Do you ever wonder what college football would be like at the FBS level if there were a field of 16? Throughout the exhaustive research of college football at the FBS level, I was able to develop a FAIR, measurable and non-subjective criteria to determine who would make the field of 16 FBS playoffs. My system eliminates computer systems and human voters who possess vested interest and bias who can manipulate the rankings when large sums of money becomes the ultimate mission. The players and coaches are the ones who make the cognitive decisions on the field that ultimately creates their overall record and assists in determining their seeding spot if selected into the field of 16. There are also other measurable criteria that assists in seeding the field of 16 which I will not divulge at this moment and time. What I can say is that research and peer reviewed journal articles assisted in the thought process of designing the 16 team traditional playoff format. All I can say is some decisions are easy, some are challenging needing investigative analysis and some are very difficult to make.
NOTE: all games played as conference championship games were not taken into account due to the fact that ALL conferences do not possess a championship game, in addition to that only 10% of the FBS plays a 13th game. The regular season ends after the 12th game of the season is complete. There were no favortism or bias into the seeding of these 16 FBS programs, the FBS programs earned these seeds.
This is how a traditional style bracketed playoff format could look like if the FBS/NCAA possessed a 16 team playoff.
1st Weekend of DECEMBER(higher ranked seeds Host and are Home)
#1 Notre Dame (12-0) vs #16 Clemson (10-2)
#8 Northern Illinois (11-1) vs. #9 Stanford (10-2)
#5 Florida (11-1) vs. #12 South Carolina (10-2)
#4 Georgia (11-1) vs. # 13 LSU (10-2)
#3 Oregon (11-2) vs. #14 Utah State (10-2)
#6 Alabama (10-2) vs.#11 Oklahoma (10-2)
#7 Kansas State (11-1) vs. #10 Boise State (10-2)
#2 Kent State (11-1) vs. #15 San Jose State (10-2)
3rd weekend of DECEMBER(neutral sites)
POD A
ND, CLEM, NIU and STAN- 2 winners play at New Mexico Bowl.
FLA, SC, GA and LSU- 2 winners play at Idaho Potato Bowl.
POD B
ORG, UTST, ALA and OU- 2 winners play at Poinsetta Bowl.
KST, BOIST, KENST, and SJST- 2 winners play at Beef O Brady Bowl.
NEW YEARS DAY
POD A- final 2 remaining winners play at Orange Bowl.
POD B- final 2 remaining winner play at Rose Bowl.
JAN 7th
Championship Game with POD A remaining winner vs POD B remaining winner at the Sugar Bowl.
Imagine the excitement, fans, media coverage and the revenue this would generate in regions across the country. The taxed based dollars would generate revenue and ALL playoff games would be SOLD OUT, no empty seats.
For those who are asking why my (10-2) team did not earn a seed, here is the best explanation without getting to deep. Both Texas A&M and Florida State only played 10 FBS games. FCS programs are in-eligible to play for the FBS championship. Yes, some seeded programs played 1 FCS program, so whats the difference? They won more games and the FCS game they played were used as analysis to assist in the seeding process with like records. Best suggestion, schedule FBS programs or only schedule 1 FCS program and/or schedule FCS programs that have made the FBS commitment in the coming years. Louisville’s Non-Conference schedule was not as credible with a combined record of (12-36). Nebrasks was the final decision on not making the field of 16. Nebraska possessed a stronger Non-Conference combined record of (18-18), but other FBS programs seeded earned a record versus those already seeded and played a tougher non-conference schedule based upon number of home and away games.
How does this playoff format change the bowl system, in reality it doesnt. The bowl games can still run congruent with this playoff format but with 76 Bowl eligible FBS teams this season, that leaves 60 FBS bowl eligible programs to be selected into the remaining bowls. My next post in the coming days will have the adjusted Bowl Games with the remaining eligible FBS teams trying to stay within the bowl contractual agreements as possible.
This is what college football could possess, just like the NCAA March Madness, but in December and Traditional New Years week. The purpose of this post was to make you look at college football differently. Yes, even during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament selection, some teams do not understand why they were left out or how they are seeded the way they were. The difference is, THEY GO PLAY no matter what. They respect the system in use and earn the championship by playing out the tournament.
Please feel free to leave me quality question(s) on here, no rants or abuse will be tolerated or you can reach me through twitter at cfbpoexpert.