Shoeless Works is comprised of me, Joe Jackson, and my wife Jessica. We are always trying to learn different ways to improve our abilities and pride ourselves on keeping our prices competitive.
So here's the current line-up: (I'm not typing it out, you can find it here: http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=885360)
And here's your current Team Rankings according to the 3 different polls (BCS, Coaches AP):
BCS:
1. Oklahoma 12-1
2. Florida 12-1
3. Texas 11-1
4. Alabama 12-1
5. USC 11-1
6. Utah 12-0
7. Texas Tech 11-1
8. Penn St. 11-1
9. Boise St. 12-0
10. Ohio St. 10-2
11. TCU 10-2
12. Cincinnati 11-2
13. Oklahoma St. 9-3
14. Georgia Tech 9-3
15. Georgia 9-3
16. BYU 10-2
17. Oregon 9-3
18. Michigan St. 9-3
19. Virginia Tech 9-4
20. Pittsburgh 9-3
21. Missouri 9-4
22. Ball St. 12-1
23. Northwestern 9-3
24. Boston Coll. 9-4
25. Mississippi 8-4
Coaches:
1. Oklahoma (31) 12-1
2. Florida (26) 12-1
3. Texas (4) 11-1
4. Alabama 12-1
4. USC 11-1
6. Penn St. 11-1
7. Utah 12-0
8. Texas Tech 11-1
9. Boise St. 12-0
10. Ohio St. 10-2
11. TCU 10-2
12. Cincinnati 11-2
13. Oregon 9-3
14. Oklahoma St. 9-3
15. Georgia Tech 9-3
16. BYU 10-2
17. Georgia 9-3
18. Michigan St. 9-3
19. Virginia Tech 9-4
20. Northwestern 9-3
21. Pittsburgh 9-3
22. Ball St. 12-1
23. Missouri 9-4
24. Mississippi 8-4
25. Oregon St. 8-4
AP:
1. Florida (50) 12-1 1602 2
2. Oklahoma (9) 12-1 1540 4
3. Texas (6) 11-1 1530 3
4. Alabama 12-1 1410 1
5. USC 11-1 1372 5
6. Penn St. 11-1 1259 6
7. Utah 12-0 1225 7
8. Texas Tech 11-1 1193 8
9. Boise St. 12-0 1101 9
10. Ohio St. 10-2 1069 10
11. TCU 10-2 921 11
12. Cincinnati 11-2 863 13
13. Oklahoma St. 9-3 853 14
14. Georgia Tech 9-3 761 15
15. Oregon 9-3 710 16
16. Georgia 9-3 599 17
17. BYU 10-2 477 20
18. Pittsburgh 9-3 428 23
19. Michigan St. 9-3 423 21
20. Mississippi 8-4 389 22
21. Virginia Tech 9-4 318 NR
22. Northwestern 9-3 262 24
23. Ball St. 12-1 249 12
24. Oregon St. 8-4 163 25
25. Missouri 9-4 150 19
and the gist of it (the current system) is this: Oklahoma vs Florida for the Title and one loss teams Texas, Texas Tech, Alabama, Penn State and USC (Southern Cal) are left on the outside looking in wondering "what if?".
And did you notice anything with all three of these polls? I did but I'll get to that in a few as I explain the solution! It's really not hard and I'll attack all neigh-sayers and angles of idiocy against a playoff system.
Step 1: probably the hardest for people to change but not really if you think about it. Get rid of the 12th game. I don't mean completely eliminating it for all schools but I mean not requiring it for anyone. If a team in the Big 11, Big 12, ACC, SEC, Big East or Pac 10 want to only play 11, fine let'em! But if they want to add another cup-cake, pad some stats or get that extra W towards bowl eligibility, that's fine too. It shouldn't be a requirement and if we are going to have a fully functioning playoff system, teams shouldn't have to play 12 in a regular season. We did just fine for a long time with 11.
I get sick and tired of people claiming a playoff system would make the regular season meaningless. Sure it would be meaningless if you played 14-16 regular season games and 4 didn't matter, or if there were only 32 teams eligible to make the playoffs but in my system all teams in the FBS would have a shot.
Step 2: and this one isn't even really a step.... don't change anything with the bowls... well, except get rid of the BCS system and add a playoff (I'll get to that in a second); but, keep the bowls. Why do people have to assume that having a playoff system would all of a sudden mean deleting the bowls. Even with a playoff there are going to be a lot of teams with 6, 7, 8, 9 and even 10 wins that will want to play an extra game so why not let them. It's not like we wouldn't watch them on TV anymore or stop traveling to Boise Idaho just b/c it's not for all the kibbles and bits. Keep the bowls. Let them make their money and bring in the extra half a mil for their conference every year if they want to, I won't complain about it.
Step 3: create a 12 team playoff system. Top 4 teams get a bye week.
