Finally, here’s the perfect college football playoff plan
The first objective: Get to the college football postseason without the acronym, BCS. (AP photo)
While there is no actual data to back this statement, I’m almost certain my three greatest sources of email relate to unclaimed winnings in the Irish lottery (“This is your final notice!”), male enhancement pills (“See the desire in her eyes!”) and the perfect college football playoff format (“I have no life, no friends, I live on Pop-Tarts and ramen noodles and have been working on this for 17 months!”).
So it comes as great relief that college football finally appears to be moving close to some form of a playoff, with even NCAA president Mark Emmert saying Thursday that he might support a four-team format. We will get a champion. I will get less email.
But I’m kind of old school in many ways. I believe college football is better with debate. It partially fuels the passions and traditions of the sport. What we don’t need is an eight- or 16-team playoff format, which is unworkable and would drive the bones of these kids into dust. We already have hypocritical university presidents who pound their fist on tables and claim they’re all about academics, then when the TV lights click off approve 12-game regular seasons and conference championship games to generate revenue (and not to build libraries).
“The season is very long, and I don’t know if you can do a whole lot more than what we’re doing now,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Friday. “I guess you can do the plus-one that they’re talking about. Keep it sane. But beyond that, you’d have to cut back on regular-season games.”
That’s not happening.
Mark Richt says an expanded playoff system in college football isn't workable. (Jason Getz/AJC)
With that, I now unveil the perfect plan, not to be confused with all of the other plans.
Understand something: Bowl games largely have lost their appeal. Too many matchups are not appealing to even the fan bases involved in the game. One reason for that is the BCS’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup has rendered all other bowls meaningless. The under-40 crowd may not realize this, but New Year’s Day games used to be a treasure, not just because the Sugar, Rose, Orange, Cotton were great, but because the games actually meant something. Human polls determined the champion, so several teams in the major bowls could convince themselves, with a series of results, that they had a chance to finish No. 1.
This plan also restores the bowls’ tradition, gives them meaning, provides a title game and leaves worthy debate intact. So here goes:
• 1.) Drop the BCS into a dumpster. What other sports enterprise takes its biggest money-making venture and allows an outside company to run it?
• 2.) The NCAA creates a blue-ribbon panel of a dozen members, similar to basketball, who select at-large berths for the five major bowls (see below). All remaining teams are available for other bowls.
• 3.) We bring the Cotton Bowl, which has revenue-generating Cowboys Stadium, back into the equation, joining the Sugar, Rose, Orange and Fiesta. If somebody considers five too many, dump the Fiesta. They bring little to the table anyway, other than corruption.
• 4.) The major bowls will have traditional conference tie-ins. SEC champion to the Sugar, ACC to the Orange, Big 12 to the Cotton, Pac-12 and Big Ten to the Rose. (The Fiesta can get two worthy at-large bids, since no other conference champion is worthy of an automatic bid.) Potentially, each of the five bowls will mean something because there’s no automatic 1 vs. 2 match-up. It effectively gives you “five semifinal” games (kinda, sorta). The often-heard proposal of having two of the current BCS bowls designated as semifinals would render the other three bowls meaningless.
• 5.) After the New Year’s bowls, the panel selects the two best teams for the championship game. Of course, arguments will ensue. So what? Each team will have had a chance to prove itself in the bowls. Picking four teams for semifinals would diminish the bowls and extend the season too long.
One last thing: If the two best teams come from the same conference, I’m OK with that. Most consider the NCAA basketball tournament the greatest thing going, and nobody complains when there are multiple teams from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten or Big 12 in the Final Four. So why should football be any different.
So there’s the perfect plan, which by the way would’ve concluded the same way as the BCS’s imperfect one: Alabama over LSU in the final.
By Jeff Schultz
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192 comments Add your comment
Top Dawg
January 13th, 2012
8:10 pm
Why would the panel have to come from Pabst?
johnv
January 13th, 2012
8:21 pm
@ HighTech
I saw that one too yesterday and it looks like by far the best idea i’ve seen. I also agree with GTBob. The playoff being too long is bs.
