Something a dreamt up a while back:

- 24 team playoff
- ALL conference champions recieve automatic bid
- Each team is given a seed #1- #6 (based on BCS standings) A teams actual seed can meander up or down one seed. So, a team seeded #4 could end up as a #3, #4 or a #5.
- 1 and 2 seeds (8 teams, in all) recieve first round byes.
- First and second round games played at higher seeds. So all teams seeded 1-4 get a home game in either the first or second round.
- Holiday Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Capital One Bowl, and one of the BCS Bowls (Orange, this year) serve as quarterfinal sites
- Two BCS Bowls (Sugar and Fiesta, this year) serve as semifinal sites
- Every bowl will have a shot at hosting it's traditional match-up. So, there will always be a possibility that the Rose Bowl could be Pac-10 vs. Big Ten.
- Teams from the same conference or teams that met in the regular season can not play each other in the first two rounds, nor can they be seeded #1 and #2 in the same quarterfinal bracket.

Reasoning for 24 teams (instead of 8, 16, etc.)

- Rewards top 8 teams for a great regular season by giving them a bye
- Gives every team in the NCAA a chance to compete by giving automatic berth's to every conference champion. However there are still 13 at-large's, so the field isn't so watered down with small conference teams. But, the champions of the Sun Belt, MAC, etc. would play #3 seeds in the first round instead of #1's, so they would not be fed to the wolves (i.e. USC and Texas). Then, they at least have a shot at winning a first round game.
- 20% of all D-IA teams would qualify for the playoffs. That's the same percentage that make the NCAA basketball tournament.

Here's what the bracket might look like, this year.

FIRST ROUND

HOLIDAY BOWL BRACKET
#5 Louisville (9-2 - At-large) at #4 Alabama (9-2 - At-large)
#6 Boise State (9-3 - WAC) at #3 Texas Tech (9-2 - At-large)

CAPITAL ONE BOWL BRACKET
#5 Florida (8-3 - At-large) at #4 West Virginia (10-1 - Big East)
#6 Tulsa (8-4 - C-USA) at #3 Louisiana State (10-2 - At-large)

COTTON BOWL BRACKET
#5 Wisconsin (9-3 - At-large) at #4 Texas Christian (10-1 - MWC)
#6 Akron (7-5 - MAC) at #3 Virginia Tech (10-2 - At-large)

ORANGE BOWL BRACKET
#5 Florida State (8-4 - ACC) at #4 UCLA (9-2 - At-large)
#6 Arkansas State (6-5 - Sun Belt) at #3 Auburn (9-2 - At-large)


SECOND ROUND

HOLIDAY BOWL BRACKET
Alabama/Louisville winner at #1 Southern California (12-0 - Pac-10)
Texas Tech/Boise State winner at #2 Miami-FL (9-2 - At-large)

CAPITAL ONE BOWL BRACKET
West Virginia/Florida Winner at #1 Ohio State (9-2 - At-large)
Louisiana State/Tulsa Winner at #2 Oregon (10-1 - At-large)

COTTON BOWL BRACKET
Texas Christian/Wisconsin Winner at #1 Texas (12-0 - Big 12)
Virginia Tech/Akron Winner at #2 Georgia (10-2 - SEC)

ORANGE BOWL BRACKET
UCLA/Florida State Winner at #1 Penn State (10-1 - Big Ten)
Auburn/Arkansas State Winner at #2 Notre Dame (9-2 - At-large)


QUARTERFINALS

HOLIDAY BOWL (SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA)

CAPITAL ONE BOWL (ORLANDO, FLORIDA)

COTTON BOWL (DALLAS, TEXAS)

ORANGE BOWL (MIAMI, FLORIDA)


SEMIFINALS

FIESTA BOWL (TEMPE, ARIZONA)
Holiday Bowl Winner vs. Capital One Bowl Winner

SUGAR BOWL (ATLANTA, GEORGIA)
Cotton Bowl Winner vs. Orange Bowl Winner


CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

ROSE BOWL (PASADENA, CALIFORNIA)
Fiesta Bowl Winner vs. Sugar Bowl Winner

Never will fly with the BCS conferences.(Akron ,Arkansas ST from the non BCS hardly are 1A teams)

wouldnt fly probably with people who run each bowl themselves either,id say leave the other BCS bowls as invites only (as is) and have a 16 team playoff for the rose bowl which would be a constant national championship game.

Just a little minor touch-up on your post for accuracy's sake.

Too permissive. Eight is enough. Winners of the 5 power conferences and 3 next best.

It will never fly if you don't include the power conference champion of the Big East as well.

Gosh Westwolf, even my home town paper the Arizona Republic is giving good odds to the BE next year. Often critical of the new Big East, the conference is the new darling of the BCS conferences and WVU is the Arizona Republic number 3 pre season team right behind Ohio State and Southern Cal.

The Fiesta Bowl home of the BCS championship game in 2006 is really excited about the possibilities of having the Mountaineers back for a second time to play for the national title.

They did have Miami as number 10 which according to your 8 team playoff would not allow the ACC as a power conference.

So I am guessing your five power conferences were SEC, Big Ten, Pac 10, Big 12, and Big East.

I can go for that.

1. Too many teams. Watered down regular season and playoff too long.
2. Bowls will resist, the less resistance a playoff has, the more likely it is to be accepted.