My College Football Playoff

So as you may remember, a few weeks back I put together my own version of a college football playoff. Also, here are the rules for this playoff. And so, with last night concluding the 2008 college football bowl season, I figured I'd go back and take a stab at how these playoffs would play out.

First Round
Texas vs. Ohio State at Tampa Bay December 20 Noon
This game actually happened, so we have something to base it on, and it was no real surprise to see what happened on the field in the Fiesta Bowl. With Texas having even more to play for than they did in real life, I think they more than take care of business against the Buckeyes and advance onward to the second round. Texas 34 Ohio State 17

Penn State vs. Boise State at Houston December 20 6:00
Yeah Penn State didn't show up at all in the Rose Bowl, but that was against the mighty USC Trojans. This game is against a Boise State squad that dropped the Poinsettia Bowl to TCU. Don't get me wrong, I commend the Broncos for their excellent season, but this team can't quite play with the big boys. Penn State 34 Boise State 17

Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech at Orlando December 20 3:00
Both these squads kind of laid an egg in their bowl games. However, as much as I would love to see Cincinnati get a W to represent the Big East, I think Texas Tech lacked some serious motivation in that loss to Ole Miss and was probably disappointed by the Cotton Bowl berth when they felt they deserved a shot at the championship. There's no question that this game would probably be similarly high-scoring because of the way Tech plays. Texas Tech 45 Cincinnati 31

Virginia Tech vs. Alabama at San Diego December 20 9:00
After watching Tech's bowl game I think this one would be a much better game than I originally would have thought. VT was at its finest playing good-old-fashioned Beamer Ball, and Alabama's "offense" would have ensured that this one remained pretty close. Still, despite the results in their respective bowl games, I think Alabama is too much for Virginia Tech. Alabama 17 Virginia Tech 14

Second Round
Oklahoma vs. Alabama at New Orleans December 27 3:00
Although Oklahoma had issues with the SEC Champ Gators in the Natty, the near-SEC-champs aren't nearly the same matchup nightmare for the Sooners. Sam Bradford proves he is Heisman-worthy, and does to the Tide what Utah did in the Sugar Bowl. Oklahoma 48 Alabama 17

Florida vs. Texas Tech at Atlanta December 27 Noon
Tim Tebow finally gets into action and does not disappoint. Tech had quite the disaster trying to defend the Ole Miss offense, and is unbelievably impotent in trying to stop the Heisman trophy winning legend. Florida's D is able to hold up reasonably well to the Tech offense. Florida 48 Texas Tech 21

USC vs. Penn State at Dallas December 27 6:00
We've already seen how this matchup plays out, and with the mighty Trojans hungry for a national championship. Southern Cal blows the doors off of Penn State in our third straight blowout of the day. USC 45 Penn State 21

Utah vs. Texas at San Francisco December 27 9:00
Utah is a much, much better team than I would have ever imagined. They absolutely took Alabama apart. I think this would be a spectacular game, and if Utah can play like they did in that Bama game, we'd finally have ourselves a good quarterfinal matchup. Despite Colt McCoy's big season and the Longhorns' belief that they deserve a shot at the title, I'm a believer in the Utes getting at least one playoff win. Utah 34 Texas 31

Semi-finals
Oklahoma vs. Utah at Pasadena
Much like the Texas-Utah game, this game suddenly got a lot more interesting once we saw just how good Utah really is. While the Sooners weren't able to come away with a W against Florida in the title game, playing against Utah would be a very different story. I think Utah played the game of their season in the win over Alabama and would do similarly against Texas. After that win, though, I'm hard-pressed to imagine them putting together a second straight dominant performance like that. Oklahoma 37 Utah 28

Florida vs. USC at Phoenix
Now this is the game that everyone is clamoring to see this morning. The speedy, mighty Trojans of the west taking on the dominant, hard-hitting, fast, talented Gators of the east. This one would be an epic game. The Trojans have more speed across the board at the skill positions I think, but the one thing they don't have: Tim Tebow. Florida 35 USC 28

National Championship Game
Oklahoma vs. Florida
So after all this work, after eliminating 10 teams in 10 games and going through the pains of playing at all these different locations and including anyone with a reasonable shot at the title...it turns out that the title game is the same thing that the BCS gave us. So maybe there is something to this BCS thing. Still, don't we all feel a little bit better knowing that everyone was included? I thought so. Florida 24 Oklahoma 14