Playoffs?

One of the most fun seasons in college football memory has come to a conclusion, and it will end anticlimatically. After no one could win games holding the spots of #1 and #2, Ohio State and LSU will play each other in New Orleans. Ohio State doesn't deserve to be there, they lost to Illinois at home in their next to last game. LSU doesn't deserve to be there, ties don't exist anymore so they lost to Arkansas at home in their next to last game. The only problem was, not a single team in college football deserves to be in the top 2. Missouri? This year's version of the 1999 Jacksonville Jaguars - perfect against all but one team. West Virginia? Lost to f-ing Pitt. Georgia? Didn't make their conference title game. Kansas? The same. Virginia Tech? Still fighting the stigma of getting smashed by LSU earlier in the season. USC? Lost to f-ing Stanford. Oklahoma? Lost to mediocre Colorado and Texas Tech late in the year. Hawaii? Please, Penn State would be undefeated if they had that schedule. So after an incredibly exciting year full of unspeakable upsets, from Week 1 (App State over Michigan) through Championship Week (Pitt over WVU), we have a title game with two teams that backed in and no clear favorite. Very few people outside of Columbus or Baton Rouge will be excited about this one.


All the teams just mentioned have had great years but nothing to separate themselves from the pack for a two team title game. Now imagine this scenario: All those teams, plus some Cinderella's ready to ruin their day, getting ready to square off in a four week, 16 team bracket. Imagine a college football postseason with the same excitement of March Madness plus the tradition and importance of the regular season remaining intact. If college football would consider this system, we could have it.

Here it is: 16 teams, consisting of the champions from all 11 conferences, plus 5 at-larges. This means that any team from any conference has a chance to win the national championship at the beginning of the season. The regular season is still just as important as ever, as winning your conference will be extremely important, and the at-larges will be difficult to come by. More than 1 or 2 losses can severely harm a team's chances of making this playoff. Round 1 would be next weekend (12/8), Round 2 on 12/15, Round 3 on 12/22, and then the championship game could be played after a two week layoff around the same time it is now. In between the semifinal and championship rounds, there would be all the traditional bowl games, including the eligible teams that failed to make the playoffs as well as the teams eliminated from the playoffs, who would be invited to a big time bowl after losing in the playoff (good consolation prize!) Getting as a high a seed as possible would be imperative, as the first 3 rounds would be played at home stadiums, with the championship game rotated between BCS locations as it is now.

This season, this is how it would shake out:

1 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
2 LSU (SEC champ)
3 Virginia Tech (ACC champ)
4 Oklahoma (Big 12 champ)
5 Georgia (at large)
6 Missouri (at large)
7 USC (Pac 10 champ)
8 Kansas (at large)
9 West Virginia (Big East champ)
10 Hawaii (WAC champ)
11 Arizona State (at large)
12 Illinois (at large)
13 BYU (Mtn West champ)
14 Central Florida (Conf. USA champ)
15 Central Michigan (MAC champ)
16 Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt champ)

1 Ohio State (Big Ten champ) vs. -OSU gets 3 home games as #1 seed
16 Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt champ) -Just imagine an App State/Michigan level upset in a playoff setting

8 Kansas (at large) vs. -KU earned spot with 11-1 record
9 West Virginia (Big East champ) -WVU loss to Pitt cost them home games

5 Georgia (at large) vs. -UGA would be my pick to win the bracket
12 Illinois (at large) -Win over OSU helps Illini beat out Fla, BC for last at large

4 Oklahoma (Big 12 champ) vs. -2nd round matchup between OU and UGA?
13 BYU (Mtn West champ) -BYU undefeated in MWC last 2 seasons

6 Missouri (at large) vs. -Loss to OU costs Mizzou two home games
11 Arizona State (at large) -Prev. meaningless win over 'Zona earns ASU at large

3 Virginia Tech (ACC champ) vs. -Chance for LSU rematch in semis
14 Central Florida (C-USA champ) -Nation can see Kevin Smith, best chance for 1st round upset

7 USC (Pac 10 champ) vs. -You know Holtz would pick the Trojans to win it all
10 Hawaii (WAC champ) -Brennan, Rainbows can prove 12-0 is no fluke

2 LSU (SEC champ) vs. -I hate Les Miles. Just wanted to write that.
15 Central Michigan (MAC champ) -This game would be the argument against this playoff


Sure, you would still hear bitching from some teams not invited to be at-larges (Florida, BC would have the biggest beef this year). But much like the March Madness snubs, everyone would just ignore them. Now instead of arguing over who should be 2, everyone will be arguing over who will beat who in the bracket. Office pools unite!

Here's my predictions:

Dec. 8:
1 OSU over 16 FAU (FAU accepts bid to New Orleans Bowl)
8 KU over 9 WVU (WVU accepts bid to Fiesta Bowl)
5 UGA over 12 Illinois (Illinois accepts bid to Rose Bowl)
4 OU over 13 BYU (BYU accepts bid to Vegas Bowl)
6 Mizzou over 11 ASU (ASU accepts bid to Holiday Bowl)
14 UCF over 3 Va Tech UPSET!!! (VA Tech accepts bid to Orange Bowl)
7 USC over 10 Hawaii (Hawaii accepts bid to Sugar Bowl)
2 LSU over 15 CMU (CMU accepts bid to Motor City Bowl)

So the 1st round is mostly chalk, but you KNOW in this college football season, something interesting would happen, and UCF over VT looks like it would be the game where that would happen.

Dec 15:
1 OSU over 8 KU (Kansas accepts bid to Orange Bowl)
5 UGA over 4 OU (OU accepts bid to Fiesta Bowl)
6 Mizzou over 14 UCF (UCF accepts bid to Liberty Bowl)
7 USC over 2 LSU in 3OT of course (LSU accepts bid to Rose Bowl)

Dec 22:
5 UGA over 1 OSU (OSU accepts bid to Sugar Bowl)
7 USC over 6 Mizzou (Mizzou accepts bid to Cotton Bowl)


For New Year's, you still have some great traditional bowl matchups:
Sugar Bowl: Hawaii vs. Ohio State
Rose Bowl: Illinois vs. LSU
Fiesta Bowl: WVU vs. Oklahoma
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas

And then the national championship, as scheduled, in New Orleans, without any doubt as to who deserves to be there:

5 Georgia vs. 7 USC

Prediction: Georgia


Lastly, I don't want to hear the argument from anyone about how this would take meaning away from the regular season. Every single game would be important for posturing to win one's conference, or to position for one of the premium at large berths. If anything, it would make MORE regular season games meaningful towards the end of the year.