Four Team Playoff is a BAD Idea!

First off, sorry for the long delay between this and my last blog post. Life got in the way a little more than anticipated, so hopefully you all can forgive me!  On to more entertaining topics...

This past week, the BCS commissioners and the Notre Dame AD agreed to endorse a four team playoff model.to replace the current BCS system.  The proposal will be put to vote by the BCS presidential oversight committee on July 26th, and if adopted take effect in the 2014 season.

The existing BCS system has been around since 1998 and has lacked much fanfare for most of its existence.  The growing pressure for change has finally come to a head and something is finally being done.  But I wonder if the direction the commissioners are going is a bit misguided? The format they are proposing will not last, but maybe for a few seasons, before new tensions will arise.  Four teams, in my opinion and many others, is not enough.  The process of selecting four teams to compete each year will only incite the same types of bickering and outrage that exists with today's system, its only a matter of time!  I have a very simplistic, yet complicated, way of fixing everything.  Below are my thoughts on what the NCAA should do and how I think major change should be the way to go.

The need for a playoff system is a given.
Are 4 teams enough for fans to get excited again?

First off I believe there needs to be an eight team playoff, but to get there we need to talk about conference realignment.  With teams all over the country changing conferences, trying to best align themselves with an opportunity to compete for a national title, it makes one wonder why it needs to be so chaotic.  Boise St. in the Big East???  Get real.  Right now there are 120 teams in the NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).  First thing I would recommend is adding eight additional teams to bring the total to 128.  I don't think the NCAA would be hard-pressed to find an additional eight teams willing to make the jump.   Then I would divide the 128 teams into eight super conferences of 16 teams each.  How they divide them up I really don't care, as long as there is some form of balance regarding conference strength, from one to another.  Each conference would have six major programs, five mid-major, and five bottom feeders, or some combination of each level.  Each conference would then divide themselves into two eight team divisions.  Again, I don't care how they divide them, as long as there is balance between the two.

As for scheduling, well it's quite easy actually.  Each team would play all seven of the other teams in their division, two cross division games, and three out of conference games.  This keeps with the existing 12 game schedule.  For the two cross division games, this would be on a rotating cycle each year.  For the out of conference schedule, teams would schedule according to the "A-B-C" method.  They would be required to schedule one major team, one mid-major, and one bottom feeder.  This way each team plays a similar schedule type and the perception that certain teams load up their schedules with more than one bottom feeder can be put to rest.  Of course I don't have the magical algorithm that makes this all jive, but I'm certain there is some computer science whiz the NCAA could employ to make it work.

So now that we have our eight super conferences and scheduling taken care of, we can talk about how we get to an eight team playoff.  Hopefully without saying much, it should be crystal clear.  The eight team playoff would be formed by including the champion of each of the eight conferences.  Each conference would hold a championship game with the division winners squaring off.  This would be your "Sweet 16" if you will.  From there the conference champions would be seeded by a committee and assigned to one of the four current BCS bowl games, Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta.  These bowls would be the quarter-finals or "Elite 8".  Each bowl would host specific seed pairings on a annual rotating schedule.  After the quarter-finals are complete there would be two national semi-final games followed by a national championship game.  These games would be played on neutral sites, with locations being given to the highest bidding city. 

With this format you are only adding two additional games to the over all schedule as it exists today.  For those that say it extends the season out too far, I say move the bowl games up.  Don't take so much time off in between the conference championships and the bowls.  It can easily be scheduled so the national championship game is played near New Year's day.  All it takes is right minds and creativity.  You can still keep all the other bowl games for those that don't make the playoff and conferences will still get their money.

Adopting an eight team playoff, in the manner described above, shatters the BCS process and provides a "crystal" clear method for naming a true national champion.  

Simple as that!