Doug Franz College Football Playoff 2010

8) Arkansas @ 1) Auburn

10) Boise St. @ 2) Oregon

11) LSU @ 3) TCU

5) Wisconsin @ 4) Stanford

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.

I put before you the Doug Franz College Football Playoff. It’s up to you to vote and advance the teams forward. We’ll leave each round up for a couple days and tally the votes and then we’ll move on to the next round.

The magic of the DFCFP is how it highlights the regular season more than any other system. Here’s the process for coming up with the teams for the playoff.

1) Rank all D-1 (FBS) teams 1-120 (from Auburn to Akron).

2) Rank all the conferences 1-11 based on the average BCS rank of the teams in the conference. Here’s the final ranking of the conferences and the average BCS rank of the teams in the conference.

1) Big 12 – 36.42

2) SEC – 39.92

3) Pac 10 – 42.5

4) Big 10 – 45.18

5) ACC – 53.17

6) Big East – 58.38

7) WAC – 62.1

8) MWC – 62.89

9) C-USA – 75.67

10) MAC – 90.46

11) Sun Belt – 105.67

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 playoff system makes every college football game in the country vital because it rewards teams and conferences alike.

3) Reward the first place team in the top 8 conferences with an automatic bid. I have two goals here.

1) Big 12 – Oklahoma

2) SEC – Auburn

3) Pac 10 – Oregon

4) Big 10 – Wisconsin

5) ACC – Va Tech

6) Big East – UConn

7) WAC – Boise St

8) MWC – TCU

9) C-USA – must earn wild card

10) MAC – must earn wild card

11) Sun Belt – must earn wild card

I want to keep the regular season and conference championships sacred but I don’t want other schools to make up a conference just to think they get in the playoff like the NCAA basketball tournament. Each conference has to earn their spot in the tournament.

4) Select 8 wild-card teams based on BCS rank excluding those already selected with an automatic bid. 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.

1) Stanford
2) Ohio St.
3) Arkansas
4) Michigan St.
5) LSU
6) Mizzou
7) Oklahoma St.
8) Nevada

5) Rank the teams 1-16 based on BCS rank with no regard to status as an automatic qualifier or wild-card entry.

6) The first round is at the home of the better seed. This benefits Northern teams so the South would have to play in the elements. I think the seeding and the carrot of having a home game is a big incentive. There won’t be the NFL problem of resting starters at the end of the season when your fate is known because a college team will never know their fate until after the regular season.
I realize Auburn knew they were in the DFCFP before they played in the SEC Championship game but if they lost, they might drop to a 4 seed. Instead of UConn, now they would face a very hot Hokie team. While a team that’s around 6th in the BCS before the final weekend could lose a home game.

7) Final Four and Championship game are played at a rotation among Fiesta, Cotton, Sugar, Rose.

I’m aware that after the first two rounds there are three games left at neutral sites with four bowl game hosts. This is leverage in case the Rose wants to stick to tradition. If they duck out I’ve got three games and three bowls. 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 Texas A&M v Alabama in Glendale.

I give you the extra bowl game just to prove that the bowls don’t have to die. Texas A&M v Alabama is still a great college football game with great fans. There’s actually a mini-rivalry between the teams because there’s a history of each team signing away the other one’s coach. We wouldn’t have 35 bowl games anymore—sorry Pinstripe Bowl—but some of the big ones with tradition don’t have to go anywhere.

If you’re an ASU fan are you saying you wouldn’t go watch the Devils against Texas in a Holiday Bowl just because it wasn’t in the playoff? Coaches would still get the benefit of extra practices to prepare for the bowl game. Players would still get to enjoy the goodies they receive for participating. As for the fans, we get a real champion.

Feel free to ask me any questions or give me your opinions and I’ll put it in the mailbag: doug@ktar.com