Here's the first question for Derek in our ongoing BCS debate:
"Long time reader, First time writer, love the blog...In a playoff system, what is the reward for finishing the regular season undefeated? Isn't a playoff actually less fair because one fluke play or bad referee call could cost a team that had been undefeated a game against a team with possibly as many as 3 or 4 losses. Oh and one more thing, what if you play for a team so good that you clinch a playoff spot early, so the top players sit for the last two weeks? That could cost top players the Heisman Trophy."
-R. Bush, Los Angeles, California
Read Derek's reply.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
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Here was a proposed solution I wrote about in 2003:
I have come up with the ultimate solution for College Football and I'd like to present it and plant the seed.
1) Let's Keep the BCS ranking system
2) Let's Expand the the number of games it will affect
There are 6 major conferences that currently have their champions receive automatic invites into the BCS games (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac10, SEC)
Knowing that, here is what I propose be done to crown a champion:
Playoff Bracket with 10 teams total. 6 of the teams will receive automatic invites by winning their conference championship. The other 4 teams will be entries via wild card taking the best 4 teams in any conference using the BCS rankings as the guide for who gets selected.
The first week of games will only be a matchup of the 4 wild card teams. Based on BCS rank, Wildcard #1 will play #4, #2 will play #3. The games will be played in the stadiums of the #1 and #2 Wildcard teams respectively.
In the second week of games, the conference winners begin their playoff matchups (BCS ranking will determine seeds for conf winners): So Conf Winner #1 will host against the worst ranked Wildcard remaining. Conf Winner #2 will host against the best remaining wild card. Conf Winner #3 will host the Conf Winner #6. Conf Winner #4 will host Conf Winner #5.
In the Semifinals, the remaining 4 teams would meet up in 2 separate matchups. The team with a better seed would get homefield for their game.
In the Championship game, the last two standing would meet up to play at a neutral to play for the undisputed National Championship.
If you're wondering about the other bowl games, just like in NCAA hoops (think NIT), they are free to hold non-championship bowl games with the remaining good teams, as long as they weren't held on Saturday to conflict with the playoff games.
I think this system would be optimal, as you give 10 teams a shot, you make the conference championship mean something, but you still embed slight advantages for finishing higher in the ranking system, or winning your conference.
This is how it would have shaken down using this season as an example:
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS (BCS Rank in parentheses)
Pac 10: USC (1)
Big 12: Texas (2)
Big 10: Penn State (3)
ACC: Florida State (22)
SEC: Georgia (7)
Big East: West Virginia (11)
WILDCARDS: (BCS Rank in parentheses)
Ohio State (4)
Oregon (5)
Notre Dame (6)
Miami (8)
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS:
GAME 1: Miami AT Ohio State
GAME 2: Notre Dame AT Oregon
All Conference Champs receive bye
SECOND ROUND MATCHUPS:
GAME 3: Lowest Remaining Wildcard Seed AT USC
GAME 4: Highest Remaining Wildcard Seed AT Texas
GAME 5: Florida State AT Penn State
GAME 6: West Virginia AT Georgia
SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS (Both Games at Same Location on Same Day Back to Back, ie San Diego, Miami, Arizona, Houston, Las Vegas)
GAME 7: Winner of Game 6 vs Winner of Game 3
GAME 8: Winner of Game 5 vs Winner of Game 4
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (Played at a Neutral Field, perhaps the Rose Bowl)
GAME 9: Winner of Game 7 vs Winner of Game 8
Terrible Idea
-Fox
You could just look at how 1-AA does their playoff system.
And if teams are going to bitch about a fluke last second play costing them a season, then they shouldn't let it come down to that in the first place. IMHO only.
If Matt Fox is against the playoff idea, then it can't be half bad...
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