Learn from the Pros, Part 1: A Playoff System for College Football

In every academic setting, it is accepted practice to reference the masters in that specific field.

It is only natural for the aspiring writer to study Shakespeare and Dickens, the politician Washington and Lincoln, and the composer Bach and Beethoven. 

In a short series of articles, I plan to explore options for NCAA in a variety of sports where they can learn from the professionals, focusing more on the good than the bad.

Part 1: Football

America loves football.  We invented football, we practiced football, and as far as the rest of the world knows, have perfected football. 

Our two most viewed/analyzed/followed/beloved mediums for football are, of course, the NCAA and the NFL. In some ways, that may as well be the difference between a collegiate wind ensemble and the New York Philharmonic.

Learn from the masters, NCAA.

For the love of all that is holy, give me playoffs.

The best part of every other season is the postseason. It's a chance to put what has been earned through the season on the line and prove what you've got. With the lack of a gut-check test at the NFL combine, pro scouts certainly wouldn't mind.

Another thought: Good luck convincing anyone in this country that March Madness is a bad idea.

Here's my proposal for collegiate playoffs, while keeping the bowl tradition:

1. Each conference has a championship game. If there is a tie, it's up to each individual conference to determine who gets there. This puts the ACC game in the Orange Bowl, the Big 12 in the Fiesta Bowl, the Pac 10 in the Rose Bowl, and the SEC in the Sugar Bowl.

2. Other conferences choose their own methods by which they hold a championship game.

3. Winners of conference championships move on to single-elimination playoffs.

It would be set up geographically, like the NCAA Basketball Tournament of old. There are 11 major conference affiliations, as well as independents. While I would prefer a nice round 16, smaller conferences like the D1AA Patriot League would probably rather stay where they are. It would be worth a shot, though.

So there are two brackets, East and West. The East has the Big East, ACC, Mid American Conference, SEC, Big 10, and the Independents. I put the independents there because of Notre Dame, the most notable of non-affiliated teams. They are a Big East basketball school deep in the heart of Big 10 country.

The West bracket has Conference USA, the Pac 10, the Sun Belt, the Big 12, the Mountain West, and the WAC.

Two teams on each side get a first-round bye, and all other first-round games are set up by record or coin flip, all played at neutral sites. When the two brackets finally collide, there is a rotating neutral site, just like for basketball.

The best part about this system?

It takes the media's opinion clear out of the picture.  As much as I love all of the talking heads on ESPN, it is not unusual for the general pundit opinion to make a significant difference as per rankings. Give the power to the players, not the writers. Or, worse yet, the BCS computers.

This very well could be the greatest thing to happen to American sport in a long, long time. The odds that it happens any time soon are low, but I'm hopeful.

The NFL may be on to something with that whole "Super Bowl" thing.