A Modest Bowl Proposal

[sweaver]

Bowl Proposal 2001-02
Top six teams get bye.
* indicates the top ranked team from a previous matchup, which may or may not have actually won the game, it's just easier to understand that way.
The top 15 are according to BCS rankings, the rest in order of the AP poll.

First round: December 15

New Orleans Bowl: #17 Georgia vs. #16 Virginia Tech

Holiday Bowl: #9 Stanford vs. #24 Florida State

Music City Bowl: #25 Toledo vs. #8 Illinois

Independence Bowl: #21 Fresno State vs. #12 Washington

Las Vegas Bowl: #13 LSU vs. #20 Brigham Young

Motor City Bowl: #19 Syracuse vs. #14 South Carolina

Seattle Bowl: #11 Oklahoma vs. #22 Ohio State

Insight.com Bowl: #7 Texas vs. #26 Hawaii

Galleryfurniture.com Bowl: #23 Louisville vs. #10 Maryland

GMAC Bowl: #15 Washington vs. #18 Michigan


Round 2: December 22

Outback Bowl: #1 Miami vs. *#16 Virginia Tech

Liberty Bowl: *#9 Stanford vs. *#8 Illinois

Peach Bowl: #5 Florida vs. *#12 Washington

Tangerine Bowl: *#13 LSU vs. #4 Oregon

Silicon Valley Bowl: #3 Colorado vs. *#14 South Carolina

Humanitarian Bowl: *#11 Oklahoma vs. #6 Tennessee

Sun Bowl: *#7 Texas vs. *#10 Maryland

Alamo Bowl: *# 15 Washington vs. #2 Nebraska



Round 3: December 29

Fiesta Bowl: *#1 Miami vs. *#8 Illinois

Citrus Bowl: *#5 Florida vs. *#4 Oregon

Cotton Bowl: *#3 Colorado vs. *#6 Tennessee

Gator Bowl: *#7 Texas vs. *#2 Nebraska


Round 4 (Semifinals) January 5

Orange Bowl: *#1 Miami vs. *#4 Oregon

Sugar Bowl: *#3 Colorado vs. *#2 Nebraska

Round 5—Finals---January 12

Rose Bowl: *#1 Miami vs. *#2 Nebraska

[SmedIndy]

That's a good way, but why save all the bowls? A 16 team tourney would be great. They do 28 in Div 3.

Take the conference winners from the Big 10, SEC, Big 12, Big East, Pac 10, ACC, MAC, WAC, Sun Belt, C-USA and Mountain West, and then the 5 best teams left. Notre Dame does not get a free pass.

If you don't win your league, you really shouldn't be a national title contender, plus it keeps some of the upset potential that makes the NCAA hoop tourney fun.

[sweaver]

I kept the small bowls because I like the small bowls. There is a certain charm to the Peach Bowl that would be a shame to lose.

[pwdennis]

The modest proposal is okay but I think that it is improved by NOT seeding it - the Division 1 football playoffs (and the NCAA Div 1 Basketball Championships) should be strictly random draw. This would eliminate the built-in bias (found in both BCS formulae and polls) in favor of certain programs and conferences

[sweaver]

For comparison's sake, here's the 2000-2001 setup.

First Round (December 9)

Mobile Alabama Bowl
#16 Purdue vs. #17 Michigan

Las Vegas Bowl
#9 Kansas State vs. # 24 Georgia

Oahu Bowl
#8 Nebraska vs. #25 Toledo

Aloha Bowl
#12 Texas vs. #21 Tennessee

Motor City Bowl
#13 Georgia Tech vs. #20 Auburn

Galleryfurniture.com Bowl
#14 TCU vs. #19 Northwestern

Humanitarian Bowl
#11 Notre Dame vs. Colorado State

Music City Bowl
#7 Florida vs. #26 Mississippi State

Micronpc.com Bowl
#10 Oregon vs. #23 Louisville

Insight.com Bowl
#15 Clemson vs. #18 Ohio State

Second Round (December 16)

Sun Bowl
#1 Oklahoma vs. “Purdue”

Peach Bowl
“Nebraska” vs. “Kansas State”

Holiday Bowl
#5 Virginia Tech vs. “Texas”

Alamo Bowl
#5 Washington vs. “Georgia Tech”

Silicon Valley Classic
#3 Miami vs. “TCU”

Independence Bowl
#6 Oregon State vs. “Notre Dame”

