BCS Playoffs

[TheGlitch]

A playoff will never happen.



Hold on a second there, champ:

BCS gets boot in favor of 4-team playoff

Not the excellent system devised by our friend JDHalfrack, but it's a start, I guess *shrugs*

Quick excerpts/summary:
"...No. 1 will play No. 4, and No. 2 will play No. 3 on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. The sites of those games will rotate among six bowls. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., is guaranteed a spot, and the to-be-determined site of the newly formed bowl created by the SEC and Big 12 is likely to be another, Slive said.

The other current BCS bowls - the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta - are not yet guaranteed spots in the rotation, but will get first crack at bidding for them. The Cotton Bowl, played at the $1.1 billion Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, has long wanted to be part of the BCS and will no doubt push to be a part of the rotation, possibly as host to the Big 12-SEC game.

The winners of the semis will advance to the championship on the first Monday in January that is six or more days after the last semifinal. The first ''Championship Monday'' is set for Jan. 12, 2015.

The site of the title game will move around the way the Super Bowl does, with cities bidding for the right to host.

The teams will be selected by a committee, similar to the way the NCAA basketball tournament field is set. The men's tournament has 68 teams, and 37 at-large bids."

[BelieverInTeal]

It's better than nothing, but it's not enough.

The selection committee is a good idea, but I want to know who's in that committee. I want to them to be transparent in who they hire for that committee so that all teams have a chance to get in, and not just four teams based on reputation.

[Littleware]

It's a start... I think instead of a 4 team playoff, there should be 6 teams, with games covering a 3 week playoff period.

Week 1: Teams 1 and 2 get byes
(Game 1)Teams 3 vs. 6 and (Game 2) 4 vs. 5

Week 2. Game 1 Winner vs Team 1 and Game 2 winner vs. Team 2

Week 3: Game 3 Winner Vs. Game 4 Winner for all the marbles!

I would like to see 6 teams instead of 4 because sometimes an 11-1 team may get snubbed in a 4 team playoff!

[BigDaddyCool]

I like the 12-team playoff system that JDHalfrack devised better then this half-assed system that the uni presidents came up with. In that system the so-called little guys like the Boise States, the TCU's and the Southern Miss' have a shot at a title that they would not normally have. In this new scenario you have to be in the top 4 of the BCS to get in - period. So in this case say a 6th ranked and undefeated BSU team is still on the outside looking in.

I agree that it is a good start, but it doesn't go far enough. Hopefully in the future the system will be re-visited and expanded upon so that we can get a more equitable system that is fair to all.

[grabursock55]

hey guys, I just want you all to know that we are starting with a 4 team playoff... but i would expect to see it expand very shortly after year one. we will see 8 to 16 teams in no time.... By the way, the FCS is up to 24 now! lol

[BigDaddyCool]

Time to start thinking about playoffs once again. Because Gentlemen, I give you...

The 2012 NCAA/BCS Playoffs

As before I've used the system devised by JDHalfrack and here is how the teams line up:

1. Notre Dame (rule C)
2. Alabama (rule A)
3. Florida (rule D)
4. Oregon (rule E)
5. Kansas State (rule A)
6. Stanford (rule A)
7. Georgia
8. LSU
9. Texas A&M
10. South Carolina
11. Oklahoma (rule E)
12. Florida St. (rule A)
13. Oregon St.
14. Clemson
15. Northern Illinois (rule B2a)
16. Nebraska
17. UCLA
18. Michigan
19. Boise State (rule B2b)
20. Northwestern
21. Louisville (rule A)
22. Utah State (rule B2c)
23. Texas
24. San Jose St
25. Kent St.

