CSNbbs

What if there was an equivalent in college football to the NCAA/NIT? How would the brackets have looked in the CFP era?

For the CFP, I utilized the 12-team model. Top 6 conference champions get an autobid with the top 4 conference champions receiving first-round byes. For the CFT (College Football Tournament), the remaining 4 conference champions get autobids but no guarantee of a first-round bye. I used best judgment to order conference champions that were not ranked in the final CFP poll. Where there existed co-champions, the higher-ranked school received the autobid.

The first round would be home games for the higher-ranked school. The second round would be a bowl game with the #1 seed getting first choice, #2 seed getting second choice, #3 getting third choice, and the #4 seed getting the final bowl option. The semifinals and championship games are at predetermined neutral locations.

#1 seed plays the #8/#9 winner.
#2 seed plays the #7/#10 winner.
#3 seed plays the #6/#11 winner.
#4 seed plays the #5/#12 winner.

The second-round bowl games are as follows:
CFP - Cotton, Orange, Rose, Sugar
CFT - Citrus, Fiesta, Peach, Vegas

Here's how it played out...

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF

2014
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Mississippi @ Michigan St)
Rose: #2 Oregon vs (Arizona @ Mississippi St)
Orange: #3 Florida St (Kansas St @ TCU)
Cotton: #4 Ohio St vs (Boise St @ Baylor)

2015
Orange: #1 Clemson vs (Florida St @ Notre Dame)
Sugar: #2 Alabama vs (North Carolina @ Ohio St)
Rose: #3 Michigan St vs (TCU @ Stanford)
Cotton: #4 Oklahoma vs (Houston @ Iowa)

2016
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (USC @ Wisconsin)
Orange: #2 Clemson vs (Colorado @ Oklahoma)
Rose: #3 Washington vs (Florida St @ Michigan)
Cotton: #4 Penn St vs (Western Michigan @ Ohio St)

2017
Orange: #1 Clemson vs (Penn St @ USC)
Cotton: #2 Oklahoma vs (Miami FL @ Auburn)
Sugar: #3 Georgia vs (Washington @ Wisconsin)
Rose: #4 Ohio St vs (Central Florida @ Alabama)

2018
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Washington @ Central Florida)
Orange: #2 Clemson vs (Florida @ Michigan)
Cotton: #3 Oklahoma vs (LSU @ Georgia)
Rose: #4 Ohio St vs (Penn St @ Notre Dame)

2019
Sugar: #1 LSU vs (Florida @ Wisconsin)
Rose: #2 Ohio St vs (Penn St @ Baylor)
Orange: #3 Clemson vs (Utah @ Oregon)
Cotton: #4 Oklahoma vs (Memphis @ Georgia)

2020
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Georgia @ Cincinnati)
Orange: #2 Clemson vs (Iowa St @ Florida)
Rose: #3 Ohio St vs (Indiana @ Texas A&M)
Cotton: #4 Oklahoma vs (Coastal Carolina @ Notre Dame)

2021
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Oklahoma St @ Mississippi)
Rose: #2 Michigan vs (Michigan St @ Ohio St)
Orange: #3 Cincinnati vs (Utah @ Notre Dame)
Cotton: #4 Baylor vs (Pittsburgh @ Georgia)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

2014
Peach: #1 Georgia Tech vs (Marshall @ Auburn)
Citrus: #2 Georgia vs (Northern Illinois @ Wisconsin)
Vegas: #3 UCLA vs (Memphis @ Clemson)
Fiesta: #4 Arizona St vs (Georgia Southern @ Missouri)

2015
Peach: #1 Mississippi vs (Western Kentucky @ LSU)
Citrus: #2 Northwestern vs (San Diego St @ Florida)
Fiesta: #3 Michigan vs (Arkansas St @ Baylor)
Vegas: #4 Oregon vs (Bowling Green St @ Oklahoma St)

2016
Fiesta: #1 Oklahoma St vs (Temple @ LSU)
Peach: #2 Louisville vs (Western Kentucky @ Utah)
Citrus: #3 Auburn vs (Appalachian St @ Stanford)
Vegas: #4 West Virginia vs (San Diego St @ Florida)

2017
Fiesta: #1 Stanford vs (Boise St @ Memphis)
Citrus: #2 Notre Dame vs (Troy @ Oklahoma St)
Peach: #3 TCU vs (Toledo @ Washington St)
Vegas: #4 Michigan St vs (Florida Atlantic @ LSU)

