Doug Franz College Football Power Poll: Week 5

The week 5 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) Cincinnati @ 1) LSU

15) TCU @ 2) Oklahoma St

14) Michigan State @ 3) Alabama

13) Kansas St @ 4) Oregon

12) So Carolina @ 5) Oklahoma

11) Houston @ 6) Arkansas

10) Boise St @ 7) Clemson

9) Stanford @ 8) Va Tech

OBSERVATIONS:

TCU’s huge win over Boise gets the Frogs off the 1 line
and gives them an easier trip to Stillwater instead of a
thrashing in Baton Rouge.

The game moves Boise from a comfortable home game against
Penn State to now travelling across the country to
Clemson.

Michigan State made the playoff 3 weeks ago for the first
time with their win over Wisconsin. Michigan State got
knocked out 2 weeks ago with their loss to Nebraska and
the Huskers went in. Last week, with Northwestern’s upset
of Nebraska, the Big 10 lost their wild card spot as K-
State moved into the playoff. Now, it comes full circle
as Michigan State is back in as the Big 10 champ.

Kansas State only moved up one spot. Of course moving
from a trip to Tuscaloosa to a game in Eugene is much
easier for the Wildcats.

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.

Speaking of Stanford, the Cardinal went from hosting a
weak 13 seed to having the furthest distance to travel of
any team in the DFCFP. Palo Alto to Blacksburg = 2690 mi.

The SEC West as a division has three teams in the tourney.

How’s this for a second round game: Oklahoma @ Oregon. I
wonder if Mike Stoops would help the Sooners? I wonder if
it would help? Of course, the Sooners would have to get
past the Ole’ ball coach first.

In the second round we could see how Andrew Luck handles
the noise of Death Valley at night with 95,000 drunk Tiger
fans, assuming Stanford upsets Va Tech.

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: 29.6

2) SEC: 33.17

3) Big 10: 46.75

4) ACC: 51.75

5) Big East: 54.5

6) PAC-12: 54.67

7) Mtn West: 70.25

8) C-USA: 71.83

9) MAC: 81.23

10) Sun Belt: 87.89

11) WAC: 89.5

CONFERENCE OBSERVATIONS:

Through all the crap that’s occurred in the Big 12, the
conference is stacked. Three teams in the top 13, 5 in
the top 25 and Kansas is last but only in 73rd place.

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

C-USA took a beating in the latest conference rankings.
My dream as an Ohio Bobcat fan is the day comes in which
the MAC earns a bid into the DFCFP. It’s never happened
but we’re getting close.

Want proof every game matters in the DFCFP? Huge weekend
for the ACC with BC at ND and Miami at South Florida. If
the home teams win both of those games, the ACC goes from
the 4th best conference to the 6th and moves closer to the
scary zone of 7th and 8th.

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 Akron)

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 5

1) Oklahoma State

2) LSU

3) Michigan St

4) Clemson

5) Cincinnati

6) Oregon

7) TCU

8) Houston

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) Oklahoma

3) Arkansas

4) Va Tech

5) Stanford

6) Boise State

7) South Carolina

8) Kansas State

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
Georgia v Nebraska.

I give you the extra bowl game just to prove that the
bowls don’t have to die. Georgia v Nebraska 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 A&M 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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