How 'bout the BCS and a Playoff?

article by Thomas Danielson, senior writer, secfootballpodcast.com
Imagine a college football world with a clear-cut national champion. One team that joins 15 of the other best teams in the country to compete in a play-off, and win. There would be no talk of 3-way ties, 11 players on the field, strentgh of schedule, or anything else BCS poll haters can come up with. Sixteen teams can compete for the national title, and it could work. Here's how....

First the Seeds: Use the 11 conference champions as automatic bids in to the play-offs, the other 5 will be teams with the highest rankings in the BCS, who aren't already conf. champs. The 1-16 seeds will be determined by your final BCS standings. The No. 1 & 2 seeds can have the chance to play in their specific BCS game (ex. OU advances to the Fiesta and Florida to the Sugar). For the 2008 season, here's how it would look with the current BCS.

1. Oklahoma 12-1 Big 12 Champs
2. Florida 12-1 SEC Champs
3. Texas 11-1 At Large No. 1 (BCS No. 3)
4. Alabama 12-1 At Large No. 2 (BCS No. 4)
5. USC 11-1 Pac-10 Champs
6. Utah 12-0 MWC Champs
7. Texas Tech 11-1 At Large No. 3 (BCS No. 7)
8. Penn State 11-1 Big Ten Champs
9. Boise State 12-0 WAC Champs
10. Ohio State 10-2 At Large No. 4 (BCS No. 10)
11. TCU 10-2 At Large No. 5 (BCS No.11)
12. Cincy 11-2 Big East Champs
13. Virginia Tech 9-4 ACC Champs
14. East Carolina 9-4 C-USA Champs
15. Buffalo 8-5 MAC Champs
16. Troy 8-4 Sunbelt Champs

And the Bracket: Let these damn TV stations and conference owners keep their damn bowl games. This system will only make them more money, because play-offs are more interesting to more people around the country, and millions will watch every top ten team play. I started it off with the bowls that gross the most money for the 1st round. The elite eight can play in the BCS bowls: Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange. Then the final four can play the last 3 games in one destination, which will be one of the four BCS bowl sites above, for the first and true National Championship game! I had the Gators and USC in my Champ game!

Cotton Bowl
1. OU (12-1)
16. Troy (8-4)
Chick-fil-A Bowl
8. Penn State (11-1)
9. Boise State (12-0)
Sun Bowl
5. USC (11-1)
12. Cincy (11-2)
Gator Bowl
4. Alabama (12-1)
13. Virginia Tech (9-4)

Champs Sports Bowl
6. Utah (12-0)
11. TCU (10-2)
Holiday Bowl
3. Texas (11-1)
14. East Carolina (9-4)
Outback Bowl
7. Texas Tech (11-1)
10. Ohio State (10-2)
Capitol One Bowl
2. Florida (12-1)
15. Buffalo (8-5)

This is the best system I could come up with that is fair for every conference in the BCS. We can finally see the best of the best compete, and maybe even go back to playing 11 regular season games. We also get to keep our BCS rankings and let some non-conference champs argue over who should have been ranked higher to make the cut. Atleast that way the majority of us are content, and people can start analyzing football again, instead of how it works. Anyone else have a better idea?