To Mark Cuban (cc BCS officials)

Thanks for finally being someone to step up and try and make playoffs work! College Football has needed this for quite some time. I'm not sure how you exactly plan on having the  playoff work, I know you have mentioned 16-18 teams, but I think that might be a few to high. 16 teams requires four games to crown a champion and I think I have a way to do all this while keeping conferences happy.

But hey Mark, if you get this to work and it ends up being 16-18, even four; anything is better than two.

First, Mark is right there has to be financial gain for the institutions involved. Good, lets sell naming rights to either each game or to the entire playoffs. Seems like a win win situation. You can't tell me that someone wouldn't be willing to pay for that.

I'm for a much simpler solution that chooses teams for the playoffs. You must win your conference championship game.

This would create even more buzz for already high profile championship games and bring more revenue into the conferences. If a conference decides not to have a championship game than they are not eligible to send someone to the playoffs. If you are Notre Dame, you might want to consider getting off your high horse and getting with the Big Ten or you won't be winning anymore National Championships.

So how does it work? Let's assume that the big six all have title games, we'll say the Big 12 is smart enough to bring one back. I don't care how the Conferences choose who plays in them that can be their problem but the Conference Championship game is round one of the playoffs, it's like the basketball playin games, except we all actually turn on the TV to watch these. The winner of those six games get slotted into the eight team playoff. That leaves two openings left.

I'm going to even try to help keep the BCS happy here too, let's keep the formula and computer and the highest ranked conference champions from any other conference gets in. So let's move on and see how this might actually look in the future.

Big Ten
18 Nebraska (Legends) v 6 Ohio State (Leaders)

Big Twelve
17 Texas A&M  v 7 Oklahoma

Big East
3 TCU v 22 West Virginia

Pac-10
4 Stanford (North) v 19 Utah (South)

ACC
13 Virgina Tech (Coastal) v 23 Florida State (Atlantic)

SEC
16 Alabama (West) v UR Florida (East)

Lets use those as our sample Championship games. I'll take the winners in italics (I am using this years BCS numbers). We can then use the BCS standings to seed the teams as well. Then let's assume other conferences have made a move to a championship game style as well. Heck we're basically giving the little guys 25% of the field, I think they'd be dumb not to!

Let's start with the Mountain West Conference, which would have had a great matchup; lets use ChrisT's thoughts here.

MWC
10 Boise State v 24 Hawaii

And let's just go with the depleated WAC for simplification.

WAC
15 Nevada v UR Fresno State

We'll go with an upset here. So this is what your bracket looks like going into Championship Saturday. (Seriously this could make a lot of money)

Exactly what every office needs!

So what do we think? Perfect? No, but is it better than what we currently have? Absolutely! I am sure that there are other things that could be improved but who wouldn't love sitting down each week to watch some great college football? This basically takes an eight team tourney and turns it into 16 or more, with other conference championship games playing for a potential berth.

The best part is we can still have the other bowls that nobody cares about except for some of the fans of said schools that are participating.

And most of all - I can't wait to start an office pool for December Madness when this happens!

----

Interestingly enough from Cuban's blog he reports:

You should also consider that the playoffs are already owned by someone, as in, the patent for resolving the FBS championship by  way of a playoff was issued long ago.  It’s called a method patent, so be careful not to infringe it.

Anyway, if you want to know who owns assets in this field, let me know.  I can put you in touch with one of my attorneys who can let you know what you’re in for.  It’s much more complex that it’s commonly understood to be.

Yup. You read that right. Someone already owns the playoffs, regardless of if they can actually do it or not. Crazy.

Arena Adventures: Assembly Hall (Part 1)

Arena Adventures: Entry #3

Arena: Assembly Hall
City: Champaign, IL
Date: November 30, 2010
ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Teams:North Carolina @ #20 Illinois

Illinois Assembly Hall

This was not my first time at the Assembly Hall, I have actually been there for quite a few games in the past. However this was my first ACC/Big Ten Challenge game and it did not disappoint.

The game started out slow, with Illinois making the first bucket and North Carolina taking an early lead after that. The main turning point of the game was when Illinois senior guard Demetri McCamey took the ball down the lane and picked up the third foul on North Carolina junior forward Tyler Zeller.

The game stayed close to for a while after this point and Illinois took a nine point lead going into half with a buzzer beating three ball by sophomore guard DJ Richardson. The Illini didn't let down to open the start of the 2nd half with Mike Davis scoring two of his 20 points on an ally-op dunk from fellow senior Mike Tisdale.

While the Illini didn't finish the game off strong, they never let it feel like North Carolina was back in the game and as an Illini fan that was great to feel.

So let's talk about both teams Fab Freshmen. We've all heard about Harrison Barnes, both pre-season when he was hyped as an All-American and now in season when he hasn't had nearly the start that many expected. But what about Illini forward Jereme Richmond? He came in with passion and intensity and wanted to show Barnes that he has game and that is exactly what Richmond did. He scored 12 points and did not back down form the pre-season All-American.

Illinois forward Jereme Richmond
Photo by Cary Frye

Barnes finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds and 1 assist in 27 minutes, shooting 2-9 from the field including 1-4 from beyond the arc, while Richmond scored 12 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out an assist in 26 minutes of play. It's tough to judge two players on one single match-up but I'd have to say that so far this year Richmond has looked a lot better than Barnes has and made a point to take it right at Barnes the moment he entered the game.

The highlight of the night was a great up and under dunk near the start of the second from Jereme that had the Hall rocking.

After the game I am not quite sure what to think of North Carolina. They have talent but they just aren't playing well at all. Barnes has not even come close to living up to all the hype he received. Illinois did not play that well and they controlled the game handily. If Mike Davis can drop his inconsistency of last year and give the Illini 15 and 10 every night they will absolutely compete for the Big Ten title. Although for this to happen I think Tyler Griffy needs to get healthy and give Davis a break. Mike played 38 minutes on Tuesday and that happen each game.

A great atmosphere as always at the Hall!

ACC Big Ten Challenge - Wednesday Games

This is going to be quick.

Maryland @ Penn State

I badly want to pick a Nittany Lion upset here, but I'll stick with the better team and take the Terps in a close one.

Indiana @ Boston College

I don't really like either of these teams much at all, although it's not at bad as the Iowa/Wake Forest game last night. I'll take the Hoosiers in a swing game that could decide the series winner.

North Carolina State @ Wisconsin

The Badgers do not look good so far this year, but they are playing in the Kohl Center (which is clearly built as a Hockey Arena). I will get this game wrong regardless of who I pick and since I want to see Bucky go down I'll take the Badgers by 3.

Purdue @ Virginia Tech

Another toss up. I am still not sold on Purdue without Hummell, especially on the road aginast a tough Hookies team. I'll take Tech by a half dozen.

Michigan State @ Duke

How sweet would it be to see Duke lose the deciding game in the Series again this year? Oh so sweet. In a I-hate-Duke-and-love-watching-them-lose-(-oh-and-by-the-way-Sparty-is-good-especially-in-tough-games) Upset Special I'll take Sparty to get back on track with a late win.

By the way, thanks Clemson for ruining my perfect night. Damn Wolverines. 4-2 picking the series so far.