CamaroDMD
Insert Cool Title
So, back when I was in college a decade ago...we were suffering through the BCS era. At that time, I sat down and hatched out what I thought would be the ideal college football playoff. I looked at what the NCAA basketball tournament does and why it is so popular. I also looked at the FCS playoff (which was at the time a 16 team playoff) and felt that FBS could do something similar. The first bracket I created was in 2007.
From those ideas, I developed a 24 team bracket which I felt would be ideal for college football. Interestingly, FCS went to a very similar 24 team format in 2013. As a result, the number of games played shouldn't be a big issue.
Today, we have a college football playoff...but it's somewhat stagnant and predictable. What we have is a step in the right direction, but we aren't there yet.
Here's what I propose:
24 team single elimination bracket. Like the NCAA basketball tournament, every conference champion gets an automatic bid. Conferences need to mean something! As of right now, there are 10 conferences in FBS. So, that would be 10 automatically qualifying teams and 14 at large bids.
A national poll is conducted to rank the teams. This poll is what is used to seed the playoff and select the at large teams. The 14 at large schools are selected from the highest rank non-conference champions. Independent schools can only make the playoff as an at large.
Seeding (1-24) is based on the poll alone, conference championship does not affect seeding. For the sake of this years bracket, I used the 2018 CFP Week 15 Poll.
The top 8 seeds get a first round bye.
The first two rounds are played at the home stadium of the better seed. As a result, the top 16 teams get one home playoff game.
Beginning with the quarterfinals, the games are played at neutral sites. For the sake of this year's bracket, I used the New Years 6 and CFP Title as neutral site games.
As far as corporate sponsorships and other bowl games. There are plenty of home playoff games to sponsor and there are there is no reason the lesser bowls can't still exist for teams that don't make the playoff. I believe there is a fortune to be made here.
Plus, endless entertainment filling out brackets and arguing with friends. It would be March Madness but better.
So, here's the bracket for 2018:
From those ideas, I developed a 24 team bracket which I felt would be ideal for college football. Interestingly, FCS went to a very similar 24 team format in 2013. As a result, the number of games played shouldn't be a big issue.
Today, we have a college football playoff...but it's somewhat stagnant and predictable. What we have is a step in the right direction, but we aren't there yet.
Here's what I propose:
24 team single elimination bracket. Like the NCAA basketball tournament, every conference champion gets an automatic bid. Conferences need to mean something! As of right now, there are 10 conferences in FBS. So, that would be 10 automatically qualifying teams and 14 at large bids.
A national poll is conducted to rank the teams. This poll is what is used to seed the playoff and select the at large teams. The 14 at large schools are selected from the highest rank non-conference champions. Independent schools can only make the playoff as an at large.
Seeding (1-24) is based on the poll alone, conference championship does not affect seeding. For the sake of this years bracket, I used the 2018 CFP Week 15 Poll.
The top 8 seeds get a first round bye.
The first two rounds are played at the home stadium of the better seed. As a result, the top 16 teams get one home playoff game.
Beginning with the quarterfinals, the games are played at neutral sites. For the sake of this year's bracket, I used the New Years 6 and CFP Title as neutral site games.
As far as corporate sponsorships and other bowl games. There are plenty of home playoff games to sponsor and there are there is no reason the lesser bowls can't still exist for teams that don't make the playoff. I believe there is a fortune to be made here.
Plus, endless entertainment filling out brackets and arguing with friends. It would be March Madness but better.
So, here's the bracket for 2018:
