College Football Week 12, in which Les Miles reads Houston Nutt's will

In fairness, the NCAA wouldn't HAVE to give all conference champions a berth. The Pioneer Football League and the newly-departed Great West don't get automatic bids in the FCS tournament (the Ivy and SWAC don't take part). The NEC and Big South just started getting bids last year.

But even if you limited the autobids to the top six conferences using the BCS metrics, you'd only have room for two at-large bids if you had an eight-team tournament. A 16-team tournament gets you to five at-large at mininum, even if you give the MAC and Sun Belt free passage. Or you could go 20 and have the lower ranking teams have play in games, as they do in the FCS playoffs.

 

I think the desire by some to get to 16 teams is why it won't happen. You don't have to include everybody. This isn't the NCAA Tournament. Nobody needs to see Arkansas State have "a chance" to win the national title.

It should be the top eight teams, regardless of conference, no automatic qualifiers. So in a year like this one, the Big 10 probably wouldn't have anyone.

No. 1 LSU vs. No. 8 Houston
No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 7 Boise State
No. 3 Arkansas vs. No. 6 Stanford
No. 4 Virginia Tecs vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State

 

The results would have mattered in compiling the bracket.

The results would not have mattered in the sense of HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT TIMEOUT BOB STOOPS CALLED, WHAT A FRACKING IDIOT!!!!!!!! Last year the argument was that the Iron Bowl would have been considered a classic because it might have knocked Alabama out of a playoff spot. BFD, nobody is going to remember who the 13th team in the playoff was.

 

I think a 16-team playoff would be OK with the conference champs getting automatic bids. After the automatic bids, take the next 5 best teams based on BCS rankings. That would make it like the FCS, D-II and others that reward conference champs but also leave room for at-large teams.

 

Might as well change "If they then lose" to "When they lose" on that last one. Whichever Pac-12 South team makes it to the championship game will get pummeled, whether the opponent be Oregon or Stanford. Especially if it's Oregon; Stanford has looked pretty shaky the last two weeks.

 

The season is not over. When LSU rolls Arkansas, what would make the Hogs better than Wisconsin or Michigan State?

If Arkansas plays LSU in week 5 instead of this week it doesn't even sniff a BCS berth. And it will fall out nof contention this week after loss No. 2, as it should.

 

Of course it's not over... I meant, based on, if it ended today...

 

A lot of things make the Hogs better, actually. Like the fact that their losses came agains the two best teams in the country instead of Notre Dame and Nebraska (for Michigan State) or Michigan State and Ohio State (for Wisconsin). Or the fact that their best win came against South Carolina, which is better than Nebraska (Wisconsin's best win thus far).

If the Razorbacks had lost to LSU in Week 5, they'd still be ranked ahead of Michigan State and Nebraska (and Penn State, for that matter). They might not have been ranked ahead of Oklahoma or Oregon, but that depends on how much they lost by, too.

 

Ding! Versatile ftw.

 

If your goal is to find the best team in the country, there's never been a season in which 16 teams had a legitimate argument that they were it, and there never will be.

 

You know what's a legitimate argument for being the best team in the country? Winning a championship playoff. There are no other legitimate arguments, only worthless opinions. There have been years when the BCS title game was a rough approximation of honest competition based on regular season results. This year won't be one of 'em.
What has people's egos so twister they cherish their opinions more than an obvious means of answering a question?

 

Didn't the NCAA just suggest looking at a "plus-1" model? Seems that would undercut their demand for all conference champs to be included.
I'd still favor an eight-team tourney (maybe 10 - with two first round byes) with eight top-ranked conference champs and top two at-large, using BCS rankings) play the first and second rounds and home sites giving teams something to play for all the way through and ensuring good attendance. Conference championship games on Thanksgiving weekend. First round the following week, second round after that. Final championship game after the new years bowls which are designated as consolation round games.

I figure the Urban Meyer to OSU announcement is only being delayed due to his ESPN duties. If he was really against the idea or his health was still a concern he would have already said no.