College Football 2007

[Havok]

I will use this years dates for my explanation.

You have a 12 game, 14 week regular college schedule that runs from August 30th through Dec 1st.

This year there are 31 Bowls, 32 if you include the BCS Championship game. The Bowls take place from Dec 20th through Jan. 7th.

For my scheme, you need 30 Bowls and 1 BCS Championship game. The Bowls will start on Dec 16th with the first bracket and end with the BCS game on Jan 7th. Games can be positioned a day before or after Saturday to get maximum TV coverage.

Each Bowl serves as a playoff game, with 8 Bowls in the first week, 8 bowls the second week, 8 the third, 4 the fourth, 2 the fifth, with a culmination still on January 7th with the BCS Championship Game.
Now, you have 11 Conferences and the Independents, so say you have 12 conferences.

The Top 12 teams in the final ranking going into the playoffs have to be the conference winners, although they still are subject to the computer and coaches polls as well as the politicking that is currently present to figure out where in the top 12 they are seeded.
The remaining 13 teams are subject to the ranking system as it exists now.

Teams ranked 17-25 will play in the Opening week, along with 7 Bowl Eligible teams. Eligibility will probably have to rise from 6 wins to 7 or 8 for this scheme to thin out the heard.

Teams ranked in the bottom 4 of the conference winners, 9-12, and teams 13, 14 and15 get one week off and play the winners from the first bracket.

The top 8 of that 12 get two weeks off, which is good, because they get the rest, but is a challenge, because they are going to play tougher teams in their first game.

I feel that what this system will do, is get a definite BCS Champion, keep the Bowl Sponsors happy, keep the schools happy, give the rankings more meaning, get people to watch the smaller bowls, give all the ranked teams a chance to play for the title, as well as allowing some outside underdogs or dark horses in or good teams that may be getting hot or recovering from injuries or whatever. It also keeps the sports writers happy by having their votes still matter as well as the coaches.

As far as the Bowls themselves, The BCS Game can either be made it's own Bowl, like it is now, or it can have rotating sponsorship, i.e. The Rose Bowl one year, then the Sugar Bowl the next, and so forth.
My initial thought though is to have the BCS Championship Game, the semi final be the Rose Bowl and Fiesta, the Sugar, Orange, Gator and Capital One in the 4th week and then whichever on back to the first week. They can work that out based on seniority of sponsorship or money earned for playing in that particular bowl.

I tried to do my bracket system, but I can't figure out how to get the spacing right, so I will scan it and post it when I can.

So, thoughts, feed back, good idea. I'm an idiot. Let's hear it.

[Darth Fanboy]

So it's basically going to be like the 1-AA system, except that every playoff game is a "bowl"?

[Havok]

So it's basically going to be like the 1-AA system, except that every playoff game is a "bowl"?

Sure I guess. Don't know anything about the 1-AA.

[Darth Fanboy]

It's basically a 16 team playoff, the main difference bewteen your system and what exists in 1-AA is the additional round of games at the beginning so that the top teams have an extra week off.

[Havok]

Well I'm thinking if it ever happens, it needs to be in a way that keeps all the current money happy, which is what I am trying to do. A nyone can just say "here are some playoff brackets". You have to balance the schools wishes, with what the BCS wants, against the sponsors, the individual Bowls, the voters, coaches, players and fans. That's what I tried and have been trying to do.

[Patrick Degan]

I will use this years dates for my explanation.

You have a 12 game, 14 week regular college schedule that runs from August 30th through Dec 1st.

This year there are 31 Bowls, 32 if you include the BCS Championship game. The Bowls take place from Dec 20th through Jan. 7th.

For my scheme, you need 30 Bowls and 1 BCS Championship game. The Bowls will start on Dec 16th with the first bracket and end with the BCS game on Jan 7th. Games can be positioned a day before or after Saturday to get maximum TV coverage.

Each Bowl serves as a playoff game, with 8 Bowls in the first week, 8 bowls the second week, 8 the third, 4 the fourth, 2 the fifth, with a culmination still on January 7th with the BCS Championship Game.
Now, you have 11 Conferences and the Independents, so say you have 12 conferences.

