HN: SI Mock CFB Playoff Bracket & Why It Will Never Happen

[JonDMiller]

http://www.hawkeyenation.com/football/si-playoff-bracket

 

[LivermoreHawk]

I agree with most of this. Especially that it would not be a good idea to have the games at bowl sites. However, the one thing I sorta disagree with is that the weather may be too bad for fans to get to the games. The NFL has plenty of teams that play in the north. Therefore, I don't believe that arguement would work because if NFL teams and fans can do it, then surely college teams and fans could do it.

 

[JonDMiller]

I agree with most of this. Especially that it would not be a good idea to have the games at bowl sites. However, the one thing I sorta disagree with is that the weather may be too bad for fans to get to the games. The NFL has plenty of teams that play in the north. Therefore, I don't believe that arguement would work because if NFL teams and fans can do it, then surely college teams and fans could do it.

There is one big time difference between NFL games and college games, in northern locations

The NFL is in MAJOR CITIES...easier drives to and from.

 

[LivermoreHawk]

Very true. I thought of that too after I posted that.

 

[IowaStormraiders]

I still agree with Livermore, the fans would come.

 

[vikubz]

Why not a "Final Four"? The NCAA holds the rights to that trade mark, why not get some use out of it?

 

[Stealthawk]

I disagree with Jon on very few things, but this is one.

Taking SI's bracket as the example it would work beautifully if the NCAA set a few scheduling rules first:
1) Set a date that each team in the FBS must finish their regular season.
2) Set the ammount of games that each team in the FBS plays so everyone plays the same ammount of games.No more conference championship games. That will be decided by their conference records and if 2 teams in the conference hadnt played each other and were undefeated they would be in the 16 team playoff so you pair them first round and the conference champion is decided at that time.

Now for how it would work:
Dec.5 Round one/week1 = 8 games. These games would be played on the home field of the higher ranked team however, by NCAA rule,50% of the seating capacity of the home stadium must be offered to the visiting team until 3 days before the game.Give them a "bowl" name if you want.The Dollars generated by TV rights/advertising will have plenty of sponsors begging to sponsor the iowa/oregon game, etc..

Dec.12 Round 2/week 2=4 games These could be the Outback,Cap one, type bowls and played in their current venue with 50% of the tickets offered to both schools

Dec. 19 Round 3/week3=2games Fiesta, Rose (or whatever the top 3 bowls are considered to be would rotate each year hosting the NC game)
Jan. 1 NC game=4th week Orange Bowl

This would be a win for the 16 schools, and their conferences (if they have one) and their fans.
The revenue dollars would still be there. 8+4+2+1=15 games (15 bowls) that all have MEANING.And the top bowls/host cities maintain their current status.
Starts a new tradition of having the NC game played on new years day!


As for the teams that dont make it into the 16 team (bowl)playoff.....they can still go play in the who .com/who cares bowl in yankee stadium if they want to !
Its simple,fair, and meaningful and would work.
Plus, it would make the talking heads go find a real job instead of pimping a conference/team for a subjective (not objective) NC game.

Stealthawk

 

[LivermoreHawk]

Stealthawk, I disagree with your setup. Your setup has teams playing in bowl venues starting at week 2??? That means a team thats a lower seed would potentially have to play four games where they travel in four weeks. I doubt any team would want to travel four weeks in a row. And I very highly doubt their fans would want to spend the money to travel four weeks in a row.

 

[glacierhawk]

Here's a few of my thoughts on the subject:

#1: If a conference wants to have a championship game, they don't schedule a bye week. 9 out of 11 Big 10 teams will survive this season without one, SEC, ACC, and Big 12 teams can too.

#2: Can't get to stadiums in winter because colleges aren't all in major cities? I didn't know any FBS schools had their football stadium down some back country gravel road. Just because the Bears play in Chicago doesn't mean all the fans live downtown. People drive to NFL games from out of town just like college fans. I'm not saying weather wouldn't be a problem, but I think you'd be surprised at how few times it would come up.

#3: NCAA D-II, D-III, FCS, and NAIA all have 16-team playoffs. FBS level schools should too.

#4: Only the championship on a neutral site. Stealthawk mentioned having the final three rounds at neutral sites but fans can't afford to travel that much, especially at a one week notice.

 

[IowaFanSince82]

Do it like they do in Div 1aa. They are man enough to play outdoors when its 10 degrees outside and in a snowstorm. Seriously this BCS crap has to go, its a joke and we will never have TRUE national champion.

I say take the top 32 teams and split them into an east vs west bracket.

