Write On Sports LLC - "Dolan Bowl Championship System" by Danny Dolan

Dolan Bowl Championship System

2006-12-22 09:12:09 | By: Danny Dolan

You can have your bowls and playoffs too.

Why is it that we can not have both a playoff system in college football and still retain the great tradition of the college bowl games? The debate always comes down to an either or scenario. I foresee a system with a real playoff, without losing the bowls. In fact under the Dolan Bowl Playoff Championship system (copy right pending) the bowls will be more exciting and relevant then ever before. So here it is:

*12 Teams are invited into the playoff field.

*7 Automatic Bids go to the champions of the ACC, PAC 10, Big 12, Big East, Big Twelve, Big 10 and SEC.

*The conference champions of the C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt and WAC will receive automatic bids only if they are undefeated and ranked in the top 20. The remainder of the playoff field is at large bids.

*Rankings are based on the BCS ranking system.

*The top 4 seeds will receive a bye into the Bowl Round.

*Seeds 5 through 12 will play in the first round

*The first round will be on the second or third weekend in December. The highest ranked team will either host the game or find a suitable site for the game. The winners will advance to the bowl round. The losers are also bowl eligible for any non-Dolan Bowl Playoff Championship bowl game, as are all the teams that are bowl eligible that did not make the Dolan Bowl Playoff Championship.

*The Dolan Bowl Playoff Championship Bowl Round. The winners of round one will be re-seeded to play the top 4 teams. The Bowl round will be played on or near the 1st of January. The Dolan Bowl Playoff Championship games are the Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls. The top four teams will be placed into games that should provide the best regional and economical benefit to those bowl sites.

*Semi-Finals: Held the weekend at least one full week after The Bowl round (New Year’s day is often not on a weekend). These games will be at a predetermined site to facilitate ticket sales, much like the NCAA basketball tournament. The winners of the Bowl round will face-off in this round.

*The Championship game is one week later and once and for all we will be able to crown a real Division 1A college football champion.

Under The Dolan Bowl Playoff Championship system a large enough field is invited to dispel any debate that a team worthy of consideration of being champion is not given the opportunity to win the championship on the field. Most teams will only need to play an extra game, at most a team will play only three extra games (that would only be in the event that a 5th or worst ranked team makes it all the way to the championship game). The bowl tradition will continue intact. In fact the significance of the games will make them more relevant and more interesting then ever before. Enough time is allotted before the New Years bowls for the bowls to prepare marketing for the games. The team that survives this tournament will certainly be worthy of it championship. Whether that team is the 19th ranked Sun-Belt champion or the yearlong number one ranked team. The champion will have to beat all comers with the last man standing crowned champion.

The Dolan Bowl Playoff Championship works. It works for the long-standing tradition of the college bowls. It works for the college football teams that want a real opportunity to win a championship. Most importantly it works for the college football fans that want to watch meaningful exciting football in December and January.

The 2006 Playoff Field:

Byes: Ohio State, Florida, Michigan and LSU

First Round December 15 and 16
(5) USC vs. (14) Wake Forest (ACC Champion)
(6) Louisville vs. (11) Notre Dame
(7) Wisconsin vs. (8) Oklahoma
(9) Boise St vs. (11) Auburn

Second Round January 31, 1
Fiesta Bowl: OSU vs. fourth highest ranked round one winner (Projected Boise St)
Orange Bowl: Florida vs. third highest ranked round one winner (Projected Wisc.)
Rose Bowl: Michigan vs. second highest ranked round one winner (Projected Louisville)
Sugar Bowl: LSU vs. highest ranked round one winner (Projected USC)

Semi-Final Thursday January 11th and Friday January 12th (can’t fight the NFL).

Championship Monday January 22nd

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