The Top 12 teams in the final ranking going into the playoffs have to be the conference winners, although they still are subject to the computer and coaches polls as well as the politicking that is currently present to figure out where in the top 12 they are seeded.
The remaining 13 teams are subject to the ranking system as it exists now.

Teams ranked 17-25 will play in the Opening week, along with 7 Bowl Eligible teams. Eligibility will probably have to rise from 6 wins to 7 or 8 for this scheme to thin out the heard.

Teams ranked in the bottom 4 of the conference winners, 9-12, and teams 13, 14 and15 get one week off and play the winners from the first bracket.

The top 8 of that 12 get two weeks off, which is good, because they get the rest, but is a challenge, because they are going to play tougher teams in their first game.

I feel that what this system will do, is get a definite BCS Champion, keep the Bowl Sponsors happy, keep the schools happy, give the rankings more meaning, get people to watch the smaller bowls, give all the ranked teams a chance to play for the title, as well as allowing some outside underdogs or dark horses in or good teams that may be getting hot or recovering from injuries or whatever. It also keeps the sports writers happy by having their votes still matter as well as the coaches.

As far as the Bowls themselves, The BCS Game can either be made it's own Bowl, like it is now, or it can have rotating sponsorship, i.e. The Rose Bowl one year, then the Sugar Bowl the next, and so forth.
My initial thought though is to have the BCS Championship Game, the semi final be the Rose Bowl and Fiesta, the Sugar, Orange, Gator and Capital One in the 4th week and then whichever on back to the first week. They can work that out based on seniority of sponsorship or money earned for playing in that particular bowl.

I tried to do my bracket system, but I can't figure out how to get the spacing right, so I will scan it and post it when I can.

So, thoughts, feed back, good idea. I'm an idiot. Let's hear it.

Hmm... Sounds interesting and somewhat along the lines I've toyed with —aligning a Div. I playoff scheme to the current college bowl structure.

One way to get definitive rankings would be to eliminate any poll depending upon participant voting. Make the whole thing determined by a simple mathematical formula and administered wholly by computer. Takes out the human factor which must inevitably include bias.

You could even the whole system out to a 16-bracket scheme by including each champion of the west/east or north/south split conferences as well as the independents and throw in the Ivy League as well. This way, twelve bowl games count as your playoffs, and the remainder are the consolation bowls for the teams that didn't make the cut in the poll. The remaining eight teams meet in the big New Year's Day bowl games of course. The final number 1 and number 2 are selected from that field and go onto the BCS Bowl the second week of January.

I would also eliminate overtime for the regular season. Let tie games count in the season, which puts some interesting english on the polling mechanics and allows for more teams to end the season with no or one loss in regulation.

[Darth Fanboy]

Hmm... Sounds interesting and somewhat along the lines I've toyed with —aligning a Div. I playoff scheme to the current college bowl structure.

One way to get definitive rankings would be to eliminate any poll depending upon participant voting. Make the whole thing determined by a simple mathematical formula and administered wholly by computer. Takes out the human factor which must inevitably include bias.

But they had to add in more human factor a while ago because teams were running up the score in an effort to get better rankings, I believe Florida State and Nebraska used to run it up bitterly in their puff games they played to start the season, and the huge margins of victory gave them an edge with the computer than any human would be able to tell was BS.

You could even the whole system out to a 16-bracket scheme by including each champion of the west/east or north/south split conferences as well as the independents and throw in the Ivy League as well.

I like that Idea, but there is no way in hell you can add in the Ivy League, because their level of football is nowhere near I-A.

This way, twelve bowl games count as your playoffs, and the remainder are the consolation bowls for the teams that didn't make the cut in the poll. The remaining eight teams meet in the big New Year's Day bowl games of course. The final number 1 and number 2 are selected from that field and go onto the BCS Bowl the second week of January.

I would also eliminate overtime for the regular season. Let tie games count in the season, which puts some interesting english on the polling mechanics and allows for more teams to end the season with no or one loss in regulation.

Maybe adopt an NFL style overtime format that allows for a tie, but you can't get rid of overtime altogether. The College system as it is is pretty good, and gives fans something exciting to watch.