Reserve 1 spot for all conference champions, then the at-large bids can be handed out by way of the BCS crap.

I am sorry but Div 1aa, Div II, and Div III do it the right way. There are teams that travel all 4 games of the playoff, and people don't care. Its time the BCS admits its faults and goes and asks the Div 1aa people how they do it.

 

[tony0051]

There is no way that you could have a sixteen team playoff system unless there is a decrease in games played in the season. Assuming that a team were to play 13 games during the season, not including the playoff, then the team that reaches the finals would have to play 17 games. Trying to be a full time student, full time player, and have a social life at that age, 17 games is too many. Having one semester of those responsibilities is manageable, but not two semesters. I would be in favor of the plus one system that seeds the top four, and then has a championship game between the winner of those two games. Using Jan 1st bowl games would then allow the BCS to set up the winners on Jan 8th. A sixteen game playoff system that takes a month to play out is way too much.

 

[deanvogs]

I don't like a playoff setup. It would make the regular season meaningless, and lets be honest, talk cupcake schedules, there will be NO reason at all to schedule a tough non conference game. It also tells about 30 - 40 other teams, you need not apply, not bowl games or extra practices for you. Iowa would have stayed home last year, and that would have been a shame!

 

[JonDMiller]

You are not going to get schools to give up the extra regular season game, just like you are not going to get conferences to give up their championship games, because of money...I dont think there would be enough money to go around to make up for it. I just don't think the financial aspects are doable.

 

[JonDMiller]

And there is just NO WAY that you are going to see the games played at neutral site venues, and call them bowl games. Fans cannot afford to spend that much money on travel that many times, and the locals are not going to come out en masse. Iowa took 25000 people to the Outback last year, and there were just over 50,000 people in that stadium. The NCAA will not want that, nor will the local chambers of commerce want that set up. Not enough money to go around.

 

[woodyk1]

Do it like they do in Div 1aa. They are man enough to play outdoors when its 10 degrees outside and in a snowstorm. Seriously this BCS crap has to go, its a joke and we will never have TRUE national champion.

I say take the top 32 teams and split them into an east vs west bracket.

Reserve 1 spot for all conference champions, then the at-large bids can be handed out by way of the BCS crap.

I am sorry but Div 1aa, Div II, and Div III do it the right way. There are teams that travel all 4 games of the playoff, and people don't care. Its time the BCS admits its faults and goes and asks the Div 1aa people how they do it.

I agree with you on this. There is a working model in the lower divisions that Division 1A (FBS, whatever) should be able to use but they are too greedy to use. We know it works and there are exciting games in places like Montana. They are upsets as well. What else would fans want?

 

[JonDMiller]

I agree with you on this. There is a working model in the lower divisions that Division 1A (FBS, whatever) should be able to use but they are too greedy to use. We know it works and there are exciting games in places like Montana. They are upsets as well. What else would fans want?

It is not a model that would work at the D1 level. Those are stadiums that seat 10 to 20,000 tops...and they are not full when the weather is bad. It's simply not apples and oranges. the D1-AA system is about a game...the D1 system is a business.

 

[deanvogs]

I agree with you on this. There is a working model in the lower divisions that Division 1A (FBS, whatever) should be able to use but they are too greedy to use. We know it works and there are exciting games in places like Montana. They are upsets as well. What else would fans want?

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't switch jobs for half the money and double the work. To say any business or individual should ignore the economics of its decisions is ridiculous.

 

[woodyk1]

It is not a model that would work at the D1 level. Those are stadiums that seat 10 to 20,000 tops...and they are not full when the weather is bad. It's simply not apples and oranges. the D1-AA system is about a game...the D1 system is a business.

Jon, I agree. That was my point. However, when discussing the different playoff models, the school presidents talk about the class time that would be missed. That's a joke. The players in the lower divisions actually go to class and graduate and they manage. The bottom line is the money and the Div 1 schools in the BCS conferences have no reason to change to the playoff system that most fans want. So, I don't believe them when they say there is not a system that works. There is, but they don't want it. So, it won't happen.

 

[woodyk1]

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't switch jobs for half the money and double the work. To say any business or individual should ignore the economics of its decisions is ridiculous.

Double the work, but not for the workers (players). The schools getting the money are not the ones doing the work. The supply the uniforms. The networks make most of the money that comes from the bowl system, not the schools. There is a way to do this and make money (most of the big stadiums sit empty after November). Using the current bowls as part of the system would work. Most if not all of the games could be on TV.

 

[CFHawk]

Just leave everything the way it is. The bowl games and the argung about who is #1 is a big part of what makes college football great.