Now, as to some who might have a problem with so many SEC teams being left out let me remind you that there is a rule in this system that each conference is limited to only two representatives (rule E3). Also, the way that the non-AQ schools got in were as follows:

Northern Illinois - MAC Champion, ranked in the Top 16 of the BCS (rule B2a)
Boise State - MWC co-Champion, ranked higher in the final BCS standings than that of an automatically qualified champion from provision A (in this case, Louisville - rule B2b).
Utah State - WAC Champion, ranked in the Top 25 of the final BCS standings and at least one champion from a conference with an automatically qualified champion from provision A is not ranked in the Top 25 of the final BCS Standings (in this case, Wisconsin is the Big 10 Champion, but unranked by the BCS - rule B2c).

So, here is how the first round shapes up:

First Round Byes:
1. Notre Dame
2. Alabama
3. Florida
4. Oregon

First round matchups:
(12) Utah St, at (5) Kansas State
(10) Boise State at (7) Oklahoma
(11) Louisville at (6) Stanford
(9) Northern Illinois at (8) Florida State

Like Last year I'm using the Heiman mod to play this out and I am currently updating the rosters to bring them up to date. I also have to create Northern Illinois and Utah State for this so it might be a little while for this to get started.

Let the debating begin...

[JDHalfrack]

What's interesting is that Wisconsin winning the Big 10 actually REALLY screws the Big Ten over in this type of scenario. They deserve it though.... they were all SO bad! I'm a big Big Ten fan, and it pains me to say it. What Wisconsin winning ALSO does is allow Utah State to showcase their talents.

Big Winners in this type of system: Little Schools, specifically Boise State and especially Utah State.
Big Losers: Wisconsin, Nebraska, and the Big Ten as a whole. Of course, they really only have themselves to blame.

Anyway, it's a lot easier to make predictions having watched these guys play over the last month, but regardless, based on that, how they played during the season, and just a little bit of gut feeling, this is how I feel the playoffs would have gone down:

The easiest to "predict" is Northern Illinois vs. Florida State. That matchup actually happened, and it did not end pretty for NIU...
Florida State: 31
Northern Illinois: 10

Having just watched Oklahoma forget how to play football, my opinion of them is not very high. Granted, Boise State is not Texas A&M, but they do come to play. Of course, it's hard to be impressed with Boise State's 2 point win over Washington, but I still make this an upset pick.
Boise State: 29
Oklahoma: 28

Louisville at Stanford seems like that should be a blowout in Stanford's favor. However, having watched Stanford barely beat a terrible, terrible, Wisconsin team and Louisville completely stop Florida, I think Louisville could pull off a miracle win here.
Louisville: 30
Stanford: 20

Kansas State did not look good against Oregon, but Utah State is no Oregon. And while Utah State manhandled Toledo, Kansas State is no Toledo.
Kansas State: 28
Utah State: 20

This gives us these 2nd round matchups:
(11) Louisville @ (1) Notre Dame
(10) Boise State @ (2) Alabama
(8) Florida State @ (3) Florida
(5) Kansas State @ (4) Oregon

Okay, I'm going to cheat a little here. We already know that ON THE FIELD Florida is better than Florida State and that Oregon is better than Kansas State. Could injuries and things like that happen to make the outcomes different? Sure. But we're not playing that game.
Oregon: 35
Kansas State: 17

Florida: 37
Florida State: 26

Now I'm going to be cheap. I'm not sold on Notre Dame being the #1 team (although their record and who they played earns them that spot). However, Louisville is not going to pull that magic two weeks in a row. The same goes with Boise State. They are not going to beat Oklahoma and then Alabama in successive weeks. And truthfully, that's the point of a playoff system like this. These teams with a first round bye have a MAJOR advantage... and they should.
Notre Dame: 24
Louisville: 10

Alabama: 30
Boise State: 17

Round 3 matchups:
(4) Oregon @ (1) Notre Dame
(3) Florida @ (2) Alabama

This is where I think Notre Dame gets exposed. I feel that on the field, Oregon would beat Notre Dame. It might be "close", but Oregon would control this game from beginning to end.
Oregon: 30
Notre Dame: 24

