Unfortunately, no coach in Division 1 football is going to scream the word playoffs anytime soon. But let's propose a scenario that makes everyone happy and implement this system for this year, pretending we live in the future. We will even use this year's BCS standings to pick the field.

First, some rules:

1. No Automatic Berths: You have to earn your way in on the field. Once before I proposed a system with a 16 team playoff that included automatic berths for certain conference winners. As we saw this year, you can't count on the strength of a conference from season to season. Therefore, the Big East in this year's scenario will not have a team competing for the National Title. That is something I think everyone can agree on.


2. 12 teams get in, 4 teams get a bye: You have to give some advantage for finishing at the top. Right away, this would start some controversy. With Cal moving from 4 to 5 on the last week of the season, they suddenly have to play an extra playoff game. I can't control the voters in the human polls or Mack Brown complaining about his position. Perhaps without the threat of no BCS game, he wouldn't have lobbied so much. Since I can't change anything, we will go with this years standings.


3. After last weekend of the season, all teams in the playoff system get one week off: If you look at the schedule this year, that is exactly what is happening. This gives teams who hope to be playing football for the next month, a chance to take finals and keep the school administration happy.


4. Select Bowl games will become the playoff sites: Everyone wants to keep the Bowl System in place. It generates too much money and has too much tradition to not stay around. However, it needs to adapt just like everything else. Before the playoff system is implemented, certain Bowl games will be designated as playoff games. This will cause some bowls, such as the Rose Bowl to lose some of the tradition they are proud of. No longer will they be guaranteed a Big 10 - PAC-10 match, which is something that even under the BCS, they have lost. But, given the attention that the game will bring, they will probably change their tune. Higher seeded teams will be placed in the closest bowl game to their school. The Championship game will continue to rotate among the 4 big bowl games.


5. Provision For Future - The NCAA limits the number of football games a team can play in the season to 11. This would be including any conference championship game. Most teams will then play 10 games and the teams most likely to go to the playoffs will have 11. In addition, this may lead leagues like the Big 10 and PAC-10 to join with the other big conferences in adding a final game to crown a true league champion.

Enough rules for now. Let's look into the BCS standings and select the teams for this year's playoffs.

1. USC - PAC-10
2. Oklahoma - Big 12
3. Auburn - SEC
4. Texas - Big 12
5. Cal - PAC-10
6. Utah - Mountain West
7. Georgia - SEC
8. Virginia Tech - ACC
9. Boise State - WAC
10. Louisville - Conference USA
11. LSU - SEC
12. Iowa - Big Ten

Left out of the mix would probably be some teams that people would complain about. Michigan is the most obvious example since the Wolverines would not be in while another Big Ten team would make the field instead. That is the price Michigan pays for losing to Notre Dame and Ohio State. In addition, that is the price the Big Ten pays for not having a conference championship.

Assembling the field, we need 11 bowl games from the current set. We will use games which tie in only to the conferences involved in the playoffs. That leaves other teams not playing for the National title to have bowl games left as sort of an NIT of college football.

Here is what the four weeks of game would look like:
Week 1:
Holiday Bowl: #5 Cal vs. #12 Iowa
Liberty Bowl: #6 Utah vs. #11 LSU
Peach Bowl: #7 Georgia vs. #10 Louisville
Music City Bowl: #8 Virginia Tech vs. #9 Boise State

Week 2:
Fiesta Bowl: #1 USC vs. Winner of the Music City Bowl
Cotton Bowl: #2 Oklahoma vs. Winner of the Peach Bowl
Capital One Bowl: #3 Auburn vs. Winner of the Liberty Bowl
Outback Bowl: #4 Texas vs. Winner of the Holiday Bowl

Week 3:
Rose Bowl: Fiesta Bowl Winner vs. Outback Bowl Winner
Sugar Bowl: Cotton Bowl Winner vs. Capital One Bowl Winner

Week 4:
Orange Bowl: Rose Bowl Winner vs. Sugar Bowl Winner

So, that begs the question of how this scenario would have played out. The only way I can do that is by using my favorite tool, the MRI. Obviously there are some great teams in this field, and a number of them are very close in the MRI standings. I will use the statistics I have on the MRI picking games and based on that, we will see what percent chance each team would have of being the National Champion.

Week 1: Three of the four games fall into a band where the MRI does not do quite as well. There were too many upsets over the past year in this band and therefore the percentage is a little down. Still, the MRI favored team has quite an advantage in all games.
Holiday Bowl: #5 Cal (65.75%), #12 Iowa (34.24%)
Liberty Bowl: #6 Utah (65.75%), #11 LSU (34.24%)
Peach Bowl: #10 Louisville (65.75%), #7 Georgia (34.24%)
Music City Bowl: #9 Boise State (76.71%), #8 Virginia Tech (23.29%)

Week 2:
Fiesta Bowl: #1 USC (73.84%), #9 Boise State (19.62%), #8 Virginia Tech (6.53%)
Cotton Bowl: #2 Oklahoma (58.38%), #10 Louisville (32.01%), #7 Georgia (9.61%)
Capital One Bowl: #3 Auburn (54.53%), #6 Utah (33.74%), #11 LSU (11.73%)
Outback Bowl: #4 Texas (58.28%), #5 Cal (33.74%), #12 Iowa (7.98%)

Week 3:
Rose Bowl: #1 USC (54.14%), #4 Texas (19.59%), #5 Cal (13.48%), #9 Boise State (8.85%), #12 Iowa (2.27%), #8 Virginia Tech (1.67%)
Sugar Bowl: #2 Oklahoma (41.91%), #3 Auburn (20.93%), #10 Louisville (16.77%), #6 Utah (13.15%), #11 LSU (3.83%), #7 Georgia (3.41%)

Week 4:
Chance of winning Orange Bowl and being National Champion:

1. USC - 34.53%
2. Oklahoma - 25.12%
3. Auburn - 7.96%
4. Louisville - 7.54%
5. Texas - 7.37%
6. Cal - 5.56%
7. Utah - 5.49%
8. Boise State - 3.09%
9. LSU - 1.09%
10. Georgia - 0.97%
11. Iowa - 0.74%
12. Virginia Tech - 0.55%

Looking at the final numbers, it seems that including teams beyond #8 in the standings doesn't really make for a better playoff. The only thing it does is give the teams at the top of the standings an extra week off to prepare. And it adds to the amount of money that an event like this could generate. Still, the league would have to evaluate if the extra week and extra money is worth the 3.35% chance that one of those teams will win the tournament.

It is an interesting idea. It is just a shame that it most likely won't happen in the next 5 years. Enjoy it for what it is worth.