Wonder how in the world this would work? Well, let's take a look at a simulated bracket with this year's teams (who would have made it in my system).
#1 Florida #2 Oklahoma, #3 Texas, & #4 Alabama get your opening round byes:
to play against the winners of: Cincinnati vs. VT, Ohio St. vs Boise St., Texas Tech vs. So Cal, and Penn St. vs. Utah. The winners advance and at the end you'll have yourself a crowned NATIONAL CHAMPION! No more of this Mythical National Championship crap. They'll earn it on the field and there'll be very (and I mean VERY) little people will be able to contest.
Why these teams and in this format? Well, let's first look back at those 3 polls again. Remember that "one thing" I noticed in all 3 poll? Well, that "one thing" was the top 12 teams were the same. No arguing from all 3 polls, in fact there are a handful of other polls that also have these 12 teams as the top 12 (not exactly in the same order but same top 12). And here's where we see our only flaw this system: someone is going to be left out, and in this case its TCU. Why does TCU get left out? Automatic bids.
Let's look at the bracket closer.
There needs to be a handful of automatic bids for the playoff system and they just happen to be the (Major) Conf. Champions and with VT getting and automatic bid someone in the top 12 would get left out and that just happens to be TCU. Here's where the arguments will begin.
Most will say, "this system is flawed! If your system is so great, TCU should have a shot b/c they are top 12". No system (barring a "every FBS team tournament") would be perfect but which is better, leaving Texas, Alabama, Texas Tech, Utah, and a handful of other teams NO chance at a title or leaving one or 2 possibly deserving teams out of a 12 team playoff? Are there teams left out of the NCAA basketball tournament that should have a shot? Absolutely! Are we arguing and blogging year-after-year about it being a terrible system that should be changed? No. And that's where I'll leave that argument... moving forward.
The automatic bids should be easy to fill every year: Conf Champs from: ACC, SEC, Pac 10, Big East, & Big 11. That's only 5 teams in a 12 team set-up leaving 7 (at-large bids). Get it? 7 of your best teams to choose from to fill in the rest of the bracket!
Hang-ups:
There's too many games:
See step 1. Ending the 12th reg season game would make it (at worst) a 15 game champion. If a team in the ACC played in the conf championship game and then had to play 3 games in this playoff system they'd only be playing one extra game than the current system. Problem is a non-issue.
Where would you play the playoff games?
My vote would be for neutral sites in 6 or so cities yearly. Have a North, South, Midwest and West bracket if you want, but just have them in big cities who would love to have millions of bucko$ rolling in for a week or 2 every year. I bet the economy would be helped with a system like this too.
Why not have the playoff games at bowl sites?
Too complicated for traveling fans to have to make random trips. It'd be better for the locations to be permanent or at least semi-permanent for a few years to allow fans to book hotels early and make plans in advance. Even with this, it's not out of the question. Major Bowl cities would probably jump at the chance to have an extra game played there each year.
Why not have 8 or 16 teams in the playoff? Why 12?
8 would leave more teams out of the mix, more controversy. 16 would mean more games, more controversy. 12 (with byes) gives the max amount of teams with the least amount of extra games.
Why not play games at higher seeded teams home stadium?
Economics. If an SEC team or big name school with a 70,000+ seat stadium gets the higher seed... great! But what happens if Jimmie Crack Corn State gets it and they end up playing in their 10,000 seat HS field? It just wouldn't make sense to colleges and conferences and their bank accounts.
When will they play the games?
About the same time as the bowls. Most bowls are played on random days according to when New Years's and Christmas fall each year so why not keep them around those days and put the college playoff system on Saturdays only. Games start 2 weeks after the conference championship weekend and national title game is played 2 weeks after the semis. The playoffs would start about the same time as the current bowl system and end about the same too. Don't they have computers that figure this stuff out?
Why a playoff at all? the current system is fine:
No it's not. Name another level of sports that doesn't decide a champion on the field using a playoff system? Baseball, all levels use a playoff system. Basketball, all levels. Soccer, (cough cough) all levels! Football, ALL OTHER LEVELS OF COMPETITION! From the professionals down to pop-warner and pee-wee leagues. They ALL settle it on the field why not current FBS teams? It just seems stupid and anyone that thinks it won't or can't happen needs to try and give it a shot. If it's a money issue (which we all know it is) then they are even crazier for not doing this system! There's more money in it for the teams, conferences, schools, cities, tv and sponsors than if they do nothing.
A playoff is the answer.
Adding a plus 1 game or a 4 team system isn't enough. There's gotta be a group of people out there that can make this happen and I hope they get on it soon, b/c the BCS contract has got to end eventually right?
I think that covered everything. I'm sure there is someone out there that can find something to pick through but I promise you this system would be better than the current one... maybe I should email this to the president elect :-)
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