For the 20th straight season, I have created a mock college football playoff bracket based my proposed college football playoff system, which would actually begin tonight based on the model you see below.  Now, there is talk of a 12 team playoff emerging, but until those details are finalized, I am going to continue to promote this 16 team model, which I believe is the perfect playoff size. Get ready to see the most comprehensive college football playoff proposal anywhere, in its 20th edition! I have taken a picture of the bracket which you will see just under this paragraph, and then all of its nuances will be discussed below that.

The Field: Pittsburgh (ACC  Champ),  Michigan (Big 10 Champ), Baylor (Big 12 Champ), Utah (Pac-12 Champ), Alabama (SEC Champ), Cincinnati (AAC Champ), Utah State (MWC Champ), UTSA (C-USA Champ), Northern Illinois (MAC Champ), UL-Lafayette (Sun Belt Champ), Georgia (at-large, # 3 in Playoff Rankings), Notre Dame (at-large, # 5 in Playoff Rankings), Ohio State (at-large, # 6 in Playoff Rankings), Ole Miss (at-large, # 8 in Playoff Rankings), Oklahoma State (at-large, # 9 in Playoff Rankings), Michigan State (at-large, # 10 in Playoff Rankings)

South Regional

(1) Alabama vs. (4) Utah State, Saturday December 18th- 12:00 (ESPN), Mobile, AL (LendingTree Bowl)

(2) Baylor vs. (3) Michigan State, Saturday December 18th- 4:00 (ESPN), Albuquerque, NM (New Mexico Bowl)

Winners play Saturday December 25th at 12:00 in Atlanta, GA (ESPN)

West Regional

(1) Cincinnati vs. (4) UL-Lafayette, Friday December 17th- 8:00 (ESPN), Las Vegas, NV (Las Vegas Bowl)

(2) Notre Dame vs. (3) Pittsburgh, Saturday December 18th- 4:00 (ABC), Tampa, FL (Outback Bowl)

Winners play Saturday December 25th at 4:00 in Glendale, AZ (ESPN)

Midwest Regional

(1) Michigan vs. (4) Northern Illinois, Saturday December 18th- 12:00 (ABC), New York, NY (Pinstripe Bowl)

(2) Ole Miss vs. (3) Oklahoma State, Thursday December 16th- 8:00 (ESPN), San Antonio, TX (Alamo Bowl)

Winners play Saturday December 25th at 4:00 in Arlington, TX (ABC)

East Regional

(1) Georgia vs. (4) UTSA, Saturday December 18th- 8:00 (ESPN), Nashville, TN (Music City Bowl)

(2) Ohio State vs. (3) Utah, Saturday December 18th- 8:00 (ABC), Houston, TX (Texas Bowl)

Winners play Saturday December 25th at 8:00 in Arlington, TX (ESPN)

Final Four/Championship

South Champ vs. West Champ, Saturday January 1st- 3:30 (ESPN), Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)

Midwest Champ vs. East Champ, Saturday January 4th- 8:00 (ESPN), New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)

Championship Game, Monday Jan 10th- 8:00 (ESPN), Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)

Basic Format:

• 16 teams (10 conference championships and 6 at-larges chosen by the top 6 in the Playoff Rankings, which can be chosen exactly as it is now with a committee of 12/13.)
• 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 or one week depending on how late regular season ends.
• 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 four total playoff teams.
• Teams can’t play on their home field except in semifinals or finals.

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 New Year’s Six coverage rights.
• 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 midwest/west regional final (ESPN); 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- Rose Bowl in years that Pasadena has semifinal; otherwise, second biggest game of the week (ESPN); Game 2: Saturday 8:00- Non-Rose Bowl in years that Pasadena has semifinal; otherwise, featured game of the week (ESPN).
• Week 4 (Championship Game): Monday 8:00 (ESPN)

Playoff Sites:

• Lower-tier bowl sites will become first round sites on a rotational basis.   
• 2021: New York, NY; Nashville, TN; Mobile, AL; Tampa, FL; San Antonio, TX; Houston, TX; Albuquerque, NM; Las Vegas, NV. 2022: Nassau, Bahamas; Annapolis, MD; Birmingham, AL; Jacksonville, FL; Fort Worth, TX; Memphis, TN; Tucson, AZ; San Francisco, CA. 2023: Boston, MA; Indianapolis, IN; Conway, SC; St. Petersburg, FL; Frisco, TX; Shreveport, LA; Honolulu, HI; Inglewood, CA.  2024: Charlotte, NC; Detroit, MI; Montgomery, AL; Boca Raton, FL; El Paso, TX; Dallas, TX; Boise, ID; San Diego, CA.
•  The bowl sites of Arlington, TX (Cotton), Orlando, FL (Citrus), Glendale, AZ (Fiesta), and Atlanta, GA (Peach) will be annual elite 8 sites.
• The Final Four/Championship games will be held in 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.
• The first-round sites that are off of the playoff rotation will still hold bowl games.  More explanation on that to follow.

