A lot of debate on the match ups this year and of course when it comes to NIU getting into the Orange Bowl. I feel for these kids being used as the tool to beat up the BCS system, which is going away...somewhat. Not to mention a 5-loss Wisconsin getting in as well I still think we will find ourselves asking for a more extensive playoff system because 4 teams is still a joke.

The argument is that it extends the season to long to go to a larger playoff, yet every other division of the NCAA football world does it. So ignoring that point, I feel a 16-team playoff makes the most sense. So let's look at what a 16-team playoff might look like.

1) All FBS conference champions get an automatic bid. So after this year we'll have ACC, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, MAC, Sun Belt, MWC, CUSA and PAC 12 left playing football with the WAC dead. So that is 10 of 16.

2a) Utilize the existing BCS computer rankings (without Human Polls) to fill in the seeds for the remaining 6 spots.

2b) Utilize a committee to select teams for the remaining 7 spots.

3) Everyone is seeded based on their combined BCS rankings.

The 2nd part is going to cause some issues undoubtedly. So should teams be required to have at least won their division in the conference or be ranked 2nd or 3rd in their conference? Perhaps that just needs to be completely disregarded. For now I'm going to say go by the rankings. If you want it, play better. So let's play it out on this year...

Layout is just like most other playoffs.

Conference champs (combined rank): Alabama (2), Kansas State (5), Stanford (6), Northern Illinois (15), Florida State (12), Louisville (21), Wisconsin (26), Boise State (19), Tulsa (33) and Arkansas St (37).

Next 7 spots to be filled by computer only average: Notre Dame (1), Florida (3), Oregon (4), LSU (8), Oklahoma (11), South Carolina (10).

SeedRound 11Notre Dame16Arkansas State3Florida14Wisconsin5Kansas State12Boise State7LSU10Florida State8South Carolina9Oklahoma6Stanford11Northern Illinois4Oregon13Boise State15Tulsa2Alabama
The big thing to notice is here that Georgia gets left out in this case. They are #7 overall in the combined BCS score, but their computer rankings have then at 10.5. You could argue that the computers only penalize them more for losing another game unlike human voters that might be more biased to keep them ranked high. It might be interesting to just eliminate the human component all together, which would move things around again, but that can be discussed later.

This setup has a lot of match ups I would really like to see. The rest are all decent OOC games. Granted, ND/ARST isn't a real marquee game, but crazy things have happened. Seeing these matches up though, if you make it out alive there is no dispute on if you deserve the title.

I actually think this year is relatively drama free. Some people don't think NIU belongs, but they met all the requirements set out by the schools, so there's no reason they shouldn't be in. Same goes to Wisconsin.

I actually think this year is relatively drama free. Some people don't think NIU belongs, but they met all the requirements set out by the schools, so there's no reason they shouldn't be in. Same goes to Wisconsin.

Well I would agree, but there are still some people that are whining about NIU and Wisconsin. Not saying it is a major drama storm, but a little. :)

Updated the list since I forgot about CUSA.

true, but whining and sports just go together, even when you have 64 team tournaments.

true, but whining and sports just go together, even when you have 64 team tournaments.

This is true, but damnit my playoff is better! :-P LOL

I doubt every non automatic qualifier schools would start getting automatic invites just by wining their conference, even at sixteen teams. On average each of the division champs of SEC, Pac 12, Big Ten and top two of Big XII would beat the conference champs of Big East, MAC, Sun Belt, MWC and CUSA.

I doubt every non automatic qualifier schools would start getting automatic invites just by wining their conference, even at sixteen teams. On average each of the division champs of SEC, Pac 12, Big Ten and top two of Big XII would beat the conference champs of Big East, MAC, Sun Belt, MWC and CUSA.

Same could be said about the basketball playoff taking 66 teams with each conference winner getting an automatic bid. Yet there is always an instance of one of the underdogs doing well and progressing through. Why block them out of the chance?

4 team playoff starts in 2014 .. and has a 12 year deal .... so there is not going to be a bigger playoff until at least 2027

I realize it'll never happen, but I always thought a 12-team playoff would have been workable and addressed a great many of the concerns of the too-many-games and too-much-travel folks. Use a formula akin to the BCS to seed the top 12 teams, with the top four seeds given first round byes, and the remaining eight teams competing in matches where the higher seed hosts the lower seed. You could then have an "Elite Eight" at either the winners home field or among the "next-tier" of bowls, then rotate the semi-finals and finals among the "big daddy" bowls. Six teams have their seasons extended by one game, four by two games, and two by *three* games.

Any more than that probably pushes the season longer than is practical. Always kinda thought 16 teams "seemed" too much, but 8 "seemed" too few. I'm happy we're at least getting the top 4 in a playoff after one more season in this nightmare BCS, because I think you've increased the chances of snagging a legit champion by probably 60-70%.

If NIU went undefeated, I would have had less of a problem with this whole thing. Just about all past BCS busting teams had went undefeated and won marquee match ups over non-conference AQ schools. NIU lost to 4-8 Iowa. Their best wins were beating 1-11 Kansas by a touchdown and beating a Kent State team who got hammered by an awful Kentucky team.

Wisconsin and Louisville shouldn't be in BCS bowls either. Especially Louisville.

4 team playoff starts in 2014 .. and has a 12 year deal .... so there is not going to be a bigger playoff until at least 2027

BCS has been tweaked and modified many times...the playoff can be as well.


I realize it'll never happen, but I always thought a 12-team playoff would have been workable and addressed a great many of the concerns of the too-many-games and too-much-travel folks. Use a formula akin to the BCS to seed the top 12 teams, with the top four seeds given first round byes, and the remaining eight teams competing in matches where the higher seed hosts the lower seed. You could then have an "Elite Eight" at either the winners home field or among the "next-tier" of bowls, then rotate the semi-finals and finals among the "big daddy" bowls. Six teams have their seasons extended by one game, four by two games, and two by *three* games.

Any more than that probably pushes the season longer than is practical. Always kinda thought 16 teams "seemed" too much, but 8 "seemed" too few. I'm happy we're at least getting the top 4 in a playoff after one more season in this nightmare BCS, because I think you've increased the chances of snagging a legit champion by probably 60-70%.

That might be better than 16, or they would need to look at reducing the regular season by a game.


If NIU went undefeated, I would have had less of a problem with this whole thing. Just about all past BCS busting teams had went undefeated and won marquee match ups over non-conference AQ schools. NIU lost to 4-8 Iowa. Their best wins were beating 1-11 Kansas by a touchdown and beating a Kent State team who got hammered by an awful Kentucky team.

Wisconsin and Louisville shouldn't be in BCS bowls either. Especially Louisville.

Yeah I can't disagree. I grew up in the MAC and really love that conference. I'm glad they finally got someone to bust through, but definitely not the ideal situation like past busters. At the end of the day everyone will say they will get blown out by FSU, but I'm not entirely buying that. Any team has a chance to win at any given time. If they do end up beating FSU, I wonder what the response will be then. Will they get any credit or will they just say FSU sucked and handed it to them by default.

Yeah, I don't think it'll be a blowout. I'd say that the MAC was better than the Big East this year, which isn't exactly saying much, but still.

I could totally see Florida State losing. It could only screw up the BCS system more and expose the flaws in whether or not teams in AQ conferences are automatically superior to those that aren't. It would be fun.

We already answered the NIU question - and that answer is West Virginia. If WVA was still in the Big East they would be playing for the national championship. Instead the barely became bowl eligible in the Big XII (thanks to Kansas being soooo bad). If NIU played in the SEC, BIG XII, Big 10, or PAC 12 they wouldn't even have won 6 games.