I still think the old BCS ranking system would be better than what we have now. Now we have human prejudice fowling up the system. If we went with the BCS rankings and 8 teams, maybe 6, that would do it for me.
there have been many BCS simulations since the start of the playoffs.
and with a very few exceptions, they match up with the committees picks. Even when switching to 12 teams, the 12 have been the same, with maybe 1 or 2 being in slightly different order.
In my Czar thread on the old site, I already fixed the entire damn thing.
but without an act of violence, I don't see them taking my advice.
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Before the playoff era, the primary system was the
Bowl Championship Series (BCS) (1998-2013), which used a formula combining human polls (AP, Coaches) and computer rankings (multiple algorithms) to select the top two teams for a single national championship game, aiming for a #1 vs. #2 matchup, though it often faced controversy. Preceding the BCS were the Bowl Coalition (1992-94) and Bowl Alliance (1995-97), simpler systems also aiming for top-two pairings.
How the BCS Worked (1998-2013):
- Polls: Included the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Harris Interactive Poll (later replaced by others).
- Computers: Averaged several computer rankings (like Colley Matrix, Softening Point, Massey Ratings, Billingsley, Richard, Donaldson, and Anderson/Boudreau).
- Formula: Teams were ranked by a "BCS Average," combining poll and computer points.
- Outcome: The #1 and #2 ranked teams played in the BCS National Championship game
As mentioned (from my Czar thread), I would make a few easy tweaks to this system.
- Stick with 6 computers, let the committee have a poll, and replace coaches poll with some other human poll.
- ALL polls must show the "gap" between schools (we need to know if two schools are virtually tied for a spot or if one has a cushion above the school below it, etc)
- ALL polls are 100% completely transparent. every computer formula will be available to the public. Every human poll will be up for questioning/debate in a public forum somewhere. I want any geek in his mom's basement able to double check the results.
- Instead of removing the high and low from just computer polls, we remove the high and low from ALL polls (humans and computers combined).
- I haven't figured in the math yet, but there will be a "bonus" type system for making it to and then another for winning a Conference Championship game. This bonus won't be so huge that it's a slam dunk to get you into playoffs, but will be enough to help if two team are really close to each other.
And as noted, the number of teams getting in each year can fluctuate depending on the season at hand.
and that number could potentially change throughout the month of November (ok, 1st weekend of December).
and YES, I can absolutely make a playoff bracket work with an odd number of teams. so no, you ain't getting in just "because we need X number to make the bracket work".
oh, and one more thing.
I'm eliminating conference tie-ins for bowl games.
we're going to give America the matchups they want to see regardless of conference affiliation.
This year as an example, 7 teams get in to the playoffs.
Then all those 2 and 3 loss teams ranked in the rest of the top 25 would play each other in Bowl games. In matchups we don't see very often (if at all).