Jay Dawg
January 13th, 2012
8:30 pm
Interesting option with the panel. I am in favor of a 4 team playoff and no more than that. Typically there are not more than 4 teams who can make a legitimate claim that they should be playing for the championship. I could live with what you outlined.
007
January 13th, 2012
8:49 pm
I agree with antidepressed dawg, 100%.
Astropig
January 13th, 2012
8:52 pm
Look, if it gets rid of these third rate “bowl” games, I’d support it just to kill them off.
College football is killing its brand equity by sanctioning games like the Pinstripe Bowl and the other embarassments like the one that invited a team (UCLA) with a losing record to play. The players ,fans and students are being ripped off by these meaningless games.
Stinger2
January 13th, 2012
9:08 pm
I don`t care what the playoff format is as long as the change is made in some realistic fashion. However, I think
there would still be too many sorry “bowl” games that
are meaningless to most everyone except the money hunting sponsors and ESPN.
Facts
January 13th, 2012
9:12 pm
Yeah great. Have 10 guys in charge of who plays in the game and not the way it is now. Yeah that sounds great! There’s no conflict of interest or potential for fraud there! Nice
Facts
January 13th, 2012
9:13 pm
“nobody complains when there are multiple teams from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten or Big 12 in the Final Four”
That’s because they had to win 4 games to get there fool..
glsjunior
January 13th, 2012
9:16 pm
Why is this so hard? They do it in every other division. 16 team playoff. Take the 11 conference champions, 5 at large bids. Give the top 4 teams a bye, higher seeds get home games. The National Championship games get played in a rotation of the BCS bowls. The rest of the bowls serve as an NIT system for the teams that don’t make the playoffs.
Pulpwud Smiff
January 13th, 2012
9:37 pm
One thing is certain: With any playoff system, as long as Saint Mark Richt is in Athens, UGA will never make the playoffs.
Big Enos Burdette
January 13th, 2012
10:10 pm
There are no more than 8 teams in the country that deserve a shot at the National title. If you can’t get in the top 8 by the end of the season, TOUGH LUCK. 99.9% of the time the winner would come from the top 8. Probably even the top 4, but let’s do eight to make sure the winner is included and cut down on any whining.
Fair n Balanced
January 13th, 2012
10:10 pm
It’s not a playoff if there are people/committees involved picking who will play. This does not work. It would become just another attempt at arriving with a NC that will be ditched later for another. Simply put, this idea is not a playoff.
Truth
January 13th, 2012
10:10 pm
@Pulpwood
With an average season win rate at 10 for the last 11 years, you would love to have UGA’s problems. Just crawl back in your hole w/GTBob. Have you even checked Richt’s bowl record? Envy is ugly.
Big Enos Burdette
January 13th, 2012
10:14 pm
By the way, your high school champions play 15 games don’t they? Some of those kids aren’t but 15 or 16 years old and they seem to be handle it. Think the college kids can do the same.
Big Enos Burdette
January 13th, 2012
10:17 pm
Sorry, should have been “seem to handle it”
What?
January 13th, 2012
10:55 pm
That plan still allows humans to pick the final teams rather than p the actual play on the field. Just add a plus one. Like next frickin week with bama facing okie state….
What?
January 13th, 2012
10:56 pm
Sorry i left a p dangling.
jvillebil
January 13th, 2012
11:01 pm
Every team’s goal for the past 50 years was to be in a New Years Day Bowl game. Then along came the BCS and suddenly Jan 1st wasn’t the sacred day. This year’s game was (9) nine days after after New Years Day. The presidents act like all 120 FBS schools are going to be playing two weeks past New Years Day. Give me a break. With an 8 team bracket, let all of them play on Jan 1st using the 4 major bowls. Then the following Saturday as long it’s as least 7 days away could be the semi’s. Some years it may be as long as the 11th or 12th before that Saturday arrives. Then you’ve got only 2 teams left that could possibly have to play as late as January 19th-20th. You’re telling me if a school had a chance to do something historic and play an extra week it’s going to make that much difference in the lives of 80 or so players that it will be detrimental to them! Please give me a break.
