But who qualifies for the playoffs? There are 12 conferences, and 8 spots. Do you let wildcards in, or do you hand off byes to the 4 conferences that have conference playoff games? (Actually, that last idea might not be so bad.)
It wasn’t long ago that people would argue that a national tournament game would settle all the controversies; all it did was spawn rage about who belongs in the “BCS,” which was created to settle the matter. What if a 5-3/7-5 team knocks off a previously undefeated team in a conference tournament while a 10-2 team goes all the way?
There’s always going to be bickering.
>> Do you let wildcards in, or do you hand off byes to the 4 conferences that have conference playoff games? (Actually, that last idea might not be so bad.) <<
Oops: 11 conferences, with 3 byes to the 3 conferences with tournaments. (ACC, SEC, Big 12).
In my scenario, the quarterfinals--played one week after the conference championship games--have #1 vs. #8, #2 vs. #7, #3 vs. #6, and #4 vs. #5, with the higher-ranked team hosting the game. This would actually put more balance back to northern-based programs like Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State if they're highly-ranked at start of the tournament, since in early December the weather in the northern climates would be quite cold and that could work against an SEC, ACC, Big 12 or Pac 10 in the tournament normally playing in warmer climates by late November-early December.