College Football is my favorite sport, but I wish so bad that we had a playoff. I think it would go through the roof in popularity. My brother Tom came up with a simple scenario that would include the tradition of the Bowl games with the need for a playoff. He thinks we should play all of the Bowl games just like we do with the exception of the four Biggies (we chose Cotton over Fiesta). Take the Major Conference Champions and give them in automatic birth to a predetermined Bowl game and then use the BCS to determine the two at-large teams to come up with a total of eight teams in a playoff. This would give teams like Hawaii (not in a Major Conference) and Georgia (possibly hottest team in the nation) a chance to make the tourney.
You would use the four traditional Bowl games for the first round and the winners would advance to a Final Four. It would look like this:
Rose: Big Ten Champ vs. Pac 10 Champ
Sugar: SEC Champ vs. At large
Orange: ACC Champ vs. Big East Champ
Cotton: Big 12 Champ vs. At large
You could make the argument that they should use a variation of this system, but just seed the teams 1-8 and then let play the typical 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, etc… I could go with that. I just think that the tradition built through this proposal would allow teams to make their conference championship the focus. So Big 12 teams could eye the Cotton Bowl as the ultimate prize because winning the Cotton Bowl will mean entry into the Final Four. There could be some phenomenal conference rivalries that develop as well like the Rose Bowl has already seen with the Big 10 & Pac 10.
This is how it would look this year:
(1) Ohio State vs. (6) USC in the Rose Bowl
(2) LSU vs. (8) Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl
(3) Virginia Tech vs. (7) West Virginia in the Orange Bowl
(4) Oklahoma vs. (5) Georgia in the Cotton Bowl
The Final Four would then have the Rose Bowl vs. Cotton Bowl winners and the Sugar and Orange Bowl winners. Just to make sure you are with me – I will simulate the tourney:
Round 1
USC 24 – Ohio State 9
LSU 45 – Hawaii 42
Virginia Tech 13 - West Virginia 10
Oklahoma 33 – Georgia 10
Semi’s
LSU 48 – Virginia Tech 7 (sounds familiar)
Oklahoma 27 – USC 24
Final
LSU 21 – Oklahoma 14
Wow! That would be a tourney!
Tom suggested that the first round be on Christmas Day, the Semi’s on January 1st, and the Championship on January 8th. After consulting with my wife, I have decided to start the first round on December 22nd or 23rd (no games on Sunday’s) and make sure that people still celebrate Christmas on December 25th!
Just to prove how amazing this would be, I looked up the conference champions from 2000 and combined the BCS rankings to show you what could have been. Enjoy…
2000
Rose Bowl: (4) Washington vs. (8) Michigan
Sugar Bowl: (5) Virginia Tech vs. (7) Florida
Orange Bowl: (2) Florida State vs. (3) Miami
Cotton Bowl: (1) Oklahoma vs. (6) Oregon State
2001
Rose Bowl: (4) Oregon vs. (7) Illinois
Sugar Bowl: (2) Nebraska vs. (5) Florida
Orange Bowl: (1) Miami vs. (8) Maryland
Cotton Bowl: (3) Colorado vs. (6) Tennessee
2002
Rose Bowl: (2) Ohio State vs. (4) USC
Sugar Bowl: (3) Georgia vs. (6) Washington State
Orange Bowl: (1) Miami vs. (8) Florida State
Cotton Bowl: (5) Iowa vs. (7) Oklahoma
2003
Rose Bowl: (4) Michigan vs. (7) USC
Sugar Bowl: (1) Oklahoma vs. (2) LSU
Orange Bowl: (6) Florida State vs. (7) Miami
Cotton Bowl: (5) Ohio State vs. (8) Kansas State
2004
Rose Bowl: (1) USC vs. (8) Iowa
Sugar Bowl: (3) Auburn vs. (4) Texas
Orange Bowl: (6) Virginia Tech vs. (7) Pittsburgh
Cotton Bowl: (2) Oklahoma vs. (5) California
2005
Rose Bowl: (1) USC vs. (3) Penn State
Sugar Bowl: (4) Ohio State vs. (6) Georgia
Orange Bowl: (7) Florida State vs. (8) West Virginia
Cotton Bowl: (2) Texas vs. (5) Oregon
2006
Rose Bowl: (1) Ohio State vs. (5) USC
Sugar Bowl: (2) Florida vs. (3) Michigan
Orange Bowl: (6) Louisville vs. (8) Wake Forrest
Cotton Bowl: (4) LSU vs. (7) Oklahoma
Somebody please make this happen!
