Would love to see a 16 team playoff, but need to break down resistance first. Start with an 8 team tourney as follows:

NCAA takes over first Saturday in December from conference championships and other games, unless teams like Army-Navy want to waive possible tourney bid. Major conferences required to drop Conference Championship Games.

4 games played on first Saturday in December at neutral sites. Bids as follows:

5 automatic bids - ACC, SEC, BigTen, Big XII, PAC 10.
2 bids guaranteed to teams not from these conferences.
1 at large bid.

4 winners play in Final Four on New Year's Day.

NCAA Championship Game one week+ later.

Auto bids for big 5 are a quid pro quo for giving up Conference Championship Games and the Rose Bowl. Also reflects five strongest leagues.

Tie breaker for NCAA bids among conference co-champions is determined by NCAA tournament committee, not conference rules.

Semis and championship game rotates among Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange. Fourth of these gets a quarterfinal between #4 and #5 plus can host New Year's Day game that is not part of tourney. (Championship site can also host a non-tourney New Year's Day game). Other 3 quarterfinals are played at campus sites but with substantial tickets reserved for visiting team and NCAA sale.

Other Bowls remain as today. NCAA First round losers eligible for Bowl games.

2005 Tourney Bids:
Automatic Bids:
LSU (10-1) SEC co-champ
Va Tech (7-1, 10-1) ACC champ
Penn State (7-1, 10-1) Big Ten co-champ
USC (8-0, 12-0) Pac 10 champ
Texas (8-0, 11-0) Big XII champ

2 Reserved Bids:
Notre Dame (9-2)
West Virginia (10-1)

1 At Large Bid:
Ohio State (9-2) (Oregon gets screwed again!)

First Round Games
(8) WVU at (1) USC
(7) ND at (2) Texas
(6) Ohio St. at (3) LSU
(5)Va Tech vs (4) Penn State in Sugar Bowl

Semis: Fiesta, Orange
Final: Rose Bowl

This system requires ONE extra game as compared to current system. One extra week of play for two teams. Bowl system is preserved. Overall, similar to Plus One game now under discussion, with additional round created by dropping conference championship games.

Again, I favor a 16 team system, but this works pretty well without major changes to existing schedule.

Comments?

Just one thing...

If the NCAA actually manages to drop conference championship games, inclusive of being done over the dead bodies of at least two sets of conference bigwigs by my count (the Big 12 may not shed tears over it... and it's open book on whether I mind the dead bodies or not)...

...you will see another realignment bonanza.

I can see 9-10 schools leaving the SEC, the same leaving the Big 12, and maybe the same with the ACC, who might also employ some other options.

Why? Without the conference championship money, the next way to protect "per school payouts" is to downsize. The SEC is surely subsidizing at least one Mississippi school and maybe a private, or maybe someone else I'm not thinking of. Sayonara, schools X and Y. Hey, it would bring conferences down to more manageable schedules in nearly all sports, and the ensuing chaos among the schools left out would be highly entertaining.

Oh, BTW, the main failure of your scenario is (1) NCAA takes over, but (2) tries to be as exclusionary as the BCS. LAWSUIT, baby. Anti-trust! NCAA either gives every conference one shot, or "shot" might become more descriptive.

Since they just expanded to 12 games, what is the possibility of taking away the championship game? Something approaching 0. Big 12 ADs love the championship game. Its the coaches who don't like it.

Orangefan, you should have the Big 4 bowls be the first round for 2 reasons: 1) first round would push close to finals; 2) semi-finals on January 1 destroy the traditions of bowls-Either use them or ignore them-don't do it halfway. It only adds 1 week to the season.

bullet - I agree that I would rather have the quarterfinals on New Year's, but wanted to suggest a "step wise" approach that would add only one game to the schedule.

Pounder and bullet - I think the NCAA tourney would generate way more revenue for each conference than a conference playoff. Playoff game also significantly reduces chance that a second team from a conference with the playoff would get an NCAA bid (which is true, by the way, with the BCS as well, something I'm not sure the ACC and others have really considered). I would have suggested allowing playoffs to be played Thanksgiving weekend, but the move to a 12 game schedule may require this weekend be reserved for regular season. Moving the NCAA first round to the second Saturday in December, another option, would mean playing consecutive playoff games and adds another week to the schedule, somehthing I was trying to avoid.

Pounder - I don't think that it's that easy to boot teams out of a conference. Also, the NCAA should include a condition allowing it to revisit the automatic bid in case of a reorganization of the conference.

Also, two bids guaranteed to non-Big 5 conferences should address anti-trust. Could even make the 5 automatic bids subject to change based upon conference performance over time and require a minimum of 12 teams to qualify for auto-bid with the Big Ten and PAC 10 grandfathered at current membership level.

More likely than a conference dismissing members would be the voluntary shut down of a football program. I would not put it past Duke and Vandy to withdraw their football programs in return for continued membership and temporary sponsorship: Allow them some extra money's for a brief time to compensate for any profit loss suffered in dropping the program. This would give each conference 11 members, meaning 10 conference games. Probably not as attractive but could still work out financially. Or they might all graduate to a Big Ten system of play wherein they simply don't play everyone. Means co-champs galore but allows the best team to represent the league in a playoff.

I do agree that either the championship games or the 12th game would have to go to make things as best as possible for the playoff scnearios. This may be the leverage the "BCS" programs are establishing for themselves, by creating as much potential revenue loss as possible in order to justify their lions share of any playoff revenue that is generated. Provided the playoff system enables such conferences to send their best team in lieu of/in addition to their champs (so as to minimize the impact of lackluster champs like FSU this year), then I think these programs would more prefer to drop the champ game.

Tell me again, what's to prevent the NCAA from opening the season earlier? Aren't most colleges in session by mid-August?

Most colleges are not in by mid-August (although public schools are now starting in early August).

They do need some practice time.

Orangefan-while it might seem that a championship game decreases the chance of a 2nd bid, the facts for the Big 12 speak otherwise. They have had 1 or 2 EXTRA major bowls because of the championship game. In 96 Texas and Nebraska got in and in 2003 KSU and Oklahoma got in. Neither Texas or KSU would have been in those years w/o their championship game upset. In 98 KSU missed, but they were simply replaced by Texas A&M. In 2001 Texas missed, but they were simply replaced by Colorado. The only time it might have cost a game was 99. Texas had an outside shot to get an at-large bid, but lost in the championship game to favored Nebraska and was not considered.

The conference championship game can be a double- edged sword.

It's a bit like the basketball set-up. If you get the upset where an underdog wins, the underdog sneaks in and grabs a slot they are undeserving of, and if the other team is enough of a powerhouse, they get an at-large.

The down-side is that you may have killed your chances of winning a National championship by requiring your best team to play an unworthy competitor (in some years, a team they already beat in the regular season).

But 2 BCS slots gets you more money, and we all know how important that is !!!

1. Too much resistance from conferences with a championship game. There is enough resistance to a playoff as we stand, there is no need to manufacture more.
2. Conferences should be allowed to name their champion as they see fit.