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

The College Football Playoff Selection Show

After a few weeks of projections, here it is folks... Three River Sports' 2008 College Football Playoff Selection Show...

In case you missed it, I put together an article a few weeks back that detailed my personal plan for a college football playoff that seemingly every real college fan in existence wants to see. And I am sure this morning that Texas, Alabama, USC, Utah and even (gulp) Penn State fans wouldn't mind seeing this put into effect this year. And so now that the interminable college football regular season has wrapped up, I can make it official: Here are the seeds, matchups, dates and locations for the 2008 TRS College Football Playoff.

Seeds
1 Oklahoma
2 Florida
3 USC
4 Utah
5 Texas
6 Penn State
7 Cincinnati
8 Virginia Tech
9 Alabama
10 Texas Tech
11 Boise State
12 Ohio State

First Round
Texas vs. Ohio State at Tampa Bay December 20 Noon
Penn State vs. Boise State at Houston December 20 6:00
Cincinnati vs. Texas Techat Orlando December 20 3:00
Virginia Tech vs. Alabama at San Diego December 20 9:00

Second Round
Oklahoma vs. Virginia Tech/ Alabama at New Orleans December 27 3:00
Florida vs. Cincinnati/ Texas Tech at Atlanta December 27 Noon
USC vs. Penn State/ Boise State at Dallas December 27 6:00
Utah vs. Texas/ Ohio State at San Francisco December 27 9:00

Semi-Finals
at Pasadena January 3 8:30
at Phoenix January 3 5:00

National Championship
at Miami January 10 8:30

Also in my system, there will still be bowl games for the rest of the teams. I don't have the energy to go doing all that just now, but will try to get the rest of my proposed post-season up sometime in the next few days.

The Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

As always on Sunday night of Monday morning, here's my weekend recap, complete with thoughts, links, stories, and inane anecdotes about all the teams from around the Three Rivers, with some other stuff thrown in to boot.

Penguins
-Sidney Crosby suddenly is a man on a mission these days. Granted Geno still holds a 5 point lead on Sid for the scoring title, but there is little question as to the identity of the hottest player on the planet right now. In the past few seasons, Sid would often go on these tears where he'd put up (at a minimum) a couple points a night, but the point totals usually were heavy on the assist side, as the playmaking gene in the Kid emerged. But this time, it's been mostly the actual scoring of goals that Crosby has been involved with. Which leads me to this bold statement: The way Sid is playing right now is the best total hockey he has played in his entire career. The goal scoring, the playmaking, the work on the PK, the way he and Geno can take over a game when they are paired together. If Crosby can even come close to sustaining this pace, he will run away with the scoring title, and the Pens will blow past the Rangers to the division title.

-I don't want to shortchange Geno, either, as he is having one unbelievable season right now. I've been very surprised to notice his development as a playmaker this season, as evidenced by his huge assist total. It's sort of interesting to note that he and Sid have sort of reversed their stereotypical roles of late, with Sid having a comfortable team lead in goals and Geno having the edge in assists. I might be an enormous Pens Homer, but I really think there is a very good chance these two end up being far and away the 1 and 2 in the scoring race come season's end. Not sure who finishes on top (at gunpoint I'd probably say Sid) but I wouldn't be shocked at all to see each go well past 120 points, assuming they both stay healthy.

-While John Curry certainly is no Ty Conklin, I thought he at least proved he has the ability to be a backup 'tender in the league. Of course, he'd be best served spending this season with the Baby Pens developing himself. Still, I was highly skeptical of his future prospects, but I thought he showed poise and skill in his two appearances.

-And of course, there's the work of Dany Sabourin, who has really brought his A game since the Flower went down. He also still sits atop the league in Goals Against Average. A downright jaw-dropping achievement if you had seen him a few years ago in his first start for the Pens when he gave up 4 goals on 14 shots in just over a period of work.

-Janne Pesonen's bizarre season continues to amplify in bizareness. The Swedish import, who some thought might spend the season playing on the wing of Geno or Sid was sent back down to Wilkes-Barre yet again this morning. It's not surprising that he was sent down if you watched the two games he actually dressed for, as he played about 6 minutes Friday night and just over 7 minutes last night. Still, I thought he put together solid efforts when he was out there, and although he was a -1 last night, I think he deserves more of a chance up here to show himself. Apparently Mikey Therrien disagrees though.

-It was also interesting that Pesonen dressed for the Buffalo game Friday night when Ruslan Fedotenko was a healthy scratch, and that Pesonen dressed again last night while Pascal Dupuis was scratched for reasons unknown.

