It's definitely time to implement a playoff system into D-1 college football.
There are 3 scenarios that could play out this year, which is a bit interesting. The final (c) will likely be the ideal situation for future consideration (similar to the NFL set up).
a) The Top 6 teams (switched around a bit to make things interesting):
(1) LSU v. (4)Stanford/(5)Oregon
(2) OSU v. (3)Alabama/(6)Arkansas
And what we get is most of these games have been played! LSU moves on to the championship game (Oregon beat Stanford, LSU beat Oregon in the regular season). All we need to see is OSU/Alabama for the right to play LSU in the national title game.
b) Take what we have now:
(1) LSU v. Oregon/Wisconsin (ROSE)
(2) Alabama v. OSU/Stanford (FIESTA)
Play the Monday games (Jan 2) with the winners going on to New Orleans to play in a FINAL FOUR atmosphere Saturday afternoon/evening. Then, just like basketball, the winners meeting up as already scheduled Monday (Jan 9). Exciting? yes! Crazy? Of course!
c) The top 4 conference champions (highest ranked) + 2 'wild cards' (next two highest ranked teams)
Seed the 4 conference champs in order of rank:
1. LSU
2. OK-STATE
3. Oregon
4. Wisconsin
Wild-cards:
5. Alabama
6. Stanford
*First and second round games cannot contain teams from the same conference unless impossible.
Play the first round the next week (Dec 10 this year)
Oregon @ Alabama
Wisconsin @ Stanford
Play the semi's the following week (Dec 17)
Wisconsin/Stanford winner @ LSU
Oregon/Alabama winner @ OSU
The championship game is played in bowl format 3 weeks later at a neutral site. The other 4 teams can still participate in new years' bowl games (2 or 3 weeks after previous game).
Maximum # games possible (Oregon and/or Wisconsin) = 16 (2 more than each team is will play this year). Still time for student athletes to take finals, enjoy Christmas, etc. Award ceremonies during this time can be worked around.
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