Michael Adams, president of the University of Georgia has submitted a playoff proposal in a letter to the NCAA, to be discussed at their convention which begins this week. Some may say this is just sour grapes because Georgia did not play for the national championship. But let's face it, almost everyone agrees there should be a playoff system. And anyone can see that the opportunity to see some incredible football match-ups fell far short, resulting in some lopsided and ultimately less compelling games. Whether UGA's president is feeling scorned or is simply frustrated in general is an assessment I don't have the data to make.
Anyway, here's the breakdown from the Atlanta Journal Constitution
> Step 1: A selection committee that represents all 11 Division I-A conferences and also includes a number of former coaches is formed.
> Step. 2: At the committee's final meeting, members watch all of the championship games and any game that any contending team has played during the course of the season. As is the case with the basketball selection committee, each conference is able to submit information to bolster its claim for one of the eight spots.
> Step 3: The committee begins selecting the teams, regardless of conference affiliation. The human polls, computer polls, strength of schedule, how that team is playing at that moment in the season, etc., are considered. Conference champions do not automatically qualify, but the quality of the conference can factor in the seeding process.
> Step 4: The committee seeds the teams 1-8. To illustrate how the seedings for the 2010 NCAA Division I-A Football Tournament could work, let's base them on the final human polls and computer polls released on Dec. 2, 2007. The seedings would look like this:
Seed ..Team (Record) ........How qualified
1. ....LSU (11-2)............SEC champ
2. ....USC (10-2)............Pac-10 champ
3. ....Georgia (10-2)........SEC at-large
4. ....Oklahoma (11-2) ......Big 12 champ
5. ....Ohio State (11-1) ....Big Ten champ
6. ....Virginia Tech (11-2)..ACC champ
7. ....Missouri (11-2) ......Big 12 at-large
8. ....West Virginia (10-2)..Big East champ
> Step 5: The teams are placed into the four BCS bowls for the quarterfinals. The selection committee tries to keep the top four seeds close to their natural geographic area.
So how would the first round of Bowl games look?
FIRST ROUND
Jan. 1, 2011
> Sugar Bowl: No. 1 LSU vs. No. 8 West Virginia
> Rose Bowl: No. 2 USC vs. No. 7 Missouri
> Orange Bowl: No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Virginia Tech
> Fiesta Bowl: No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 5 Ohio State
I think those are definitely more interesting matchups. I would have liked to see Ohio State against the consistently overrated Oklahoma. Not to digress, but they were great in 2000-2001 and pretty good 2002-2003. Since then they've been beaten by LSU, USC, Boise State, and West Virginia. The record setting thumping by USC, the loss to Boise State, and even the solid beating by West Virginia are not only losses, but show a team that had no business being where it was. I'm sure Oklahoma will be good again. But don't set them up to be embarassed by ranking them during a severe bout of nonstalgia. Anyway, share your opinion on this playoff suggestion. Pros-Cons, temporary fix or permanent? Is it a good compromise until a better idea comes along?


Irina Shayk
Tori Praver



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