You read about the Forde Bowl subdivision realignment plan Monday on this website. Today, let’s look at what it would look like if it were implemented by 2020. What we would have is simply the best postseason * in the history of college football.
(* This assumes there will be a season, of course, and a subsequent postseason. There are no guarantees at this time.)
The best and biggest tiebreaker would start with Selection Sunday, November 29. A group of 12 teams would be revealed: 10 automatic offers to conference champions, two teams generally chosen by a selection committee, all seeded by that committee.
That would lead to four gigantic playoff games on campus Dec. 4-5. Then four more on different campuses next weekend. Teams from all geographic regions would participate. Coast-to-coast fans would be engaged.
From there, the tiebreaker returns to its usual form: semifinals on New Year’s Day at bowl locations, and a national championship game in early January.
Who says no?
If it were to go into effect for 2020, here is a prediction of what the FBS playoff would look like:
No. 1 Clemson, champion of the Mid-Atlantic Conference.
No. 2 Alabama, champion of the Sun Belt Conference.
No. 3 state of Ohio, champion of the Great Middle East Conference.
No. 4 Georgia, champion of the Deep South Conference.
No. 5 Penn State, champion of the Yankee Conference.
No. 6 Oklahoma, champion of the Southwest Conference.
No. 7 USC, champion of the West Coast Conference.
No. 8 Florida, overall selection from the Deep South Conference.
No. 9 Notre Dame, champion of the Mid-American Conference.
No. 10 Texas A&M, overall selection of the Southwest Conference.
No. 11 Minnesota, champion of the Great Midwest Conference.
No. 12 Boise State, champion of the Rocky Mountain Conference.
First-round matches: Texas A&M at USC on Friday, December 4; then a Boise State tripleheader Saturday at Penn State at noon ET; Minnesota in Oklahoma at 4 pm; and Notre Dame in Florida at 8 pm Playoff games in Los Angeles, State College, Norman, and Gainesville? Yes please.
Assuming they win the highest seeds, the next round would be: USC in Alabama on Friday, December 11; then a triple Saturday from Oklahoma in the state of Ohio at noon ET; Florida at Clemson at 4 pm; and Penn State in Georgia at 8 pm Intersectional survival and breakthrough clashes in Bryant-Denny, Horseshoe, Death Valley and between hedges would be huge.
New Years Semifinals: Ohio State vs. Alabama in the sexiest Rose Bowl since USC-Texas 15 years ago; and Georgia-Clemson at the Sugar Bowl.
Championship Game Thursday, January 10 in Miami: Alabama vs. Clemson. In the end, we get a familiar ending to a completely unknown tiebreaker.
Illustrated Sports
Now to answer some questions:
Too many games? In the current structure, most teams reaching the final tiebreaker play 15. In this format, a team outside the first four seeds could play 16 if they continue to win, 12 in the regular season and four in the postseason. Otherwise, the maximum number would be 15. (Remember, we eliminated the championship games from the conference, so it’s a 12-game season and then we got to the playoffs.)
Are you playing the second weekend of December and getting in the way of the semester finals? Yes, that is a concern. But it only affects eight teams, and look at what at least three conferences are preparing for this season: possibly roll back their conference championship games to that weekend in case the early season games are postponed or the season be late. If Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12 are willing to consider that, they would be willing to consider this. (And, let’s not forget, the Army and Navy generally play that weekend anyway.)
Brutal cold in the Midwest and Northeast in the first half of December? Certainly possible. That’s one reason the Forde Bowl Branch wouldn’t schedule nightly playoff games at Penn State or Ohio State, where daytime highs are 38 and 41, respectively, and lows are 24 and 26. But cold weather can be part of soccer, and many people have been waiting to see warm weather teams come to play where and when you can see your breath.
Isn’t there a lot in the way of Cinderella? Admittedly, with a minimum of four Power-5 teams at each conference, the chances are decent for a dozen of those teams that span the entire playoff field, this year and many years. But give some of the best Group of Five programs a level playing field in terms of home games and income, and the gap could close quickly. In 2020, the forward team would be a great family producer, Boise State. In the next few years you could see others: UCF, Memphis, Cincinnati, the Appalachian state, the San Diego state, BYU, maybe even the North Dakota state when armed with 85 FBS scholarships.
If someone complained about a tiebreaker made up of the previous 12 teams, they don’t like college football. Let’s make it happen.
More from the SI.com team sites:
Roundtable “Realigned America”: Wisconsin, Iowa and the Great Midwest Conference
Crimson Corner: What would happen if college football conferences were realigned?
Illini’s Soccer Fun Facts from Pat Forde’s SI Cover Piece
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