College football playoff

College football playoff

Posted by Ethan J. Skolnick
Why is this so difficult?

Other football divisions do it.

Every other sport does it.

Why can't NCAA Division I-A hold an 8-team playoff?

Yes, 8. That's enough. I hear some say that there would always be arguments, because some team would get snubbed. If a team isn't clearly among the top 8, however, does it really deserve a shot at a national title? No.

Use the major bowls to play the seven games. Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, Rose, Cotton, and so on. Let the other teams play in the other bowls. I hear some say that those other bowls would lose their meaning, if they weren't part of a playoff. How can they have any less meaning than they do now?

How to pick the teams?

Simple.

Take the conference champion from the ACC, SEC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10. Let each conference determine how it wants to choose its champion -- and representative. If a conference likes the revenue of a conference championship game, keep it. If it would rather send a fresher team to the 8-team tournament, that's fine, too.

That leaves two bids. One goes to the highest-ranked remaining team from those six conferences, according to the BCS (yes, you can keep it for that purpose). One goes to the highest-ranked team from the WAC, Sun Belt, MAC, Mountain West or Conference USA. If teams want to be considered for the playoff tournament, they'll schedule some quality opponents.

What would you have this season?

ACC: BC or Virginia Tech

Big East: West Virginia

Big Ten: Ohio State

Big 12: Missouri or Oklahoma

SEC: LSU or Tennessee

Pac-10: Arizona State or USC

At-large big conference bid (No. 7 seed): One from a group that includes Kansas, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, the USC/Arizona State loser (unlikely), Missouri/Oklahoma loser (unlikely if it is Oklahoma), the LSU/Tennessee loser (unlikely if Tennessee), the BC/Virginia Tech loser (unlikely either way).

At-large "other conference" bid (No. 8 seed): Hawaii from the WAC.

So these could be your eight participants:

(1) Missouri vs. (8) Hawaii

(2) West Virginia vs. (7) Georgia

(3) Ohio State vs. (6) Boston College

(4) LSU vs. (5) USC

xxxxx

Who would you like in each game in that tournament?

Is there another format you'd prefer?