-Marc-Andre Fleury's injury looks like it will hold our top netminder out for at least a few more games, as he was described by Mikey Therrien as being "week-to-week"

-Dave Molinari has an interesting look at the state of nutrition in the NHL these days, which includes an amusing little anecdote about our beloved Super Mario, and also gives us a reason to ask, "What do Eric Godard and Elvis Pressley have in common?"

-If you watched the game last night, is there really any player in the league that is more dramatic and breathtaking than Sidney Crosby? I mean don't even think there can be a debate on this topic. Even if you think Semin or Ovechkin or Zetterberg or whoever is the best player in hockey, none of them can make you rise to the edge of your seat like Sid can when he is playing like he is now. He was flying around the ice all night, and each of his three goals were "WOW" goals, even the empty-netter.

Steelers
-That was one heck of a show the Steelers just put on earlier tonight in their statement game win over the Patriots. To answer the question that I asked earlier today in my game preview, yes, the Steelers are a legit, top-of-the-AFC contender right now. I would put them on an even plane with the Titans, and ahead of the rest of the AFC's squads and behind only the Giants in the entire NFL after this tour de force performance.

-After a shaky start, Ben Roethlisberger really came around today. His final numbers might be a bit deceiving: 17/33 179 2 TD 1 Int, but if you watched the game, you saw a very solid performance. His receivers hurt him big time, as Heath Miller uncharacteristically dropped 2 very catchable passes, Willie Parker dropped an embarassingly easy swing pass, and Nate Washington dropped a sure touchdown pass that was perfectly thrown after making two more difficult catches earlier on.

-The defense was, in a word, dominating. The Patriots were able to make some head way on the ground with 122 yards rushing, most of it coming on 6 wildly effective carries by Kevin Faulk. Sammy Morris also grinded out 45 tough yards too. However, James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley were monsters in the second half after struggling through the first. Troy Polamalu also had a monster of a game, with several passes defensed and was all over the field as usual, and added a league high 6th interception. Polamalu is even better than I thought possible now that he has been consistently healthy.

-Mewelde Moore and Willie Parker were once again a very effective tandem. Parker had some early issues and sat out the entire second quarter, probably due to lingering issue effects, but was excellent toward the end of the game at killing the clock. Moore, meanwhile, was a very dangerous run in Parker's absence, and for someone his size is also a very tough runner as well. I was also pleased to see Gary Russell punch one in for a touchdown, but with 3 carries for 1 yard, Russell still has quite a bit to prove as an everydown back.

-Ryan Clark's hit on Wes Welker was RIDICULOUS. I don't think I have ever seen a more violent hit that wasn't head-to-head in my entire life. Just a sickening sound, a sickening sight, and a sickening result.

-It would have been a very different game if Randy Moss doesn't drop that touchdown pass from Matt Cassel that he would have had 99 times out of 100. When Gostkowski shanked that field goal, you knew the Pats were in trouble, but if Moss snags that sucker, the game is on.

Pirates
-Not much to report on the Pirates these days, but you should check out Dejan Kovacevic's story about the Pirates happenings in the Dominican Republic. If you are a real baseball fan and understand the workings of the league in present day, it will give you some renewed faith in the Pirates organization's overall workings, even if their major league club may struggle mightily in 2009. Also, this is the first part of a 3-part series on the Bucs in Latin America, so be sure to check back on the PG's website the next few days for the remainder.

Pitt Football
-I covered quite a bit of Pitt football stuff in my post-Brawl column, but thought of a few more things I wanted to add.

-The experts seem to like our Panthers heading to the Brut Sun Bowl to play Oregon State. Would be interesting to see how they would fare against a team that was on the cusp of going to the Rose Bowl. It's also worth noting that this is all assuming that Pitt beats UConn.

-With one game remaining, there is a pretty strong chance that LeSean McCoy will at least tie for the national lead in touchdowns at the end of the regular season, and maybe even lead the thing outright with his 20. Javon Ringer currently leads with 21 but is done until bowl season, and Shady is tied for second with MiQuale Lewis of Ball State (who has the MAC Championship this weekend) and Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State (who is done until the Bowls).

-The Panthers are back in all of the rankings thanks to Friday's win.

Pitt Basketball
-Sam Young continued his march toward all kinds of postseason awards with a pair of excellent performances Friday and Saturday night to go with his career performance from Tuesday. What's more, those were two nice wins the Panthers put together as well over Washington State and Texas Tech. Hard to say if either is a tournament-caliber squad (I doubt Tech is, not sure about Wazzu) but wins over Big Conference schools, no matter which ones, are looked upon favorably.

