College football playoffs

The regular season is done. Conference champions have been crowned. Bowl match-ups have been determined. And a lot of people are unhappy with the LSU-Alabama rematch for the "National Championship."

Can this be fixed? Yes.

How?

The solution is simple: have a playoff. Division 1-AA (FCS), Division II, and Division III all have playoffs, so it's possible to participate in playoffs and still be a student-athlete.

Here is the plan that would work ... if they'd just do it. Whatever team comes out of this would be, without a doubt, the national champion.

First, some basic assumptions:

• If you win your conference, you deserve a spot in the playoffs.
• All conferences are treated equally.
• If you don't win your conference, but you're still a really good, highly-ranked team, you deserve a chance for a spot in the playoffs.
• The bowls shouldn't lose out on having playoff teams appearing.

With that in mind, here's the plan.

• The field will be 16 teams, seeded 1-16.
• The 11 conference champions get the top 11 seeds, based on their standing in the Coaches Poll.
• The remaining 5 spots (seeds 12-16) will be filled with the top 5 teams in the BCS that don't win their conference. These are the "at-large" or "wild-card" teams.
• Independent teams will qualify if they are highly ranked. Independent teams are seeded where they would be as if they were a conference champion.
• In each round, the top seed plays the bottom seed, the second seed plays the next-to-last seed, and so on.
• The higher-seeded team in each matchup is the home team.
• The home team hosts games in the first round.
• Teams eliminated in the first round are eligible to appear in a bowl game.

With those guidelines, here is this year's playoff bracket. Listed are the teams, the conference they represent, and their ranking in the Coaches Poll.

1. Louisiana State (Southeastern) (#1)
2. Oklahoma State (Big 12) (#3)
3. Oregon (Pacific 12) (#5)
4. Wisconsin (Big Ten) (#8)
5. Clemson (Atlantic Coast) (#14)
6. Texas Christian (Mountain West) (#15)
7. Southern Mississippi (Conference USA) (#21)
8. West Virginia (Big East) (#22)
9. Northern Illinois (Mid-American) (#27)
10. Arkansas State (Sun Belt) (#30)
11. Louisiana Tech (Western Athletic) (#33)
12. Alabama (At-large) (#2)
13. Stanford (At-large) (#4)
14. Boise State (At-large) (#6)
15. Arkansas (At-large) (#7)
16. South Carolina (At-large) (#9)

Here would be the first-round match-ups:

• South Carolina at Louisiana State
• Arkansas at Oklahoma State
• Boise State at Oregon
• Stanford at Wisconsin
• Alabama at Clemson
• Louisiana Tech at Texas Christian
• Arkansas State at Southern Mississippi
• Northern Illinois at West Virginia

The winners advance to the second round, while the losers are eligible for selection to a bowl.

The quarter-finals are played Christmas week, and will be hosted by existing bowls. The semi-finals are played around New Year's day, and will be hosted by existing bowls. The championship will be the following week (as the current BCS championship is).