Doug Franz College Football Playoff – Week 2

In case you don’t know from the things I’ve said on air. I want a playoff in college football but I don’t have a problem with the BCS formula. I just don’t want it used to narrow the field from 120 to 2.

I have yet to hear any “pro current system” argument that I can’t destroy on logical grounds. Of course there’s one argument I can’t beat and that is anyone saying they like the current system and they don’t want it changed. Other than that, I’m still waiting for someone to convince me to give up my dream for a college football playoff.

Every week I’ll be putting before you the Doug Franz College Football Playoff. Every week the BCS rankings will change, therefore changing the teams making the playoff. If you want an explanation for the way my formula works, check the bottom of the blog.

Here’s the playoff pairings if the regular season ended today.

16) Nevada @ 1) Florida
15) Pittsburgh @ 2) Alabama
14) Oklahoma St @ 3) Texas
13) Va Tech @ 4) Iowa
12) Penn St @ 5) USC
11) Ga Tech @ 6) TCU
10) Oregon @ 7) Boise St
9) LSU @ 8) Cincinnati

OBSERVATIONS:

No Ohio State, Notre Dame or Michigan in the playoff

Oregon gets another shot at Boise State and that might include LaGarrette Blount

For years, northern teams have been waiting for a southern team to travel north. How’s LSU@UC?

JoePa @ the Coliseum…heaven

The second round could have LSU@UF, USC@Iowa, TCU@UT & BSU@UA.

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN:

By ranking every team, you get a true representation of the best conference by simply taking the average BCS rank of every team in the conference. This makes every game important.

Here’s the ranking of the conferences after week 2 of the BCS and the average BCS rank of the teams in the conference.

1) SEC – 35.92
2) Pac-10 – 38.9
3) Big East – 42.5
4) Big 12 – 46.58
5) Big 10 – 50.82
6) ACC – 53.42
7) MWC – 62.22
8) WAC – 73.44
9) C-USA – 81.25
10) MAC – 88.69
11) Sun Belt – 91.11

If C-USA is upset Houston isn’t in the playoff, the conference shouldn’t tolerate Rice, Tulane, Memphis and UAB all ranked 100th or worse in D-1. If those teams were even ranked in the 80’s, C-USA would have a higher ranking than the WAC. With a higher ranking, their champion would earn an automatic bid. C-USA is so weak that Houston is left to fend for itself as a wild card.

On the surface it looks like a mistake that 61st ranked Nevada is in the poll. It’s not a mistake but it will change quickly. The WAC is the 8th ranked conference based on BCS average. Right now, Nevada is 3-0 in conference while Boise State is 2-0. This is of vital importance to Utah. Boise State would stay in the playoff because they’re in as a wild card right now. As soon as Nevada losses in WAC play, they’re out of the playoff and Boise is in as an automatic qualifier, opening a spot for Utah as a wild card. This playoff system makes every game vital because it rewards teams and conferences alike.

Here’s the process for coming up with the teams.

1) Rank all D-1 (FBS) teams 1-120 (from Florida-Eastern Michigan)
2) Rank all the conferences based on the average BCS rank of the teams in the conference.
3) Reward the first place team in the top 8 conferences with an automatic bid.
4) Independents—this means you Notre Dame—get no special treatment. If you’re not in a conference, earn a wild card bid or join a conference.
5) Select 8 wild-card teams based on BCS rank excluding those already selected with an automatic bid.
6) Rank the 16 teams based on BCS rank with no regard to status as an automatic qualifier or wild-card entry.
7) First two rounds are at the home of the better seed.
8) Final Four and Championship game are played at a rotation among Fiesta, Cotton, Sugar, Rose.

I’m aware that there are three games at neutral sites with four bowl game hosts. This is leverage in case the Rose wants to stick to tradition. If the Rose does want to stay involved, there would be a new bowl game created for the two teams that just missed out on the playoff. This week would be Utah v Ohio State.

Feel free to ask me any questions or give me your opinions: doug@ktar.com

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