Thread: Div 1A Playoff, what if...

as we enter the final month of the college football season with a plethra of undefeated and 1-loss teams, I've decided to play playoff whatif, and see what a playoff scenario would look like.

My ideal playoff setup, 16 teams with automatic berths to conference champs and 5 at larges. At Larges and seeding would be decided by a committe such as is done with Basketball.

1 - Florida (SEC)
2 - Texas (Big 12)
3 - Iowa (Big 10)
4 - Cincinnati (Big East)
5 - Alabama (at large)
6 - TCU (MWC)
7 - Oregon (PAC 10)
8 - Georgia Tech (ACC)
9 - Penn St (at large)
10 - Boise St. (WAC)
11 - USC (at large)
12 - LSU (at large)
13 - Miami (at large)
14 - Houston (C-USA)
15 - Temple (MAC)
16 - Troy (Sun Belt)

Yes I know there are some teams that I missed for at large spots, but I think those teams (Pitt, Ohio St., Utah) will lose 1 or 2 upcoming games.
I had to flip a coin on LSU & Alabama, as I'm not sure who will lose it. But the end result either way is both teams will have 1 more loss (either to the other or Florida).
The final at large pick was hard, as there are several 2 loss teams out there that are fairly even in strength.

The above would make for an exciting playoff.

What ideas do y'all have?

Originally Posted by Derwin0

as we enter the final month of the college football season with a plethra of undefeated and 1-loss teams, I've decided to play playoff whatif, and see what a playoff scenario would look like.

My ideal playoff setup, 16 teams with automatic berths to conference champs and 5 at larges. At Larges and seeding would be decided by a committe such as is done with Basketball.

1 - Florida (SEC)
2 - Texas (Big 12)
3 - Iowa (Big 10)
4 - Cincinnati (Big East)
5 - Alabama (at large)
6 - TCU (MWC)
7 - Oregon (PAC 10)
8 - Georgia Tech (ACC)
9 - Penn St (at large)
10 - Boise St. (WAC)
11 - USC (at large)
12 - LSU (at large)
13 - Miami (at large)
14 - Houston (C-USA)
15 - Temple (MAC)
16 - Troy (Sun Belt)

Yes I know there are some teams that I missed for at large spots, but I think those teams (Pitt, Ohio St., Utah) will lose 1 or 2 upcoming games.
I had to flip a coin on LSU & Alabama, as I'm not sure who will lose it. But the end result either way is both teams will have 1 more loss (either to the other or Florida).
The final at large pick was hard, as there are several 2 loss teams out there that are fairly even in strength.

The above would make for an exciting playoff.

What ideas do y'all have?

Interesting first round pairings:

Alabama - LSU
You won't have at flip a coin this time.

Oregon - Boise St
This September game became known for the Blount incident, but with what Oregon has accomplished this year their absolute ineptitude on offense in this game had to be seen to be believed.


Sandra

Originally Posted by Derwin0

as we enter the final month of the college football season with a plethra of undefeated and 1-loss teams, I've decided to play playoff whatif, and see what a playoff scenario would look like.

My ideal playoff setup, 16 teams with automatic berths to conference champs and 5 at larges. At Larges and seeding would be decided by a committe such as is done with Basketball.

1 - Florida (SEC)
2 - Texas (Big 12)
3 - Iowa (Big 10)
4 - Cincinnati (Big East)
5 - Alabama (at large)
6 - TCU (MWC)
7 - Oregon (PAC 10)
8 - Georgia Tech (ACC)
9 - Penn St (at large)
10 - Boise St. (WAC)
11 - USC (at large)
12 - LSU (at large)
13 - Miami (at large)
14 - Houston (C-USA)
15 - Temple (MAC)
16 - Troy (Sun Belt)

Yes I know there are some teams that I missed for at large spots, but I think those teams (Pitt, Ohio St., Utah) will lose 1 or 2 upcoming games.
I had to flip a coin on LSU & Alabama, as I'm not sure who will lose it. But the end result either way is both teams will have 1 more loss (either to the other or Florida).
The final at large pick was hard, as there are several 2 loss teams out there that are fairly even in strength.

The above would make for an exciting playoff.

What ideas do y'all have?

That is the ideal setup. The only caveat I would add is I wouldn't allow for conference opponents to play each other in the 1st round, just like they do in basketball.

Originally Posted by anders5189

That is the ideal setup. The only caveat I would add is I wouldn't allow for conference opponents to play each other in the 1st round, just like they do in basketball.

Yeah, I didn't think about that when I set it up. I went by strength rankings.
A committee would likely swap LSU with USC to avoid it, as well as Troy and Temple to avoid a Florida-Troy rematch. Boise St & Oregon though, I'd be tempted to leave with a rematch.

re-ordered to remove conference games and rematches
1 - Florida (SEC)
2 - Texas (Big 12)
3 - Iowa (Big 10)
4 - Cincinnati (Big East)
5 - Alabama (at large)
6 - TCU (MWC)
7 - Oregon (PAC 10)
8 - Georgia Tech (ACC)
9 - Boise St. (WAC)
10 - Penn St (at large)
11 - LSU (at large)
12 - USC (at large)
13 - Miami (at large)
14 - Houston (C-USA)
15 - Troy (Sun Belt)
16 - Temple (MAC)

Miami as an at large? Seriously?

But I can't agree more - Bring on a playoff!

Originally Posted by hancox

Miami as an at large? Seriously?

Like I said, the last at large was a hard choice between several 2 loss teams. I pretty much took the one highest on the polls out of the teams I thought would have 2 losses at the end of the season (other than the ones I already picked).

How about a 1-loss team in Pitt? Their closing 4 would qualify as pretty darned tough-enough, I would think:

Cuse (OK, OK)
Notre Dame
@WVU
Cincy

Even a 3-1 finish would have to garner them serious consideration, wouldn't you think?

Originally Posted by hancox

How about a 1-loss team in Pitt? Their closing 4 would qualify as pretty darned tough-enough, I would think:

Cuse (OK, OK)
Notre Dame
@WVU
Cincy

Even a 3-1 finish would have to garner them serious consideration, wouldn't you think?

The at larges should just be the 5 highest ranked teams that don't get an automatic bid. If Pitt ran the table they'd certainly be high enough.

If you want this to resemble the NCAA Tourney, may I suggest a play-in game to decide the 16th seed? At least then can my Buckeyes then be a part of this group of 16.