[Patrick Degan]

Hmm... Sounds interesting and somewhat along the lines I've toyed with —aligning a Div. I playoff scheme to the current college bowl structure.

One way to get definitive rankings would be to eliminate any poll depending upon participant voting. Make the whole thing determined by a simple mathematical formula and administered wholly by computer. Takes out the human factor which must inevitably include bias.

But they had to add in more human factor a while ago because teams were running up the score in an effort to get better rankings, I believe Florida State and Nebraska used to run it up bitterly in their puff games they played to start the season, and the huge margins of victory gave them an edge with the computer than any human would be able to tell was BS.

Then perhaps make the calculation a matter of points based on winning percentage and rank (previous) of opponent. In this scheme, it wouldn't matter whether or not a team attempted to run up a high score on a puff opponent since final score and winning margin in a game would be wholly irrelevant.

You could even the whole system out to a 16-bracket scheme by including each champion of the west/east or north/south split conferences as well as the independents and throw in the Ivy League as well.

I like that Idea, but there is no way in hell you can add in the Ivy League, because their level of football is nowhere near I-A.

Some would say the same thing about Conference USA.

This way, twelve bowl games count as your playoffs, and the remainder are the consolation bowls for the teams that didn't make the cut in the poll. The remaining eight teams meet in the big New Year's Day bowl games of course. The final number 1 and number 2 are selected from that field and go onto the BCS Bowl the second week of January.

I would also eliminate overtime for the regular season. Let tie games count in the season, which puts some interesting english on the polling mechanics and allows for more teams to end the season with no or one loss in regulation.

Maybe adopt an NFL style overtime format that allows for a tie, but you can't get rid of overtime altogether. The College system as it is is pretty good, and gives fans something exciting to watch.

Actually, I'd keep the college format for bowl games and championships (both conference and BCS) since you have to have a final winner in those contests.

[Patrick Degan]

And Applachian St., the team that humiliated Michigan at the beginning of this season, won the Division I-AA championship over Delaware, 49-21.

[jegs2]

And Applachian St., the team that humiliated Michigan at the beginning of this season, won the Division I-AA championship over Delaware, 49-21.

... simultaneously matching my alma-mater's record for the only scholarship-awarding football team in the NCAA to win three consecutive national championships. Darn.

[Patrick Degan]

Navy literally handed the Pointsetta Bowl victory to Utah tonight all nice and gift-wrapped. Fourth quarter, down only 28-25 and with two minutes and change left on the board. Navy are buried deep in their own red zone and they pull a dumb move —Charlie Weis kind of dumb— by going for it on 4th and 1 from their own 9 yard line. Percentages say you punt when you're that deep in the hole and make the other team work to try to close downrange to score. As it was, Utah got the ball first and goal-to-go, and scored very quickly: 35-25. Navy manage to respond with a touchdown and pull off the onsides-kick with less than a minute to go, and Kaheaku-Enhada tosses an interception. It's all over then. Final score Utah 35, Navy 32.

Fourth down on their own nine and Navy decide to go for it. What the fuck were they thinking?

[Patrick Degan]

In this year's Cinderella matchup, Florida Atlantic, a school which four years ago didn't even have a team and only joined Division I-A in its second year, became the youngest football programme in NCAA history to advance to a bowl after its foundation and beat C-USA champion Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl tonight by a final score of 44-27.

[CmdrWilkens]

Navy literally handed the Pointsetta Bowl victory to Utah tonight all nice and gift-wrapped. Fourth quarter, down only 28-25 and with two minutes and change left on the board. Navy are buried deep in their own red zone and they pull a dumb move —Charlie Weis kind of dumb— by going for it on 4th and 1 from their own 9 yard line. Percentages say you punt when you're that deep in the hole and make the other team work to try to close downrange to score. As it was, Utah got the ball first and goal-to-go, and scored very quickly: 35-25. Navy manage to respond with a touchdown and pull off the onsides-kick with less than a minute to go, and Kaheaku-Enhada tosses an interception. It's all over then. Final score Utah 35, Navy 32.

Fourth down on their own nine and Navy decide to go for it. What the fuck were they thinking?

