College Football Playoffs

This season has been a first for me. For years, I have enjoyed watching college football but only the teams that I root for. This year however, I found myself watching a lot more games. I even watched SEC, Big 10, Big 12 and gasp even some games of the Independent teams.

I like the way that college game is set up. One thing would basically double the popularity of the game - a true college playoff.

Imagine this - the college championship game played......the week before the Super Bowl. It would
have no competition. (for those of you thinking the Pro Bowl is competition, do me two favors, get yourself tested and whatever you do, do not procreate)

So how could you make the College Playoffs more inclusive and better.

Here is what I propose.

The college season ends roughly the last week of November So here is what the schedule would look like:

The tournament would start the 2nd week of December (conferences can still have the conference title games the week before)

Here is what the schedule would look like:

12-15-2019 - All 16 teams play

12-29-2019 - 8 Remaining teams play

1-12-2020 - Remaining 4 teams play

1-26-2020 - Championship Game

Yes - you saw it right - 16 teams. The teams would be seeded 1-16 depending on their rankings with the following criteria

• ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, and SEC would have their top two teams get bids (this does not mean the teams that play in the Conference Title game automatically get in, case in point Penn State would get the nod of going to the tournament over Wisconsin because of a better record)
• American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid American, Mountain West and Sun Belt Conference Winners as well as the highest ranked Independent team. 

Based on this years standings - here would be the match ups for the first week. 

1 LSU - SEC 1st Team

16 Miami (Ohio) - Mid American Winner

8 Penn State - Big 10 2nd Team

9 Utah - PAC 12 2nd Team

5 Georgia - SEC 2nd Team

12 Boise State - Mountain West Winner

4 Oklahoma - Big 12 1st Team

13 Virginia - ACC 2nd Team

6 Oregon - PAC 12 1st Team

11 Memphis - American Athletic Winner

3 Clemson - ACC 1st Team

14 Appalachian State - Sun Belt Winner 

7 Baylor - Big 12 2nd Team

10 Notre Dame - Independent Winner

2 Ohio State - Big 10 1st Team

15 FAU - Conf USA Winner

I would predict the next week would have the following matchups

LSU

Penn State

Georgia

Oklahoma

Oregon

Clemson

Baylor

Ohio State

The final four would be

LSU

Georgia

Clemson

Ohio State

The Final would then be:

LSU

Clemson

I know a lot of you are saying - that was the match-up we had in the final, why go through all this trouble. The reason - all teams have skin in the game. If you want to get in, you have to be the best in your conference (or for some of the BCS conference one of the top two). 

This would allow that the title is decided on the field, not in the papers. This would not be a popularity contest. And this allows the smaller conferences to prove they belong. 

The schedule would allow the student athletes ability to juggle books and school. The first two games are after the time when most schools finish their fall semester. Only 4 teams would be playing in the next semester. It is very manageable

Some may say adding potentially 4 more games to a teams schedule is too much. Please take a look at Hawaii. They played 15 games this year. All the NCAA has to do is restrict the non-conference schedules by one. You can also have some of the conferences reduce their conference games by one. That would more than make up for it. 

One argument I can see coming is this would lessen the Conference Championship games. It may. But teams at the point will be trying to win to get a higher seed in the playoffs. Coaches will realize this, players and fans will realize this. 

The amount of money that would go to for that Championship game would be much higher than it currently is. This year the Championship game was held on January 13, the same weekend as the divisional playoffs in the NFL. If you held the Championship game on 1-26 between the NFL Conference Championships and the Super Bowl - imagine the publicity. Especially if you get a dark horse team that generates more fan interest (similar to the NCAA Basketball Tourney)

Conferences would be in favor of it because the TV contracts for this would increase quite a bit. It would also mean extra home games as the first round would be at the field of the higher seed. For the second round you can have the games be hosted by bowl games that may be squeezed out of having bowl teams because of the expanded playoff. 

The bowl rotation for the top 4 teams could remain the same. 

It is a win-win for the fans, the conferences would make more money, players would get more TV time to market their skills, and having two weeks between games would allow players to rest. 

The NCAA just needs to do it - the fans, players and conferences would all benefit.