Ok...here is my solution. I'd like a playoff, and think it would work best in Division 1 with 16 teams. D3 uses a 32 team playoff, but they have a lot more teams than D-I, and their regular season is just 10 games. Division I-AA, aka D-I FCS, uses a 16 team tournament that lasts just four weeks. Their regular season is 12 games, as is D-I.

I would allow the conferences that play Championship games to continue with those, with those games played the first week of December like they are now. The regular season would occur during the 14 weeks prior to December, allowing for two bye weeks for each program. After the Championship games the first week in December, the 16 team field for the playoffs would be chosen.

I'd like the 16 teams to be chosen anonymously in a tournament committee like the rest of the NCAA sports do. However, if people wanted transparency like the BCS, then I would be fine with that as well. Once the top 16 are seeded, games would begin that next Saturday, and continue for the next 2 Saturdays after that. Games would be played at the stadium of the higher seeded team. When eight teams are eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, those teams could then be matched up against each other in traditional bowls. After the round of eight, those 4 teams could be matched up in another set of bowls. And after the final 4, the next two teams out could be placed in a bowl as well.

This would work out well for the power schools, because if they were a high seed they would be able to have up to 3 more home games against quality competition. They also wouldn't have to sacrifice going to a bowl game.

Let me throw out how this could have worked out this season with the BCS standings used for the bracket. 1 Oklahoma vs 16 BYU, 2 Florida vs 15 Georgia, 3 Texas vs 14 Georgia Tech, 4 Alabama vs 13 Oklahoma State, 5 USC vs 12 Cincinnati, 6 Utah vs 11 TCU, 7 Texas Tech vs 10 Ohio State, 8 Penn State vs 9 Boise State.

Who wouldn't love to fill out a bracket for this? The only change that would probably have to be made would be to switch Georgia-Florida, since those two had already matched up. I won't pick upsets in this potential scenario, but after the first round of the playoffs, 4 of the 2nd tier bowl games would vie for the 8 eliminated teams. How about the Chik-Fil-A Bowl with TCU and Boise State, the Gator Bowl with Georgia and Ohio State, the Liberty Bowl with Georgia Tech and Cincinnati, and the Cotton Bowl with Oklahoma State and BYU. Sure the traditional conference affiliations would be eliminated, but those would be some good bowl games without sacrificing the playoffs.

After the next round you might have the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls picking up Penn State vs Texas Tech and Utah vs USC. Finally after the Football Final Four, you would have the runners up, Texas and Alabama, playing in the Orange Bowl, while the Championship game Florida vs Oklahoma could be played in the Rose Bowl. The bigger name bowls could rotate like they do now so that each would get a chance at the National Championship game.

In this scenario the season would end at the same time as it already does. The most games a team could play would be 17, which shouldn't be a big deal since I-AA championship teams play 16, and an NFL schedule is more than 20 games(4 preseason) before the playoffs even start. There would be a legitimate tournament that would crown the National Champions, and the bowls would not be eliminated from Division I football. The lower bowls could also continue with the 7, 8, and 9 win teams that don't make the playoffs.

four team or eight you pick. You still get the drama of the polls week to week and you still get the best teams playing on the field for the championship.

We had 32 bowls this year that is 64 teams. So I would start with 64 teams. Half would be gone after the first week. In two weeks time you would be down to 16 teams once you whittle it down to the final two you would see that the time between Florida and OSU was a longer wait. It can be done and it should be done.

Having a playoff would be awesome! Here's my idea. Have 16 teams, 8 in each bracket, 11 automatic bids (conference winners) and 5 at large teams.

I'm not a big fan of the playoff idea, but have the top 8 BCS teams face each other. Eliminate one week off in December, and it all works out well.

Playoffs will turn college football into the super bowl Playoffs will still have teams feeling like they were cheated! What if there is a 16 team playoff and the #17 team beats the #16 team in the reg season, and the #16 team wins the natl championship thru a playoff system? Was #17 cheated cause they missed the playoff by 1 spot?

(10/22): Number 16 td haha, that is not enough! Of course, we have the top 25 polls from more than nine sources, and whoever is in the most polls will be in, but I will say that there should be a tourney of 32 teams- confernce winners will be guaranteed the top 11 spots. There will be wild cards for other 21 teams and all games will be played on the same week. It will be a one-and-done format to compensate for time. The final 4 will feature the original bowls (With one for third place, pending that the Cotton Bowl doesn't join.) Of course, I partially agree with I-J-R about the situation of the bowls not getting the right of selection, but tradition has been broken recently as Oklahoma faced Wazzou in the Rose and USC faced Iowa in the Orange 2 years ago and they were great games. (Update: The Rose Bowl will again have a non-traditional matchup- Texas will face Michigan there instead of a Pac-10 team; but expect it to be a good one.) This idea of implementing a playoff system is a good one and very fair so we won't keep questioning who is the undisputed winner.

Well, this much is clear: the BCS is an untenable system; a setup that has given us a true champion in only 2 of the last 7 years is clearly unacceptable. As for alternatives, a 64 (!??!) team playoff is not very practical. Remember, only 6 weeks is half the length of the entire season, plus a 64-team playoff would include over half the teams in Division 1A! 16- and 8-team playoffs are better ideas, but still foolish: teams with 2 and even 3 losses would be given a chance to play their way to the national championship, a concept that would render the regular season meaningless. Case in point: everyone loves the NCAA Basketball Tournament, but it rarely produces as champion the best team throughout the season; perhaps the best example of this is Villanova in 1985. The Wildcats lost 10 regular-season games and barely made the Tournament, but they got hot for 6 games and won the National Title. I think it would be as unfair as the BCS' arbitrary 2-team format to allow undeserving teams to play their way to a title simply because they got on a roll for a few playoff games. It's fairly clear, then, that the solution to the BCS is to simply expand it from 2 to 4 teams. Use the existing ratings system to determine the Final 4, and then pit #1 vs. #4, and #2 vs. #3. The winners would then face off in a true National Title Game. The 3 games used for this playoff would be existing BCS bowls, with the hierarchy rotating each season (much like what is done currently). For example, if the Rose Bowl was the Championship Game one year, it would be left out of the playoff the next year (selecting teams its normal way), and then be one of the semifinals the next year. The other bowls would go on just as planned, and we would finally have an undisputed champion. Check the results, and you'll find that this system rectifies every major complaint about the outcome of each of the last 8 seasons. No more split titles. No more controversy. It's about time, college football.

16 team playoff with the semi-finals and the finals to be played at the Fiesta, Orange & Sugar on a rotation. The Rose wants to have the only the Pac-10 and Big 10.1, so let them have what they want and leave them out.

I may be the only person mental enough to suggest this, but a playoff would not be good. Millions of $$ will be lost by both television networks and the NCAA and all but 3 games will become completely invalidated and unwatched. Nobody will watch the Holiday Bowl regardless of who is in it with a playoff. People will stop caring about the minor bowls (which the Holiday is not; it is an upper-tier bowl). A playoff is not plausable. Also, coaches will have to coach 2 more games with the likely risk of injury. Instead of having the 2 best teams on December whatever, you have the 2 best teams tarnished who eaked out a win while losing their quarterback. I don't ever want to see a playoff. Just that 5th BCS game is costing the BCS money.

Take the top eight contenders and throw them in a simple playoff. DUH!