As explained last week, I'll be discussing five different playoff systems. The first was a 16-team playoff with seeding similar to the NCAA basketball tournament. The second was a 12-team system. Thursday, we presented an Elite Eleven bracket with each conference champion. Our fourth system is a Super Six with each BCS winner and the top two teams (Ohio State and LSU) receiving byes.
The easy critique of this system is that the mid-majors (Hawaii, Boise State) have no say in this system. And to them I say, man up and join a real conference. Seriously though, if there was ever any playoff system, the six BCS conferences would have to get a huge portion of the pie and this secures that. Plus, Hawaii is behind the six BCS conference winners in the last rankings.
Like in the NFL's six team bracket, the opening round games are 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5, with a reseed for the second round games. The first round is played at the stadium of the higher seed. National semifinal games are played at a BCS site. These games take place two weeks before the National Championship game at another BCS site. Unlike the other playoff systems I have discussed, only three weekends are necessary to determine a champion in this system.
Schedule:
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