2018
Fiesta: #1 Washington St vs (Fresno St @ Syracuse)
Peach: #2 Kentucky vs (Appalachian St @ Texas A&M)
Citrus: #3 Texas vs (UAB @ Mississippi St)
Vegas: #4 West Virginia vs (Northern Illinois @ Utah)

2019
Peach: #1 Auburn vs (Cincinnati @ Appalachian St)
Citrus: #2 Alabama vs (USC @ Boise St)
Fiesta: #3 Michigan vs (Florida Atlantic @ Minnesota)
Vegas: #4 Notre Dame vs (Miami OH @ Iowa)

2020
Peach: #1 North Carolina vs (San Jose St @ Texas)
Citrus: #2 Northwestern vs (Oregon @ UL Lafayette)
Fiesta: #3 Iowa vs (Ball St @ Miami FL)
Vegas: #4 BYU vs (UAB @ USC)

2021
Fiesta: #1 BYU vs (UL Lafayette @ Houston)
Vegas: #2 Oregon vs (UTSA @ Clemson)
Citrus: #3 Iowa vs (Utah St @ North Carolina St)
Peach: #4 Oklahoma vs (Northern Illinois @ Wake Forest)

They do. It's called bowl games.

(11-12-2022 01:06 AM)DawgNBama Wrote: [ -> ]They do. It's called bowl games.

That’d make sense if the NIT was a bunch of postseason one-off games with no tournament.

(11-12-2022 10:43 AM)BePcr07 Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-12-2022 01:06 AM)DawgNBama Wrote: [ -> ]They do. It's called bowl games.

That’d make sense if the NIT was a bunch of postseason one-off games with no tournament.

The NIT has roughly half as many schools as the Tourney.

Each bowl game has exactly half as many schools as the CFP.

(11-12-2022 10:43 AM)BePcr07 Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-12-2022 01:06 AM)DawgNBama Wrote: [ -> ]They do. It's called bowl games.

That’d make sense if the NIT was a bunch of postseason one-off games with no tournament.

Then it would be called a National Invitational if that were the case.

(11-12-2022 01:06 AM)DawgNBama Wrote: [ -> ]They do. It's called bowl games.

At least those eight are meaningful. Are you telling me the New Mexico Bowl, the Bahamas Bowl, and the Hawaii Bowl have meaning? I hate to tell you this but they don't. Those three are filler games in between the remaining NFL regular season games and the CFP itself.

(11-12-2022 12:27 PM)andybible1995 Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-12-2022 01:06 AM)DawgNBama Wrote: [ -> ]They do. It's called bowl games.

At least those eight are meaningful. Are you telling me the New Mexico Bowl, the Bahamas Bowl, and the Hawaii Bowl have meaning? I hate to tell you this but they don't. Those three are filler games in between the remaining NFL regular season games and the CFP itself.

Yeah, those are more the football equivalent to the CBI.

(11-12-2022 01:04 AM)BePcr07 Wrote: [ -> ]What if there was an equivalent in college football to the NCAA/NIT? How would the brackets have looked in the CFP era?

For the CFP, I utilized the 12-team model. Top 6 conference champions get an autobid with the top 4 conference champions receiving first-round byes. For the CFT (College Football Tournament), the remaining 4 conference champions get autobids but no guarantee of a first-round bye. I used best judgment to order conference champions that were not ranked in the final CFP poll. Where there existed co-champions, the higher-ranked school received the autobid.

The first round would be home games for the higher-ranked school. The second round would be a bowl game with the #1 seed getting first choice, #2 seed getting second choice, #3 getting third choice, and the #4 seed getting the final bowl option. The semifinals and championship games are at predetermined neutral locations.

#1 seed plays the #8/#9 winner.
#2 seed plays the #7/#10 winner.
#3 seed plays the #6/#11 winner.
#4 seed plays the #5/#12 winner.

The second-round bowl games are as follows:
CFP - Cotton, Orange, Rose, Sugar
CFT - Citrus, Fiesta, Peach, Vegas

Here's how it played out...

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF

2014
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Mississippi @ Michigan St)
Rose: #2 Oregon vs (Arizona @ Mississippi St)
Orange: #3 Florida St (Kansas St @ TCU)
Cotton: #4 Ohio St vs (Boise St @ Baylor)

2015
Orange: #1 Clemson vs (Florida St @ Notre Dame)
Sugar: #2 Alabama vs (North Carolina @ Ohio St)
Rose: #3 Michigan St vs (TCU @ Stanford)
Cotton: #4 Oklahoma vs (Houston @ Iowa)

2016
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (USC @ Wisconsin)
Orange: #2 Clemson vs (Colorado @ Oklahoma)
Rose: #3 Washington vs (Florida St @ Michigan)
Cotton: #4 Penn St vs (Western Michigan @ Ohio St)

