I’ve done this before, we have this thread every year during Bowl season, and my opinion hasn’t changed. I’ll give this caveat, the National Championship is a fictitious concept. No matter what the system, it’s not a representation of what the best program in the country is. There’s just too many teams and to few common opponents to give it that much credit. It’s a media spectacle, further beefing up what was originally nothing than the opinion of a handful of sportswriters desperate to squeeze one last story out about college football for the off season.
For 90% of the colleges in the nation they have no chance of winning a national title. A playoff system dos nothing to change that fact, perhaps it moves the needle to 80%, but for the vast majority of the alumni, students and athletes in the NCAA the national championship isn’t the goal. Winning their conference title is the goal, and it’s absolutely critical that that is maintained as valuable. Secondarily, making it to a traditional Bowl game is the reward for that accomplishment. Making that a annual and reliable outcome is critical. Long story short, traditional Bowl tie-ins are very valuable to the majority of the NCAA middle class. So, keeping that in mind here’s the solution.
First, for the “Power” conferences very little will change. The Big Ten will have a Conference Title game. For all intents and purposes this is a First Round playoff game. The Pac-12 is the same, and so on with the SEC, Big 12, ACC etc. The Quarter Final game will be the a traditional Bowl tie in. The Big Ten champ will face the Pac-12 champ in the Rose Bowl in what is now both a traditional Bowl game and a reward for those schools and also a Quarter Final game. Playoff seeding be damned, this traditional tie-in and the ability for fans of the Big Ten and Pac-12 to plan vacation travel around a set date and location is more important. A similar scenario is in place for the SEC champ and the Big-12 champ, they meet in a Quarter Final game in the Sugar Bowl. The ACC and Big East can land in the Orange Bowl. Of course with realignment happening these might change, but the premise is sound.
For the mid-major conferences they’ll have to play an inter-conference battle in their First Round game. Say the MWC and MAC suit up to play in the Liberty Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Potato Bowl or whatever. They can have conference title games which are “play-in” games or not, their call. These games and rotate sites if they prefer. Say have the game in MAC country one year and MWC country the next, and have a consolation game between the 2nd place finishers in the other site. Here we create a new traditional tie-in and add value to those lesser bowl games and give the teams fans a destination to plan for. The winner of this game goes to the Fiesta Bowl to face an At-Large team, Norte Dame or a 2nd place team from a major conference. This year this is where Alabama would have snuck in for a second bite at the apple.
Once all that shakes out, you are in line for a +3 format. The Rose Bowl champ, Orange Bowl Champ, Sugar Bowl champ and Fiesta Bowl champ all play a Semi Final round game, the winners play a Title game. I think it works best if these games are treated as a Final 4 and played in one site starting New Years week and finishing the week after.
Here’s a mock up of what the bracket would look like.
First Round
Big Ten East champ
Big Ten West champ
Pac12 North champ
Pac-12 South champ
SEC East champ
SEC West champ
Big 12 North champ
Big 12 South champ
ACC 1 champ
ACC 2 champ
MWC/WAC champ
MAC champ
At Large
C-USA champ
Quarter Finals
Rose Bowl
Big Ten champ
Pac-12 champ
Sugar Bowl
SEC champ
Big-12 champ
Orange Bowl
ACC champ
Big East champ
Fiesta Bowl
MWC/MAC champ
At-Large
There’s some jiggering that would need to take place to get those First Round games between the mid-tier conferences and at large teams to be fair and the conference realignment makes it tough to project now. Maybe the MAC and Sun Belt champs have to play a play in game before the first round to make room for an extra at large team. Maybe the Big East or C-USA and MWC or WAC need to have a play in. But the basic format works.
Troy has a chance to get in. They’d have to win a bunch of do or die games, but there’s no chance that Troy kicks a Big Ten team out of the Rose Bowl. You eliminate the chances of a SEC rematch in the title game based on nothing more than votes and a soft non-conference schedule. You keep the Bowl tie ins and you keep travel to a managable amount. You give meaning to some of the lower tier Bowls that are struggling for attendance. Book it, it’s perfect.