The New and Improved College Football Playoff

It all started on a rainy day back in December of 2008. My dad and I were sitting around watching the early stages of college football bowl season. You know, the drudge matches between a 7-5 C-USA team and a 6-6 Big East champion (R.I.P., Big East).

As we watched the exceptional mediocrity unfold before our eyes, we began to wonder out loud whether or not the holiday season could be made even more exciting.

With at least four teams with legitimate championship potential (Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas), and a few others who could make some noise if given the chance(Southern Cal, Penn State, Utah, Texas Tech), we began thinking that maybe the BCS had already overstayed its welcome.

We decided amongst ourselves that change was needed. We started drawing up plans for a college football playoff.

What?! A playoff? In college football? Six years ago? I know, I know, we were clearly geniuses, way ahead of the times in which we lived.

We slaved over the coffee table in the den, taking notes on the top 25, conference champions and co-champions, for an entire afternoon.

We poured over endless pages of stats and records, racking the infinite wisdom of Dad’s brain and the thrilling creativity of mine to assemble the ultimate playoff system.

Needless to say, we succeeded.

Our playoff system was comprised of 28 teams, with spots reserved for all of the conference champions, a bye week for the number one seeds, and flawless recipe for awesomeness.

In our system, every conference was represented and given a fair chance, while other playoff-worthy teams (even though they weren’t necessarily conference champs) were also given a chance to make some noise.

Apart from our sand castles, this playoff system was easily our greatest creation.

Okay, maybe the sand castles were better. Those things were awesome.

Nevertheless, at the close of that fateful evening, we closed up shop and put the idea to rest, since neither of us knew the fax number for the NCAA’s headquarters.

Besides, the world wasn’t ready yet.

Now fast forward to December of 2012, exactly four years later. While I should have been studying for finals, I was combing through our old college football playoff notes.

After the LSU-Alabama national championship rematch fiasco of the previous year, rumors had begun to swirl around that the NCAA was trying to come up with some kind of playoff system for the FBS.

Just so I could compare whatever stupid idea they came up with against the genius of my father and me, I dug up our old system.

Yep, still brilliant.

But given the shift in the college football landscape since 2008, I made some changes. Mostly realigning the position of the conferences in the playoff, as well as tracking down the bowl games, all six billion of them.

And from there, I put the idea to rest again. Until now.

The first ever playoff in FBS history is almost upon us, and as we get wrapped up in the excitement and anticipation of this unprecedented next step, I would just like to say this: it could have been better.

Bear with me for a minute, ignoring all of the issues with money, player health, and logistics. Let’s indulge ourselves for now and imagine how awesome it would be to have a- wait for it... 32-team college football playoff.

Just let that sink in for a minute. In fact, look at this picture of my dog while you mull over how this could be possible.

Cute dog, huh? ... Oh, you’re ready? Great! Moving on.

Now I know some of you doubting Thomases are saying to yourselves, “That’s so stupid, Bobby, a 32-team playoff would never work. There’s just too much that could go wrong, the people in charge would have to change way too much. I don’t like change. I’m a square. Four teams is good enough.”

I hear you, doubters. And in return, you should hear me out. I think you’ll enjoy this.

Forget all of the football politics, and just pretend we live in a video game world in which players possess infinite stamina and could play 52 weeks of football a year, while fans and alumni have bottomless wallets, no jobs, and all the time in the world to travel to each game.

A 32-team playoff would be awesome. It would give every conference a chance to be king of the hill, while rewarding teams like 10-2 Mississippi State who didn’t win their conference.

Using a combination of my dad’s and my original notes, and the slight improvements I made to the plan in 2012, I’ve designed a template bracket for an FBS playoff.

As you can see, every conference is represented at least once.

But to make it simpler for those of you who hate pictures or have bad vision (I’m one of you, I know you’re out there), here are the main criteria for determining which teams make the bracket, and where they are seeded:

• All Power 5 conference champions are top seeds (four number one seeds and a number two seed)
• Any non-Power 5 conference champions can be no lower than number five seeds
• FBS Independent schools must finish with at least nine wins or in the Top 25 to make the bracket
• Fill out the rest of the bracket with Power 5 co-champions, the rest of the Top 25, and the best remaining teams with at least nine wins, starting with other co-champions

Following these simple steps, here’s what a bracket made from the current season would look like:

Pretty awesome, right? Just the first round alone would offer some thrilling and unique matchups.

When else will you get to see Marshall play Boise State? Or Southern Cal play Mississippi State?

And did you notice the conference representation? For all of you pro-SEC folks, this system has not three, not four, not five, not six, but seven- count ‘em, seven- SEC teams in the playoffs.

Unlike the short-minded four-team playoff system, our bracket doesn’t punish the SEC for being so good that it’s the only conference it’ll lose to.

You could even make certain matchups in the bracket existing bowl games. The only thing this playoff system has in common with the “real one” is that we would name the final three games after some of the marquee bowls.

See? Everybody’s happy.

All in all, this playoff system is better.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where people have jobs, players actually get tired and hurt, and guaranteed money speaks the loudest.

And I’m a realistic guy, I know that putting together a 32-team playoff in college football would be a logistical nightmare.

Trusting fans to travel to five playoff games after a whole regular season is risky. Two playoff games? Not so much.

But in a perfect world, this would be the perfect playoff system.

So you think this shiny, new, ice cream cone-shaped College Football Playoff is impressive? That’s nothing.

My dad and I had it figured out six years ago.