Ramblings from the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist

Introduction:

I have always been one of the most ardent supporters of a playoff system.  I think my passion for the cause began in 1994 when an undefeated Penn State got screwed out of even a split national championship because pollsters for some reason concluded Nebraska was better.  The NFL success of the players from those two teams would indicate otherwise (ex: Kerry Collins was QB for PSU, Tommy Frazier).  Either way, there was no reason that those 2 teams shouldn’t have each gotten a share of the national title.  That was my first experience dealing with the injustice of the college football postseason.  In 1998, I finally decided to draft my first-ever mock playoff with a 16-team format that I devised.  I have made a few modifications and improvements over the years, but for the most part, this is the same system I’ve been preaching about for over a decade now.  I’ve named it the Bowl Tournament Series (BTS) because it takes the bowl games and transforms them into a tournament, while still managing to utilize the BCS for a productive use.  Let me know your thoughts.

Basic Format:

• 16 teams (11 conference championships and 5 at-larges chosen by the top 5 in the BTS Standings, which is the functional equivalent to the BCS.  My rationale is for this is that it’s something computer/poll-related to keep the pro-BCS folks happy)
• 4 regions (teams seeded 1-4 based on committee)
• Bowl sites will become tourney sites.  See further explanation below. 
• Selection Sunday will be held the day after conference championship day and the first game will be played two weeks after that.  This gives teams time to rest/heal up after the regular season and for the players to complete their exams, which is always a gripe from the anti-playoff crowd.
• A couple of special stipulations are that two teams from the same conference can’t play in the same region, and each conference is limited to three total playoff teams. 

Scheduling:

• I’ve even drafted a mock game schedule that takes into consideration both the interests of the viewers and  television providers.  I’m going to assume that ABC/ESPN buy the rights to playoff coverage, since they have already purchased future BCS coverage rights.  The ABC/ESPN splits will be conducted just like they are now with ABC providing everybody’s regional games, and ESPN showing the games outside the area.
• Week 1 (First Round):  Game 1: Thursday 8:00- second best game of the week (ESPN);  Game 2: Friday 8:00- worst game of the week (ESPN); Games 3 and 4: Saturday 12:00- two non-west region games (ABC/ESPN split); Games 5 and 6: Saturday 3:30- two games of any type (ABC/ESPN split); Games 7 and 8: Saturday 8:00- game of the week is on ABC; ESPN has other game.
• Week 2 (Elite 8): Game 1: Saturday 12:00- Third biggest game of the week but can’t be west regional final (ABC); Game 2: Saturday 3:30- Worst game of the week (ESPN); Game 3: Saturday 3:30- Second biggest game of the week (ABC); Game 4: Saturday 8:00- Featured game of the week (ABC).
• Week 3 (Final Four): Game 1: Saturday 3:30- Second biggest game of the week (ABC); Game 2: Saturday 8:00- Featured game of the week (ABC).
• Week 4 (Championship Game): Saturday 8:00 (ABC)

Bowl Sites:

• Lower-level bowl sites will become first round sites on a rotational basis.  2009: East Regional- Washington D.C. Charlotte; South Regional- Memphis, Tampa; Midwest Regional- San Antonio, Houston; West Regional: Albuquerque, Las Vegas.  2010: East- Birmingham, New York (site of new Yankee bowl); South- Mobile, Orlando; Midwest- El Paso, Shreveport; West- San Francisco, Boise.  2011: East- Toronto, Nashville; South- Jacksonville, Nashville; Midwest- Fort Worth, Detroit; West: San Jose, Honolulu.
•  The current semi-major bowl sites of Dallas (Cotton), San Diego(Holiday), Phoenix (Fiesta), and Atlanta (Chick-Fil-A) will be annual elite 8 sites.  Midwest Regional- Phonenix, East Regional- Dallas, West Regional- San Diego, South Regional- Atlanta.
• The Final Four/Championship games will be held at Pasadena, New Orleans, and Miami.  The championship game will rotate between the 3 sites, and the two final four games will be played in the non-championship cities. 
• Other notes: (1) New bowl sites coming into existence must replace old ones.  (2) The first-round sites that are off of the playoff rotation will still hold bowl games.  More explanation on that to follow.  (3) I do realize that the Fiesta Bowl and the city of Phoenix are going to feel they got screwed here, as they are being demoted from a current BCS site to an elite 8 playoff site.  They’ll just have to get over it because the Fiesta has without a doubt less tradition and prestige associated with it than the rest of the BCS bowls.

Remaining Bowl Games:

• This is time where things get tricky, as I try to accomodate the rest of the bowl eligible teams who do not make the 16-team playoff.
• There will be 16 bowl games held at all the first-round sites who are off of the playoff rotation.
• The names of the bowls can either change depending on which bowl is being played each year, or a bowl game can be played every year at different sites.  It doesn’t really make a difference to me.
• The tie-ins for the bowls will try to replicate those for the current bowl games with the obvious omission of all tie-ins of conference champoins.  Also, the number of bowl teams from each conference may fluctuate depending on how many teams it sends to the playoff in a particular season.
• Overall, in this system there will be 48 1-A postseason teams (16 in playoff, 32 in bowls), which is much more reasonable than the current number fo 64.  Honestly, by taking out some of the garbage teams who currently squeak into bowl games, I think this system will actually make the bowl games more meaningful and watchable.

Mock Playoff- Based on 2008 Results:

• Here is my system put to life using last year’s regular season results.  I will do one of these for 2009 after the conference championship games are finished.
• The Field: Virginia Tech (ACC  Champ), Cincinnati (Big East Champ), Penn State (Big 10 Champ), Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ), Southern Cal (Pac-10 Champ), Florida (SEC Champ), Utah (MWC Champ), Boise State (WAC Champ), East Carolina (C-USA Champ), Buffalo (MAC Champ), Troy (Sun Belt Champ), Texas (at-large, # 3 in BTS standings), Alabama (at-large, # 4 in BTS standings), Texas Tech (at-large, # 7 in BTS standings), Ohio State, (at-large, # 10 in BTS standings), TCU (at-large, # 11 in BTS standings).
• Midwest Regional
• (1) Oklahoma vs. (4) Troy, Saturday December 20th- 8:00 (ESPN), Fort Worth, TX
•  (2) Penn State vs. (3) Boise State, Saturday December 20th- 12:00 (ABC), Detroit, MI
• Winners play Saturday December 27th at 3:30 in Phoenix, AZ (ABC)
• East Regional
• (1) Alabama vs. (4) Virginia Tech, Thursday December 18th- 8:00 (ESPN), Nashville, TN
• (2) Southern Cal vs. (3) TCU, Saturday December 20th- 3:30 (ABC), Toronto, Can.
• Winners play Saturday December 27th at 8:00 in Dallas, TX (ABC)
• South Regional
• (1) Florida vs. (4) Buffalo, Saturday December 20th- 12:00 (ESPN), Jacksonville, FL
• (2) Texas Tech vs. (3) Ohio State, Saturday December 20th- 8:00 (ABC), St. Petersburg, FL
• Winners play Saturday December 27th at 12:00 in Atlanta, GA (ABC)
• West Regional
• (1) Texas vs. (4) East Carolina, Saturday December 20th- 3:30 (ESPN), San Jose, CA 
• (2) Utah vs. (3) Cincinnati, Friday December 19th- 8:00 (ESPN), Honolulu, HI
• Winners play Saturday December 27th at 3:30 in San Diego (ESPN)
• Final Four
• Midwest Champ vs. East Champ, Saturday January 5th- 3:30 (ABC)
• West Champ vs. South Champ, Saturday January 5th- 8:00 (ABC)