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What if the NCAA Ran an NFL Style Playoffs?

We've all seen a post or two about what would happen if the BCS ran the NFL. But like last year I will again be taking the opposite view and looking at what would an NCAA Playoff Look Like if it built like the NFL's post season.

First step is figuring out what to do with the divisions. The NFL has 8 divisions and 12 playoff teams while the NCAA has 11 conferences so you have to make some sort of move there. So I'm going with 3 conferences getting the axe and the remainder will be associated with an NFL Division. I decided to eliminate the Sun Belt, Conference USA and the MAC. I've aligned the divisions as such.

NFC East: Big East, NFC North: Big Ten, NFC South: Big 12, NFC West: WAC
AFC East: ACC, AFC North: Mountain West, AFC South: SEC, AFC West: PAC 10

Next the playoffs are set the exact same way as the NFL. 6 teams per conference, 4 division winners and 2 wildcards. The seeding will be done using NFL tie breaker rules. Conference championship games will be ignored as they do not universally apply and would be eliminated if gone to this scenario.

NFC Seeds

1. Boise St. (12-0):
Undefeated Boise St. gets the #1 seed.
2. Oklahoma (11-1): Oklahoma and Texas Tech win the tie-breaker over Texas thanks to overall conference record as Oklahoma has a win over Cincy and TT has a win over Nevada. Then when it breaks down to 2 teams it reverts back to head to head and Oklahoma takes the tie-breaker.
3. Penn St. (11-1): Penn St. wins the NFC North but loses the tie-breaker for the bye to Oklahoma due to strength of Victory.
4. Cincinnati (10-2): Champs of the NFC East
5. Texas Tech (11-1): As stated before the Red Raiders win the tie-breaker over the Longhorns so they get the 5th seed.
6. Texas (11-1): The Longhorns still manage to get the final NFC playoff spot.

AFC Seeds

1. Utah (12-0): Undefeated Utah narrowly gets the top seed as the tie-breaker came down to Strength of Victory and Utah's out of conference wins. Thanks to Oregon St., the Utes came out with a better winning percentage than did their competition.
2. Alabama (12-0): Again the conference Title Games are eliminated from consideration so the Crimson Tide and not the Gators are the AFC South Champs.
3. Southern California (11-1): The Trojans easily win the AFC West.
4. Georgia Tech (9-3): Unlike in College the #1 tie-breaker is overall record, so that immediately eliminates VT and FSU with 4 losses. The two left are then BC and GaTech and Tech advances thanks to their week 2 victory.
5. Florida (11-1): The Gators don't get their division crown, but still manage to get a favorable Wild Card Spot.
6. TCU (10-2): TCU advances to the 6th spot over BYU thanks to their head to head victory.

Here is your complete Bracket:



Each winner will be decided using votes. The Voting Periods Will be as follows.

Wildcard Vote: Dec 15th-Dec 22th
Divisional Vote: Dec 22th - Dec 29th
Championship Vote: Dec 29th - Jan 5th
Superbowl Vote: Jan 5th - Jan 9th

Comments

Anonymous said…
about the only first-round game that's remotely interesting is the Florida-Ga.Tech matchup.
Unknown said…
ok you've fixed the playoffs...now lets see about adjusting the regular season schedules. I will guarantee that if Boise State or Utah played a Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, or Alabama they would be destroyed.
Milos said…
Well, cyper, I guess we're gonna find out, since Utah IS playing Alabama. And, as I recall, the last time Boise State played Oklahoma, it wasn't quite the destruction you predict.
Unknown said…
Whatever you think of the intial match-ups, who could disagree that the winner after the dust settles would NOT be the Champion?
Anonymous said…
Fail! You forget to include undefeated Ball State if Boise St and Utah are #1 and #2 then Ball State should be #3
Anonymous said…
I like it - and the "left out" conferences could have a four-team NIT style secondary championship, inviting the winner of DIVII to be the fourth team...
Anonymous said…
this is the dumbest playoff scenario i have ever seen. Exlcuding conference championship games from counting...retarded. Grouping weak conferences with strong ones and then deciding who seeds from the "overall conference (NFC/AFC)" even though they never play each other....moronic

There are far better college football playoff proposals out there...the only way this one gets chosen is if its left up to computers.
Commish said…
I like the idea, but you're going to end up with a bunch of matchups that DID happen (AL v. FL, UT v. OU, TTU v. UT, etc.). Ultimately, you've got a popularity contest to prove that we all want to see Texas play Florida, which could/should have happened

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