Doug Franz College Football Power Poll: Week 3

The week 3 standings are out for the BCS.

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, except one. I can’t
argue against 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.
Every week the BCS rankings will change, therefore
changing the teams making the playoff. Check in each week
and see how things have changed. At the end of the
season, it’s up to you to pick the winners of each game
and set in motion the championship challenge.

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) TCU @ 1) LSU

15) Cincinnati @ 2) Alabama

14) Penn St @ 3) Oklahoma St

13) Hou @ 4) Stanford

12) Va Tech @ 5) Boise St

11) Clemson @ 6) Oklahoma

10) Nebraska @ 7) Arkansas

9) So Carolina @ 8) Oregon

OBSERVATIONS:

The game of the century is this weekend with LSU @
Alabama. If you think the playoff diminishes that game,
you’ve never been to an SEC game before.

Michigan State made the playoff for the first time with
their win over Wisconsin. Michigan State is out this week
with their loss to Nebraska and the Huskers are in.

Two weeks ago Oregon was traveling in the 7 v 10 game.
Last week they hosted it. Since Washington State is so
bad, beating them drops Oregon to barely holding on to a
home game.

0 conference games in the DFCFP. Last week there were
two.

The best high school players come from Florida, Texas,
California and Ohio. The DFCFP has no teams from OH or FL
and it’s the non-traditional TCU, Houston and Stanford
representing Texas and California.

The SEC West as a division has three teams in the tourney.
Not one conference has more than two.

Right now, TCU has a better conference record than Boise
State so they get the automatic bid. Boise St and TCU
meet next weekend in Boise. This is good news for Kansas
State who got knocked out of the playoff by losing to
Oklahoma but would be back in the playoff if the Mtn. West
only had one bid.

How’s this for a second round game: Oklahoma @ Oklahoma
State.

The Ole’ ball coach has to take a warm weather team up to
Oregon in December. What a perfect match-up since Chip
Kelly in 2011 is the Steve Spurrier of the 1990’s.

In the second round we get to see how Andrew Luck handles
the noise of Death Valley at night with 95,000 drunk Tiger
fans.

So happy JoePa makes the tournament.

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN:

By ranking every team 1-120, you get a true representation
of the best conference by 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.

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) Big 12: 31.5

2) SEC: 35.67

3) Big 10: 48.92

4) ACC: 49

5) PAC-12: 53.25

6) Big East: 54

7) C-USA: 70.5
8) Mtn West: 72.13

9) MAC: 81.69

10) Sun Belt: 88.22

11) WAC: 88.88

CONFERENCE OBSERVATIONS:

Through all the crap that’s occurred in the Big 12, the
conference is stacked. Three teams in the top 14, 4 in
the top 25 and Kansas is last but only in 70th place.

If the Pac-12 dumped Colorado (108) and Oregon State
(101), the conference would jump ahead of the Big 10 and
be the third best conference in the country.

Arizona went from 103rd to 79th with one win and now
bumped up to 78th.

In the 11 years of the DFCFP, C-USA has never made the top
8.

Want proof every game matters in the DFCFP? If New Mexico
State pulls off the upset and knocks off Georgia, it would
lift the whole WAC into the playoff.

PLAYOFF EXPLANATION:

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 LSU to New
Mexico)

2) Rank all the conferences 1-11 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.

WEEK 3

1) Oklahoma State

2) LSU

3) Penn St

4) Clemson

5) Stanford

6) Cincinnati

7) Houston

8) TCU

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.

WILDCARDS

1) Alabama

2) Boise State

3) Oklahoma

4) Arkansas

5) Oregon

6) South Carolina

7) Nebraska

8) Va Tech

6) Rank the 16 teams based on BCS rank with no regard
to status as an automatic qualifier or wild-card entry.
The tournament would follow a bracket format. Although
re-seeding would be a better way to reward the regular
season, nothing is better than filling out a basketball
bracket and I want that momentum and attention on college
football.

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 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
Michigan v Kansas State.

I give you the extra bowl game just to prove that the
bowls don’t have to die. Michigan v Kansas State is still
a great college football game with great fans. 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? You’d still
get the benefit of extra practices to prepare for your
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

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