They have a 70% conversion perentage on 4th down and with their offense its damn hard not to gain at least a yard or two. Its still silly at best and retarded would probably best describe it but at the same time their defense has never been as strong as their offense this year so trying to have a very typcial Navy drive that goes 90 yards and eats 5 minutes off the clock isn't the dumbest thing they could do in that situation.

[Darth Fanboy]

UCLA has the ball with 3 seconds left and is down by 1 to BYU, a team they have already beaten on the year. All they have to do is kick a 28 yard field goal that is literally dead center of the field.

And in typical Bruin fashion, the kick is blocked and BYU wins.

[Tsyroc]

So does UCLA have a new football coach yet?

Actually I can't remember if the old one has even been fired.

[Darth Fanboy]

Durrell was fired after the USC game, and UCLA has so far not found a new coach. The Bowl Game was considered to be the interim coach's "trial game" where if he did well he could have the inside track for the job. Of course losing by one point to a ranked team isn't exactly dishonourable, but as I pointed out they had already beaten BYU this year back when UCLA was the ranked school out of the two.

I think a lot of Bruin fans are quite shocked to find out that the head football coaching job at their school isn't as premium as they might think.

And to think that the Bruins were a hair, skip, and a fart away from actually pulling out the Pac 10. Wow...

[Tsyroc]

I forgot. I'd read that Rick Neuheisel had interviewed for the job and already had a couple of meetings. Other than his fuck ups he's been a pretty good college coach, and he played for UCLA. I think it's doubtful they are going to pull in someone better.

[Patrick Degan]

UCLA has the ball with 3 seconds left and is down by 1 to BYU, a team they have already beaten on the year. All they have to do is kick a 28 yard field goal that is literally dead center of the field.

And in typical Bruin fashion, the kick is blocked and BYU wins.

I didn't see that game but my mother did, and she told me about how one BYU defender just managed to get his fingers up enough to tip the ball on the way up. It was one of the most frustrating losses you could imagine happening to any team.

[Patrick Degan]

Some good bowl action this weekend: Boston College escapes with a 3 point win over Michigan St. in a hard fought but turnover-fraught Champs Sports Bowl, while Mississippi St. finally get the winning touchdown toward the end of the Liberty Bowl to break a 3-3 deadlock. Final score in that game, 10-7 Bulldogs over UCF.

[Patrick Degan]

Brady to Moss, 65 yd TD pass. Maroney makes good on the 2 pt conversion. Score now 31-28 New England.

[Elfdart]

Did anyone else see the Texas-AZ State game? The Longhorns recovered a botched lateral, but it didn't count because the UT coaching staff was on the field and one of them (the coach's stepson) touched the ball before it was recovered!


So instead of UT's ball, it was Arizona State's ball (1st and goal) which they promptly cashed in for a TD. For the rest of the game the cameras panned to this hapless knucklehead, who looked like he was going to cry. Not that it mattered, Texas won anyway. But that was the most idiotic thing I've seen in a football game since Baylor-UNLV a decade ago.

[Balrog]

Yeah, I thought for sure MSU was going to get whopped badly by Boston, but they did alright actually. Of course, the fact that they even got to a bowl game is an acomplishment in itself at this point for the program.

[Tsyroc]

I see that UCLA did go ahead and hire Rick Neuheisel. Should help make things more interesting in the Pac-10.

[Dark Flame]

Brady to Moss, 65 yd TD pass. Maroney makes good on the 2 pt conversion. Score now 31-28 New England.

So which Bowl game was this, Patrick? Hmmm?

[Patrick Degan]

Did anyone else see the Texas-AZ State game? The Longhorns recovered a botched lateral, but it didn't count because the UT coaching staff was on the field and one of them (the coach's stepson) touched the ball before it was recovered!


So instead of UT's ball, it was Arizona State's ball (1st and goal) which they promptly cashed in for a TD. For the rest of the game the cameras panned to this hapless knucklehead, who looked like he was going to cry. Not that it mattered, Texas won anyway. But that was the most idiotic thing I've seen in a football game since Baylor-UNLV a decade ago.

I saw it. If the Longhorns had lost, you know that assistant could never have gone back to Texas.