We can put a man on the moon, we can find cures for rare diseases, we can do a heart transplants, but we can’t figure out how to organize an 8 team NCAA football playoff.
ONLY IN AMERICA!!
Paul in NH
January 13th, 2012
11:22 pm
“Drop the BCS into a dumpster. What other sports enterprise takes its biggest money-making venture and allows an outside company to run it?”
Jeff – I don’t agree with all of your proposals on your post, but you nailed it with this one. You could have added “and allows an outside company to run it and to skim millions off the top”
kreedham
January 13th, 2012
11:28 pm
I know folks talk about “extra games” but in reality only 4 teams get to play 2 extra and 2 get to play 3 extra in an 8 team playoff. In the total picture that’s not many players. It would help if the NCAA cut back on number of players allowed to dress. College (many) have 20-30 more players than the pro’s who play 16 games not including playoffs!
Brutus
January 13th, 2012
11:39 pm
16 team playoff: 11 conference champs + 5 at-large. If you win your conference you get a chance. If you are Alabama this year you still get in. If you are an independent (Notre Dame) you can earn an at-large. Start in December and end at the same time as now. Eliminate all postseason besides these 15 games.
Fan of the Game
January 13th, 2012
11:40 pm
If you really want to do it right you follow the same pattern as the FCS. Now they play their championship game on the same weekend as the BCS. You can still have your bowl games. Teams that play the first week of Bowls aren’t in the top 16 anyway. You would still have a good break between semifinals and final. If it works for the FCS why wouldn’t it work for the BCS? I keep hearing it won’t why not?
mark louis
January 14th, 2012
12:08 am
I’d rather have no BCS & no playoff & just go back to the old bowl system.
Special K
January 14th, 2012
12:09 am
Perfect until your team is ranked #5 or #9 or #19. See how the view looks then. This is all about MONEY, not crowning a champion. More games mean more money. Open your eyes folks.
GIVE ME A BREAK
January 14th, 2012
12:20 am
This is not a playoff. We want to see games where the winner advances and the loser goes home. We don’t want another stupid committee. Try again or go home.
red&black
January 14th, 2012
4:25 am
The argument about the season being too long is not valid. You have a playoff system from the high school level and the fcs that work. The season is extended 3 weeks for both of those. I like the 8 team scenario and it would work very well. Of course there’s the money issue, but with this type of format the schools would be able to redo any contract and the “benjamin’s” would more than triple. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ bout.
Think about it……How does 10 billion sound to you. You could spread this among all the 100 + schools in the FBS depending on where they finish in the final rankings and everybody would get a piece of the pie. No mo bitchin’ from the nobody’s
New libraries and facilities for everybody……….knowaimsayin…….ya’ll
Of course this is all fantasy stuff, but it has potential.
Buckeye
January 14th, 2012
6:19 am
Whatever isn’t is, we will win it on the field. The dogs win it in Jan/Feb.
Play Off
January 14th, 2012
6:31 am
“What we don’t need is an eight- or 16-team playoff format, which is unworkable and would drive the bones of these kids into dust.”
Same old stupid argument. If it is so hard to do 8 or 16, why do the lower divisions do it. In fact a lot of the lower division schools are smaller with higher academic standards and they are still able to do a playoff system. The bowl season has become a joke. It’s boring bc the kids are not playing for a chance at the title. Keep the best bowl venues in the playoffs and rotate games (final, semifinal etc.) every year.
If those that don’t get into the playoffs still want to go to the toilet bowl let them.
Old Coach
January 14th, 2012
6:51 am
@ more perfect
PERFECT!!!
Chris
January 14th, 2012
6:51 am
This proves that you’re an idiot and just as ignorant as the presidents.
Why wont an 8 team playoff work? Because of the same lame excuse the nay sayers have been using for years? That’s B.S. and you know it.
An 8 team playoff means there is 4 games the first weekend, 2 the next, and 1 the final weekend. A grand total of 7 extra games. You would have 4 teams of the 120 in college football that play one extra game. Then, 4 teams that play two extra games, and 2 teams out of 120 that play 3 extra games. If you win your conference championhip, and the national championship, you will have played 16 games with a 12 game regular season. LSU and all other conference champs played 14 games this year. How is 16 games for 2 teams out of 120 really that bad???
