Meanwhile.....

[BucsGuru]

Yesterday Division 1-AA completed it's 2nd round games of it's 2010 PLAYOFF Bracket.  With the #2 and #4 "ranked" teams getting defeated yesterday, the format proves yet again that rankings don't win championships; but that actual games being played does. 

So what would a playoff format look like for Division 1 this year?  Given that we have a Top 20 Rankings, and 10 of those teams will play in the BCS Bowls, 10 other teams will not, and 18 other teams have ZERO shot at becoming a National Champion.  Look at this scenario:

*Top 12 teams get a 1st Round Bye: Oregon, Auburn, TCU, Stanford, Wisconsin would play lowest ranked teams according to their rankings.

*Bottom 8 teams play in a 1st Round Playoff, with 4 winners moving on to complete the 2nd round of 16 teams competing.

*All Teams would have to play 11-12 games max throughout the season; there is a possibility of a low ranked team playing 17 games in a season with playoffs.

 *All other teams outside the playoffs would play in the boring December bowl games.

Does anyone believe LSU, Alabama, Boise State, Nevada, Michigan State, or others couldn't pull off a couple of upsets and win a National Championship this season?  We will never know will we?  There is no other reason why Division I cannot and more importantly, should not, have a playoff format like EVERY OTHER NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP PROCESS!

This is why I don't watch the games after the conference championships; what's the point?  This year worked out for 2 teams, but TCU gets left out wondering.  For what it's worth, I will be pulling for Oregon to win it all; simply cannot stand a program to be allowed to cheat like Auburn has and get away with it.  The NCAA has finally shown it's real colors in allowing Newton to play, even though he was caught with an agent...his own father.  Had that been Boise State, Nevada, etc, there would have been no questioning the actions of the NCAA when they forced those programs to declare players ineligible for the same infractions. 

[John Galt?]

I am all for a playoff, but a 20 team tourney is crazy. That's 5 weeks of playoffs. More than the NFL, now you are making CFB like hockey or BBall.

In your scenario, since both SCar and Auburn are in no matter what, the SEC-CG would be meaning less and Auburn would sit most of their starters, as would Neb-Ok, and Oregon vs Ore St. There is no incentive to win your conference.

I would prefer a 10 team playoff:

-the winners of Big E, ACC, SEC, Big 10+1+1, Big 12-1, PAC X all get byes IF the conference has a CG game
-Four at large teams are chosen based on a ranking formula similar to the BCS
-The four at large teams playoff seeded by rankings, the 2 winners and the Conference champs are then seeded for 2 PO rounds and a NC game.
-The at large round would be 2 weeks after the Conf CG games-about Dec 18, the next round the week after that, then R3 (Jan 1), and the NC game 2 weeks after that (Jan 15).

This would keep the importance of winning conferences. The off week of Dec. 5-11 is when most colleges have their finals and only 2 teams would be playing during the first week of the spring semester.
By giving a bye to conference champs ONLY if they have a CG game, this will encourage those conferences (that don't) to add teams (like TCU to the Big E) and have a CG game. I'd also use the BCS bowls with each getting a R2 or R3 or NC game on a rotating basis. This year the Fiesta would get R2 and NCG, Orange Sugar and Rose would get a R2 and Orange and Sugar get R3, next year Fiesta gets only a R2 etc.

Using this year as an example- 2 of Wisc, MSU, and OSU would have played a CCG game and gotten a bye. Ore. and AZ/Stanford played a CCG, and TCU/UConn would be a CCG game. Auburn, OK, FSU are in.
The Big 10 team left out of the CCG game is in, LSU, Ark, and Boise are in. All the undefeated teams are either in or can play in thru a CCG. All teams have 2 or fewer losses unless UConn upsets TCU.

By giving Conference winners a bye, that makes winning your conference paramount over rankings, so teams won't be pressured to drop big inter-conference games like FSU-OK for cupcakes.

[Legend]

NCAA needs to get rid of automatic bids. Seriously Oklahoma vs UConn? That is going to be a blowout.

[BucsGuru]

sounds good John!

[Fitz66]

NCAA needs to get rid of automatic bids. Seriously Oklahoma vs UConn? That is going to be a blowout.

I don't know - it could be close.  Not because of UCONN but because recently OU has been nothing short of horrible in BCS games