Now... this other matchup is interesting because despite being in the same conference, Alabama and Florida did not play against each other this year. Using common opponents is not helpful either. Florida lost to Georgia (Alabama beat Georgia), Alabama lost to Texas A&M (Florida beat Texas A&M). Honestly, based on the game this week, I don't think Florida is a championship caliber team. Alabama I feel is. Alabama wins.
Alabama: 27
Florida: 19

Bowl matchups would be as follows:
Northern Illinois vs. Utah State
Stanford vs. Oklahaoma
Boise State vs. Louisville
Kansas State vs. Florida State
Notre Dame vs. Florida
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Alabama vs. Oregon

Interestingly enough, this turnout of playoff matchups and bowl matchups is the least exciting to me since I've been hypothesizing and predicting playoff matchups (about 2008?). I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Wisconsin winning the Big Ten really messed things up.

Anyway... that's my take on how it would have turned out.

[DrBrownsFan]

Below are the 2013 BCS standings after the Conference Championship games had been played. The teams that are color coded are the teams that would have been automatic qualifiers based on JD's proposed BCS Playoff format.

1. Florida State --> ACC Champion (Provision A)
2. Auburn --> SEC Champion (Provision A)
3. Alabama --> Highest ranked non-champion (provision D)
4. Michigan State --> Big 10 Champion (Provision A)
5. Stanford --> Pac-12 Champion (Provision A)
6. Baylor --> Big 12 Champion (Provision A)
7. Ohio State
8. Missouri
9. South Carolina
10. Oregon
11. Oklahoma
12. Clemson
13. Oklahoma State
14. Arizona State
15. UCF --> AAC (Previously Big East) Champion (Provision A)
16. LSU
17. UCLA
18. Louisville
19. Wisconsin
20. Fresno State
21. Texas A&M
22. Georgia
23. Northern Illinois
24. Duke
25. USC

As you can see, there are only 7 teams that are automatic qualifiers. This left us with 5 at large teams the BCS playoff selection committee would have been able to chose. However, based on provision E-3, neither Missouri nor South Carolina can have been selected, and by default, Ohio State, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Clemson would HAVE to have been selected.

Since this leaves us with just 11 teams, we must move to provision F. However, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, and LSU are eliminated by provision F-3.

Moving to provision G, we find that, by provision G-3, neither UCLA nor Wisconsin can have been selected, and, for our intents and purposes, let us assume that the highest ranked team would have been selected when there's an option (poor Fresno State kinda gets shafted here). This left us with the following 12 teams in the BCS Playoffs:
1. Florida State
2. Auburn
3. Alabama
4. Michigan State
5. Stanford
6. Baylor
7. Ohio State
10. Oregon
11. Oklahoma
12. Clemson
15. UCF
18. Louisville

Your first round would have looked like this:
1. Florida State, 2. Auburn, 3. Alabama, and 4. Michigan State would all receive first round byes.

18. Louisville @ 5. Stanford
15. UCF @ 6. Baylor
12. Clemson @ 7. Ohio State
11. Oklahoma @ 10. Oregon

[BigDaddyCool]

Ok, I know that bumping posts is usually frowned upon and that this one hasn't been active for a few years, but I think that under these special circumstances that reviving this thread might be warranted. Yesterday there was some news that many of us have been hoping for and dreaming about for years that finally came true. It seems that the League Presidents have finally come to their senses and they voted unanimously to implement a 12 TEAM PLAYOFF starting in 2026!!!!!!!

A 12 TEAM PLAYOFF!!!!!!!!!!

There's no word as to certain criteria for how to determine at-large teams like in our system, but so far six conference champions and the top ranked at-large teams are in. If they can also include a rule limiting the number of teams from each conference (call it the SEC Rule) and a criteria for teams from the AAC, Mountain West and other "mid-major" conferences to get in then we are well on our way to our dream playoff system coming to fruition.

Here's hoping.

[JDHalfrack]

I was JUST talking about this thread with someone after I heard about the 12-team playoff!

Can't believe it took 12+ years from this post to make it a (somewhat) reality!

JD