Casey’s college playoff system brings perfection

Let me start this column by saying I’m a fan of the Bowl Championship Series.

Before you ask, yes, I know, I’m one of an endangered species.

In fact, if not for me, BCS supporters would possibly be an extinct species.

It’s not a perfect system. It’s truly not. In 2003, I admit that USC should have played against LSU and not Oklahoma (USC would have still lost). Just one year later, I again admit Auburn should have played against USC and not Oklahoma (USC would have still won) and in 2008, Florida should have been opposed by Texas and not Oklahoma, because after all, Texas had beaten the Sooners head-to-head. (Again, Florida would have still won)

Aside from the occasional Oklahoma-bias in the system, it’s overall been a pretty good system.

I know, I know, you don’t believe me.

That’s because of short-term memory.

I’m just 23, so I’m not exactly an old-school guy. I’m actually still probably too young to even be new school, now that I think about it. But I do remember how the system used to be. Do you guys remember that?

Bowl tie-ins dominated January matchups, even if it meant the No. 1 team had to face the No. 22 team in the Rose Bowl, while the No. 2 team played the No. 17 team in the Sugar Bowl.

And at the end of the year when the bowls were played, pollsters voted n and if there were one team, two teams or three teams who bickered about being No. 1, then we all just headed into the next season unhappy without a clear champion.

We all can admit what we have now is much better than that.

But even despite my love for the BCS, I’ve often been asked about a college football playoff n an idea I have opposing thoughts about.

So despite my hesitance, I’ve decided to please the masses today and unveil the way I’d do a college football playoff.

This system I’ll call the Gisclair Playoff System n or the GPS. Forget the conflicting names, my system will put that little machine out of your minds forever.

The way a team qualifies for my version of the playoff system would be through conference championships.

There are currently 11 conferences in the NCAA, so all 11 conference winners will get in via an at-large agreement.

This will shut up all of the wannabes like Boise State and TCU who think they can play with the big boys. They’ll win their conference annually and get smashed in the playoffs. But at least they’ll have their seat at the table and will have no right to bicker. Because if there’s anything that annoys me, it’s when a person from Idaho bickers.

From there, we’d take three more teams. I understand that sometimes one conference may have more than one good team n the Casemeister gets it n so we’ll take the three highest-seeded non-conference winning teams.

From there, we’ll seed the teams (using the BCS formula) 1-14 with the two highest-seeded teams getting a first round playoff bye and the 3-14 seeds dueling it out in the opening round.

Much like the NFL playoffs, home field advantage would be awarded to the highest-seed in the opening two rounds. But once the semifinals start, the games would move to a neutral site.

So I know it’s all a play on words until it’s put into effect, so let’s see how the GPS would have worked if it was done last season.

I won’t comment on whether it would have been a success or a failure (OK, I might a little bit), I’ll let you guys be the judge of it would work.

In 2009, the 11 automatic conference-winning qualifiers would have been: Georgia Tech, Texas, Cincinnati, Ohio State, East Carolina, Central Michigan, TCU, Oregon, Alabama, Troy and Boise State.

From there, the three at-large selections would have been Florida, Iowa and Virginia Tech.

Seeding the teams would have created a bracket that would have given Alabama and Texas byes, while setting up first-round matchups as follows:

No. 7 Oregon vs. No. 10 Iowa

No. 3 Cincinnati vs. No. 14 Troy

No. 6 Boise State vs. No. 11 Virginia Tech

No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Georgia Tech

No. 4 TCU vs. No. 13 East Carolina

No. 5 Florida vs. No. 12 Central Michigan

When it’s laid out on paper, all of a sudden this playoff stuff looks a lot more fun. Imagine a second round matchup between Alabama and Ohio State or a Boise State and Texas matchup in the semifinals.

Playoffs in college football n that’s an awfully tough thing to wrap one’s head around. I was all opposed to the idea.

But like the name implies, I think the GPS has allowed me to find the way.

BCS supporters might officially be extinct.