2012 Playoff Format

Two seasons ago, 5 Conference Champions and 6 At Large Champions made the playoff picture easy to sculpt. But this year with 6 Conference Champions and 5 At Large Champions and Notre Dame respectably ranked once again, the Mythical Championship bracket would have to be extended by one week to narrow the selection down to 8 teams.  Note: While I fully believe that teams should be mandated to be in a Conference to contend for a National Championship, I will include Notre Dame in my Mythical Bracket since they are ranked number one.


14 Florida St (11-2) L
   ACC
77 Georgia Tech (6-7) W

19 Nebraska (10-3) L
   BIG10
53 Wisconsin (8-5) W

30 Tulsa (10-3) L
   CUSA
61 East Carolina (8-4) W

22 Kent St (11-2) L
   MAC
13 Northern Illi (12-1) W

3  Alabama (12-1) W
   SEC
12 Georgia (11-2) L

7  Stanford (11-2) W
   PAC12
28 UCLA (9-4) L


The winners of the 6 Conference Championships gives us our automatic 6 qualifiers: Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Tulsa, Northern Illi, Alabama, and Stanford. The remaining 2 spots would be have been decided by matching the At Large Conference Champions and Notre Dame against each other.  Ideally the 4 lower ranked teams would face each other, 3v6 and 4v5.  Notre Dame would take on the 3v6 winner, while Kansas St would take on the 4v5 winner.  Here is how that may have looked using my rankings, not the BCS.


18 Utah St (10-2) W
3V6
23 Arkansas St (9-3) L

20 Boise St (10-2) W
4V5
21 Louisville (10-2) L

We will assume 3 defeats 6 and 4 defeats 5 leaving the following match-ups.


1 Notre Dame (12-0) W
1V4/5
20 Boise St (10-2) L

5 Kansas St (11-1) W
2V3/6
18 Utah St (10-2) L


We will also assume 1 defeats 4 and 2 defeats 3, giving Notre Dame and Kansas St the final two slots in the round of 8. We would then rank the final 8 teams by overall rank going into the Conference round of the playoffs.

RR	Team	Rnk
8	Georgia Tech (6-7)	77
7	Wisconsin (8-5)	53
6	Tulsa (10-3)	30
5	Northern Illi (12-1)	13
2	Alabama (12-1)	3
4	Stanford (11-2)	7
1	Notre Dame (12-0)	1
3	Kansas St (11-1)	5

And that would leave you with the following bracket to determine a true National Champion. First round would be played before Christmas, lower seed playing on campus of the higher seed. The subsequent 2 rounds would be played at neutral sites on/around New Years Day and a week later to determine the National Champion.


1 Notre Dame (12-0)
8 Georgia Tech (6-7)

4 Stanford (11-2)
5 Northern Illi (12-1)

3 Kansas St (11-1)
6 Tulsa (10-3)

2 Alabama (12-1)
7 Wisconsin (8-5)


And that my friends, is how a National Champion should be decided.

