January Madness: Finding a College Football Playoff That Works

Surveys of college football fans have found upwards of 90 percent would like to see a playoff in college football.  The only problem comes when the type of playoff is specified—then the support doesn’t stay as consolidated.

Without addressing the problem of convincing the university presidents to commit to a playoff, or getting the bowls to release their iron-clad grip on college football’s postseason, what is the kind of playoff that will most closely capture the magic of March Madness, without harming the meaning of the regular season?

The NCAA basketball tournament is great because of three reasons:

The championship is proven on the court.

Sure, media pundits and athletic directors seed the tournament—but once you’re in, it’s win or go home.

Open access / Clear path.

Every school in the country knows how to punch their ticket: Win their conference.  For some it’s the regular season, for most it’s the conference tournament—but every coach can stand in front of their team in November and say, "If we win these games, we’re in."

Cinderella gets a shot at the big boys.

One of the most important parts of March Madness, what makes every March special, are the "Cinderella" teams—the Davidsons, the George Masons, the Gonzagas.  They might not win it all, but they don’t need to.  They just need to beat one team to throw a wrench in the whole thing. No one can argue that the NCAA would be what is today without them.

So what kind of football tournament would capture these elements?  What kind of rules would provide enough access to teams without rendering September and October a meaningless preseason?

The NCAA should create a tournament that invites the eight highest-ranked conference champions to a single-elimination tournament.  No conference would have a guaranteed invitation, and there would be no set list of the eight conferences to be invited every year.

If the ACC or Big East had a down year, and the champions of CUSA, the MWC, and the WAC were all ranked ahead of the ACC champion or Big East champ, the BCS conference champs would stay home.

If a team from the MAC or Sun Belt caught fire and went 12-0 or 11-1, they would get a shot, much as 12-0 Utah in 2004 or 12-0 Boise State in 2006 did.

A tournament of eight Conference Champions would capture the magic of March Madness because:

It gets proven on the field.

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