My BCS Playoff Proposal Re-re-revisited

I first proposed a BCS playoff system after the 2008 season, which I then revisited in 2009 and 2010 to show what the matchups would look like. So without further adieu, here is what this season's conference championships and BCS standings would give us.

Conference Champions (with the final BCS ranking in parentheses)
ACC - Clemson (15)
Big East - West Virginia (23)
Big Ten - Wisconsin (10)
Big 12 - Oklahoma State (3)
PAC 12 - Oregon (5)
SEC - LSU (1)

At-large teams
Alabama (2)
Boise State (7) - based on being a mid-major team within the top ten.

Since Boise State would qualify as a mid-major team in the top ten, this would mean Stanford is out of Luck (pun intended).

#1 LSU vs. #8 West Virginia (Sugar Bowl)
#2 Alabama vs. #7 Clemson (Orange Bowl)
#3 Oklahoma State vs. #6 Wisconsin (Fiesta Bowl)
#4 Oregon vs. #5 Boise State (Rose Bowl)

We could still potentially see an Alabama vs. LSU national championship game but how much more legitimate would it be if those two teams had to play through Oklahoma State and Oregon to get there?

If the NCAA had listened to me...continued

A follow-up on my blog post from last Sunday, based on the criteria I laid out in my February 4, 2009 blog post, this is what the BCS playoff matchups would be for the 2010-2011 football season:

#1 Auburn vs. #8 Connecticut (Sugar Bowl)
#2 Oregon vs. #7 Virginia Tech (Rose Bowl)
#3 TCU vs. #6 Oklahoma (Fiesta Bowl)
#4 Stanford vs. #5 Wisconsin (Orange Bowl)

Auburn and Oregon would probably steamroll through their respective first-round opponents but the other two games would definitely be worth watching. The winner of Stanford/Wisconsin against Auburn and the winner of TCU/Oklahoma versus in Oregon in the final four would be pretty huge too.

Why aren't you listening to me BCS?!?

If the NCAA had listened to me, we'd be sitting on pins and needles today...

If you've followed this blog since the beginning, one of my earliest posts was my solution to the BCS "Mess", where I made the following recommendations:

1. Keep the BCS points system
2. Use the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls as National Quarterfinal games
3. Select three new locations each year for the two semifinal games and championship game
4. Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten.

The reason we'd be hanging on the edge of our seats for tonight is because of point #4: "Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten." Boise State went into yesterday ranked #11 but had a commanding victory over Utah State yesterday.

The question we'd be waiting to have answered would be is a victory over a weak opponent like Utah State enough to push Boise State up one spot into the top ten? Based on the BCS rankings going into yesterday's play, TCU was the only mid-major team in the top ten. Based on my criteria listed above, that would mean the other open spot would go to the highest non-conference champ in the BCS, which would be Stanford. Based on yesterday's results, we have the following:

• SEC Champ: Auburn (currently #1)
• Pac-10 Champ: Oregon (currently #2)
• Big 12 Champ: Oklahoma (currently #9)
• ACC Champ: Virginia Tech (currently #15)
• Big East Champ: Connecticut (currently unranked)
• Big Ten Champ: Either Wisconsin, Ohio State, or Michigan State (currently #5, #6, and #8, respectively)

So rather than the anti-climactic announcement of the Auburn vs. Oregon matchup, we'd be waiting to find out if Boise State cracks the top ten for an automatic bid and, if that doesn't happen, whether the automatic bid goes to Stanford or one of the Big Ten teams that does not get the conference's automatic bid. Then we'd be waiting to find out how the seeding works out. Instead the BCS and NCAA choose to give us a rather dull and boring bowl matchup announcement on Sunday night.

Think about it guys. My idea could have given you better ratings!!!

What the BCS Playoffs should look like...

I wrote a post in February that I revisited in October about what the BCS playoff system should look like. Well, based on my suggestions, here is what the 2009-2010 playoffs would look like:

#1 Alabama vs. #8 Georgia Tech (Orange Bowl)
#2 Texas vs. #7 Ohio State (Sugar Bowl)
#3 Cincinnati vs. #6 Oregon (Fiesta Bowl)
#4 TCU vs. #5 Boise State (Rose Bowl)

I realize that one of my alma maters, the Iowa Hawkeyes, would be eliminated from a BCS Bowl game, as would the Florida Gators. However, I said in my original post in February, only conference champs deserve a spot and at-large spots should only be awarded if there are less than 2 non-BCS conference teams in the top 10 in the final BCS standings. There are two again this year as well as two more in the top 25 overall (BYU at #14 and Utah at #23). It's hard to imagine with the number of January bowl games in addition to the BCS games that any of the non-conference champs would not get a prime bowl game. Iowa and Florida both controlled their own destiny and lost (the Hawkeyes' case, twice) so it's not unfair to bump them, especially considering both TCU and Boise State are unbeaten.

