.

Oh wait, we already have that.

Well, to be honest, as-is is working out pretty dang well for the SEC right now. I mean, hasnt the conference won a bunch of titles (4) in the last 6 or so years?

But, that doesnt mean that ultimately I wouldnt want a playoff, eventually. I'd go with the typical 16 team playoff.

So let us look at the schedules of the 7...yes 7 remaining undefeated teams...

Florida - Vandy, @South Carolina, FIU, FSU
Bama - LSU, @MSU, UTC, @Auburn
Iowa - Northwestern, @Ohio State, Minnesota
Texas - UCF, @Baylor, Kansas, @Texas A&M
Cincinnati - UConn, WVU, Illinois, @Pittsburgh
TCU - SDSU, Utah, @Wyoming, New Mexico
Boise St. - Idaho, @Utah St, Nevada, New Mexico St.

Now, the ones I have put in BOLD are the ones I think are lose-able...Texas and Boise St, to me, do not have a lose-able game...Florida, Cincinnati and Iowa only have one...and Bama has a couple (Maybe 3 if you count Mississippi State)

but...

...I fully expect all 7 of these teams to finish undefeated in the regular season...so...how does a +1 get us anywhere in this scenario?

quote:

Originally posted by g8trs99:
As is. It is why the season is so exciting. A playoff would make college football like the NFL. You only have to be good enough to get to the playoffs and then with a little luck on your side you can waltz into the Superbowl.
A highly ranked 3 loss team does not deserve the chance at a playoff. Sorry just my two cents.

I agree (see Arizona Cardinals, 2008 season), but with one modification - the BCS standings, regardless of conference affiliations or titles, should be used for the "Plus-1" approach. #1 vs # 4 and 32 vs #3, and then a NC game resulting from those two winners.

A couple years ago, I thought a 10-game tourney would work. However, if the inept NCAA is to recognize this champion, you need all 11 conf. represented. A 12 team would only leave one non-conf or at-large team, so I now say 14 team. The top 2 get a bye, #14 plays #3, in standard tourney format. Higher seeded teams get homefield in first 2 rounds, then use the 'BCS bowls' rounds for rounds 3 & 4. This adds at most 4 games to a season, so eliminating that 12th game or starting a week early may be necessary to avoid going past 2nd week of Jan.

quote:

Originally posted by GatorSince55:
Any playoff plan should be conference-based and only a conference champion can advance.

IOW, if you are not good enough to win your conference, you cannot play for the NC.

Such a system would insure the importance of the regular season as well as conference integrity. (Independents, such as ND, would have to affiliate or be left out.)

Each conference will be required to have a conference championshiop game which, in essence, is the first round of the playoffs. (The Big 10 and Pac 10 will have to change the way they do business.)

From that point it is a matter of a bracket, and seeding will be based on conference strength ranking and not team SOS.

Depending on the number of teams involved, lower ranked teams may face a play-in game Existing Bowls will be incorporated in the plan as much as possbible.

IMO the biggest bar to any playoff plan is the bowl system which stands to suffer huge financial losses if a playoff is implemented and they are left out.

Any bowl that doesn't get a taste will tie things up in the courts for years.

So for example, a crappy 8-4 Big XII North champ who manages to eke out an upset in the Big XII title game and still have 4 losses is "qualified" to play for the NC (see NFL Arizona last year)?

I don't think so. See my proposal above.

quote:

Originally posted by Galloway1520:
A couple years ago, I thought a 10-game tourney would work. However, if the inept NCAA is to recognize this champion, you need all 11 conf. represented. A 12 team would only leave one non-conf or at-large team, so I now say 14 team. The top 2 get a bye, #14 plays #3, in standard tourney format. Higher seeded teams get homefield in first 2 rounds, then use the 'BCS bowls' rounds for rounds 3 & 4. This adds at most 4 games to a season, so eliminating that 12th game or starting a week early may be necessary to avoid going past 2nd week of Jan.

