BCS Bowl-Playoff Hybrid - jmik58's Blog

jmik58's Blog

BCS Bowl-Playoff Hybrid

Posted on January 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM.

I have had this idea for a couple of years and have been trying to share it in as many places as possible. This was originally posted on my ESPN Fan Blog.

So the plans are all laid out there, but just what would my plan look like if implemented for post-season during the current 2008 season? It�s much easier to understand a complex concept when you get a real example so I�ll attempt to clarify why this is the best plan to appease Bowl proponents, traditionalists, college presidents, playoff junkies, the money hungry, and the filthy poor.

Following the conference championships the final BCS rankings are/were released. The top 8 teams as of right now are:

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 State 11-1

There would be a 2 week layover from the conference championship game until the first round of the playoff to accomodate for the awards ceremonies (ie. the Heisman on the following Saturday).

On 12/20 the Playoffs and Bowl games would begin.

Remember, the top 8 are included in the playoff, while all other teams are to be nabbed up by Bowl games as usual. The non-BCS bowl schedule would not change barring the �filler bowls� of non-BCS conferences which would be bumped back to December dates. January is a prestigious month for games.

So, now we move forward with the playoff knowing that the non-BCS bowl schedule runs as previously mentioned.

On December 20th we would have 4 games to start round 1 of the playoffs.

#1 Oklahoma vs. #8 Penn State
#4 Alabama vs. #5 USC

#3 Texas vs. #6 Utah
#2 Florida vs. #7 Texas Tech

The winner of each contest would obviously move on to the second round. For the sake of simplicity we will assume that all higher seeded teams won.

So now we have in Round 2 which will be played the following Saturday on December 27th:

#1 Oklahoma vs. #4 Alabama
#2 Florida vs. #3 Texas

The 4 losing teams from round one are placed into a pool that we will call �Tier 3�. There are 4 BCS Bowls and each year they wold rotate their sponsorship to the next highest Tier and cycle from Tier 1 to Tier 3.

There will always be 2 (two) BCS Bowls in �Tier 3� because there are 4 (four) teams meaning two games.

In 2008, I�ll randomly say that Tier 3 is the Rose Bowl and Sugar. The losing teams (PSU, Utah, USC, TTech) are the candidates. We�ll say that the Rose Bowl is 1st to choose in Tier 3 this year so they select USC vs. Penn State (trying to keep tradition alive). That would then leave the Sugar Bowl with Texas Tech and Utah.

Moving on�

Round 2 on December 27th, assuming all higher seeded teams win again results in:

#1 Oklahoma and #2 Florida winning.

Let�s assume that the national championship is considered �Tier 1� and this year it is the Fiesta Bowl�s turn to sponsor the national championship.

This then leaves �Tier 2� which would be the Orange Bowl this year, pitting Alabama versus Texas.

The schedule of BCS Bowls would be arranged in such a way that the national championship would be played on Monday, January 5th, 2009. The other three BCS Bowls could be spread out in any way in January prior to the 5th. One suggestion would be for them to play the Rose on Jan 1, Sugar on Jan 2, Orange on Jan 3, day off on the 4th for media, and National Championship on Jan 5th.

You may also notice that there is a week off between the 2nd round and the BCS Bowls. Time for suspense to build up in the media, time to rest and prepare for the teams, etc.

So it�s very plausable within the realm of the current system. Does it leave anyone out? Sure, Boise gets no invite. But �it� (the problem) is the BCS. We have to approach with baby steps for there to be any legitimate chance at change.

Comments

# 1 NAFBUC @ Jan 16

Very good ideas........maybe the NCAA can at least start with a plus 1 game then expand as you suggested.

# 2 Cardot @ Jan 16

Yeah, as I mentioned in the other thread, this is exactly how I would like to see it. The only thing I would do differently would be to move those 1st two rounds a few weeks earlier to early December. I would leave the later part of December to the D1AA semis/finals and the early crappy bowls.