A Division I Football Play-Off is Just Too Easy

When the Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-AA), Division II and Division III can all do it, there is no excuse that the Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I) can not. The excuses are just that, excuses, as a Division I play-off is just too simple to ignore.

This play-off can be instituted while keeping the lower level bowls intact for teams that do not qualify for the tournament. The lower divisions of college football have a few bowl games in addition to their play-off and there is no reason that the FBS Division I can not do it either. Heck, even NCAA basketball has the NIT for teams that were quite good enough for the NCAA tournament but still had good season regardless.

The higher tier bowls could rotate on a yearly basis and be used as the host sights for the latter rounds of the tournament. Please spare me the travel arrangement and class schedule arguments. Once again if the lower level divisions can do it and make it work, so can the bigger budget Division I.

Many have suggested it before but in order to make it fair, keep it interesting and give everyone a chance, the play-off has to include 16 teams. This would include the 11 conference champions and five “at-large” selections.

How the “at-large” selections are made could be via the polls, some sort of comprehensive ranking like the BCS or via a committee like the NCAA basketball tournament uses. For this argument we will use the BCS rankings.

These 16 teams would then be ranked from one to 16 and an be matched up in a single elimination tournament with the first round at the higher seed’s home field with the next three rounds at the corresponding bowl sites that rotate on a yearly basis:

First Round – Lower Seed’s Home Field
Second Round – Capital One Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Orange Bowl
Semi-Finals – Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl
Championship Game – Fiesta Bowl

This would not diminish the regular season or make it less exciting. Tell that to Oregon State who would have blown an automatic bid because of losing to state rival Oregon. Or to Ball State and Tulsa who blew their only chance to qualify by losing to Buffalo and ECU in the MAC and Conference USA Championships Game, respectively.

Win your conference and you are in. Play well at the end of the year and you have a change for an at-large spot, something the 2007 Georgia Bulldogs could have used to prove their doubters wrong.

So in 2008 here is how your NCAA Division I Football Play-Off would lay out:

11 Conference Champions – Automatic Qualifier
ACC – Virginia Tech Hokies
Big East – Cincinnati Bearcats
Big Ten – Penn State Nittany Lions
Big Twelve – Oklahoma Sooners
Conference USA – East Carolina Pirates
MAC – Buffalo Bulls
Mountain West – Utah Utes
Pacific Ten – USC Trojans
SEC – Florida Gators
Sun Belt – Troy Trojans
WAC – Boise State Broncos

5 At-Large Bids (highest BCS ranking of non-conference champions)
Texas Longhorns
Alabama Crimson Tide
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Ohio State Buckeyes
TCU Horned Frogs

The little guys like TCU, Utah and Boise State get a chance to prove that they can play with the big boys. The Big Twelve three way tie debacle still existing but all three teams; Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech; get into the play-offs. And of the six “BCS” conferences, only the ACC sends a representative with more than two losses. Only the crème de la crème, gentlemen.

So (again using the BCS rankings) the following first round match-ups would occur.
#16 Troy at #1 Florida
#9 Boise State at #8 Penn State

#12 Cincinnati at #5 USC
#13 Virginia Tech at #4 Alabama

#11 TCU at #6 Utah
#14 East Carolina at #3 Texas

#10 Ohio State at #7 Texas Tech
#15 Buffalo at #2 Oklahoma

Other than the 1/16 and maybe the 2/15 match-up is there a game that isn’t interesting?

Boise State leaving the “smurf turf” to face a “white out” in Happy Valley. Beamer Ball versus the Florida spread offense. A Mountain West rematch between TCU and Utah. A southern shoot-out with East Carolina facing Texas. A contrast in styles as Ohio State takes on Texas Tech.

The second round would be just as interesting. Possible second round match-ups of Florida/Penn State, USC/Alabama, Utah/Texas and Ohio State/Oklahoma. Who wouldn’t want to see any of those games instead of two 6-6 teams matching up in a low budget bowl?

It is just too easy and too incredible to ignore. So grow a pair and get on board Big Ten and PAC 10. Stop holding things up BCS Bowl chairmen. Stop trying to sell me a Clemson versus Notre Dame Gator Bowl as something I want to see. In a time of change it’s time for a change in Division I college football. The fans are too smart to think what we have now is legit.

