A 16-Team College Football Playoff Sytem That Makes Sense

For the longest time, college football fans have begged for a viable college football playoff system; one that can determine a true, undisputed national champion each and every year.

But, those who hold the true power to change the system have been very insistent in their resistance to change. They ask what such a system would look like, and argue that it would make the regular season less meaningful. They also argue that it would increase injuries by lengthening the college football season.

So what should a college football playoff system look like? Many have argued for a simple plus-one, which would basically create a four-team playoff. This would've solved many controversies over the years; including USC being left out in favor of LSU, and Oklahoma and Auburn not getting a chance to play for a national championship after going undefeated in the SEC.

But Utah, who has gone undefeated twice in the last five years, would have been left out BOTH times. Boise State would've been left out, and many other deserving teams would've been neglected over the years.

The system I propose would be much more inclusive and much more exciting, and it would satisfy college football fans everywhere.

Here is what I would propose: a 16-team playoff. There would be eight automatic bids and eight at-large berths. Each current BCS conference would get an automatic bid.

The Mountain West would also get an automatic bid. And the highest ranked team outside of those conferences would get an automatic bid. Then the remaining eight spots would be at-large berths.

After the 16 playoff teams are selected, the top eight teams would be seeded No. 1-8 based on a formula similar to the BCS (The Coaches poll and USA Today poll would be replaced by the AP poll and the Legends Poll).

After these teams are seeded, there would be a selection of sorts. The No. 1 seed would pick whom they want to play of the remaining eight unseeded teams, then the No. 2, then the No. 3, and so on, until the last two teams were paired up.

There would be a few rules, though. You would not be allowed to select teams from your own conference in the first-round.

So what would this look like? Ok, based on pure speculation, this is what it might look like if the system was in place this season.

Automatic Bids

SEC - Florida

Big 12 - Texas

Pac 10 - USC

Big 10 - Penn State

Mountain West - BYU

Big East - Cincinnati

ACC - Virginia Tech

Non-AQ - Boise State

At-Large Bids

Alabama

Mississippi

California

LSU

Ohio State

Oklahoma

TCU

Houston

Now that we have our 16 teams, let's set up our top eight seeds:

1. Florida

2. USC

3. Texas

4. BYU

5. Alabama

6. Mississippi

7. California

8. Oklahoma

(1) Urban Meyer (Florida) looks at the pool of candidates and selects... (16) Houston

(2) Pete Carrol (USC) selects... (15) Cincinnati

(3) Mack Brown (Texas) selects... (14) TCU

(4) Bronco Mendenhall (BYU) selects... (13) Boise State

(5) Nick Saban (Alabama) selects... (12) Penn State

(6) Houston Nutt (Mississippi) selects... (11) Virginia Tech

(7) Jeff Tefford (California) selects... (10) LSU

(8) Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) ends up with (9) Ohio State

What a sleight of matchups!

Then, after each round, the top seeded teams (in order) again get to select whom they want to play, until we finally get to the final two teams!

Each game would be played at the higher seeded (1-8) teams home stadium, until we got to the final four. Those final three games would be played at neutral sites.

If the seeds played out without any upsets, you would see second-round matchups of Florida-Oklahoma, USC-California, Texas-Mississippi, and BYU-Alabama.

You’d get a Final Four of Florida-BYU and Texas-USC, then Florida-USC in the national championship game. Who would not be glued to their seat, watching every single one of those games?

The story lines would be endless. Especially with the new “pick whom you play” rule. It would give the lower seeded teams’ coaches and players plenty of bulletin board material, while allowing the top teams to pick and choose whom they wanted to face.

I considered a playoff system with no automatic bids, and it did make a lot of sense. There are several reasons I decided to have the eight automatic bids.

First of all, it makes the conference races much more meaningful.

Second of all, it ensures that there is representation from each conference. (That way, if the SEC or another conference was so good that they all cannibalized each other, at least one would get in and be able to show the strength of their conference).

Third of all, it likely allows the top teams a chance to play a team not considered to be one of the 16 best.

So, if for example, the Mountain West had a down year, and BYU got an automatic bid and was not even ranked or barely ranked, then the top team (let’s say Florida) could choose them and get an easy victory.

This year, the most likely example would be the Big East or ACC champion. This would give teams a high incentive to be in the top slots.

I think my second most preferable option would be just an eight-team playoff, with no automatic bids. Just the best eight teams in the country.

The only problem I have with that scenario is that undefeated teams from weaker conferences—i.e. Boise State—would have a good chance of being left out. It also would not be nearly as fun or entertaining as my system.

What does everybody else think? Playoffs? No playoffs? Automatic bids? No Automatic bids? Please post your questions/concerns/comments/criticisms below.