[sean327]

Just one more reason to kill off the BCS. Div-1 Football needs to go to a 16 team playoff format that includes the Champs from all 11 conferences, and 5 at-large teams. The at-large teams should be the 5 highest ranking teams after the Conference champs.

Let the fur fly boys. I love to stir the pot this time of year. This should make for some great arguments.

[mainepatsfan]

Then of course we'd have the possibility of a team winning the national championship without winning their conference. Although that scenario doesn't seem to bother anyone when it comes to basketball.

[kevkrom]

In NCAA Division I football, profits are higher for doormats from the six "major" conferences--Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern--than for champions from the five smaller conferences.

For a couple of reasons:

1) The mid-level teams from a major conference are still better, in general, than top teams from weak conferences, their records are a result from having played much tougher opponents. (And no "doormats" qualify for bowl bids anyway.)

2) No one cares about the Boise States of the world. No one really wants to watch them, and how are you going to attract advertising and sponsorship $$$ for teams no one wants to watch?

[Popocatapetl]

It's the same with pro football, and the reason the Arizona Cardinals are always in the 3rd place from last position for over a decade. Their owner wants them to be there. Here's his logic. He doesn't make too much money from the box office, and TV revenues are divided among NFL teams. So where he can make the real bucks is by being in 3rd from last place every year. If the Cruds were in last place *every* year, then they would get sanctioned. But being in third from last every year, they still get good draft picks that Bill Bidwell, the owner, can sell. He makes millions selling off the best new talent, and replacing them with nursing home cast-offs. He makes them the deal that if they win a few each season, and lose the rest convincingly, he will keep them long enough for them to get their NFL pension without any more disabling injuries. The QB also gets lots of supportive publicity, and good references if he ever wants to transfer to another team. Now that he has totally suckered the city fathers of Glendale, AZ, to put the city in hock for 100 years to buy him a stadium and give him everything for free and more, the rest is pure profit. And that's all Bidwell cares about. So the least we can do is to place bets accordingly. That might be why Vegas isn't so hot for win/lose bets anymore, preferring over/under and the others.

[Bat_Chemist]

Forget everyone but the conference champs. Let the 11 conference champs play, and the heck with the rest.

Including the independants.

[Proud2BeRight]

On the positive side, a 16 team play-off would better determine a national champ and bring increased revenues from viewership. On the negative side, it would require up to three additional games played beyond regular season - bowl game now. Injuries and time away from classes/study (as if that matters) would increase.

[kevkrom]

Okay... let's assume they do the 11 conference winner plus 5 at large playoff system. I'll assume for the sake of argment that BCS rank will serve as the at-large qualifier.

The 11 conference winners would be:

• Ohio State (1)
• Florida (2)
• USC (5) <-- assuming they get the nod over Cal due to head-to-head
• Louisville (6)
• Boise State (8)
• Oklahoma (10)
• Wake Forest (14)
• BYU (20)
• Houston (NR, 10-3)
• Central Michigan (NR, 9-4)
• Troy (NR, 7-5) <-- assuming they get the nod over Mid Tenn St. (7-5) due to head-to-head

The at-large teams would be:<>

• Michigan (3)
• LSU (4)
• Wisconsin (7)
• Auburn (9)
• Notre Dame (11)

Looking in from the outside would be Arkansas (12), West Virginia (13), and Rutgers (16).

Assuming playoff seeding by current BCS ranks, the first round matchups would be:

• (1) Ohio State vs. (16) Troy -- yawn
• (2) Florida vs. (15) Central Michigan -- yawn
• (3) Michigan vs. (14) Houston -- yawn
• (4) LSU vs. (13) West Virginia -- possible interest
• (5) USC vs. (12) Wake Forest -- probable yawn
• (6) Louisville vs. (11) Notre Dame -- ND always draws viewers, winner gets right to be crushed by Michigan next week
• (7) Wisconsin vs. (10) Oklahoma -- good game
• (8) Boise State vs. (9) Auburn -- not much national interest but a chance for BSU to prove they're "for real"

So, 2... maybe 3... good games in the first round. We'll assume for the sake of argument that the higher seeds win across the board, except for Auburn. Round 2:

• (1) Ohio State vs. (9) Auburn -- good game, for a while
• (2) Florida vs. (7) Wisconsin -- good game if Wisconsin can control the clock
• (3) Michigan vs. (6) Louisville -- doubtful that UL can hang with UM for long
• (4) LSU vs. (5) USC -- get the popcorn ready

Not a bad set of matchups... perhaps the top-8 should have just been in the playoff to begin with rather than the yawner of a first round we saw for the most part. Also, with two Big-10 vs. SEC matchups, we'd get a chance to see which conference was really better. Florida would have to go through three straight Big 10 teams to win the whole thing...

[MikefromOhio]

College Football Ping.

Freepmail me to be added to this list.


There are WAYYYYYY too many bowl games. Teams that go 6-6 should NOT be in bowl games.

[JeffAtlanta]

The at-large teams should be the 5 highest ranking teams after the Conference champs.

That will just shift the argument from "who is #2" to "who is #16". Even with the 65 team field in March Madness, there is still controversy over who is #65.

I'm not hating on your idea, but subjective rankings cannot be used or the problem will be just as bad. Also, a team like Notre Dame complicates things since it can't be a conference champion.

I would think that going with the 6 BCS conference champions and the rest of the 10 would be ranked according to a very good computer ranking system that has been shown to be very accurate when ran against historical data. Some of the computer polls are just bizarre now.

Either that, or they adopt a somewhat simpler RPI system like the NCAA basketball uses.

In any event, the system for determining the 10 at large teams should be well known and well defined so that every team can adjust it's schedules accordingly.

[Tribune7]

I have to confess that I love to watch college football BUT it still bugs me that the NFL gets a subsidized farm system.

[Echo Talon]

Be an Independent like Notre Dame.