The NCAA Bowl Championship Series Playoff System: How It Should Work

The BCS has been in place since the 1998 NCAA college football season.  Many would agree that this system benefits power conference schools due to strength of schedule and other variations.  A playoff system would be fair to all schools and make the college football season that much more exciting. 

BCS Playoff Format

Who gets in: 16 teams will be accepted into the tournament.  They are:

                   ACC Champion

                   Big East Champion

                   Big 10 Champion

                   Big 12 Champion

                   Pac-12 Champion

                   SEC Champion

                   MWC/WAC Champion: Both conference champions will face for 1 spot

                   C-USA/MAC Champion: Both conference champions will face for 1 spot

                   The top eight BCS teams left that didn't win their respective conference

  How it will work: Seeding will be based on the BCS rankings.  Unfortunately, power conference schools that didn't win their conference could still be ahead of a champion, such as Boise St.

What the 2010 Bracket Would've Looked Like

16s Quarters Semis Final                     1 Auburn (SEC champs)                 16 UCF  (C-USA champs)                     9 Michigan St.                 8 Arkansas                     5 Wisconsin (Big 10 Champs)                 12 Missouri                     13 Virginia Tech (ACC champs)                 4 Stanford                     3 TCU (MWC/WAC Champs)                 14 Oklahoma St.                     11 LSU                 6 Ohio St.                     7 Oklahoma (Big 12 Champs)                 10 Boise St.                     15 Uconn (Big East Champs)                 2 Oregon (Pac-10 Champs)                                             Final BCS Rankings 2010 Auburn Oregon TCU Stanford Wisconsin Ohio St. Oklahoma Arkansas Michigan St. Boise St. LSU Missouri Virginia Tech Oklahoma St. Nevada Alabama Texas A&M Nebraska Utah South Carolina Mississippi St. West Virginia Florida St. Hawaii UCF                                       CHAMPION

How the Bowls Will Still Be in Play

The 4 major BCS bowls could take place in the playoffs.  During the quarterfinals, two of the bowls could take place, and for the two semi-final games, the other two bowl games could be substituted in.  Since the semi-final games would be more important, the bowls could switch off every year.  The rest of the playoff games would be played at the higher seed's home stadium.  The championship game could still be played at a neutral site.

There is a lot of work to be done, but this system could work with some cooperation with the BCS.