-I was more than a little surprised to notice that Nasir Robinson didn't get into the game at all last night against Wazzu. Not that he'd be lighting the world on fire or anything, but I would not have expected him to be a guy to plummet to the bottom of the bench so quickly given his athleticism and reputation as the top recruit from this class. I can't really argue much with it, though either, and I think that Gil Brown's return to the lineup might make it difficult for Nas to get minutes, as they are similar types of players, and Gil is obviously the better player right now.

-While I made quite a bit about the Panthers bench and depth early on in the season, I also want to add that I think this could quickly become a team whose minutes are dominated by 6 players: Fields, Dixon, Young, Biggs, Blair, and Brown off the bench. Of course McGhee will get his minutes spelling the big guys, and Woodall and Gibbs will see time at the point when Fields is given a rest, and Wanamaker and Robinson will carve out some minutes as well, but the versatility of the top 6 guys makes it so that Jamie Dixon can rely heavily on the cream of the crop for probably 25+ minutes each. I mean think about it: Gil can play the 2,3, and even 4. Sammy is adjusting to the 3, and has a brilliant history at the 4. Blair and Biggs can both move seamlessly between the 4 and 5. And while Dixon and Fields are both probably only going to play their respective guard spots, Fields is a warrior who will probably average 35 minutes a game in Big East play, and Dixon has been nothing but impressive in his early play, and should have no trouble assuming a heavy workload.

-I've been very impressed by Levance Fields' newly found scoring touch. I would not have pegged him as the guy most likely to pick up the Panthers scoring slack this season, but he has been excellent this season. He has emerged as a surprisingly potent 3-point scoring threat, nailing over 40% of his bombs so far this year, establishing himself as the definite top option on the team in that regard.

Other Stuff
-This Texas/Oklahoma/ Texas Tech mess really makes its own case for a college football playoff system of some sort, doesn't it? I mean this is absolutely ridiculous. And since I already have my plan for a playoff system laid out, here's what it would look like as of now, if the season ended today.
Seeds:
1 Alabama (SEC Champ)
2 Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ)
3 USC (Pac-10 Champ)
4 Utah (Mountain West Champ)
5 Texas (At-Large Bid)
6 Penn State (Big Ten Champ)
7 Cincinnati (Big East Champ)
8 Boston College (ACC Champ)
9 Florida (At-Large Bid)
10 Texas Tech (At-Large Bid)
11 Boise State (WAC Champ)
12 Ohio State (At-Large Bid)

First Round Matchups:
Texas vs. Ohio State
Penn State vs. Boise State
Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech
Boston College vs. Florida

Second Round Matchups
Alabama vs. Boston College/Florida
Oklahoma vs. Cincinnati/Texas Tech
USC vs. Penn State/ Boise State
Alabama vs. Texas/ Ohio State

-Lastly, I wanted to give you a heads-up, for the next week and a half or so, I will be forced to dive headfirst into school work, what with Finals week looming on the horizon, and because of this, the blog is likely to take a hit as far as activity. I'm not giving up entirely, but will be forced to tone it down. I will give it my best effort to be on here with something at least every other day, but circumstance will dicatate that.

Updated Version of My College Football Playoff

It's been two weeks since I first made my college football playoff proposal in this space and gave the rundown of how it would look as of that point. Anyway I was thinking about that today and decided to update how that playoff system would look if the playoffs started right now, even though there are still two weeks to go in the season. If you need a refresher of the rules, or didn't catch it the first time around, click the above link for the details. So here are my 12 seeds, the matchups that would be produced, and how I think it would shake out.

1- Alabama
2- Texas
3- USC
4- Utah
5- Oklahoma
6- Penn State
7- Cincinnati
8- Florida State
9- Florida
10- Texas Tech
11- Boise State
12- Ohio State

So that would give us the following matchups:
First Round
Byes:Alabama, Texas, USC, Utah
Oklahoma vs. Ohio State at San Diego
Penn State vs. Boise State at Atlanta
Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech at Tampa Bay
Florida State vs. Florida at Houston

Second Round
Oklahoma/Ohio State vs. Alabama at New Orleans
Penn State/Boise State vs. Texas at San Francisco
Cincinnati/Texas Tech vs. USC at Orlando
Florida State/Florida vs. Utah at Dallas

Now try and tell me with a straight face that this tournament wouldn't make a ton of money and get a boatload of national attention. So, here's how I see this all shaking out:
First Round
Oklahoma 41 Ohio State 14- The Sooners roll over an inexperienced Buckeye team that is on it way to greatness, but isn't ready yet. Sam Bradford's potential Heisman campaign continues to gain steam.