2012 Week 14

Wk14	Team (Record, SOS) [BCS]
1	Notre Dame (12-0, 26) [1]
2	Florida (11-1, 5) [3]
3	Alabama (12-1, 27) [2]
4	Ohio State (12-0, 81) [IE]
5	Kansas State (11-1, 24) [5]
6	Oregon (11-1, 38) [4]
7	Georgia (11-2, 43) [7]
8	Stanford (11-2, 7) [6]
9	Texas A&M (10-2, 23) [9]
10	Oklahoma (10-2, 12) [11]
11	LSU (10-2, 25) [8]
12	South Carolina (10-2, 34) [10]
13	Nebraska (10-3, 32) [16]
14	Northern Illinois (12-1, 124) [15]
15	Kent State (11-2, 118) [25]
16	Florida State (11-2, 77) [12]
17	Clemson (10-2, 67) [14]
18	San Jose State (10-2, 73) [24]
19	Oregon State (9-3, 15) [13]
20	Utah State (10-2, 108) [22]
21	Rutgers (9-3, 100) [32]
22	Texas (8-4, 16) [23]
23	Boise State (10-2, 113) [19]
24	UCLA (9-4, 33) [17]
25	Louisville (10-2, 107) [21]
26	Arkansas State (9-3, 61) [37]
27	Northwestern (9-3, 68) [20]
28	Oklahoma State (7-5, 8) [27]
29	Fresno State (9-3, 89) [35]
30	Cincinnati (9-3, 99) [34]
31	Michigan (8-4, 37) [18]
32	Ball State (9-3, 95) [50]
33	TCU (7-5, 17) [40]
34	Tulsa (10-3, 103) [33]
35	Louisiana Tech (9-3, 109) [39]
36	San Diego State (9-3, 105) [36]
37	Middle Tennessee (8-4, 91) [64]
38	UCF (9-4, 111) [43]
39	Vanderbilt (8-4, 49) [28]
40	Mississippi State (8-4, 50) [38]
41	Toledo (9-3, 110) [43]
42	Penn State (8-4, 63) [IE]
43	Navy (7-4, 59) [56]
44	La.-Lafayette (8-4, 75) [57]
45	Southern California (7-5, 18) [31]
46	Arizona (7-5, 13) [30]
47	Louisiana-Monroe (8-4, 92) [46]
48	Texas Tech (7-5, 21) [49]
49	Baylor (7-5, 14) [29]
50	North Carolina (8-4, 101) [IE]
51	Washington (7-5, 22) [48]
52	West Virginia (7-5, 28) [46]
53	Brigham Young (7-5, 54) [55]
54	Wisconsin (8-5, 47) [26]
55	Arizona State (7-5, 52) [41]
56	Miami (Fla.) (7-5, 42) [IE]
57	Syracuse (7-5, 48) [42]
58	Bowling Green (8-4, 121) [62]
59	Texas-SA (8-4, 120) [NR]
60	East Carolina (8-4, 119) [43]
61	Ohio (8-4, 123) [67]
62	Nevada (7-5, 112) [74]
63	Western Kentucky (7-5, 76) [72]
64	Iowa State (6-6, 10) [51]
65	North Carolina State (7-5, 84) [62]
66	Mississippi (6-6, 19) [53]
67	Michigan State (6-6, 30) [52]
68	Georgia Tech (6-7, 45) [70]
69	Virginia Tech (6-6, 51) [66]
70	Pittsburgh (6-6, 57) [69]
71	Duke (6-6, 56) [68]
72	Missouri (5-7, 1) [54]
73	Purdue (6-6, 64) [58]
74	Minnesota (6-6, 78) [61]
75	Tennessee (5-7, 20) [59]
76	Southern Methodist (6-6, 98) [78]
77	Utah (5-7, 31) [60]
78	Rice (6-6, 114) [83]
79	Connecticut (5-7, 97) [80]
80	Air Force (6-6, 117) [85]
81	Central Michigan (6-6, 122) [79]
82	Wake Forest (5-7, 55) [75]
83	Troy (5-7, 82) [86]
84	Arkansas (4-8, 9) [65]
85	Temple (4-7, 70) [84]
86	Houston (5-7, 104) [91]
87	Marshall (5-7, 106) [95]
88	North Texas (4-8, 40) [92]
89	South Florida (3-9, 36) [88]
90	Iowa (4-8, 46) [71]
91	Virginia (4-8, 53) [81]
92	Florida Atlantic (3-9, 39) [103]
93	Indiana (4-8, 60) [77]
94	Maryland (4-8, 58) [90]
95	Buffalo (4-8, 72) [92]
96	California (3-9, 3) [73]
97	Miami (Ohio) (4-8, 65) [89]
98	Texas State (4-8, 85) [100]
99	Auburn (3-9, 4) [76]
100	Wyoming (4-8, 79) [96]
101	Colorado State (4-8, 94) [98]
102	Washington State (3-9, 29) [87]
103	Western Michigan (4-8, 115) [97]
104	Memphis (4-8, 116) [101]
105	Florida International (3-9, 62) [102]
106	Hawaii (3-9, 69) [111]
107	Kentucky (2-10, 6) [82]
108	New Mexico (4-9, 102) [107]
109	Texas-El Paso (3-9, 88) [106]
110	UAB (3-9, 93) [110]
111	Kansas (1-11, 2) [94]
112	Boston College (2-10, 41) [103]
113	Illinois (2-10, 35) [99]
114	Army (2-9, 96) [109]
115	South Alabama (2-11, 71) [115]
116	Eastern Michigan (2-10, 66) [105]
117	Colorado (1-11, 11) [107]
118	Tulane (2-10, 90) [111]
119	New Mexico State (1-11, 80) [117]
120	Idaho (1-11, 44) [114]
121	UNLV (2-11, 83) [113]
122	Akron (1-11, 87) [118]
123	Massachusetts (1-11, 86) [116]
124	Southern Mississippi (0-12, 74) [119]