Brandon's thoughts on the BCS

the idea of DB opening up his world to ours. Although I don't use Twitter, I think it will be a useful tool for him. As for the BCS, I think anywhere from a 6-20 team playoff would work. But that is just me.

Seems like we could live with the #5 team griping about being left out....keeps pretty much all bowl games intact as is...cake-eaten

A Michigan education will lead to an Ultra First Class Athletic Department. Were in good hands with Brandon no matter where he stands on the BCS.

I just think a playoff would be more fun to watch than the current system. 

but I like that he's "openly" communicating with the M faithful. 

I would like to see some sort of comments section (moderated obviously) or a Q&A thread where we can submit questions and he answers them, i.e. the quesitons the OP has on the BCS comments.

with a small playoff like 4 teams.  I wouldn't want too many teams, because the regular season is so exciting at the moment.  I wouldn't want to take away from that.

This has to be the first thing that I disagree with him about. If he likes the bowls then think of a good way to incorporate the bowls into a playoff system. He says every game matters but what happens if the ACC and Big East send teams with 3-5 losses to the BCS? How about if VaTech gets a guaranteed spot in the Orange Bowl, but Boise gets held out? It doesn't sound like that game between them mattered very much. Or if Miami gets in but OSU is held out? That game must not have mattered either. This is just such a silly argument. When you guarantee spots, you are setting the system up for failure.

UNLESS

We end up with four mega conferences and the champions of each play each other in a semi/ final playoffs. 

But that is not happening anytime soon. 

Could someone with skillz make a playoff bracket based on the top 6, 10, 15, 20, or 25? Who would get first round byes besides first place? Would it be seperated in regions of the country? I am curious. Thanks!

Screw the BCS system.  It's a joke.  Every NCAA division championship is settled on the field via a playoff, except the one division of football that anyone cares about.

16 team playoff, utilizing conf champions and a few at large bids.  Regular season games still matter because teams need to win their conference in order to get in.

Latest issue of SI had a respectable bracket format/proposal.  I'm not opposed to other bracket proposals, but for god's sake, settle it on the field.

Everyone's view would change if there were 3 undefeated teams and Michigan was the one being left out.

Ooh Dave Brandon!  He so smart and sexy! His pimp game is stronger than Mr. Whitefolks! He's the best AD since Don Canham!

Oh sorry, I was just getting out the requisite DB tongue bathing before I seriously concern myself with this post. For real, though, he seems to have nothing original or insightful to add to this topic. I would have expected, especially for all the ridiculous praise he gets around here, that he'd have some interesting spin on why bowls "work so well" (or even some explanation of what the hell he means by that). Also, unnecessary use of all-caps and scare quotes. Maybe he's not the strongest writer (even if he is, like, the most totally awesome pimp around). If this were an mgoblog diary, I'd neg it. Not so much because I disagree (though, I do)  but because it was a platitudinous waste of time. 

So the blog is cool.  Saw it on Twitter (negbang me for using that, please) and I thought it said he was blogging on mgoblOG, which would have been even cooler.

My issue on the playoff is that the best team in the country wins the national championship the vast majority of the time in the BCS system.  That isn't true if you get to a playoff beyond say 8 teams.  How many times does the best team really win the NCAA basketball torunamnet? (true that that's a slightly higher percentage of the teams in the country than would likely be included in the football tournament, but the point remains).

Dave, Dave, Dave.  I'm shaking my head that we have yet another leader that thinks the BCS and bowl system are swell.  The system is a dismal failure in all respects.  After hearing about how Mr. Brandon is all about money is his resent interviews, it is amazing that he could support a system that is costing athletic departments hundreds of million dollars.  I just don't get the inconsistency.

Consolidate the handful of good teams outside the 6 BCS conferences into 2 more power conferences.

Tell the Sun Belt, C-USA, and MAC to go play in the FCS.

Require the new 8 BCS conferences to play all of their OOC games against other BCS conference schools.  This helps achieve strength of schedule parity.

The 4 conferences with the best overall OOC records get byes.  The other 4 conference winners play 4 at-large teams in the "wild-card" round.

Those 4 winners play the 4 bye teams.  Re-seed each round.

I hate the BCS and want a playoff system like the other football divisions have. It isn't  any bit of rocket science putting it together either.

However, the power of the pimp hand has spoken and my eyes have been opened. Now the "every game counts" argument, so lame when spoken by ESPN/ABC shills, seems compelling.

I feel reborn. Where do I send money to help cover the losses incurred by the athletic departments for these bowls?  

Joking, but I did read through his opinion without giggling. Yet I can't take it when Herbstreet says it over it over again. Testimony to the greatness of DB.

Once the conference gets to its 16-team configuration, Jim Delanay and David Brandon will become playoff advocates and ditch the BCS in a heart beat.

Right now, the Big Ten and the BCS conferences control college football by having a larger slice of a smaller pie and being able to hold the knife.  Opening up the post-season to a playoff system that could net around $750M means that the non-BCS schools will iinvariably have more resources to sustain themselves financially and not be beholden to the major conferences' bidding and control. 

When Delany feels the Big Ten is in its optimal strategic position (16-team conference including Notre Dame, Big Ten Network on basic cable in northeast and mid-Atlantic), his opinion (and Brandon's) will change in a heart beat.  There's just too much money left on the table if they don't do this (with the current bowl set up netting a bit over $200M).

Dan Wentzel put together a playoff scenario with sixteen teams including the eleven conference winners and five at large selections.  I would put it together differently by taking the top nine conference winners (which would effectively eliminate the Sun Belt and the reconfigured WAC) plus seven at large selections.  All the playoff games will be played at campus sites with the championship game in the Rose Bowl.  Teams not selected for the playoffs would participate in the bowl games.

Using the current BCS standings, here's how the first round of the playoffs might look (current records in brackens).  This assumes that the champions from the Big Ten, Pac 10, Big XII and SEC are included in the list:

#16 Conference USA Champion at  #1 Oregon (10-0)

#9 Ohio State (9-1) at #8 Nebraska (9-1)

#15 MAC Champion at #2 Auburn (11-0)

#10 Oklahoma State (9-1) at #7 Wisconsin (9-1)

#14 Pittsburgh (5-3, Big East Champion) at #3 TCU (11-0, MWC Champion)

#11 Alabama  (8-2) at #6 Stanford (9-1)

#13 Virginia Tech (8-2, ACC Champion) at #4 Boise State (9-0, WAC Champion)

#12 Michigan State (9-1) at #5 LSU (9-1)

Teams that didn't make the cut and would go to the major bowl games (Rose, Orange, etc.) include Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri,  South Carolina, Texas A&M and Iowa.

Of course, if a playoff system was in place, then we'd be discussing the teams on the outside looking in, what would happen to Alabama if they lost to Auburn in the Iron Bowl (or vice versa), what teams would need to do in order to get home field advantage in the first round, etc.  instead of whether or not TCU or Boise State is going to go undefeated again and not get into the BCS national championship game.  Which do you prefer?