The mythical college football championship game is set. And lots of people are not happy.
Me? I don’t have a dog in the hunt. Or Dawg, to be specific.
Still, there are some unhappy campers. And I’m in that group. Despite my not having a team of interest in the mix … or close to the mix … I’m in the unhappy group because … well, let’s face it: I have strong opinions.
But I do more than just whine about something I don’t like; I have a solution.
Check that.
I have THE solution: A 16-team playoff that uses the BCS for seeding.
Automatic Bids
There are 11 conferences. The 11 conference champions get an automatic spot. The remaining 5 spots … call them “wild card” spots … would be taken up by the top teams in the BCS standings that don’t get an automatic berth.
Here are the 11 conference champions, listed alphabetically by conference:
| Conference |
|
Champion |
| Atlantic Coat |
|
Virginia Tech |
| Big East |
|
Cincinnati |
| Big Ten |
|
Penn State |
| Big 12 |
|
Oklahoma |
| Conference USA |
|
East Carolina |
| Mid-America |
|
Buffalo |
| Mountain West |
|
Utah |
| Pacific 10 |
|
Southern California |
| Southeastern |
|
Florida |
| Sun Belt |
|
Troy |
| Western Athletic |
|
Boise State |
Wild Card Teams
Here are the top five teams (according to the BCS) that did not win their conference.
| Rank |
Team |
| 3. |
Texas |
| 4. |
Alabama |
| 7. |
Texas Tech |
| 10. |
Ohio State |
| 11. |
Texas Christian |
There are two ways of doing the seeding.
One is using the BCS to rank them, plain and simple.
But that’s too plain and simple for me. I actually like the way the NFL does it. In the NFL, the division champs get the top seeds, and the wild cards get the leftover slots, regardless of record.
For instance, in 2007, Tampa Bay was the #4 seed in the NFC, winning the South with a 9-7 record, while the Giants were the #5 seed, despite having 10-6 record. Likewise, Pittsburgh took the AFC North with a 10-6 record, and were seeded 4th, while Jacksonville, sporting a better record (11-5), was 5th seed, since they didn’t win their division.
Seeding
Using that as a model, here’s the 2008 NCAA Division I-A (using the older name) playoff seeding:
| Seed |
Team |
Conference |
Record |
BCS |
| 1. |
Oklahoma |
Big 12 |
12-1 |
1 |
| 2. |
Florida |
Southeast |
12-1 |
2 |
| 3. |
Southern California |
Pacific 10 |
11-1 |
5 |
| 4. |
Utah |
Mountain West |
12-0 |
6 |
| 5. |
Penn State |
Big Ten |
11-1 |
8 |
| 6. |
Boise State |
Western Athletic |
12-0 |
9 |
| 7. |
Cincinnati |
Big East |
11-2 |
12 |
| 8. |
Virginia Tech |
Atlantic Coast |
9-4 |
19 |
| 9. |
East Carolina |
Conference USA |
9-4 |
none |
| 10. |
Troy |
Sun Belt |
8-4 |
none |
| 11. |
Buffalo |
Mid-America |
8-5 |
none |
| 12. |
Texas |
Wild card |
11-1 |
3 |
| 13. |
Alabama |
Wild card |
12-1 |
4 |
| 14. |
Texas Tech |
Wild card |
11-1 |
7 |
| 15. |
Ohio State |
Wild card |
10-2 |
10 |
| 16. |
Texas Christian |
Wild card |
10-2 |
11 |
Matchups
This will set up some interesting matchups:
- (16) Texas Christian at (1) Oklahoma
- (15) Ohio State at (2) Florida
- (14) Texas Tech at (3) Southern California
- (13) Alabama at (4) Utah
- (12) Texas at (5) Penn State
- (11) Buffalo at (6) Boise State
- (10) Troy at (7) Cincinnati
- (9) East Carolina at (8) Virginia Tech
The 8 winners would play the following week, with the top 4 remaining seeds hosting the bottom 4 remaining seeds. The 8 first-round losers and the 4 second-round losers would get bowl invitations. And pretty good bowl invitations, in all likelihood.
The final four would play as part of the January 1st bowl games. The final two would play a week later for the real … not mythical … championship.
Problem solved.
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