Oh, and here’s a novel idea. How about you start playing these games the week after the conference championship games. Then, you wouldn’t have to wait 30 days to see another meaningfull college football game. This past year the first round of the playoffs could have been Dec. 10th, the second round Dec. 17th, take a week off for Christmas, and have the championship game around New Years. Of course you would still have all your other meaningless bowl games which never matter anyways because all but one is meaningless.
If you don’t think this would work Jeff Shultz, then it just proves that your as ignorant as the rest of them.
Phil Oneacre
January 14th, 2012
7:17 am
Interesting hybrid concept. Gives 10 top teams (not necessarily poll top ten) a chance to exhibit one last time why they think they are worthy and then choose 2 for the final. Makes the season 1 game longer rather that they traditional playoff method that would keep it going until Easter.
Funny Bunny
January 14th, 2012
7:27 am
Does Notre Dame get an automatic bid if they win eight games, and no Priest’s are arrested ?
Beast from the East
January 14th, 2012
7:28 am
Nothing’s going to change except for a plus one. Everything else is just wishful thinking.
TampaGator
January 14th, 2012
8:02 am
One problem……I think the SEC champion should continue to play the Big Ten champion in a bowl game……guaranteeing the SEC champion a berth in the title game every year instead of the Pac 12 champion…..except when Georgia plays Michigan State and then the Big Ten Champion would go.
TampaGator
January 14th, 2012
8:04 am
Funny Bunny……
NBC and the Pope would pay to make it happen.
Jim
January 14th, 2012
8:07 am
Interesting…..involving Mark Richt in a hypothetical discussion about a revamped college football championship is likely as close as Mark Richt will ever get to a college football championship.
TampaGator
January 14th, 2012
8:08 am
…..p.s.
The NCAA is about as likely to make this happen as the Pope is going to let Priests get married. Both should happen…..but won’t.
TampaGator
January 14th, 2012
8:10 am
Jim….
I don’t know Jim…..Richt seems to have gotten the message from the Georgia fans and is now taking this championship goal seriously.
TampaGator
January 14th, 2012
8:11 am
Enjoy the day!
TexExInGA
January 14th, 2012
8:17 am
The more wins required to win the championship after the playoff/bowl-season starts, the less the regular season matters. Once you go past the single championship game format, the number of wins required needs to be more than two — the teams need to earn it in the playoff, not just get lucky once or twice. You are rewarding them for post-season success after all.
Does anyone have a plan that gets rid of the worthless non-conference games? Imho, those are a waste of everyone’s time. Add a playoff with multiple games following the completion of conference schedules only. Let the teams that don’t make the playoff, and the teams that get eliminated along the way, play the same number of total games by adding non-conference games at the end of the season. A scheduling nightmare, maybe, but surely there is some way to do this. It’s 2012. We have ‘puters.
bamaguy
January 14th, 2012
8:19 am
The BCS isn’t going away (and I am kind of fond of those crystal footballs) because it has made too much money and they are in too tight with the NCAA. A suggestion I read was to keep the BCS exactly like it is except make the final determination after the New Years bowl games to determine who would play for the NC two weeks later.
This would restore the traditional bowls. If that had been the format this year, LSU would have gone to the Sugar to play someone (possibly OSU) and Alabama would have gone to perhaps the Fiesta to possibly play Oregon. The only way those two would have kept their 1 and 2 rankings would have been if they had won those games. If either or both lost, we would have had a different NC game.
As much as I would like to see an eight game playoff, Richt is right, it is just not going to happen. The NCAA member schools are not going to give up their 12 game schedules so that a hand full of top teams can have a playoff. Why would NC State for example, a team that will never make the top ten, give up that revenue?
Mid Town Joe
January 14th, 2012
8:23 am
Bowl Games would have to be eliminated in order for a playoff system to work. Higher ranked teams should get a “home” game 1st. Championship game should be played in an empty stadium, with no NFL scouts present. Pep bands could be allowed in the parking lot, though. Maybe some tail gating.