Penn State 24 Boise State 10- I love Boise State and certainly have no affection for the Nittany Lions, but this is a case of the little guys not ready to play with the Big Boys. PSU isn't likely to put up any big numbers, but they throw talent at Boise State that the Broncos haven't seen before.

Texas Tech 42 Cincinnati 28- Hey look! It's two teams that got obliterated by Oklahoma. As much as I would love to say that the Big East could pull an upset, this isn't a good match-up for the Bearcats, as the Red Raiders have faced much better spread teams all year in the Big 12 and can easily keep Cincy's O in check while their own O goes to work.

Florida 41 Florida State 21- I must admit, I thought about changing the seeds around because these two teams will meet shortly in the regular season, but for now, the seeds stand, which is horrific news for the Seminoles who can't play with Tebow and company.

Second Round
Alabama 27 Oklahoma 21- The ultimate immovable object vs. unstoppable force game as the Tide's vaunted D takes on the Sooners potent O. The Tide are on too much of a roll, though, Roll Tide Roll.

Texas 31 Penn State 14- Another intriguing game, but the Nittany Lions can't hang with the Longhorns, as Colt McCoy and company coast on through to the semis.

USC 38 Texas Tech 24- USC cements itself as the trendy dark horse type pick with this solid W over the Red Raiders, as the Trojans demonstrate their talent once and for all.

Florida 45 Utah 24- The Utes are playing for the pride of the little guys, but Florida is not the team they wanted to get paired against. The Utes have been excellent this season, but the Gators are sniffing another title, and blow away the slower Mountain West champ.

Semifinals
Alabama 28 Florida 20- The soon-to-be SEC Championship game is played a second time, and the Tide prove victorious in a close one.

USC 41 Texas 31- USC pulls something of an upset as Mark Sanchez continues his excellent play and the Trojans, long considered the most talented team in the country, are clicking on all cylinders.

National Championship
USC 24 Alabama 10- The Tide just don't have enough offensive firepower for this one, as USC's lighting quick D is too much for Bama's offense, and the Trojans are able to muster up enough points to give Pete Carroll that elusive third National Championship.

So there you have it, at least in my mind. Please keep in mind that these projected seeds are based on where we are now, not where I think we will be in two weeks. That would be a whole different look.

So, if you agree, disagree, or just want to let me know how you think it would play out, drop me a line.

PLAYOFFS?!?

That's right folks, every respected college football writer has pumped out a version of their own playoffs, so sit back and enjoy while a complete amateur (myself) pumps out his own version of a college football playoff system, and then follows up with it in a few weeks with my own selection show (a real treat that I am already mapping out). Let me add this one caveat: While of course I don't know any actual insider tips and haven't talked to any influential minds, I honestly believe that I've watched more college football then many writers this season, and I know I've probably read more about college football than just about anyone, as the sport fascinates me for some reason and I read every single article that I can find.

So without further ado, here is my college football playoff system, to be put into affect immediately:

I understand that many of the most powerful people in the sport want to preserve the importance of the college football regular season, so with that in mind, I have designed a 12 team playoff system, which I feel actually gives more credibility to the regular season than an 8 team playoff, as the teams with the teams that are judged to be the best 4 would get a serious advantage over the other 8 in the field by having a bye into the quarterfinals.

The BCS system as we know it would actually still play a very important role in my system, as this would be primary tool that the NCAA Playoff committee would use in their seeding process. That's right, I intend to put a committee to work, as the human mind can grasp certain things that a computer can't, and there also really would not be a large amount of areas that they would be able to incorporate human discretion into, but just in case, they will be there anyway.

Here's how the process would work. In early December, after all teams had finished up their regular season and conference championships, the final BCS Standings would be released, or maybe kept private for the knowledge of the committee only, whichever the NCAA is more comfortable with, and then the Sunday following the end of the regular season the committee would get together and establish the 12 seeds and the matchups with these guidelines to follow that would more or less set the field on their own:

1)The conference champions from the "Big 6" BCS Conferences get automatic bids to the playoff, no matter what their record or their rank in the BCS is. The current structure regarding 5 year evaluation of the performance of the conferences stands as is to ensure that the best 6 conferences really are the ones getting the automatic bids.

2) The highest ranked non-BCS conference champion receives an automatic bid to the playoff.

