Playoff Possibilities
4 Teams – “Plus One”
Use the BCS Rankings with 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 playing in New Year’s Bowls. The winners play the National Championship Game. Stewart Mandel has advocated for this plan at SI.com.
8 Teams – “Eight Plus One”
Play the four BCS New Year’s Bowls (using 8-team BCS rules) and then take a poll and re-rank the teams afterwards. The top 2 play in the National Championship Game the next week.
8 Teams – “Eight-Team Playoff”
Play four BCS Bowls around New Year’s (using 8-team BCS rules, except that the teams must be seeded so that it’s 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, etc.), with semifinals the next week both at a BCS bowl site (host of the “Football Final Four”), and finals the next week at a different BCS Bowl site (host of the “National Championship Game”).
8 Teams – “Eight-Team Playoff – Christmas Schedule”
Play four Bowls around Christmas with three at non-BCS sites (Cotton Bowl? Peach Bowl? Holiday Bowl?) and one at at a BCS site. Semifinals are the next week at two of the BCS Bowls. The finals are played at the last remaining BCS site.
8 Teams – “Semifinal Re-Seed”
Play four BCS Bowls around New Year’s using 8-team BCS rules with conference tie-ins (Pac-10 plays Big 10 in the Rose Bowl; ACC, SEC, and Big 12 are tied to the Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls, respectively). Another poll is then taken and the winners are re-seeded 1-4 for semifinals and finals at three different BCS Bowl sites.
10 Teams – “Ten Plus One”
Play five BCS Bowls around New Year’s (adding the Cotton Bowl) and then take a poll and re-rank the teams afterwards. The top 2 play in the National Championship Game the next week.
10 Teams – “MWC Eight-Team Playoff Plus Consolation”
The Mountain West Conference has proposed to play the four BCS Bowls around New Year’s and allow a 9th and 10th team to play in a fifth BCS consolation game (perhaps at the Cotton Bowl). The teams would be chosen and seeded by a committee that would create a fixed bracket leading to semifinal games at specified BCS bowl sites, and a championship game two weeks later.
10 Teams – BCS Playoff – “Ten Team/Nine Bowl BCS Playoffs”
Playoff teams are selected using 10-team BCS rules. The 6 top conference winners automatically qualify for the quarterfinals. The four at-large teams compete in two first-round games in mid-December to qualify for the last two spots. The bracket then proceeds to semifinals and finals using a total of 9 bowl sites. See more details at bcsplayoff.org.
10 Teams – The Playoff Solution – “Ten-Team Playoff at BCS Bowls”
Playoff teams are selected using 10-team BCS rules. The winners of the 6 BCS conferences are tied to specific BCS Bowls. The four at-large teams compete in two “play-in” games for the last two spots in the BCS Bowls. The bracket then proceeds to semifinals and finals, which are played at the same BCS Bowl sites. See more details at theplayoffsolution.com.
12 Teams – “NFL-style Twelve-Team BCS Playoff”
Twelve teams are selected and ranked using BCS rules. The top four teams get a bye week and are each assigned to one of the BCS Bowls, using conference tie-ins if possible. The bottom eight teams go to the BCS Bowls one week earlier for “play-in” games. The play-in winners move on to play the top four teams, and the winners move on to semi-finals and finals.
16 Teams – “Sixteen-Team Seeded Playoff”
The top sixteen teams are selected and ranked using BCS-like rules. The first round is played around Christmas, the second round is played during New Year’s, and the winners advance to semifinals and a final in mid-January.
16 Teams – The Wetzel Plan – “Sixteen-Team Conference Champion Playoff”
The champions of all eleven conferences qualify for the playoffs and are seeded 1 through 16. The first round is played around Christmas, the second round is played during New Year’s, and the winners advance to semifinals and a final in mid-January.
24 Teams – “Division II-Style Playoff”
24 teams are selected and ranked using BCS-like rules. The bottom sixteen teams play the first round during the week before Christmas at eight lesser bowls. The top eight teams get a bye and play the first round winners during the second round around Christmas at eight other bowls. The quarterfinals are played around New Year’s at more prominent bowls, the semifinals the next week at BCS bowls, and the championship the next weekend at a BCS bowl that rotates each year.
32 Teams – “Division III-Style Playoff”
32 teams are selected and ranked using BCS-like rules. The first round is played during the week before Christmas at sixteen smaller bowls. The second round is played around Christmas at eight more bowls. The quarterfinals are played around New Year’s at four more prominent bowls, the semifinals the next week at BCS bowls, and the championship the weekend before the Super Bowl at a BCS bowl that rotates each year. This would be 31 games, which would be one game at almost every one of the 34 bowls.