Commissioners from the BCS conferences are meeting in Dallas today to continue discussions for a potential college football playoff.
After last month’s meeting, the “plus-one” format seemed to be the leader of all the options presented. That model would pit the winners of two semifinal games against each other in a national championship game.
But the qualifications for the four teams that make the playoff has garnered the greatest debate. Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott want only conference champions in the semifinals.
Mike Slive, commissioner of the SEC, disagrees with his counterparts. Slive is also pushing for a playoff, but would like the four spots open to the four best teams in the country, not just conference champions.
“I’m willing to have a conversation about (only conference champions), but if you were going to ask me today, that would not be the way I want to go,” Slive said. “It really is early in the discussions, notwithstanding what some commissioners say publicly. There’s still a lot of information that needs to be generated.”
While most agree a four-team playoff is at least a good start, other options have been tossed around. Chief among those lately is from Washington State head coach Mike Leach. He wants a 64-team playoff.
“The minimum should be 16 teams,” Leach said. “I think 32 is better than 16, but I think 64 would be ideal. You could cut the regular season down to 10 games, but guarantee everybody 12 games. In the end, the champion would play 16 games.”
While a 32 or 64 team playoff would be fun, the best we can hope for is an 8 or 16 team playoff in the future. For now, a four-team playoff seems like the most likely scenario when the current BCS contract expires in 2014.
12 team playoff…
The 8 highest (BCS) ranked conference champions qualify. Remaining 4 teams are the highest (BCS) ranked teams, who are likely not conference champions. There is no cap on a number from a single conference.
Teams are then seeded 1-12 based on BCS rank. A set NCAA basketball style bracket is made based on seeding number. (Not NFL style playoff)
1-4 seed receive first round bye. 5-8 seed host first round game the week after championship Saturday. The second round is the next week hosted by 1-4 teams. Third round (final 4) is the next week is hosted by highest seed.
There is one week off between third round and NCG. National Championship Game is rotated between the old BCS bowls (or one set one…IDC) and is played the first Friday or Monday after New Year’s Day, whichever comes first.
This emphasizes the every week matters as there is a big difference in this system between being ranked 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12. A maximum of 4 additional games would be played by a maximum of 2 teams. The college football season would end sometime between January 2nd-5th every year. A true National Champion is crowned…why is this so hard?
PS. This would also require a reduction in the number of bowl games by 6 but that is not really a bad thing.
NOT A BAD IDEA !!!
4 will work in the short run, 8 is the better choice, and while 16 is impractical today, in a couple of years it should be the rule .
Four teams won’t cut it. After last season only two of the top four BCS teams were conference champs. You need at least eight teams to start with even though all the conference champs still wouldn’t be included. The BCS showed it’s a** with the Sugar Bowl.
With the 4 team , I agree get conference champs ( which would include a provision for independents) that way you get more parts of the country in the mix and it takes some of the control away from computers and opinions. You go beyond 4, they would probably need to shorten the season back to 11 games, remember when everybody played 11 games lol.
If the BCS is going to convert to a playoff format, it needs to be a 6 team playoff. This would mean there would be 5 games in the playoff to determine a national champion. There are also 5 BCS bowl games. Teams ranked 3-6 play in the first round, while the top 2 seeds get a first round bye. Each game is a BCS bowl game, and conference affiliations are used to most closely match the highest seeds with their affiliated BCS bowl game. For example, if this format would have taken place this year, Oklahoma State would have played Arkansas in the Fiesta Bowl with the winner playing Alabama in the Orange Bowl. Stanford would have played Oregon in the Rose Bowl with the winner playing LSU in the Sugar Bowl. The winners of the Orange and Sugar bowls would have played in the BCS Championship Game.
I love bowl games and hate playoffs
@ gcdbfv, I love the bowl games too, some people b**** that there are too many, I watch every one, can’t get enough football! – work in construction so usually december and january I’m off, so it is great.
Trying to follow some of these posts schemes for playoffs and they are more complicated than the bcs we have now ! lol,
I think 4 conference champs ( with provisions for a top 4 independent) is simple and doable. most years this will solve the problems. I personlly believe if you can’t win your conference you don’t deserve to be national champion in football
Your right never to much fball
NO!!!! I love the college bowl system. It is like no other. If they were to do that then maybe a team like Houston would win the BCS- championship.
I TTHANK A PLAYOFF IS BETTER THAT WAY EVERYBODY GOT A CHANCE