College Football Playoffs, Scenario 1

College Football Playoffs: Scenario #1

Corporate sponsors, Athletic Directors and television station executives all met to discuss the opportunity to create a playoff for Division 1-A Football. The media whined like baby to get a playoff since every other sport does the same, but many argued that there is no true need to have a playoff because in most cases the best team comes out in the end.

But things have changed and we now look at the playoffs through a time portal of “what if”. What if there WAS a playoff in the Division 1-A? Would it solve anything or would it be the answer to years of debate?

Let’s explore this:

The argument first was about how many teams should be able to compete in these playoffs. The argument for 32 or 16 teams were immediately ruled out because if those teams were never in a position to play for a National Championship anyway, and would be a waste of time and extending a season far longer than it should.

There was heavy debate about having 8 teams, but most argued that in most cases the best teams are in the top 5, so allowing an extra three creates room for a good team to enter the contest when the argument is to get the BEST teams in.

The debate came to two conclusions: A four team playoff or a six team playoff, where the top two seeds get a bye. So we look into the “what if” portal to see how this would play out in a different universe…..

The NCAA recognizes the top 6 teams according to the BCS standings. As it stands the #1 and #2 teams will get a bye while the other teams vie for position. We are not very clear on the times these teams play, and under who’s bowls they will be playing, but we can see into the “what if” portal to see WHO is playing whom.

Alabama would be the #1 seed right now, and thus earn a bye. They would play the winner of the #4 vs. #5 game. Texas Tech, with the slimmest of margins, claims the #2 spot, and would also get a bye and play the winner of the #3 vs. #6 game. The ideology here is that of the lesser four teams, the better of those is paired against the least of the four, and the other two play one another. Thus, the 3 seed plays the 6 and the 4 seed plays the 5. But the playoffs also dictate that the LESSER of the two winner must play the #1 seed, while the GREATER of the two winners play the #2 seed.

It does get a bit complicated, but I’ll address that.

I see also in this portal of this universe that there are other factors to consider as well, but we may get to that in a sec.

The rest of the playoff picture seems to look like this: Because Penn State is currently the #3 team by the BCS standards, they will play the #6 team, that being Oklahoma. This leaves the #4 team in Florida to face #5 Texas.

As the number 1 seed, Alabama would face the lowest ranked team of the four and Texas Tech would face the higher seed. The Penn State/Oklahoma game would be a huge game to see, and many fans believe Oklahoma may have an edge because the Big 12 is a stronger conference and they have seen tougher foes than Penn State has faced. Many see Oklahoma winning that.

On the other side, the Florida vs. Texas game seems to be a classic. A delicious game of the two power conferences in a fight to try to settle this year’s argument of who really is the best conference. Forgive me folks, I just can’t see clear enough to tell you the winner of that one.

But it seems that the winner will face Texas Tech as the #2 seed, since Oklahoma’s win over Penn State makes them the lowest seeded team. They would face Alabama and set up a second match of the Big 12 vs. SEC…I do see Oklahoma winning that one.

So it looks like Oklahoma sits and waits for the winner of Texas Tech vs. either Florida or Texas…I think in either case, Texas Tech falls and you have an interesting scenario.

Oklahoma plays a rematch against Texas, or the rubber match of the Big 12 vs. SEC…hmmmm.

But this “what if” universe is not without controversy. Looking outside the playoff circle, Boise State and Utah scream for equality, claiming that the playoffs are not fair to non BCS conference schools. Both teams are undefeated but ranked #9 and #10 on the BCS rankings. The smaller schools scream “foul” and that they need to increase the number of teams in the playoffs. Even Oklahoma State, who’s only loss came to Texas, wonders why Florida is in the playoffs after losing to an unranked team, while the Cowboys hang their only loss to the then number one team in the nation.

And further still, the Pac-10 argues why their conference champion ranked in the top 10 cannot have a shot at the National Title. USC has one loss and is ranked #7 in the BCS polls.

But the ACC and Big East teams remain silent, knowing this wasn’t their year.

Maybe if we look into this universe next week, we can see if it gets clearer….