College Football Preview, 2010-11 Playoffs: There Can Be Only Eight
Back in the ancient days of Bleacher Report (two summers ago), I speculated on how a college football playoff could replace the well-intentioned promise but road-to-hell reality of the BCS postseason: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/51983-broken-championship-system-heres-how-to-fix-it A year ago, for the sake of continuity, I updated the information to include the 2008 postseason (games in January 2009): 2008: Pairings (what actually happened) * = At same site as BCS Championship 2008: Quarterfinals (what could have been) "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 be ineligible for a playoff; instead, they would receive an invite to a non-playoff BCS "Best of the Rest" bowl game along with (7) Texas Tech. What does that have to do with this year, you ask? Nothing, I just wanted to show you I've been at this for a while. For example, here is even more information to update the original article, including the 2009 postseason (games in January 2010): 2009 Pairings (what actually happened): 
* = At same site as BCS Championship
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
2009 Quarterfinals (what could have been):
- Rose Bowl: (7) Oregon (Pac-10) vs. (8) Ohio State (Big 10+1)
- Fiesta Bowl: (2) Texas (Big 12) vs. (6) Boise State (at-large)
- Sugar Bowl: (1) Alabama (SEC) vs. (9) Georgia Tech (ACC)
- Orange Bowl: (3) Cincinnati (Big East) vs. (4) TCU (at-large)
"Losers": (5) Florida*, (10) Iowa (teams in bold do not remain in one of the four BCS bowls in the quarterfinal scenario).
* = As loser of a conference championship game, Florida would be ineligible for a playoff; instead, they would receive an invite to a non-playoff BCS "Best of the Rest" bowl game along with Iowa... to be held at a suitably tropical location, perhaps Hawaii (as a stand-alone bowl game, no worries about making multiple trips).
So, I'm sure you're all waiting to hear my prediction as to which teams will make the eight-team playoff at the end of the 2010 season.
*crickets chirping*
No? Well, here it is anyway, my prediction for THIS post-season's hypothetical playoff:
Quarterfinals (January 1, 2011):
- Rose Bowl: Stanford (Pac-10) vs. Ohio State (Big 10+1)
- Fiesta Bowl: Nebraska (Big 12) vs. Boise State (at-large)
- Sugar Bowl: Alabama (SEC) vs. Notre Dame (at-large)
- Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech (ACC) vs. Pittsburgh (Big East)
"Losers" (or as BT says, "on the porch"): Florida*, Texas*, TCU, Oregon, Penn State, Miami, Auburn.
* = As loser of a conference championship game, ineligible for a playoff berth
Semifinals (January 8) and Final (January 15):
- Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, TX (pictured at top of article)
Why Cowboys Stadium? Well, last season I used Ford Field in Detroit, and the year before that 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" site (with a "Final Four" atmosphere) which changes each season... but which does NOT exist at the moment in the top tier of college football.
However, I will *NOT* be projecting the results of these hypothetical match-ups, any more than I wish to list a preseason Top 25. If you wish, consider the 15 teams listed here (8 playoffs and 7 "losers") as a "Top 15", but not ranked in any particular order. That would prejudice the outcome of the regular season by means of preseason bias, and we wouldn't want that, would we? ;-)
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