Oddly enough, the TCU-Boise State matchup would still take place in my system, albeit in Pasadena, CA rather than Glendale, AZ. In the current BCS system, I don't like those two teams playing each other because it's a slick way for the BCS to eliminate the issue of how mid-major teams stack up against the power conferences by having the two mid-major teams play each other. I would have preferred seeing TCU play Cincinnati and Boise State play Florida in the current system.

Thoughts? Comments? Please let me know. Thanks for reading!

My Solution from February to the BCS Mess

Okay, so I was thinking now that we have the first few BCS rankings of they season that I would write my two cents on how the NCAA can keep the BCS and have a playoff system. (Kind of like keeping the current health insurance system and adding the co-ops or exchanges to it.) Well, it turns out I wrote about this back in February and completely forgot about it. In fact, it was my second post on this blog.

Based on my the playoff matchups suggested in my post from February 4th and the BCS standings on October 25th, you would get the following matchups with the assumption that the highest ranked team in each conference will be the conference champ.

#1 Florida vs. #8 Georgia Tech (Orange Bowl)
#2 Texas vs. #7 Cincinnati (Sugar Bowl)
#3 Iowa vs. #6 Boise State (Fiesta Bowl)
#4 USC vs. #5 TCU (Rose Bowl)

If you're wondering where's Alabama, currently BCS #2, I'm using the higher ranked team from the SEC, which is Florida. If Alabama were to beat Florida, they would be #1. If TCU or Boise State were to drop out of the top 10 and no other mid-major team were to climb into the top ten, the spot would be Alabama's as an at-large team.

Let me know what you think.

My Solution to the BCS Mess

(Wow, I have had way too many thoughts these past few months. I should have started this blog months ago.)

We've heard politicians talk about the college football "championship" situation. Here is what I think they should do:

• Keep the BCS points system: this can be used to determine mid-major conference teams and seeding.
• Use the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls as National Quarterfinal games: this way if a team makes it to the Final Four but doesn't get to the championship game, they can still call themselves "Rose Bowl Champs", "Orange Bowl Champs", etc. Even better, keep them all as January 1st games to make New Year's Day the National Quarterfinal Day. Then you can have the semifinals around 1/8 (which is when this year's championship game took place) and have the national championship around 1/15. Better still, why not schedule the national championship game to take place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day every year?
  
• Select three new locations each year for the two semifinal games and championship game: cities fall over themselves trying to host college basketball's final four. Can you imagine how far they would go for college football even if they'll just be getting one game?

How would the teams be picked? Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten. If there is only one mid-major team in the top ten, pick the highest remaining team without an automatic bid. If there are no mid-major teams, pick the two highest teams without an automatic bid.

What if there are two or more mid-major teams in the top ten and a high ranked team, like Alabama in 2008, did not win their conference? Too bad. Win your conference or go to a lesser bowl. You deserve to go to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23rd for thinking you're better than you actually are. This suggestion is still not truly equitable for the mid-major conferences but at least it's better than what they have now.

Where would teams play? After the seedings are done, the best way to do it would be to send the #1 seed to the bowl closest to them, followed by #2 to the closest of the remaining three sites, etc. This would reward teams for finishing higher in the standings.

What matchups would this have yielded for the 2008-09 bowl season? Here goes (based on this past season's final BCS rankings):
#1 Oklahoma vs. #8 Virginia Tech (Sugar Bowl)
#2 Florida vs. #7 Cincinnati (Orange Bowl)
#3 USC vs. #6 Boise State (Rose Bowl)
#4 Utah vs. #5 Penn State (Fiesta Bowl)

Then the 1/8 winner would play the 4/5 winner, etc. You can also preserve the other "lesser" bowls that schools currently use to generate revenue for their schools.

How would things have turned out this year? I'm guessing Florida and Oklahoma would still have made it to the national championship game with the same result. However, as President Obama said in his interview with Matt Lauer before the Super Bowl, wouldn't it be much better if Florida had won through a playoff?