I didn't say, but implied that this would be 11 conf. champs, with the top 2 champs at the 1 & 2 slots, thus rewarding those teams for a great season. The rest could be either seeded by random, or from some composite poll like the BCS, or a body like the NCAA's BBall panel that do the brackets.

Okay, I took this stab at it, but still reserve the right to tweak my opinion.

* - There are eleven conferences. The winner from each Conference goes into the playoff, along with 5 at-large team that are selected by BCS standings, using a similar system for the at-large teams as what we use today.

* - This system doesn't care how the conferences select their champions, but it may be to their advantage to play a conference championship game to improve the BCS standings of the team that doesn't win the conference, as well as the seeding of the conference champion.

* - Notre Dame, Army and Navy would be encouraged to join a conference, but they would still be eligible for at-large status, using the same BCS standings as everyone else. No special Notre Dame exceptions.

* - The regular season would be an 11-game season, rather than 12. Most teams schedule a Div II team in that 12th game slot anyway, so it is of little value.

* - The playoffs would add up to 4 games to the season for 4 teams in the championship game, the same as the number of games played by Div II and Div III with their playoffs today (15). This is one more than teams with conference championships and bowl games play today.

* - The 11 conference winners would first be seeded according to their BCS standings, then the 5 at-large teams would be seeded in the 12-16 slots.

* - In the first playoff round, seed 1 would play seed 16, seed 2 would play seed 15, and so on.

* - The first round games would be played at the home stadium of the highest seeded team in each game, 2 weeks after the conference championship games.

* - In this season, with 11 games, the conference championships would end no later than Saturday, November 28th.

* - The playoff would begin 2 weeks later, on Dec 10th, 11th, 12th. The determination of which game is played on which day would be by random draw, or as an alternative, by seeding (highest first, lowest last).

* - The second round of the playoffs (semi-finals) would be played at the home stadium of the highest seeded team in each game, 1 week after the round 1 playoffs. All 4 of these games would be played on Dec. 19th.

* - The 2 third round games (finals) would be played on January 2nd, and would be played at current BCS bowl sites.

* - The championship game would be played 2 weeks later, on January 16th, at the current BCS bowl championship site.

Bowl games
* - This leaves 1 current BCS bowl out of the playoffs each year. This would be rotated. They would pit the 2 teams that lost their finals game on January 2nd, and would be played 1 week later on January 9th.

* - Currently, aside from the games played in BCS bowls, there are currently 29 other bowl games. These games would establish tie-ins to the various playoff rounds, using payout to determine the ranking of the bowls.

* - For example, outside of the BCS bowls, the highest payout bowl is the Capital One Bowl, so it would host it's pick of the losers of the 4 second round teams.

* - The next highest payout is the Outback bowl, so it would host the 2 losers of the second round games that were not picked up by the Capital One Bowl

* - The next highest payout is the Cotton bowl, which would host its pick of the 8 losers of the first round games, the Peach Bowl would pick next, the Gator bowl next, and the final 2 first round losers would go to the Alamo Bowl.

* - The remaining 23 bowls would have their choice of picks from non-playoff teams, as is the case today.

* - Non-playoff games could be scattered across the calendar similar to the way they are today, to keep many of the traditions of holiday game watching in place.

* - An alternative would be to allow the highest payout bowls to have their choice from ALL of the remaining teams (not still in the playoffs) so that they could match up in the manner that would best ensure higher attendance and viewership.

This plan satisfies most of the requirements that I could come up with, including giving preferences to the highest paying bowls, leaving most of the current bowl structure in place, not adding too many games (1 game at most, equaling what Div II and Div III play).

This structure also keeps the regular season meaningful, as teams want to win their conference to be guaranteed a playoff spot, but still want to have a strong schedule so that they can garner an at-large position in case they don't win their conference.

I consider this a draft plan, as I'm still working at tweaking a few ideas.

Fire away!

