Wouldn't This Be Fun?

NCAA Division I Playoffs

Everyone wants it. The football fandom, media, most coaches and probably all the players want a playoff in Division I football. Of course, as we all know, the stumbling block is the long standing tradition of the college bowls. They are huge money makers and the NCAA and school administrators are reluctant to give up the goose that lays the golden egg. Personally, I don’t need a playoff to make my college football season complete, but I would favor one if they did it the right way. What is the right way? Well, since I’m writing this article, my way is the right way for now. You, of course, are welcome to write up your own design for a playoff in D-I football. In fact, I encourage you to do so and post it on our forum. I would love to see your thoughts.

Format
My son-in-law is adamant that any playoff must include all conference champions and I agree wholeheartedly. If we don’t include every conference champ then WE are deciding who is good enough to play for the championship which is contrary to the concept of settling it on the field. A team earns a conference championship on the field; let all champs have a shot to play for the national title on the field. We can’t have our subjective opinions influence who gets to play. We think we know who the tougher conferences are but who really knows for sure? This would assure that all conferences are treated fairly. I propose a sixteen team playoff. There are eleven Division I conferences and each conference champion would earn an automatic berth. That would leave five at large berths, plenty to get the teams in that didn’t win their conference but are national championship caliber. Independents would fit into this category also. How would these five at large berths be decided? In my format they would go to the next five highest rated teams according to their CBSSports.com ranking. We have to use something to determine the at large berths and I believe it’s the best indicator. This would round out a very strong sixteen team field and provide a format to allow the national championship to be determined on the field. One side note; I would like to see the regular season be rolled back to an eleven game schedule. The teams in the playoffs will be playing their twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth games of the season depending on how deep they advance in the tournament. I am not a big fan of too many football games in a season. These guys are students first and the demands of a long, physical football season are not to be overlooked. I really think that once a team gets into that range of twelve games or more they are just too beat up from the season. I wouldn’t want to see teams playing sixteen or more games at the collegiate level.

Seeding
Seeding the playoffs could be done a number of ways but I’m going with the CBSSports.com 120 poll rankings. It takes into account records, rankings, and strength of schedule. Once we have seeded the teams one through sixteen, we match them up the traditional way. The #1 seed vs. the #16 seed, # 2 vs. #15, # 3 vs. #14, # 4 vs. #13 and so on. The title game would be played at a neutral site but all other games would be played on one of the team’s home field. The highest seeded team would be the host team except when the lower seed has hosted fewer games. For example, if teams A and B advance to the second round and both had a home game, the higher seed would host. If, however, team A hosted in the first round and team B was on the road, then B would host, even if seeded lower. This would assure more teams of having the opportunity to host.

2009 Playoffs
Based on the format I have laid out, this would be our playoff picture in 2009. The conference champions and automatic qualifiers are: Cincinnati, Ohio State, Alabama, East Carolina, Texas, Texas Christian, Boise State, Oregon, Central Michigan, Troy, and Georgia Tech. The at large berths would go to Florida, Penn State, Iowa, Brigham Young, and Virginia Tech. Only Troy is not in the top 25. But, they are conference champions and it is not for me to say who is and who is not good enough to play in the playoffs. We would determine it on the field.
Now we’re going to have some fun with this format. The chiefpigskin computer will analyze team data and play the games for us and give us the results. Every week a round will be played and all results will be on the chiefpigskin website. Just go to the forum for results. It will all be there and we will find out who the chiefpigskin 2009 national champion will be. See you on the forum!