The Mythical Playoff System: One Man's Great White Whale

I have been surfing the BleacherReport world for several months now and a recurring theme keeps rearing its ugly head. Would a playoff in college football really solve everything?

Many people have given their thoughts on the subject and have laid out different ways in which the playoff system would work. So what does someone like me do in this situation? Well, I pick up a stick and continue to beat the dead horse.

DISCLAIMER: I do not, under any circumstance, believe we should go to a playoff system in college football. I have welcomed the BCS system into my home with open arms and I do not plan on kicking it out any time soon. So with that…let us get to the meat of this article.

If someone came up to me and wielded a weapon and said, "I demand you create a playoff system in college football," this is what I envision would be my masterpiece.

1.) THE SPLIT: Divide D-I into two equal halves: D-IA and D-IB. Each division consists of 6 conferences with 10 teams to each conference. Both divisions have a separate National Title that they play for. Because lets face it, under the current system, teams like Ball State, Fresno State and Tulane would never play for a National Title.

Just look at 2006. Boise State was the only undefeated D-I school left at the end of the bowl season and they only climbed to fifth. In 2007, Hawaii was the only undefeated team left at the end of the regular season and wasn’t even considered for the NCG. Under this system, EVERY team has a realistic shot at a National Title.

D-IA contains all six BCS conferences (tweaked slightly), and D-IB contains all non-BCS conferences (again, tweaked slightly).

For the sake of time, I have only drawn out how D-IA would look. Please don’t blow an O-ring if your team wasn’t selected. There are loopholes that will be discussed later.

(Teams in bold are additions to the conference)

ACC: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest (Duke has been demoted to D-IB).

Big East: Boston College, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, WVU (Syracuse has been demoted to D-IB).

Big Ten: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin (Indiana has been demoted to D-IB).

Big 12: Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech (Iowa State and Baylor have been demoted to D-IB).

Pac-10: Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, BYU, California, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC, Utah(Washington and Washington State have been demoted to D-IB).

SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee (Mississippi State and Vanderbilt demoted to D-IB).

2.) THE SEASON: Each team plays a 12-game season. Everyone's season begins on the last Saturday in August and everyone receives a bye week after six games. Each team plays nine conference games plus three non-conference games that are randomly selected at the end of the previous season.

The non-conference games are played first, followed by conference play. Six games are played at home and six are played away. If a team gets two non-conference away games one year, the next year they will two home games.

**Example Season—Oregon**

@ Auburn

Nebraska

@ Boston College

Arizona State

@ Oregon State

Boise State

--Bye Week--

@ USC

Arizona

@ California

UCLA

@ Utah

BYU

If your team gets USC, Florida, and Texas as their non-conference match-ups, then tough luck. There will be no more complaining about teams not traveling out of their region or teams scheduling weak non-conference opponents. Everything is random.

3.) THE RANKINGS

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