Remaining Bowl Games:

• This is the time where things get tricky, as I try to accommodate the rest of the bowl eligible teams who do not make the 16-team playoff.
• There will be 25 bowl games held at all the first-round sites who are off of the playoff rotation and the bowl-only sites of: Exploria Stadium in Orlando, FL (home of the Cure Bowl).
• The names of the bowls will remain the same.
• 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 champions.  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 66 FBS postseason teams (16 in playoff, 50 in bowls), which is much more reasonable than the current number of 84.
• Because there are less bowls, we are going to make admission into them more selective by requiring that all teams have a winning record in order to make a bowl.  Thus, all 6-6 teams from non-power 5 conferences are excluded from this model.
• Here would be this year’s bowl schedule based on these principles:

	Date	Bowl	Teams		Time
1	Dec. 17	Bahamas	Tennessee (7-5) vs. Purdue (8-4)	12:00	ESPN
2	Dec. 17	Cure	LSU (6-6) vs. Coastal Carolina (10-2)	3:30	ESPN 2
3	Dec. 20	Myrtle Beach	Maryland (6-6) vs. Virginia Tech (6-6)	2:30	ESPN
4	Dec. 21	Famous Idaho Potato	Wisconsin (8-4) vs. Arizona State (8-4)	3:30	ESPN
5	Dec. 21	Frisco Bowl	Kansas State (7-5) vs. San Diego State (11-2)	7:30	ESPN
6	Dec. 22	Armed Forces	Missouri (6-6) vs. Army (8-3)	8:00	ESPN
7	Dec. 23	Boca Raton	Western Kentucky (8-5) vs. App. State (10-3)	3:30	ESPN
8	Dec. 23	Gasparilla	UCF (8-4) vs. Florida (6-6)	7:00	ESPN
9	Dec. 24	Hawaii	Oregon (10-3) vs. Oklahoma (10-2)	8:00	ESPN
10	Dec. 27	Quick Lane	Western Michigan (7-5) vs. Nevada (8-4)	11:00 (AM)	ESPN
11	Dec. 27	Military	Boston College (6-6) vs. East Carolina (7-5)	2:30	ESPN
12	Dec. 28	Birmingham	Houston (11-2) vs. Auburn (6-6)	12:00	ESPN
13	Dec. 28	First Responder	Air Force (9-3) vs. Louisville (6-6)	3:15	ESPN
14	Dec. 28	Liberty	Mississippi State (7-5) vs. Texas Tech (6-6)	6:45	ESPN
15	Dec. 28	Holiday	UCLA (8-4) vs. NC State (9-3)	8:00	FOX
16	Dec. 29	Fenway	SMU (8-4) vs. Virginia (6-6)	11:00 (AM)	ESPN
17	Dec. 29	Independence	UAB (8-4) vs. Brigham Young (10-2)	2:15	ESPN
18	Dec. 29	Hoosier	Iowa (10-3) vs. Kentucky (9-3)	5:45	ESPN
19	Dec. 29	LA Bowl	Fresno State (9-3) vs. Oregon State (7-5)	9:15	ESPN
20	Dec. 30	Duke’s Mayo	North Carolina (6-6) vs. South Carolina (6-6)	11:30 (AM)	ESPN
21	Dec. 30	Camellia	Penn State (7-5) vs. Arkansas (8-4)	3:00	ESPN
22	Dec. 30	Redbox Bowl	Clemson (9-3) vs. Iowa State (7-5)	7:00	ESPN
23	Dec. 31	Sun	Washington State (7-5) vs. Miami-FL (7-5)	12:00	CBS
24	Dec. 31	Arizona	West Virginia (6-6) vs. Minnesota (8-4)	3:30	ESPN
25	Jan. 1	Gator	Wake Forest (10-3) vs. Texas A & M (8-4)	11:00 (AM)	ESPN