Playoffs? Yes, Jim Mora, We're Talking About Playoffs

I’ve always loved watching the college football bowl games. They always seemed to symbolize the best of sport, and I never had much of a problem with the final rankings until I got older and understood how the ranking were determined. What a farce.

On the other hand, the mens' and womens' NCAA basketball tournaments make perfect sense. Win or go home. Last team standing is the champ, and nobody ever argues with the champion. Even if a team enters the tourney as a No. 8 seed, nobody says they are an undeserving champion. And you know why? Because the players decide.

Well, I’ve got a way for the players to decide the national championship in college football. And you know what? Nobody gets left out. In fact, the NCAA can make more money and spread it to more schools. The bowl organizers will be salivating over this plan, because EVERY single bowl game gets the potential future national champ playing in its game.

The schools will like it, because no longer will a squad like the undefeated 2004 SEC Champion Auburn have to watch a farce of a national championship game on TV while saying to themselves, “We should have been there.” Instead, they play their way there. And the fans…oh, the fans will love this. Witness the passion, the frenzy of every do-or-die moment in the NCAA basketball tournament, and move that to a football stadium that holds three to four times as many people.

You interested yet? Well, bear with me…because my tournament involves 32 teams. 32 teams?!? How can that be, you ask? That will take forever. Not really. 32 teams whittle down to 2 for a national championship game in five weeks, so it won’t take any longer than the bowls do now, as long as the playoffs get started the weekend after the conference championship games.

Witness: Most conference championships this year were on Saturday, December 6. The playoffs would run on 12/13, 12/20, 12/27, 1/3, and 1/10. (The BCS National Championship game this year is set for 1/8, a Thursday.)

Round One consists of 16 games on the first weekend following the conference championship games:
Game One: 1 vs. 32; Game Two: 2 vs. 31; Game Three: 3 vs. 30; Game Four: 4 vs. 29; Game Five: 5 vs. 28; Game Six: 6 vs. 27; Game Seven: 7 vs. 26; Game Eight: 8 vs. 25; Game Nine: 9 vs. 24; Game 10: 10 vs. 23; Game 11: 11 vs. 22; Game 12: 12 vs. 21; Game 13: 13 vs. 20; Game 14: 14 vs. 19; Game 15: 15 vs. 18; Game 16: 16 vs. 17

Round Two consists of eight games on the second weekend following the conference championship games:
Game 17: Winner of G1 vs. Winner of G16
Game 18: Winner of G2 vs. Winner of G15
Game 19: Winner of G3 vs. Winner of G14
Game 20: Winner of G4 vs. Winner of G13
Game 21: Winner of G5 vs. Winner of G12
Game 22: Winner of G6 vs. Winner of G11
Game 23: Winner of G7 vs. Winner of G10
Game 24: Winner of G8 vs. Winner of G9

Round Three consists of four games on the third weekend following the conference championship games:
Game 25: Winner of G17 vs. Winner of G24
Game 26: Winner of G18 vs. Winner of G23
Game 27: Winner of G19 vs. Winner of G22
Game 28: Winner of G20 vs. Winner of G21

Round Four is the national semifinals. Two games on the fourth weekend following conference championships:
Game 29: Winner of G25 vs. Winner of G28
Game 30: Winner of G26 vs. Winner of G27

Five weeks after the conference championships, an undisputed national champion emerges in Game 31: Winner of G29 vs. Winner of G30

This year, there are 34 bowls, so 31 of those could be used as tournament games. Every bowl would have the opportunity to showcase the future national champion. Imagine the draw for next year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl if they could advertise that last year’s national champ played in their bowl in Round One of the Tournament.

It may seem like a lot of hullabaloo to name a national champ, but it’s a lot more organized than the BCS. You may wind up with the 33rd-ranked team in the country arguing that they should have been in the tournament, but that’s simply an emotional plea. Going by this year’s AP Poll, Nebraska would have been that No. 33 seed, with No. 32 Rice getting in just ahead of them, and most realistic college football fans would agree that neither would get past Florida in Game One.

Win or go home…I’m just sayin’.