My take on College Football Playoffs

I have already blogged about why I think 4 teams are insufficient for a college playoff due to the instability it creates so I won't reiterate those sentiments but what really irks me is that the SEC won't budge on the issue of campus site playoff games or opening the bidding up to neutral sites across the country.  It's simply unfair that when it comes to the biggest stages of college football the Big 10 always ends up being the de facto visiting team.  The Rose Bowl sits in USC's backyard; same with the SEC and the Sugar and Orange Bowls.  The Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ is the only BCS site that is ever truly neutral but only because the 2 big programs in that state are tied to the much older Rose Bowl through their Pac 12 affiliation.  In my opinion, if Mike Slive and the SEC refuse to budge and give the Big 10 and Pac 12 the concessions they want in the playoff format I think Jim Delany and Larry Scott should walk out of the talks and then announce their intention to start their own playoff----let's call it the Delany-Scott Plan:

• 8 team playoff
• First round games are hosted by the higher seeds and held at on-campus sites--in the event that a team whose home stadium seats less than 50,000 that university will be asked to find a suitable nearby venue (NFL Stadium) to play the game.
• Semi-finals and Title games are hosted  at neutral site stadiums that would be bid upon each year.  One semi-final site each year will be west of the Mississippi and the other east of the Mississippi.  
• All conference winners in the top 12 automatically get in the playoff.
• Any remaining slots in the playoff are determined by a selection committee and preferably should be the highest ranked teams who did not win their conference.  

This would be a brash and bold move by the Big 10 and Pac 12 chiefs but I think creating a rival playoff system will allow them to win out.  The other conferences are going to have to choose their allegiances and for conferences like the ACC, Big East, and the former non-AQs the Delany-Scott Plan would allow them far more access than the SEC's 4 team format.  The only conference I see being in Mike Slive's camp other than his own league is the Big 12 but if everyone else chooses to follow Delany and Scott then they will have no choice but to sign on as well.

Remember, the BCS (and the Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance before it) were the brainchild of the SEC's Roy Kramer and it got off the ground because Kramer led it and, naturally, created a system that catered to his league.  It's time for Delany and Scott to be the leaders in the playoff era.