8 team playoff:
The bowl structure is essentially the same. You have the New Year's Six, which would be the same six bowl, the Orange, Sugar, Rose, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach bowls. I will explain how they fit into the structure. During Sunday after the conference championship games, only two of the six bowls make invites. This year, that would have been the Fiesta and Peach bowls. The other bowls wait for the outcome of the quarterfinals.
The round of 8 is hosts at the home field of the top 4 seeds the week after the conference championship games. The winners will go to the Cotton and Orange Bowls. The losers to the Rose and Sugar bowls.
The semi finals are played the Saturday between Christmas and New Years day. On years when Christmas and New Years Day fall on a Saturday, they are played on the following Monday.
The finals are played the Saturday after New Year's Day. If New Year's Day is on a Saturday, they are played the following Monday.
The participants are the conference champion for each of the Power 5 schools, the top ranked Group of 5 school and 2 at large bids. This year, that would have been Notre Dame and Georgia.
If this had happened in 2018, the round of 8 is played on Saturday, December 8 with the following games.
Cotton and Rose Bowl Bracket
Washington@Alabama
Central Florida@Clemson
Winners to the Cotton Bowl, losers to the Rose Bowl
Orange and Sugar Bowl Bracket
Ohio State@Notre Dame
Georgia@Oklahoma
Winners to the Orange Bowl, losers to the Sugar Bowl
Fiesta Bowl likely would have been Washington State vs. LSU
Peach Bowl would still have been Florida and Michigan
All other Bowl Matchups would have been the same, except how the PAC-12 aligned. With the following changes. Utah goes to the Alamo Bowl, Stanford to the Holiday Bowl, Oregon to the Sun Bowl, Arizona State to the RedBox Bowl, California to the Las Vegas Bowl with Boise State taking the last slot to the Cheeze-It's bowl and Wyoming getting the weather-canceled First Responder's bowl.
12-team playoff
In this one, the Power 5 champions get a bid, the two highest-ranked g5 get a bid and there are 5 at large bids.
The schedule is a little more compact. The first round, involving 4 teams is played the week after the conference championship games. The losers of this round are eligible for bowls. The second round, involving 8 teams is played the following Saturday. Each of these will be at the site of the higher-seeded team. The winners in the round of 8 go to the semi-final bowls, the losers of the first two rounds will go to other bowls.
The New Year's Six will become the New Year's Eight, being joined by six secondary bowls on a rotating basis. Those may not be bowl games that exist today. I see them as bowls in NFL stadiums in mostly warm-whether climates that currently are not part of the NY 6: for example Santa Clara (in Levi's Stadium), Las Vegas (In the new Raider's Stadium), Houston (NRG Park), Tampa (Raymond James Stadium), Los Angeles (new Rams/Chargers Stadium) and New York (Met Life Field).
(Yes, I know that New York is not a warm-weather climate...but if you insist on an indoor filed, you get Detroit or Minneapolis...wouldn't you rather go to New York? New Orleans, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta and Phoenix already have big-important bowl games. The new LA stadium and the Rose bowl are miles apart.)
This year, this is how it would have worked out:
The automatic qualifiers: Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Washington, Central Florida and Fresno State
The At large: Notre Dame, Georgia, Michigan, Florida and LSU
The Brackets:
Orange Bowl Bracket:
Fresno State at Georgia on December 8
Winner Plays at Alabama on December 15
LSU at Central Florida on December 8
Winner Plays at Oklahoma on December 15
Cotton Bowl Bracket
Washington at Michigan on December 8
Winner Plays at Notre Dame on December 15
Florida at Ohio State on December 8
Winner Plays at Clemson on December 15
The final bowl bids will go out on December 16. If Washington and Michigan lose before the round of 8, you could still get a quality Big 10 vs Pac 12 Rose Bowl games.
16-team playoff
This works similar to the 12-team playoff, except all conference champions are in. You get six at-large teams.
