Foolproof College Football Playoff Plan

The View From Out in Left Field - Jefferson's Foolproof NCAA 1-A College Football National Championship Plan

There are several things to keep in mind when looking at any national championship plan that I normally don't hear when the subject comes up this time of year. First of all, if the NCAA ever gets around to doing a 1-A football playoff it will be done the "NCAA way", which means we need to look at other NCAA tournaments for clues on how it will come about. The NCAA likes conference champions. The NCAA likes to reward its business partners and sponsors. The NCAA likes to keep seasons as reasonably concise as possible. The NCAA likes to reward the small schools as much as it likes to reward the powerhouses. The NCAA like easily bracketed increments. The NCAA is not going to do anything that diminishes the overall pervasiveness of college football, even for a single lucrative game. College football has thrived with the current system because teams play a regional/conference schedule against traditional rivals. A conference title is a tangible thing that is always won on the field. No national title in 1-A football has ever been won on any field in any game. It has always come down to voters and promoters, and people buying tickets, which is a problem in boxing as well.

THE PLAN is simple:

32 Teams - all conference champions plus enough at large bids to compensate strong conferences for going along - regular season must end on weekend prior to Thanksgiving - 16 First Round games at neutral sites Saturday after Thanksgiving - 8 Second round games the following weekend - 4 quarterfinals the following weekend - bye weeks for finals and holidays and hype - final four weekend just after holiday - national title game just after New Year's

Positives and Negative to THE PLAN:

- Neutral Sites reward bowl cities and could work with existing bowl committees for transition - Teams in 1-A football really don't play national schedules, conferences and weak non-conference game make up a larger chunk of their schedule than any other sport - 32 is only a slight decrease in the number of teams qualifying for post-season play compared to current bowls - season ending prior to Thanksgiving enables similar playoff timetable as other football divisions and only affects a few late season games - large number of at-large rewards strong non-conference schedules and big conferences - Rotating title site has many benefits - enough at large bids keep the carrot out for struggling teams, too few would lesson the realistic chances of ever making it and many schools would drop football, which is not good for college life and college culture in America - Shrinks traditional bowl glut on New Year's, but something has to give

It makes sense and would work. It could be implemented quickly. Hence, it will never happen.