1946 Illinois

Last month I wrote a column speculating on what if the BCS didn’t exist and we had a playoff format in Division I-A (or whatever they’re calling it these days) football.

It was a simple concept, and pretty much the same one they use if every other division. A committee puts together the field, and off we go.

Here’s how it would work. The top team from each of the six major BCS conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC) gets an automatic bid, with the field filled out by the BCS rankings. If conferences want to have a championship game for the automatic bid, that’s fine, and the world can still have a slew of bowl games for the non-playoff teams.

The first round would be at home sites of the higher-ranked seeds, with advancing teams playing at neutral sites of the biggest bowls (Sugar, Orange, etc) along with other high bidders. The committee’s primary job would be to switch teams out of playing conference opponents, and things like that.

Here were the pairings heading in to the Oct. 20 games:

16 at 1: Missouri at Ohio State

9 at 8: West Virginia at Arizona State

12 at 5: Cal at Oklahoma

13 at 4: Kansas at LSU

14 at 3: Southern California at Boston College

11 at 6: Virginia Tech at South Carolina

10 at 7: Oregon at Kentucky

15 at 2: Florida at South Florida

Here’s an update, based on where we are today:

16 at 1: Clemson at Missouri
9 at 8: Florida at Southern California
12 at 5: Boston College at Kansas
13 at 4: Arizona State at Georgia
14 at 3: Tennessee at Ohio State
11 at 6: Hawaii at Virginia Tech
10 at 7: Oklahoma at LSU
15 at 2: Illinois at West Virginia

Florida and Oklahoma are switched to avoid a potential second-round meeting between Oklahoma and Missouri
Boston College and Hawaii are switched to avoid Boston College vs. Virginia Tech

Even if you took the top eight teams, one could make the argument that it would still be much better than what we’re about to see this year, and trust me, that's exactly what people are going to be claiming for the next six weeks or so.

As for the photo, No. 4 UCLA was on pace for an undefeated season when it faced No. 5 Illinois at the 1947 Rose Bowl in the first meeting with a Big Ten/Pac-10 agreement. Led by “Orange” Julius Rykovich (107 yards) and Mr. Five by Five, Buddy Young (103 yards), Illinois won, 45-14. Courtesy of the Tournament of Roses archives.