2017
Orange: #1 Clemson vs (Penn St @ USC)
Cotton: #2 Oklahoma vs (Miami FL @ Auburn)
Sugar: #3 Georgia vs (Washington @ Wisconsin)
Rose: #4 Ohio St vs (Central Florida @ Alabama)

2018
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Washington @ Central Florida)
Orange: #2 Clemson vs (Florida @ Michigan)
Cotton: #3 Oklahoma vs (LSU @ Georgia)
Rose: #4 Ohio St vs (Penn St @ Notre Dame)

2019
Sugar: #1 LSU vs (Florida @ Wisconsin)
Rose: #2 Ohio St vs (Penn St @ Baylor)
Orange: #3 Clemson vs (Utah @ Oregon)
Cotton: #4 Oklahoma vs (Memphis @ Georgia)

2020
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Georgia @ Cincinnati)
Orange: #2 Clemson vs (Iowa St @ Florida)
Rose: #3 Ohio St vs (Indiana @ Texas A&M)
Cotton: #4 Oklahoma vs (Coastal Carolina @ Notre Dame)

2021
Sugar: #1 Alabama vs (Oklahoma St @ Mississippi)
Rose: #2 Michigan vs (Michigan St @ Ohio St)
Orange: #3 Cincinnati vs (Utah @ Notre Dame)
Cotton: #4 Baylor vs (Pittsburgh @ Georgia)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

2014
Peach: #1 Georgia Tech vs (Marshall @ Auburn)
Citrus: #2 Georgia vs (Northern Illinois @ Wisconsin)
Vegas: #3 UCLA vs (Memphis @ Clemson)
Fiesta: #4 Arizona St vs (Georgia Southern @ Missouri)

2015
Peach: #1 Mississippi vs (Western Kentucky @ LSU)
Citrus: #2 Northwestern vs (San Diego St @ Florida)
Fiesta: #3 Michigan vs (Arkansas St @ Baylor)
Vegas: #4 Oregon vs (Bowling Green St @ Oklahoma St)

2016
Fiesta: #1 Oklahoma St vs (Temple @ LSU)
Peach: #2 Louisville vs (Western Kentucky @ Utah)
Citrus: #3 Auburn vs (Appalachian St @ Stanford)
Vegas: #4 West Virginia vs (San Diego St @ Florida)

2017
Fiesta: #1 Stanford vs (Boise St @ Memphis)
Citrus: #2 Notre Dame vs (Troy @ Oklahoma St)
Peach: #3 TCU vs (Toledo @ Washington St)
Vegas: #4 Michigan St vs (Florida Atlantic @ LSU)

2018
Fiesta: #1 Washington St vs (Fresno St @ Syracuse)
Peach: #2 Kentucky vs (Appalachian St @ Texas A&M)
Citrus: #3 Texas vs (UAB @ Mississippi St)
Vegas: #4 West Virginia vs (Northern Illinois @ Utah)

2019
Peach: #1 Auburn vs (Cincinnati @ Appalachian St)
Citrus: #2 Alabama vs (USC @ Boise St)
Fiesta: #3 Michigan vs (Florida Atlantic @ Minnesota)
Vegas: #4 Notre Dame vs (Miami OH @ Iowa)

2020
Peach: #1 North Carolina vs (San Jose St @ Texas)
Citrus: #2 Northwestern vs (Oregon @ UL Lafayette)
Fiesta: #3 Iowa vs (Ball St @ Miami FL)
Vegas: #4 BYU vs (UAB @ USC)

2021
Fiesta: #1 BYU vs (UL Lafayette @ Houston)
Vegas: #2 Oregon vs (UTSA @ Clemson)
Citrus: #3 Iowa vs (Utah St @ North Carolina St)
Peach: #4 Oklahoma vs (Northern Illinois @ Wake Forest)

There is one fundamental fact that has been true about the NCAA tournament for many decades now:

Every conference tournament champion plays in the NCAA tournament.


If there was an analogue in FBS, the winner of each conference's CCG game would earn an automatic bid to play in the NCAA football tournament.

The number of at-large teams could vary. Most likely, there would be six, for a 16-team tournament and no byes, since there are no byes in the NCAA basketball tournament.

However, there are play-in games for low-seeded teams, and there could be play-in games for football, as well.

With the number of players opting out of bowl games, a football "NIT" would be hurt even more so by that problem.

I presume theoretically there's nothing in the rules preventing it now that teams would be permitted a fourth postseason "bowl" game. The challenge would be finding acceptable sites and time slots to hold the games.