(Photo by Domenic Centofanti/Getty Images)

Much as I anticipate the start of college football season, I detest the "beauty pageant" format that is the standard by which teams are judged worthy of being ranked even before the season begins.

Even the BCS boffins realized that this was corrupting their precious algorithms which decided the two teams that get to compete for the tiara... um, crystal ball... uh, "national championship", and do not even bother to compute rankings for the season until a sufficient number of games have been played (i.e., enough raw data for the CURRENT season is available).

That said, the polls are still heavily factored into the algorithms, and so the bias evident in preseason (summer) polling leaves a bitter taste that can often still affect the banquet of "Bowl Selection Sunday" in December.

Therefore, I dedicate this season preview to the postseason. Not the sorry excuse for one that currently exists, but a legitimate knockout tournament of eight teams. Whether this "madness" be in December or January is of little consequence (though traditionalists might prefer it to start on New Year's Day... or Jan. 2nd if the 1st falls on a Sunday).

Those who haven't read my articles before can refer to the templates I gave for an FBS playoff (both eight-team and sixteen-team formats) in several articles from last season. Here's the original one:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/51983-broken-championship-system-heres-how-to-fix-it

Here is last season's information to update that article:

2008: Actual pairings (what actually happened)

• BCS Championship: (1) Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. (2) Florida (SEC)
  
• Rose Bowl: (5) USC (Pac-10) vs. (8) Penn State (Big "11")
• Fiesta Bowl: (3) Texas (at-large) vs. (10) Ohio State (at-large)
• Sugar Bowl: (4) Alabama (at-large) vs. (6) Utah (at-large)
• Orange Bowl*: (12) Cincinnati (Big East) vs. (19) Virginia Tech (ACC)

* = At same site as BCS Championship

2008: Quarterfinals (what could have been)

• Rose Bowl: (5) USC (Pac-10) vs. (8) Penn State (Big "11")
  
• Fiesta Bowl: (1) Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. (12) Cincinnati (Big East)
• Sugar Bowl: (2) Florida (SEC) vs. (6) Utah* (at-large)
• Orange Bowl: (19) Virginia Tech (ACC) vs. (3) Texas (at-large)

"Losers": (4) Alabama*, (7) Texas Tech, (9) Boise State, (10) Ohio State (teams in bold do not remain in one of the four BCS bowls in the quarterfinal scenario)

* = As loser of a conference championship game, Alabama would not have been eligible for a playoff; instead, they would have received an invite to a non-playoff BCS "Best of the Rest" bowl game along with (7) Texas Tech.

Ideally, this game would always be at the site of the Cotton Bowl (Cowboys Stadium in Arlington starting with January 2010).

Those who are familiar with my writing will recognize this format. Although I would prefer a more complete bracket of sixteen teams, I realize that given time and financial constraints an eight-team format is more workable.

However, my position on the necessity for a playoff at FBS level hasn't changed. It's either eight or sixteen: choose one. If the BCS conferences and their puppet... uh, commissioner...were *forced* to choose, I strongly suspect they would choose eight.

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