The
Ten-Team Playoff Bracket
The ten teams currently selected by the BCS could easily be placed into a playoff bracket centered around the four BCS Bowl games. Rather than try to seed the teams (a task that the BCS has failed to perform correctly many years), the matchups would be assigned by conference.
The six automatically qualifying conference champions would be placed into two brackets: The Eastern Bracket would host the ACC, Big East, and SEC Champions at the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The Western Bracket would host the Pac-12, Big Ten, and Big 12 champions at the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. The four at-large teams would be assigned to the opposite region of their conference champion, and matchups could be adjusted if necessary.
The playoffs would start Christmas week with play-in games at the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl between the at-large teams. The conference champions would have a bye that first week, and they would play on New Year's Day. In the west, the Rose Bowl would match the Pac-12 Champion against the Big Ten Champion, and the Fiesta Bowl would match the Big 12 champion against the Play-In winner. In the east, The Orange Bowl would match the ACC Champion against the Big East Champion, and the the Sugar Bowl would match the SEC Champion against another Play-In winner. The Bowl winners would meet in an Eastern Semifinal and a Western Semifinal one week later, and the finalists would meet in a National Championship Game the next Saturday.
This is the Playoff Solution:
At-Large vs. At-Large
SEC Champion vs. Play-In Winner
Championship
Game:
Eastern Finalist
vs.
Western Finalist
ACC Champion vs. Big East Champion
Orange Champion vs. Sugar Champion
At-Large vs. At-Large
Big 12 Champion vs. Play-In Winner
Pac-12 Champion vs. Big Ten Champion
Rose Champion vs. Fiesta Champion
This bracket system can be applied to the last few years of the BCS to see what the matchups would have been...
In 2006-2007, Ohio State was the only major conference undefeated team and the BCS determined that Florida, with one-loss, was the second-best team. Boise State was also undefeated but did not get a chance to play for the national championship. Louisville had just one loss, and was also left out. The 2007 Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma and Boise State was one of the most memorable games of the BCS era, but the Broncos did not get a chance to play on for the national championship. The Playoff Solution would have given Boise State a path to the championship through LSU, Oklahoma, and the Rose Bowl. Louisville would have had an opportunity to play Florida (or Michigan or Notre Dame) for a chance at the championship. A USC team that had been in the top ten all season would have had a chance to knock off Ohio State for their own chance at the championship:
Michigan vs. Notre Dame
Florida vs. Play-In Winner
Championship
Game:
1/20/07 @ Fiesta Bowl
Eastern Finalist
vs.
Western Finalist
Wake Forest 13 vs. Louisville 24
Louisville vs. Sugar Champion
LSU vs. Boise State
Oklahoma vs. Play-In Winner
USC vs. Ohio State
Rose Champion vs. Fiesta Champion
In 2007-2008, Hawaii was the only undefeated team, while Ohio State and Kansas were the only one-loss teams. Kansas had lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, so the BCS matched Ohio State against LSU, the two-loss SEC champions. Both Kansas and Oklahoma were on the outside looking in. Many believed that Georgia was actually the best team in the country that year, and USC has finished very strong. West Virginia, who trounced Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, also could have made a run for the championship. LSU's title in the 2007-2008 season left a lot of other teams thinking, "What if..."
Kansas vs. Illinois
LSU vs. Play-In Winner
Championship
Game:
1/19/08 @ Sugar Bowl
Eastern Finalist
vs.
Western Finalist
Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
Orange Champion vs. Sugar Champion
Georgia 41 vs. Hawaii 10
Oklahoma vs. Georgia
USC vs. Ohio State
Rose Champion vs. Fiesta Champion
In 2008-2009, Utah was the only undefeated team, and conference champions Florida, Oklahoma, USC, and Penn State all had only one loss. Texas, which had beaten Oklahoma, also had only one loss. The BCS matched up Florida and Oklahoma for the championship game, but Utah, Texas, USC, and Penn State all felt they deserved a chance. The Playoff Solution would have put them all into a playoff, and four of those hypothetical games were actually played. After beating Ohio State, Texas would have earned the right to face Florida in the Sugar Bowl. The winner of that game would have played Virginia Tech in the Eastern Semifinal. After upsetting Alabama, Utah would have played Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. The winner would have faced USC, the winner over Penn State in the Rose Bowl. The final matchup may have been Oklahoma vs. Florida, but it easily could have been Texas vs. USC, Florida vs. Utah, or a rematch of Texas vs. Oklahoma. This could have been one of the most exciting college football postseasons in history, if only there were a playoff.
Texas 24 vs. Ohio State 21
Florida vs. Texas
Championship
Game:
1/17/09 @ Orange Bowl
Eastern Finalist
vs.
Western Finalist
Virginia Tech 20 vs. Cincinnati 7
Virginia Tech vs. Sugar Champion
Utah 31 vs. Alabama 17
Oklahoma vs. Utah
USC 38 vs. Penn State 24
USC vs. Fiesta Champion
In 2009-2010, there were an unprecedented number of undefeated teams. Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU, and Boise State all finished the year undefeated and had a legitimate claim to a title shot. The BCS could only match two of them in a championship game, but they should have all had a chance. TCU and Boise State could have faced off against Big Ten and SEC opponents in play-in games for a chance to make the Sugar Bowl or Fiesta Bowl. Maybe one of those teams could have made a Cinderella run through the bracket and given us more to remember from the championship series than Colt McCoy's injured shoulder.
TCU vs. Iowa
Alabama vs. Play-In Winner
Championship
Game:
1/23/10 @ Rose Bowl
Eastern Finalist
vs.
Western Finalist
Georgia Tech vs. Cincinnati
Orange Champion vs. Sugar Champion
Florida vs. Boise State
Texas vs. Play-In Winner
Oregon 17 vs. Ohio State 26
Ohio State vs. Fiesta Champion
In 2010-2011, there were three undefeated teams but only two spots in the national championship. Once again, TCU was left on the outside looking in. Teams like Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ohio State were playing some of their best football at the end of the season and could have made a playoff run. The Playoff Solution would have given all of these teams a chance at the championship:
Stanford vs. Ohio State
Auburn vs. Play-In Winner
Championship
Game:
1/22/11 @ Fiesta Bowl
Eastern Finalist
vs.
Western Finalist
Virginia Tech vs. Connecticut
Orange Champion vs. Sugar Champion
TCU vs. Arkansas
Oklahoma vs. Play-In Winner
Oregon vs. Wisconsin
Rose Champion vs. Fiesta Champion
After the 2011-2012 regular season, LSU was the clear #1 seed, but both Oklahoma State and Alabama had a claim to to be #2. The BCS gave us an SEC rematch that was a one-sided win for Alabama, but with all three teams finishing with one loss, Cowboy fans were left to wonder. Since the Playoff Solution provides flexibility in placing schools from the same conference in the opposite side of the bracket, Alabama would have had to earn its rematch with LSU. Both the Orange Bowl and the Rose Bowl would have been matched up the same way under the Playoff Solution, except the winners would have continued on to semifinal games:
Stanford vs. Michigan
LSU vs. Play-In Winner
Championship
Game:
1/21/12 @ Sugar Bowl
Eastern Finalist
vs.
Western Finalist
Clemson 33 vs. West Virginia 70
West Virginia vs. Sugar Champion
Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
Oklahoma State vs. Play-In Winner
Oregon 45 vs. Wisconsin 38
Oregon vs. Fiesta Champion