The car that carries the hopes and dreams of a college football playoff has just moved into the left-hand lane. The vehicle has just opened up the throttle and is picking up speed, headed toward 2014 and, finally, some semblance of a postseason bracket, no matter how small.
But ... wait ... is that someone standing in the road up ahead? An old man? With a rose pinned to his lapel? Is that ... the Granddaddy of Them All? Get on the brakes, quick!
On April 4, USA Today reported that BCS leaders had narrowed their focus for potential postseason formulas to four options, two following the "plus-one" model and two that went down the small-bracket route. It was one of those two mini-tournament models that created quite the cross-country crossfire of quotes that continues today, nearly two and half weeks later.
The first and less controversial model would play games in a straight-up semifinal model of 1 versus 4 and 2 versus 3, with the winners advancing to the BCS Championship Game.
The format that has created a tizzy is the one that goes out of its way to preserve the traditional Rose Bowl matchup of Big Ten versus Pac-12. And by out of its way, I mean adding a third pair of teams to the postseason. If teams from the Big Ten and Pac-12 were part of the final four, then those teams would meet in the Rose Bowl and a second pair would replace them in the semifinal. The two teams that meet in the BCS Championship Game would then be selected from the winners of the three games -- the two not-so-semifinals and the Rose Bowl.
Seriously.
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Ryan McGee | email
ESPN The Magazine, NASCAR- ESPN The Magazine senior writer
- 2-time Sports Emmy winner
- 2010 NMPA Writer of the Year
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Ryan McGee
Ryan McGee is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. While you may know him for his extensive and very popular NASCAR coverage on this site and television, he's also been a constant in the Mag's coverage of college football. Why? Well, to wit:
• He started working in college athletic departments at 16 (Furman, Tennessee). Got his first sideline pass (UNC @ Virginia) when he was 12 and was totally run over by Tar Heels LB Micah Moon.
• His father was a college football official for 36 years (FBS 1981-2009), working 20 bowl games and two national championships.
• Ryan's a member of the FWAA (Football Writers Association of America).
• He's covered college football for ESPN The Magazine for the last five years.
• He's all over college sports -- Ryan authored "The Road To Omaha: Hits, Hopes and History at the College World Series."
Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ESPNMcGee
