Could Mark Cuban be college football's savior?

Well, maybe the Rose Bowl committee makes that choice. And then again, maybe when they see the money they forego by not being a part of the playoff, but instead getting a 4th tier matchup like say, Iowa - Arizona this year, they re-think things.

And someone mentioned the bowls suing for anti-trust? Pot, kettle, black there.

There's a lot more money to be made out there with a playoff. And eventually we will get to a tipping point where a good number of college administrators realize a) they're getting royally screwed in the current bowl system and b) decide they want or need to cash in on that added revenue.

 

One could argue that a 16-game playoff (15 games) plus 20-25 bowl games would give more postseason opportunities to the smaller conferences.

 

How would the top 16 be determined?

Through a formula similar to the current "flawed" one?

 

Assuming a ranking system similar to the BCS, Alabama would be the #16 team. Imagine the howls from the chattering class if the lords of college football cheapened their tradition by letting a three-loss team win the championship, and in the process forced Auburn into a rematch with a team it had already beaten.

 

Fuck 'em.

 

Alabama would essentially have to beat Auburn, Oklahoma, Stanford and Oregon to win the title. If you win those four games in back-to-back-to-back weeks, you deserve the title.

 

Even if you lost 25 percent of your regular-season games, which means you really lost 50 percent of your truly competitive games? What exactly would the regular season mean then?

 

Let's assume there are 11 conference champs who make the field of 16 and there are five at-large spots.

This year (this is off the top of my head, so don't freak out if I forget somebody) those five would have been Stanford, Ohio State, Michigan State, Arkansas and Boise State. Four of those have one loss and Arkansas has two.

 

OK, that's quite a bit different from your proposal that it should be "the top 16 teams period." I still don't think the Sun Belt/MAC/etc. need to be in and I think they really dilute the appeal of the whole thing. I also think a playoff would severely drain the ratings, attendance and aggregate dollars during the regular season. I can think of 10 games this year or any year that I watch because of their impact on the BCS and wouldn't watch otherwise. (Ohio State-Wisconsin and Alabama-Auburn are the most prominent examples this year.)

 

Yeah, because of the people on this board, I've come to the realization that as much as I would love my initial proposal to work, that it won't since you need all conferences to be on board.

 

This year's Auburn-Alabama game will be remembered for generations.

Under a playoff system, it's just another game. Great win, Auburn! You saved your season! Well, maybe not your season . . . but you'll be a 1 seed now instead of a 4. Hope you can get healthy before that possible rematch with the Tide. Woohoo!

 

You could argue that Auburn knocked Alabama out of the playoff.