2010 NCAA Football Tournament

I'm a firm believer that if the NCAA had a playoff at the end of the football season, it would be the most popular event on the sports calendar every year, even bigger than the NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl. I love and prefer pro football, but giant schools like Ohio State and Texas churn out thousands of graduates every year, alumni with a greater connection to their school than they would ever have with a pro franchise.

The hollow argument that a playoff system will somehow overwork the student-athletes involved doesn't hold any water for me. If the NCAA were to run a 16-team playoff, beginning this weekend, they would still be able to schedule a national championship game for Monday, January 10, the date of this year's BCS title game. The NCAA could even keep the bowl games if they wanted, filling the spots with teams that didn't qualify for the tournament, or with teams that have already been eliminated from the tournament.

Thanks to whatifsports.com, we can play the tournament that the NCAA refuses to let happen. We can use the BCS to seed the top 16 teams, then begin with the first-round matchups today and tomorrow. Over the next 2 days, I will be reporting the game results from all 8 first round matchups in the fictitious 2010 NCAA Football Tournament. Here is the schedule for the first round...

2010 NCAA Football Tournament

Friday, December 17, 2010
12pm EST-#11 LSU (10-2) at #6 Ohio State (11-1)
3pm EST-#9 Michigan State (11-1) at #8 Arkansas (10-2)
6pm EST-#10 Boise State (11-1) at #7 Oklahoma (11-2)
9pm EST-#13 Virginia Tech (11-2) at #4 Stanford (11-1)

Saturday, December 18, 2010
12pm EST-#16 Alabama (9-3) at #1 Auburn (13-0)
3pm EST-#12 Missouri (10-2) at #5 Wisconsin (11-1)
6pm EST-#14 Oklahoma State (10-2) at #3 TCU (12-0)
9pm EST-#15 Nevada (12-1) at #2 Oregon (12-0)

A few notes on the tournament...I am not a fan of neutral site games. The home field advantage, especially at the college level, is a great reward for the teams with the highest seeds. This will be the case all the way through the national title game. Auburn has home field advantage throughout the tournament. I would much rather see the fans of the higher seeds get a chance to watch playoff games rather than a bunch of corporate suits and locals with no stake in the outcome. Also, we will re-seed after every round. There are no brackets in this tournament, so the best teams will have the advantage of playing the lowest available seeds. If Auburn advances past the first round, they will face the lowest surviving seed in the next round.

As you can see, 4 conferences received 12 of the 16 spots in the tournament. The SEC received 4 bids, followed by the Big 12 and Big 10 with 3 each, and the Pac 10 with 2. The ACC received 1 bid, and 3 non-BCS conference teams received bids as well. Only the Big East was left out (rightfully so, I might add).

I will have results as the games go final. :)