luckiestman said:
I suppose. But I rarely feel convinced the best NCAA basketball team is the champ because they win some wacky tournament. I'd rather the top 4 seeds play best of five series or something. The conference system is already a quasi playoff system in college football. I don't really feel the need to watch bama blowout the number 32 team then blowout the number 16 team to get down to 8 just because PLAYOFFS.
Money is going to determine it, so I'm going to be doing that stupid tomahawk chop and eating gator either way.
But it wouldn't have to be a straight bracket with 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, etc.
Start with 9-12 hosting first-round games vs 13-16. Then 5-8 play the winners in four neutral-site bowls. Then 1-4 play the next set of winners in four more bowls, leading to the semifinals and championship.
Sure, fans of 9 & 10 will complain about not getting a bye, 5 & 6 will whine about not getting a double-bye, and 13-16 will moan about having to travel. But their teams will still have a chance to prove it on the field. Again, the real bitching comes from being left out altogether.
If those bitching about heavy game workloads want to continue that argument, cut the field to 12 and have 5-8 host 9-12 in the first round. Then move on to the 4-2-1 neutral site bowls.
And you wouldn't have to mess with the calendar. The other bowl games would continue as usual with invitations being extended the same way they always have. This year the layout could have been something like this:
Sat, Dec 13
#12 Boise St at #5 Ohio State
#11 Missouri at #6 Baylor
#10 GA Tech at #7 Miss St
#8 Arizona at #9 Michigan St
Sat, Dec 20
Nashville TN - #1 Alabama vs Arizona/Mich St
San Diego CA - #2 Oregon vs GT/MS St
Orlando FL - #3 Florida St vs Baylor/MO
Dallas TX - #4 TCU vs Boise/Ohio St
Thur, Jan 1
New Orleans LA - Ala/AZ/MichSt vs TCU/Boise/Ohio St
Pasadena CA - Ore/GT/MSSU vs FSU/Baylor/MO
Mon, Jan 12
Miami FL - Championship Game
The only tradition being fucked with here is Army/Navy being the only game played this weekend. Thanksgiving games still get played. So do rivalry games and conference championships. Teams would get 11 days rest between both the quarters/semis and semis/title game. Teams losing a first-round game could still be invited to a later bowl.
Seriously, I defy anyone to point out any major flaws with the above.