The automatic qualifiers: Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Washington, Central Florida, Fresno State, UAB, Northern Illinois and Appalachian State
The At-Large: Notre Dame, Georgia, Michigan, Florida, LSU and Penn State
The Brackets
Orange Bowl Bracket
Tuscaloosa Region
Appalachian State at Alabama
Washington at Central Florida
Norman Region
Fresno State at Oklahoma
Florida at Georgia
Cotton Bowl Bracket
South Bend Region
Northern Illinois at Notre Dame
LSU at Ohio State
Clemson Region
UAB at Clemson
Penn State at Michigan
At this point, people are going to flame me for saying that Appalachian State does not deserve to be on the same field as Alabama in the post season. I will not argue that point. However, sometime a Sun Belt team will put on the glass slipper and beat the SEC team. That is why we call it March Madness for basketball. Let's do it for football.
24 team playoff.
A 24 team playoff is not practical with conference championship games. Therefore, we have to pretend that each conference division is it's own conference. Right now, only the Big 12 and the Sun Belt do not have divisions. You would have 17 Automatic bids and 7 at large births
The automatic qualifiers: UCF, Memphis, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Northwestern, Middle Tennessee, UAB, Buffalo, Northern Illinois, Boise State, Fresno State,
Washington, Utah, Georgia, Alabama and Appalachian State
The At-Large: Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida, LSU, Penn State and Washington State
Schedule
Round of 24--December 1
Round of 16--December 8
Round of 8--December 15
Round of 4--December 29
Championship--January 5
The Brackets
Tuscaloosa Region
Boise State at #16 Northwestern on December 1
Winner plays at at #1 Alabama on December 8
Buffalo at #9 Washington on December 1
Winner plays at at #8 Central Florida on December 8
Norman Region
Middle Tennessee at #12 Penn State December 1
Winner plays at #5 Georgia on December 8
Northern Illinois at #13 Washington State on December 1
Winner plays at #4 Oklahoma on December 8
South Bend Region
UAB at #14 Utah on December 1
Winner Plays at #3 Notre Dame on December 8
Memphis at #11 LSU on December 1
Winner plays at at #6 Ohio State
Clemson Region
Appalachian State at #10 Florida on December 1
Winner plays at #7 Michigan on December 8
Pittsburgh at #15 Fresno State on December 1
Winner plays at #2 Clemson on December 8
Yes, there are still some bowls, but no more major bowls. There are minor bowls to give teams with a winning record consolation.
32 Team Playoff
Same 17 automatic qualifiers, but now there are 15 at-large teams.
The automatic qualifiers: UCF, Memphis, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Northwestern, Middle Tennessee, UAB, Buffalo, Northern Illinois, Boise State, Fresno State,
Washington, Utah, Georgia, Alabama and Appalachian State
The At-Large: Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida, LSU, Penn State, Washington State, Kentucky, Texas, West Virginia, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Missouri, Iowa State, Utah State and Army
The schedule is:
Round of 32--December 1
Round of 16--December 8
Round of 8--December 15
Round of 4--December 29
Championship--January 5
The Brackets
Tuscaloosa Region
Utah at #16 West Virginia
Appalachian State at #1 Alabama
Iowa State at #9 Washington
Boise State at #8 Central Florida
Norman Region
Fresno State at #12 Penn State
Pittsburgh at #5 Georgia on
Texas A&M at #13 Washington State
Buffalo at #4 Oklahoma
South Bend Region
Syracuse at #14 Kentucky
Middle Tennessee at #3 Notre Dame
Northwestern at #11 LSU on
Utah State at #6 Ohio State
Clemson Region
Missouri at #10 Florida
Army at #7 Michigan
Mississippi State at #15 Texas
UAB at #2 Clemson
If you are going to go beyond 32 teams, you will need to go back to 11 game seasons and you may as well merge the FCS with the FBS.
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