Funny Bunny
January 14th, 2012
8:30 am
TampaGator…..This would be the Pabst Committee Chairman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hEh2NH6teY
dmr
January 14th, 2012
8:51 am
It must be settled on the field. FIRST…DUMP THE COACHES POLL. The Coaches Poll is still nothing of the kind. Head Coaches have way too many responsibilities to view the top teams in the land and fairly identify who should be on top. Further, toward the end of the season, the Coaches Poll becomes a blunt instrument for serving your own purposes; see Saban, Chizick, and others’ votes at end of season with regard to OSU.
No Bowl should be deemed a BCS bowl unless the BCS is willing to simply shake up the bag and have the TOP 10 teams face one another, regardless of Conference. These bowl tie-ins are crap…gave us GEORGIA vs. HAWAII, when most of the football world wanted to see a Rose Bowl of GEORGIA vs. USC back in ‘07.
FIVE BIG BOWLS…TOP 10 TEAMS REGARDLESS OF CONFERENCE…5 vs.10, 6 vs. 9, 7 vs. 8….all very close match ups. THEN 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. THE WINNER OF THOSE TWO GAMES PLAY THE PLUS 1. DONE. As close to the NFL as possible without playoffs and solving it on the field.
60's Dogfan
January 14th, 2012
9:03 am
Since ESPN owns 55 of the 60 bowls, they seem to control the whole deal. Getting rid of all but a few meaningful bowls, and cutting the season back to 10 games would make a lot more sense, but the Conferences, and ESPN don’t care about sense, only dollars.
Sopwith Camel
January 14th, 2012
9:07 am
No, it’s not the perfect solution. The perfect solution (whatever it ends up being) will not have a panel or committee “selecting” teams. That’s the whole point of what’s wrong with the BCS system. That doesn’t fix anything. And I don’t know how they could select just two teams. This year was another example of their being no agreement of who should be in a “playoff” because there were more than two teams that people argued deserved to be in a championship game. Even if there were four teams there can, and will, be arguments that another team deserves a shot. What if you end up with five teams that each have only lost 1 game? I don’t see the arguments stopping unless at least 8 teams are selected for a playoff system. But nobody can figure out how to make an 8-team playoff happen. I would opt for teams shortening their regular season by cutting out the matches against cupcake opponents (which most team have on their schedule but which don’t have any meaning anyway) and then somehow squeezing in an 8-team real playoff.
Tony cole
January 14th, 2012
9:12 am
I like it, but what about this. Have the BCS polling process rank the 10 teams that play in the five bowls. Then, afterwards, the two remaining, highest ranked teams play in the plus-one bowls. You could get a 1-2 matchup, but you could also get a 3-7 matchup.
mark
January 14th, 2012
9:18 am
I still dont understand the morons who want a 16 team playoff. Yep, lets keep bringing mediocrity into it. If the bowls games of lately didnt cure you then nothing will. 8 teams would be bad enough. Jeeez, cant we stop with the silly idea that a 16th team deserves anything, much less a shot to win a championship. This playoff crap in all sports has gotten way out of hand. No, I dont know the “perfect” system but the BCS is a joke and now we want to fix it with more mediocre football.
jerry
January 14th, 2012
9:19 am
Good thing this wasn’t in effect in 1980. UGA could have wound up playing the 11-1 Pitt Panthers.
Comparable opponents: UGA 16-15 vs Tennessee
Pitt 30-6 vs Tennessee
UGA 13-10 vs South Carolina
Pitt 37-9 vs South Carolina
UGA was possibly the most undeserving “National Champion” (sarcasm) ever.
Fan of the Game
January 14th, 2012
9:25 am
Too much emphasis is put on the National Championship. I loved it when you went to your bowl game and that was it. Nobody really talked about the National Championship. ESPN is running the show and the one that is getting rich off all of this. I love the Bowl games and if the Presidents need to make sure that we keep them and allow the kids to enjoy them. La-Lafayette won their bowl game and those kids were so excited. They could have cared less about the National Championship and that is the way it should be.