A-Ro's Sports Blog: December 2009

Okay, seriously, this needs to be fixed. You have not one, not two, not three, but FIVE, yes FIVE undefeated teams in the NCAA. Guess what? That means three teams will not be playing to win a national championship! This system is beyond flawed and needs to be fixed as soon as possible. How can you tell who deserves to play in the Championship? Since Alabama and Texas started the season ranked higher than the rest, of course they are the easy picks. But, pre-season rankings are another story. TCU looked better in the last month than Texas did, but instead of playing Alabama, they are left with Boise State. That's unfortunate because either team could stick with or beat Florida, Cincinnati, Texas, or Alabama. There is one easy way to figure out who is the best team in football. Do you know how to settle an argument of who is the best team?

A PLAYOFF! What a system?!?! Who would ever thought something so simple would work? For some reason, the FCS can figure it out, but the FBS can't? I thought they were supposed to be the 'smarter ones'? So, Texas is playing Alabama in some sort of big game and whoever wins is going to be names the 'champion'. Don't mind that Cincinnati, TCU, and Boise State all finished the regular season undefeated. Plain and simple, there needs to be a playoff in college football. Why wait? Just change it now! Look, student-athletes (especially high profile players at the D1 level for football) are mostly a joke. Do players actually study, get time off etc.? Why don't you ask Dan Hawkins, coach of the Colorado Buffaloes?

Implement a college football playoff. Start the season one week earlier, play the first round after conference championship week and still give the players two weeks off for there, ah hem, "FINALS". Then pick it up with the last 8 teams to decide on the field who is the REAL champion. But, A-Ro, how do we decide who is playoff worthy? I have the answer my friends:

College Football Playoffs Selection Procedures

PART I: Qualification for Playoffs:

1. The champions of the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern conferences will have automatic berths into one of the playoff seeds.

2. The champion of Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference or the Western Athletic Conference will earn an automatic berth in the playoffs if either:

Such team is ranked in the top 10 of the final NCAA Playoff Standings, or,
Such team is ranked in the top 14 of the final NCAA Playoff Standings and its ranking in the final NCAA Playoff Standings is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth in a playoff spot.

3. Notre Dame will have an automatic berth if it is in the top 10 of the final NCAA Playoff Standings.

4. Whatever slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 3, then at-large teams will be selected to complete the 12 different playoff slots.

5. An at-large team is any NCAA Division One team that meets the following requirements.

Has won at least nine regular-season games with three losses or fewer, and
Is among the top 16 teams in the NCAA Playoff Standings.
No more than three teams from a conference can be selected, unless team number four has three or less losses with only two of those losses coming from within the conference play.

If fewer than 12 teams are eligible for selection, then any team can be selected as an at-large team that has won at least nine regular-season games and is among the top 20 teams in the NCAA Playoff Standings subject to the three-team limit noted above and also subject to the following: (1) if any conference has three or more teams in the top 16, then two of those teams must be selected and (2) from the teams ranked 17-20, the playoff can select only a team from a conference that has fewer than two teams in the top 16.

If expansion of the pool to 20 teams does not result in 12 teams eligible for selection, then the pool shall be expanded by blocks of 4 teams until 12 eligible teams are available subject to the three-team limit noted above and also subject to the following: (1) if any conference has two or more teams in the top 16, then two of those teams must be selected and (2) from the teams ranked 17 or lower, the playoff can select only a team from a conference that has fewer than two teams in the top 16.

Relative to the two preceding paragraphs, all teams ranked in the top 16, other than those from conferences which have already had two teams selected, must be included in the playoff selection.

Note: in order to participate in a NCAA Playoff game, a team (a.) must be eligible for post-season play under the rules of the NCAA and, if it not an independent, under the rules of its conference and (b.) must not have imposed sanctions upon itself prohibiting participation in a post-season game for infractions of the rules of the NCAA or the rules of its conference.

PART II: Team-Selection Procedures:

The playoffs will select their participants from two pools: (1) automatic qualifiers, all of which must be selected, and, (2) at-large teams. The following sequence will be used when establishing pairings:

The rankings of the team will be determined by the NCAA Playoff Standings.
The top four seeds in the final NCAA Playoff Standings will be automatically given a first round bye.
Seeds five through eight will face seeds nine through twelve in the first round games with the lowest seed facing the highest seed and so on.

PART III: Tie-Breaking Procedures:

The following steps will be used to resolve any ties in the standings or selection procedures after the computation is carried out to full decimal points:

Look to head-to-head result;
If the tie is not resolved by No. 1, then won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of two.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-2, then strength of victory.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-3, then strength of non-conference schedule.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-4, then strength of overall schedule.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-5, then best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-6, then best net points in all games.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-7, then best net touchdowns in all games.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-8, then final standings from previous year.
If the tie is not resolved by Nos. 1-9, then coin toss.

PART IV: NCAA Playoff Standings:

The Harris Interactive Poll, USA Today Poll, and AP Poll each combine to make up first three parts of the Playoff Standings. Each team will have a ranking from each poll from starting from 1 and going through all teams that receive votes.

The computer rankings will make up the fourth part of the Playoff Standings. Each team will receive a number for each spot ranked in the polls and that number will be divided by four to get the total ranking.

The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin and Peter Wolfe. Each computer ranking provider accounts for schedule strength within its formula.

The NCAA Playoff Standings are used for:

Determining the rankings of the top twelve teams that would qualify to play in the NCAA playoffs schedule.
Determining the top four teams to get first round byes in the playoffs.
Determining any other automatic qualifiers; and,
Establishing the pool of eligible teams for at-large selection.

The NCAA Playoff Standings will be released eight times each season, including the final Standings on selection Sunday. The National Football Foundation compiles and releases the Standings each week.

Well, if you don't like a Playoff or any kind of system involving the playoffs...then just follow Jim Mora's lead and don't talk about it.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

What a 12-team playoff would look like...

Sunday, December 6, 2009

The B(s)C strikes again!