BCS BS

If there ever was a year that proves that the BCS is a crock of sh*t, 2007 is it. With only 1 Division I, er sorry, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) undefeated team in Hawaii, two 1-loss teams in Ohio State and Kansas, and a plethora of two loss teams, no two teams distinguished themselves above and beyond the others. With the inordinate number of losses by Top 5 teams to unranked teams it becomes increasingly frustrating to accept the NCAA's unwillingness to scrap the current bowl system and go to a tournament format that they use in Divisions I-AA (er, Football Championship Subdivision, FCS), II and III when parity in the FBS is blatantly obvious.

The excuses of missed classes, difficult travel and the uncertainty of locations are invalid as all the other Divisions deal with it. And these are the smaller schools who actually have student athletes and stricter academic requirements. The excuse of the lesser teams losing out on post-season action are also invalid as the lower Divisions also have single game Bowl Games. Keep the lower level Bowl Games, they are entertaining and a nice reward for the student athletes who sacrifice their time and effort. The excuse of the loss of money to the schools generated by the loss of Bowl Games is also ridiculous as the hype and excitement generated by a playoff should match that of the Bowl System. And if people don't think it would be exciting, please see the FCS this season as 8-3 Delaware, who finished the season 3rd in Division of its Conference, has gotten hot and is playing in the FCS Championship Game. Or better yet, see March Madness.

Forget the talk of a 4, 8 or 12 team playoff field, let's stick with a 16 team model like the FCS. Just for reference Division II has a 24 team field and Division III has a 32 team field. The first round would be played on the higher seeded team's field with the incorporation of the higher Bowls for the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. To keep it fair to all the Conferences that aren't "BCS worthy", let's include all 11 FBS Divisions, just like March Madness. All Conference Champions get an automatic bid to the tournament. The other 5 "at-large" teams would be chosen by a Selection Committee, just like in March Madness and in the lower Football Divisions. But, let's put in a rule that you can not have more than 2 teams from any 1 conference to be fair to all Conferences. The Selection Committee would then seed the 16 teams just like in the March Madness.

In this demonstration we will use the final 2007 BCS rankings to select the 5 at-large teams and to determine the seeding.

So based on the 2007 Final BCS Standings you would have:
#1 Ohio State (Big Ten)
#2 LSU (SEC)
#3 Virginia Tech (ACC)
#4 Oklahoma (Big 12)
#5 Georgia (At-Large)
#6 Missouri (At-Large)
#7 USC (PAC 10)
#8 West Virgina (Big East)
#9 Hawaii (WAC)
#10 Arizona State (At-Large)
#11 Illinois (At-Large)
#12 Boston College (At-Large)
#13 BYU (Mountain West)
#14 UCF (Conference USA)
#15 Central Michigan (MAC)
#16 Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt)

Kansas and Florida lose out despite being higher in the BCS Standings because they would be the 3rd team from their conference in the tournament. This is just a rule I am making out of preference, not a necessity.

So the first round of the bracket would look as follows:

#16 Florida Atlantic @ #1 Ohio State
#9 Hawaii @ #8 West Virginia

#12 Boston College @ #5 Georgia
#14 UCF @ #3 Virginia Tech

#11 Illinois @ #6 Missouri
#13 BYU @ #4 Oklahona

#10 Arizona State @ #7 USC
#15 Central Michigan @ #2 LSU

With the exception of the 1-16 and 2-15 games all are compelling games. This has to be better that what we have now. For the following rounds you would use the following bowls with the Championship game rotating between the Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls as it does now. You can even rotate the second tier Bowls in the Quarterfinals each year.

Quarterfinals: Citrus (Cap One), Cotton, Orange, Peach (Chic-Fil-A)
Semifinals: Fiesta, Rose
Finals: Sugar

Would be travel be a little bit of a pain in the butt, yes, but college football arguably has a larger following than the NFL. But these games would attract a sizable crowd regardless where held. Fans and alumni would come. This would produce plenty of money to be SHARED with all the school and all the conferences. It seems like a simple solution to a simple problem.

Unless greed and money gets in the way... just like it is now.