My ideal College football playoff system

[Alsacs]

Would be to have 16 team playoff a la FCS and give all 11 D-1 conferences(AAC, ACC, B1G, Big XII, CUSA, MAC, MWC, Pac-12, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC) an automatic bid and 5 at-large teams. Play first round on-campuses, play quarter-finals at 2 sites with double-headers at each BCS sites(Orange, Rose, Chick-Fila, Sugar), semi-final doubleheader(at one of the two sites not used in the quarter-final), then the Championship game at the 4th site. I would switch out Fiesta for either Chick-Fil-A or Cotton Bowls as they are in better geographic areas Dallas/Atlanta vs. Glendale, Arizona.

By having double-headers it would get 4 fanbases to one site and would fill the stadium up regardless of the four teams there and would create a march madness type atmosphere. Michigan, Ohio State fans at the Rose Bowl site with Ohio State playing Oregon and Michigan playing Alabama it would be tremendous theater. If they wanted to do a two single headers on back to back days that would work as well one game on Friday, the other game on Saturday like that a la the Pac-12 Championship game on Friday, and the B1G game on Saturday.
I would also follow the lacrosse system and use geography with the first round to restrict as much travel as possible.
Thus under my system last year would have looked like this
3rd week in December
1. Notre Dame(at-large) vs. 16. Wisconsin(B1G) (following the LAX model of reducing travel)
2. Alabama(SEC) vs. 15. Arkansas State(Sun Belt)
3. Florida(at-large) vs. 14. Northern Illinois(MAC)
4. Oregon(at-large) vs. 13. Utah State(WAC)
5. Georgia(at-large) vs. 12. Louisville(AAC)
6. Stanford(Pac-12) vs. 11. Boise State(MWC)
7. Texas A&M(at-large) vs. 10. Tulsa(CUSA)
8. Kansas State(Big XII) vs. 9. Florida State(ACC)
Remember in lacrosse geography matters I would flip Tulsa and Louisville if A&M-Tulsa and Georgia-Louisville didn't make better geographic sense.

New Year's week
The quarterfinals
Rose Bowl(Pasadena)- hosts ND-Wisconsin winner vs. K State-FSU winner, Oregon-Utah State winner vs. Georgia-Louisville winner
Orange Bowl(Miami)- Alabama-Arkansas State winner vs. A&M-Tulsa winner, Florida-NIU winner vs. Stanford-Boise winner

2nd week in January
Sugar Bowl(New Orleans)- doubleheader featuring 4 winners

4th week in January week between NFL Conference Championships and Superbowl
Chick-Fil-A Bowl(Atlanta)- National Championship game

 

[TexanMark]

Why let all 11 leagues participate? Easier to do in Hoops.

 

[Alsacs]

Why let all 11 leagues participate? Easier to do in Hoops.

Gives the top teams an easier first round game and rewards everybody with a "chance."

 

[WoadBlue]

I am opposed to giving auto bids to leagues like the Sunbelt and MAC. That is the worst case scenario for the ACC.

What I think is coming is a playoff system that repeats the original BCS bowls: 8 teams, with champs of 5 Major conferences having auto bids, no more than 2 teams from a league.

 

[riskylogic]

What I think is coming is a playoff system that repeats the original BCS bowls: 8 teams, with champs of 5 Major conferences having auto bids, no more than 2 teams from a league.

That seems like the obvious thing to do. With conference championships after the end of the regular season, 16 teams is not going to work.

 

[SWC75]

The best is an 8 team straight invitational. That would include all the legit contenders every year, even a year like '73 when we had 6 unbeaten teams. But I suspect the power conferences would like automatic bids if it went to 8 so you might have to go to 16, in which case you could give auto bids to all the conferences. I wish they would push the Sun Belt conference back to FCS where they belong. The others are OK. 16 teams with 10 auto-bids would cover it.

 

[cpatrocks]

I don't see the Double Header idea working for Football. College Football games are 3.5 hours and with at least 3o minutes between games (more likely an hour), fans of one team would likely skip most of the other game.

Other than that, I'd love to see a 16 team playoff. Make it happen!