3) If there is a second non-BCS conference champion ranked in the top 10, they also receive an automatic bid. Any other non-BCS conference champions that make it into the tournament will do so at the discretion of the selection committee, which means they will have to be ranked appropriately by the BCS standings.

4)In any given year, there will be no more than 5 at-large bids available, and there could even be as few as 1 if the non-BCS conferences are unbelievably strong (a near impossibility). The BCS committee must go in order of the top 6 of the BCS rankings in handing out the at-large bids. (i.e. If there were only 3 at-large slots available and the 3-6 seeds were all non-champions, the 3,4, and 5 would receive at large slots and the 6 would be left out in the cold.)

5)After all of the above stipulations are filled, if there are still at-large slots available, the selection committee then fills the remaining slots with teams of their choosing. They can only select teams in the top 12.

6)Lastly, and this rule supersedes any of the rules regarding the at-large bids, no conference can have more than 3 total teams in the playoffs.

So the above guidelines will give us our 12 teams for the playoffs, and let me do a little bit of explaining regarding the above rules before I continue to some rules regarding seeding. First, of course the Big 6 champs will always get their automatic bids, and I am also a big believe in letting at least the best of the rest (meaning the best of the Little 5 conferences) have a shot at the title, and I also know that the strength of these conferences can be pretty cyclical, hence why I included the provision for a second team being in the top 16. The reason I picked 16 when there are 12 teams is because these teams are at a disadvantage to begin with, and especially in the case of the MAC and other of the littlest of the little 5 conferences, a team could potentially go 12-0 and still not make it into the top 12. The top 16 gives them a little more leeway. However, this only goes for a second team in the top 16, as if there are to be 3 or more Little 5 schools, then they all have to be in the top 12, something I doubt we'll ever see, even in this age of parity.

Lastly, there is the issue of giving the committee discretion in choosing some of the last seeds. Those in the top 6 of the BCS naturally deserve their fair shake even if they are not conference champs, but from there, I'm just not entirely comfortable with having straight up numbers decide who makes it, as these are the same numbers that have given us BCS championship games involving teams that didn't even play for their confernece championship, let alone win it. So sorry if I don't want to put my full trust in this system, but I think humans can give us the discretion necessary to make sure the BCS doesn't make any funky decisions.

Finally, the final rule given above, the 3-teams-per-conference rule. I mean, if you can't be considered one of the top 3 teams in your own conference, should you really be allowed to play for the national championship? I say no.

And now, on to our seeding rules:
1) The four teams that receive byes must all be conference champions. They can be a conference champion from any conference, so long as they have won their conference championship, they can get a bye.

2) The 6 BCS conference champions are guaranteed spots in the top 8, meaning no BCS conference champ can play another in the first round. If, by some minor miracle, there are more than 2 non-BCS championship schools in the top 4, as many BCS champions as possible are put into the top 8.

3) No teams from the same conference can play each other in the first round. This is where the discretion of the selection committee comes in to play.

4) Any remaining seeding decisions lie in the hands of the committee, but they are urged to use the BCS Standings as a guide, though again, they have discretion.

And now for the sites:
-The National Championship (at it is henceforth known) will be rotated among the current 4 sites: Pasadena, Phoenix, Miami, and New Orleans. These four go in a rotation for one quarterfinal, two semifinals, and of course, the final.

-This leaves us with 7 sites remaining. Here are my picks for the best sites: Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, Houston, Orlando, and San Francisco. The committee is to do its best to avoid placing teams in sites that give them a home field advantage. Again, the committee is given discretion here.

Just to give you an idea of what this system would do right now, here's what this field would likely look like right now.

Seeds:
1- Alabama
2- Texas Tech
3- USC
4- Utah
5- Texas
6- Penn State
7- Florida State
8- Pitt
9- Florida
10- Oklahoma
11- Boise State
12- Georgia

That would give us matchups that look like this:
5) Texas vs. 12) Georgia at San Diego
6) Penn State vs. 11) Boise State at Orlando
7) Florida State vs. 10) Oklahoma at Atlanta
8) Pitt vs. 9) Florida at San Francisco

The second round: Atlanta, Dallas
1) Alabama vs. Pitt/ Florida at Atlanta
2) Texas Tech vs. Florida State/ Oklahoma State at New Orleans
3) USC vs. Penn State/ Boise State at Houston
4) Utah vs. Texas/ Georgia at Tampa Bay

Now tell me those games wouldn't generate an absolute TON of money for college football.

Of course, this is just the beginning of my recommendations for revamping college football, but I am going to leave it at this for now, as I think this column is long enough already.