Outback Bowl
“Florida” vs. “Oregon”

Liberty Bowl
#2 Florida State vs. “Clemson “

Round three (December 23)
Quarterfinals

Cotton Bowl
“Oklahoma” vs. “Nebraska”

Citrus Bowl
“Washington” vs. “Virginia Tech”

Gator Bowl
“Miami” vs. “Oregon State”

Fiesta Bowl
“Florida State” vs. “Florida”

Round 4 (December 30)
Semifinals

Sugar Bowl
“Oklahoma” vs. “Washington”

Rose Bowl
“Miami” vs. “Florida State”

Finals (January 6)
“Oklahoma” vs. “Florida State”

[SmedIndy]

You at least have to have the conference winners in there, even if not ranked. Otherwise you'd just be grubbing to the power conferences....

[soxfan121]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
That's a good way, but why save all the bowls? A 16 team tourney would be great. They do 28 in Div 3.

Save all the bowls as the financial incentive. Pool all the money earned by a conference's schools in one lump sum. The way to make conference play interesting is to award the bowl money on a progressive scale that shafts the last place program and rewards those schools that make the tournament, advance in the tournament, and wins the torunament accordingly.

The networks might be in favor because of the potential for more lucrative marquee matchups.

sweaver for NCAA chariman.

[JamesI]

I like Smed's plan. I hate the idea of giving Notre Dame a free pass, and I hate the bias in the polling. I don't watch most of College Football just because of how stupid the ranking system is. A 16 team tourny would take long enough since they only play once a week.

[Craig S.]

I would have loved that system to have been used last season. No more guessing about the top 2 teams - make them prove it over several games.

[Skip]

The only way this will ever happen is if all the bowls (at least those with any history at all) are preserved. So ... combine Sweaver's use of the bowls and seeding process with Smed's idea for conference champs. Make it like March Madness - that's been pretty successful, eh. All conferences at least have a chance, but the stronger conferences get more teams in. There'll still be a hue and cry over who gets left out, but thats part of what makes it fun.

I hope something at least similar to this happens, but don't expect it anytime soon.

[sweaver]

With a single-elimination tournament, you need one less game than you have teams. So, if there are 25 bowl, you have 26 teams, for instance. For a 32-team tournament, you would need 31 bowls. I like the bye for the top teams, but that's opinion.

Using conference champions plus at-large bids, such as the basketball tournament does, could easily be done. Then, of course, you have to deal with all the little conferences wanting bids. Does the Ivy League then go back to I-A for football, to get an automatic bid? This is one reason (the other being money) that basketball went to 64 teams.

[SmedIndy]

No, Sweaver, they're in I-AA and do not allow their teams to go to the playoffs.

I-AA is perfect for those even smaller conferences who do not want to compete financially with the big boys. For them, it's about money spent on football. I think the teams going from I-AA to I-A are really having a tough time of it getting opponents and meaningful games (except ones that can plop into a conference, like UAB).

There are only 117 (I think) D-1A football teams. Why 32? 16 is plenty! There are too many freakin' bowls anyway...

[KCBOOMER]

I guess I would prefer something even simpler. You can keep all the bowls. Use the four BCS bowls as the first round of a single elimination eight team tournamet. The following week-end you have two games involving the winners and the week after that you have the championship game.

This only adds two weeks to the schedule for two teams and one week to the schedule for two other teams.

You have to have seedings. The thought of the two best teams playing each other in the first round is repulsive. Take the eight best teams according to whatever formula. Everything tournament comes down to some kind of poll anyway.

[Skip]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
Why 32? 16 is plenty! There are too many freakin' bowls anyway...

Yes, but if a playoff is going to happen there will have to be compromise - and one area this is key is the existing bowls. Any playoff would have to include the existing bowls, at least at first. If a few die off afterwards, so be it.

[sweaver]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
No, Sweaver, they're in I-AA and do not allow their teams to go to the playoffs.

They do in I-A basketball. Obviously, football is far different, but will some now I-AA conferences move up to get in on the playoffs? Marshall left the I-AA ranks to join the MAC after dominating the I-AA playoffs for several years, so I wonder if whole conferences will get caught up in the frenzy.

As a personal preference, I would go with rankings. You will get all the top teams that way. However, I would not be bothered by using conference champs with at-large bids, but I don't think the teams that make the playoffs would be much different either way.