I agree with Savannah to a point...I think all eleven conferences should have the opportunity to get a team in there, but restrict it to a qualification number. I would propose 9 wins vs. Div 1-A opponents. This effectively eliminates the 8-4 "squeaker" and the bottom-feeders...

I like 16 teams...I know that's a large number, but with 120 teams in 1-A, that's only 13% of the teams...the NFL puts in 37% of their teams...

The issue I have with a straight up, +1 system is that you are not consistent with the qualifications to get to the big bowl games.

There are 120 1-A teams. I suggest 10 conferences of 12 each with a mandatory Conference Championship Game.

Play the bowls as they are with the exception of the "Big 5". Fiesta, Rose, Sugar, Orange, and elevate a new one. Those are for the 5 conference champions. Bowl tie-ins are still available, but only for Champions in these top bowls.

The five winners are eligible for selection by committee to play a +1 game.

This will keep the regular season relevant because you have to have a good record to be considered for the +1 game. It also keeps all the bowl games as valid as they are right now.

The two teams that are selected after bowl play will be the most deserving in most years. I actually like the controversy of the current system. It keeps things interesting and gives us something to talk about, year round. So, if there are a few years with some hard choices, well I am fine with that.

No 1 G8r... this is almost exactly as mine...

I choose 16 teams as well. 11 conference champions (if they qualify, need 9 wins) plus at-large selections (by committee, just like basketball). Seed the conference champs first, then the at-large guys... top 8 get home games in round 1...

I could add in one exception for Notre Dame in that if they are in the top 4, they get a home game...

I like using six bowl games and here's why. In rounds 2 & 3, you have...six games. Use three from the East (Orange, Sugar, Citrus) and three from the West (Rose, Fiesta, Cotton) to rotate the games between rounds 2 & 3...

Seed the teams in 4-team regions, try to keep teams close to home...avoid rematches if possible in the first round.

Allow the bowls not involved to select 1st round losers & teams that did not qualify.

I agree on the 11-game schedule...

quote:

Originally posted by GRBman:
So let us look at the schedules of the 7...yes 7 remaining undefeated teams...

Florida - Vandy, @South Carolina, FIU, FSU
Bama - LSU, @MSU, UTC, @Auburn
Iowa - Northwestern, @Ohio State, Minnesota
Texas - UCF, @Baylor, Kansas, @Texas A&M
Cincinnati - UConn, WVU, Illinois, @Pittsburgh
TCU - SDSU, Utah, @Wyoming, New Mexico
Boise St. - Idaho, @Utah St, Nevada, New Mexico St.

Now, the ones I have put in BOLD are the ones I think are lose-able...Texas and Boise St, to me, do not have a lose-able game...Florida, Cincinnati and Iowa only have one...and Bama has a couple (Maybe 3 if you count Mississippi State)

but...

...I fully expect all 7 of these teams to finish undefeated in the regular season...so...how does a +1 get us anywhere in this scenario?

First of all, UF and bama can't remain undefeated after they play each other, so that's 6 remaining undefeated teams in your scenario.

Second, this is the time of year when every talking head screams "the BCS is a mess!" Then, several teams lose during the final 4-5 games and the picture clears up - not perfect, but there certainly hasn't been the worst-case scenario you're using, yet.

Out of all the years the BCS has been around, there has typically been 0 or 1 team that had a legit reason to say they were robbed. Last year, if you include Utah and Texas, there were 2 teams left out.

Change the structure of the current conferences and independents to 4 Super Conferences with 2 divisions of 5 teams. Each team must play all of the teams in their conference, and 1 game outside of the conference in the 40 Super Conference rotation. They must then play in a Conference Championship game. The winners of these conferences go on to play in a 4 team championship series.
Take all the also rans and create a mid tier conference. So no more Vandy beatings on our schedule. Each year one team from each of the Super Conferences loses their spot to 4 mid tier teams that make their Championship series.

Using 2008, here's what I came up with...

