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Once again, college football is making a mockery of itself in its futile attempt
to crown a National Champion. If Oklahoma defeats Kansas State in the Big-12
Championship Game then beats Florida State in the Orange Bowl, then there will be no
doubt as to who the champion is. But if Oklahoma loses, several teams have a legitimate
right to claim the crown including Florida State, Miami, Washington and Virginia Tech.
If you are like me, you are sick and tired of all of the meaningless bowl games,
the championships decided not on the field, but on sportswriters and coaches
ballots, and the missed opportunites for meaningful college football games in December
and January. If this is the case, please take a look at my proposal for a 16-team college
football tournament. My scenario would retain every current bowl (some would remain
as single game bowls while others would become playoff games) though I would prefer to
limit the postseason to around 36 teams. Here are my rules:
- 16 team tournament
- Automatic bids to champs of ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, Pac 10,
Conference USA and either the WAC or Mountain West
- 8 at-large bids determined by impartial committee
- The committee decides whether the winner of the WAC or Mountain West
receives the automatic invitation to the tournament
- Every team plays 11 regular season games - no conference title games or
kickoff classics (this would maximize a team's game total at 15)
- First round games will be played on Campus
- The Sugar, Rose, Orange and Fiesta rotate for the championship and
semi-final games
- The remaining 3 quarterfinal games rotate among six bowls (Gator, Citrus,
Cotton and three other high-bidders)
- Based on current structure, there would be 18 more December bowl games
(36 teams)
- That puts 52 teams in postseason play (there will be 50 this year)
- Notre Dame is not allowed to participate until they join a conference. For
argument's sake, I will include them here.
Here's how 2000-2001 would shake out if I were the committee:
FIRST ROUND - December 2 - Campus Sites
#16 Louisville (CUSA*) at #1 Oklahoma (Big12*)
#9 Florida (SEC*) at #8 Oregon State (Pac10)
#13 Purdue (Big10*) at #4 Washington (Pac10*)
#12 Clemson (ACC) at #5 Virginia Tech (BigEast)
#15 Texas Christian (WAC*) at #2 Florida State (ACC*)
#10 Notre Dame (?) at #7 Nebraska (Big12)
#14 Michigan (Big10) at #3 Miami (BigEast*)
#11 Oregon (Pac10) at #6 Kansas State (Big12)
* Automatic Bid
QUARTERFINALS - Mon January 1st
Citrus Bowl - Miami/Michigan vs KansasSt/Oregon 11:00
Cotton Bowl - FloridaSt/TCU vs Nebraska/NotreDame 2:00
Sugar Bowl - Washington/Purdue vs VATech/Clemson 5:30
Gator Bowl - Oklahoma/Louisville vs Florida/OregonSt 9:00
SEMI-FINALS - Sat Jan 13th
Fiesta Bowl - Saturday before AFC/NFC Championship Games 3:30
Rose Bowl - Saturday before AFC/NFC Championship Games 8:00
CHAMPIONSHIP - Sat Jan 20th
Orange Bowl - Superbowl off week 8:00
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