honestly…Penn State an 8 seed? I guess winning your conference isn’t as important as coming in second in a conference people “mistakenly” believe is great.

and I think PSU-Alabama would be an awesome game. We have mostly the same strengths from what I can tell…great in the trenches, stout defense, minimal mistakes, not many penalties. Set it up!

Where would you play the games? Would you make them home games for the first two rounds or would they be held in a regional location? Personally, I like the NCAA basketball format where they break it up into regions. Give the fans the opportunity to drive to the game and just have to pay for one hotel night at most to keep their costs down.

I’m not a fan of the semi-finals being at the BCS bowl locations. You’re asking a lot for PSU or Ohio State fans to travel to Arizona one week and then have to travel to Pasadena or Miami the following week. Getting air fare on five or six days notice can be extremely expensive. If you’re going to do a playoff, you have to go to either home games or at least regional games up until the finals. Then you need at least two weeks between the semis and the final to make travel arrangements. All of this means doing away with the bowl system which currently controls the money which is why it will never happen.

SI from 1986:

Well, fine, because the big bowls are the ones standing bullheaded in the way of a college football playoff, which every right-thinking person supports. Ultimately, what we hope will come out of this is, of course, a proper playoff system. This is a strong signal to the big bowls that the Playoff Express may be ready to leave the station; it’s up to them whether or not to get on.

SI from 1976

On the surface the plan of Casale’s group seems reasonable enough. It offers a post-bowl playoff. It recommends that either two of the bowl contestants or four be selected by a committee on Jan. 2, 1977 to play for the championship. Once the playoffs get rolling, Casale says, a more comprehensive format can be created.

SI from 1965

Were the NCAA to sanction a tournament this year to determine the No. 1 team in the country, a chart of Nebraska’s progress to the title would look something like this – and nobody would argue about who was No. 1

Note: this was from a preview issue. Alabama and Michigan State split the NCAA championship in 1965.

I remember reading this from wherever this comes from. It was mentioned a few times how great the matchups would be (I believe he was talking about the first rounders specifically). I was very confused. Which first round matchups would be any good (assuming high seeds host)?
Alabama-Troy, BAD
PSU-Boisie, I see PSU MSU again. Great for us, but not a great game.
Ball State-USC, not close.
Florida-Cincinnati, worse.
Oklahoma-Tulsa, really?
o$u-T Tech, finally a game!
TCU-Utah, a curiocity, but nothing too exciting personally.
BC-Texas, great for a thursday night game or something.

Aside from the standard upset posibilities there isnt too much I see that jumps out as a good game in the first round. Plus, I think upsets are more likely in ‘regular’ games rather than in a sharpened focus playoff game. ie theres no way OrState beats USC in a playoff game or the psu-cornpeople nightmare.

Now, with just the top 8 teams, those are all way more exciting matchups. PSU-Alabama, USC-Florida with T Tech-Oklahoma and Utah- Texas less appitizing, but still a better slate.