Playoff system


1. ACC - Virginia Tech (9-4)
2. Big10 - Penn State (11-1)
3. BigXII - Oklahoma (11-1)
4. BigEast - Cincinnati (11-2)
5. Pac10 - USC (11-1)
6. MWC - Utah (12-0)
7. SEC - Florida (11-1)
8. WAC - Boise State (12-0)

Also-rans
1. Sun Belt - Troy (8-5)
2. CUSA - East Carolina (9-4)
3. MAC - Buffalo (8-5)

In 2008, both Virginia Tech and East Carolina qualified and were tied, but East Carolina beat Virginia Tech in the first game of the season, so East Carolina gets the bid. Sun Belt champion Troy and Mid-American champion Buffalo did not win 9 games so they do not qualify for the playoffs.

Selection committee will fill-in the remaining seven playoff slots. In 2008, the selection committee selects:
1. Texas (11-1, Tied for BigXII South #1)
2. Alabama (11-1, Lost SEC Championship Game)
3. Texas Tech (11-1, Tied for BigXII South #1)
4. TCU (10-2, beat Stanford & BYU)
5. Ohio State (10-2, Beat Wisconin & Michigan st. on the road)
6. Georgia Tech (9-3, Beat BC, Clemson, & Georgia on the road)
7. Georgia (10-2, beat South Carolina, Arizona State, LSU, Kentucky & Auburn all on the road.)

Left Out:
Oklahoma State (9-3) & Brigham Young (10-2)

Matchups:
East
Georgia Tech @ Florida 12/20
Texas Tech @ Penn State 12/20
Winners to play in Citrus Bowl 12/27

South
Georgia @ Oklahoma 12/20
Virginia Tech @ East Carolina 12/20
Winners to play in Sugar Bowl 12/27

MidWest
TCU @ Utah 12/20
Texas @ Cincinnati 12/20
Winners to play in Cotton Bowl 12/27

West
Ohio State @ USC (Rematch) 12/20
Alabama @ Boise State 12/20
Winners to play in Fiesta Bowl 12/27

Final Four (January 3):
Cotton Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner in Rose Bowl
Citrus Bowl winner vs. Sugar Bowl winner in Orange Bowl

Championship Game: January 10 (Rotating locations)

quote:

Originally posted by cggater:

quote:

Originally posted by GRBman:
So let us look at the schedules of the 7...yes 7 remaining undefeated teams...

Florida - Vandy, @South Carolina, FIU, FSU
Bama - LSU, @MSU, UTC, @Auburn
Iowa - Northwestern, @Ohio State, Minnesota
Texas - UCF, @Baylor, Kansas, @Texas A&M
Cincinnati - UConn, WVU, Illinois, @Pittsburgh
TCU - SDSU, Utah, @Wyoming, New Mexico
Boise St. - Idaho, @Utah St, Nevada, New Mexico St.

Now, the ones I have put in BOLD are the ones I think are lose-able...Texas and Boise St, to me, do not have a lose-able game...Florida, Cincinnati and Iowa only have one...and Bama has a couple (Maybe 3 if you count Mississippi State)

but...

...I fully expect all 7 of these teams to finish undefeated in the regular season...so...how does a +1 get us anywhere in this scenario?

First of all, UF and bama can't remain undefeated after they play each other, so that's 6 remaining undefeated teams in your scenario.

Second, this is the time of year when every talking head screams "the BCS is a mess!" Then, several teams lose during the final 4-5 games and the picture clears up - not perfect, but there certainly hasn't been the worst-case scenario you're using, yet.

Out of all the years the BCS has been around, there has typically been 0 or 1 team that had a legit reason to say they were robbed. Last year, if you include Utah and Texas, there were 2 teams left out.

I get your point, but I did say "regular season"...I don't consider the SECCG regular season...

yep, some teams do normally fall out of the picture...I just don't see it happening this year...maybe Bama and Iowa...Cincinnati