BCS Playoff Format - maintaining bowls

[backPhil]

Rules:

1. Top eight Conference champions (with a Top 25 BCS ranking) are guranteed entry into the Bowl Championship Series playoffs.

2. Conference champions who did not play a championship game must win a play-in game to reach quarter-finals (currently five conferences in Top 25)

2. Highest BCS ranked at-large teams round out the field.

3. Top eight teams compete in quarter-finals

4. BCS rankings are used for seeding purposes only

5. First Saturday in December (1st) all conference championship games plus Rose Bowl are played. This establishes four automatic berths for quarter finals.

6. Two week Finals before Christmas Break

5. First Saturday in December Christmas Break (22th) all "play-in" games are played. Higher ranked teams host.

6. Final Saturday in December (29th) Four Quarter-final games hosted by higher seeded team .

7. Semi-finals played the next Saturday (Jan 5th) in two of the three BCS Bowls

8. Final game played the next Saturday (Jan 12th) in the last BCS Bowl.

2007 Qualifying Conference Champions (BCS Top 25):

1 Missouri 12-1 (Big 12)
2 West Va 11-1 (Big East)
3 Ohio St 11-1 (Big 10)
4 Virginia Tech 11-2 (ACC)
5 USC 10-2 (PAC 10)
6 Tennessee 10-3 (SEC)
7 Hawaii 11-0 (WAC)
8 BYU 9-2 (Mt West)

2007 Automatic Conference Champion Bids:

#1 Missouri 12-1 (Big 12 Champion)
#3 Ohio St/USC - (Big 10 or PAC 10 Champion)
#4 Virginia Tech 11-2 (ACC Champion)
#7Tennessee 10-3 (SEC Champion)

Conference Champions requiring play-in game:

#2 West Va 11-1 (Big East)
#9 Hawaii 12-0 (WAC)
#14 BYU 10-2 (Mt.West)

2007 Qualifying at large teams requiring play-in game:

#4 Georgia 10-2 (SEC)
#5 Kansas 11-1 (Big 12)
#9 Florida 9-3 (SEC)
#10 Arizona St 10-2 (PAC 10)
#12 LSU 11-3 (SEC)
#13 Oklahoma

2007 season Play-in Games (Winners in bold type):

#13 BYU at #2 West Va
#11 Arizona St at #10 Hawaii
#12 LSU at #5 Kansas
#13 Oklahoma at #4 Georgia


Projected Top 8 Seeds based on play-in game results:

1. Missouri (Big 12 Champion)
2. West Virginia (Big East Champion)
3. Ohio St (Big 10 Rose Bowl Winner)
4. Georgia (SEC at large)
5. Kansas (Big 12 at large)
6. Virginia Tech (ACC Champion)
7. Tennessee 10-3 (SEC Champion)
8. Hawaii 12-0 (WAC Champion)


QF-1
#8 Hawaii at #1 Missouri

QF-2
#7 Tennessee at #2 West Va.

QF-3
#6 Va. Tech at #3 tOSU

QF-4
#5 Kansas at #4 Georgia


Semi-final Winners:

FIESTA BOWL
#1 Missouri vs #4 Georgia

ORANGE BOWL
#2 West Va vs #3 tOSU

Final:

SUGAR BOWL
#1 Missouri vs #2 West Va

[MemphisPoke]

You just keep thinking Phil.......that's what you are good at.


Will never happen.

[legelegel]

That was fun, but complicated and maybe too many teams to start the first playoff system.

Damn that Rose Bowl. It's that parade that makes them think that they are better than all the other bowls.

What happens when the Big 10 (11) goes to a dozen and has a championship game?

I'm assuming the Pac 10 is a long ways from a championship game.

[backPhil]

That was fun, but complicated and maybe too many teams to start the first playoff system.

Damn that Rose Bowl. It's that parade that makes them think that they are better than all the other bowls.

What happens when the Big 10 (11) goes to a dozen and has a championship game?

I'm assuming the Pac 10 is a long ways from a championship game.

In this system you have to eliminate either the Big 10 or PAC 10 champion for their demand to play in the Rose bowl, and the fact they don't play the extra conference championship game.

This system also rewards conference champions, but makes the weaker conference champions play tough at-large teams. Nobody can say they didn't get a chance to win it all.

As far as too many teams, you have three conference teams who won their conference in a championship game, plus the Rose Bowl winner. That's four teams. You need four more slots filled, so you have to have eight more teams, for a total of 13 teams in the mix, to select eight.

[osutuba]

That was fun, but complicated and maybe too many teams to start the first playoff system.

Damn that Rose Bowl. It's that parade that makes them think that they are better than all the other bowls.

What happens when the Big 10 (11) goes to a dozen and has a championship game?

I'm assuming the Pac 10 is a long ways from a championship game.
I agree that this setup seems a little confusing. Wetzel's format was pretty good, but I would slightly tweak it. I'd have to read over it again to remember what I would have adjusted. Even his system kept the bowls available.

[wickerbill]

There is absolutely zero chance that the Rose Bowl will move to the first weekend in December.

[backPhil]

There is absolutely zero chance that the Rose Bowl will move to the first weekend in December.

Practically speaking I agree 100%... It's just that I hate the smugness of the PAC 10 vs Big 10 Rose Bowl thing!:D

[wickerbill]

So do I, but I know how stubborn they are about it. Just look at a 9-3 Illinois team getting into the Rose Bowl over an 11-2 Missouri team.

[osutuba]

So do I, but I know how stubborn they are about it. Just look at a 9-3 Illinois team getting into the Rose Bowl over an 11-2 Missouri team.
Great point.

When it comes down to it, the BCS should exist by name only. Also, by rule, every conference should be required to have a championship game.

The way I see it, there are 11 D-1 conferences and then the four Independents (soon to be 3, as Western Kentucky joins a conference in '08 or '09). Six are considered "BCS Conferences" (ACC, Big 10(11), Big 12, Big East, Pac-10, and SEC), two are "mid-major" (WAC, MWC), and the other three are ... well, they exist in the eyes of ESPN and that's about it. The way I see it, it is completely reasonable to have 11 conference champs, and the best Independent team get in the playoff with 4 at-large bids from ANY conference (still use the BCS rule of no more than 2 reps from any one conference). Opinions?

[backPhil]

1 Ohio State
2 LSU
3 Virginia Tech
4 Oklahoma
5 Georgia
6 Missouri
7 USC
8 Kansas


Look how easy an 8-team playoff would be:

1 vs 8 in the Rose
2 vs 7 in the Fiesta
3 vs 6 in the Orange
4 vs 5 in the Sugar

Two highest seeded winners host the two lowest seeded winners:

Georgia at Ohio St.
Missouri at LSU

Final Game:

Ohio St vs LSU

[legelegel]

Practically speaking I agree 100%... It's just that I hate the smugness of the PAC 10 vs Big 10 Rose Bowl thing!:D

The Pac 10 and Big 10 thing started back in 1947.

It's time for it to end, if these two conferences want to play with the rest of us.