My own personal playoff

Okay, since the topic of BCS versus playoff has emerged, here is the formula I came up with two years ago when we went into the bowl season with five undefeateds and a Louisville team that got jobbed against Miami.

All conference champions plus the best I-A independent(ND, Navy, Temple(ha!), and Army) get in. That's twelve teams. Then you have two at-large teams, determined by the BCS's highest-ranked teams who didn't win their conference championship. The BCS #1 and #2 teams get a first-round bye. Teams are seeded according to BCS ranking. So, last year you would have had, in order of seeds:

1) USC(Pac-10 champion, ranked #1)
2) Texas(Big XII champ, ranked #2)
3) Penn State(Big X champ, ranked #3)
4) Ohio State(at-large, ranked #4)
5) Oregon(at-large, ranked #5)
6) Notre Dame(Independents "champ," ranked #6)
7) Georgia(SEC champ, ranked #7)
8 ) West Virginia(Big East champ, ranked #11)
9) Texas Christian(Mountain West champ, ranked #14)
10) Florida State(ACC champ, ranked #22)
11) Tulsa(C-USA champ, NR)
12) Boise State(WAC champ, NR)
13) Akron(MAC champ, NR)
14) Arkansas State(Sun Belt champ, NR)

Then you use the existing January bowls as a playoff, leaving December for non-playoff bowl teams. Each January bowl gets two games, for maximum money-age. Expand to five BCS bowls(include the Cotton Bowl, for God's sake!) and the championship game revolves each year. So last year, you would have had in round one:

USC gets a bye
Texas gets a bye

Penn State vs. Arkansas State in the Capital One Bowl
Ohio State v. Akron in the Capital One Bowl
Oregon v. Boise State in the Outback Bowl
Notre Dame v. Tulsa in the Outback Bowl
Georgia v. Florida State in the Gator Bowl
West Virginia v. Texas Christian in the Gator Bowl

This would spread some money around to smaller schools, make all conference championships valid, the way that the NCAA basketball tournaments do (after all, look at George freaking Mason! And would we have ever heard of Larry Bird if the Indiana State Sycamores hadn't won the Gateway Conference and made it all the way to the championship game?), and still allow for study time. And look at all the bowls left over! You've still got the Independence and the GMAC and the Insight and the Emerald and oh I don't know THIRTY OTHER BOWLS!!!

You can even run the Bowl Championship Series(aka the TOURNAMENT) during the other bowls, so that you can keep the January BCS bowl schedule the same. You just give the Gator, Capital One, Outback, Cotton, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose Bowls prime-time slots.

Also, if you wanted to keep it to an eight-team tournament(although GOD KNOWS why, except to exclude the non-BCS conferences), you could have had a round-one playoff last year that would have looked like this:

USC vs. WVU
Texas vs. Georgia
Penn State vs. Notre Dame
Ohio State vs. Oregon

Still a pretty good tournament, no? So why can't NCF do that?

After conference championships and the final BCS standings come out, I'll show you all the tournament that could have been. In the meantime, STOMP TECH!!!

Oh, it CAN be done, but it WONT be. The reason? Too much big-time money involved, and nobody wants to lessen their slice of the pie.

The money for a playoff would be even bigger but people are scared. I read that scenario from Dapolla and it brought a tear to my eye.

Try telling it to the powers that be, and they ARE scared. They think there wont be enough revenue.

Won't be enough revenue? Try telling that to the "powers-that-be" of March Madness. Yeah, the conference tournaments, Nat'l Championship tournament and NIT make NO MONEY WHATSOEVER. The field of 64, by the way, is the basis for my tournament scenario.

The "powers-that-be" should also look at the thirty-squirty-some-odd bowls I've left untouched by my tourney. And the fact that the schools that make it deep into our little...oh, let's call it a playoff...get even more money than from a single bowl. IT WORKS PERFECTLY.

Now, I never said I was in favor of a tournament/playoff or a real national championship. I love the controversy, I love arguing about it, and I love the bowls. However...if you want a true national championship and most do...you must have a scenario similar to what I've proposed. End of story.

Glad I made some of you weepy. GO DAWGS!

I saw recently that the IRS was looking into all the money the NCAA was making. The money would be huge for a playoff. I bet the championship ticket would rival the superbowl. It would be a marketing gold mine. We just have to get past the inertia of inactivity.