College Football Preview 2009: Playoff Edition

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.

So, here is the preview for the 2009-2010 college football postseason (Playoff Edition):

Quarterfinals (January 1, 2010):

• Rose Bowl: California (Pac-10) vs. Ohio State (Big "11")
• Fiesta Bowl: Texas (Big 12) vs. TCU (at-large)
• Sugar Bowl: Florida (SEC) vs. South Florida (Big East)
• Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech (ACC) vs. Oklahoma (at-large)

"Losers" (or as BT says, "on the porch"): Alabama, USC, Boise State, Penn State, Mississippi, Nebraska, Georgia, Virginia Tech.

Semifinals (January 8) and Final (January 15):

• Ford Field, Detroit (pictured at top of article)

Why Ford Field in Detroit? Well, last season I used the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis as the hypothetical neutral site for the "College Football Final Four". As previously mentioned in last year's articles, this is a way to keep the traditional bowls intact (as quarterfinals) while adding the appeal of a true "Final Four"... which does NOT exist at the moment in the top tier of college football.

Note also that (in this format) only the richest teams have a realistic chance to make it to the 8-team quarterfinals (much less a "Final Four") year after year, and can afford the travel costs, while "Cinderellas" such as TCU will see it as a once-in-a-decade chance to be on the big stage and be willing to splurge. Of course, if the NCAA were on board with a playoff format, travel funds could be allocated to each of the eight teams as well.

For those who are interested, I am projecting that Texas beats Nebraska in the Big 12 "championship game" and that Florida beats Mississippi in the SEC "championship game". I'm projecting Alabama, though (not Ole Miss... the Tide will get the edge in the final pre-bowl rankings due to the human polls), to meet the USC Trojans in the Cotton Bowl in the "Best of the Rest" (non-playoff) game.

However, I will *NOT* be projecting the results of these hypothetical matchups, any more than I wish to list a preseason Top 25. If you wish, consider the sixteen teams I've listed above as a "Top 16", but not ranked from 1-16...

I'll just put them in alphabetical order, as follows (Alabama, Boise State, California, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, South Florida, Texas, TCU, USC, Virginia Tech).

What I will do is point out the pleasure to be derived in anticipating a potential quarterfinal round such as I've outlined above, and compare it to the anti-climactic postseason that actually occurs.

The anticipation everyone is feeling for the upcoming season is for games such as Alabama vs. Virginia Tech and USC vs. Ohio State.

If these were postseason playoff matchups, the winners of such games should be entitled to advance and prove themselves worthy of a title game ON THE FIELD, and not through a ballot or "style points" in which they edge out three other contestants or candidates based on the lobbying and/or votes by coaches and writers.

So, here's to a messy season full of BCS-busting upsets!