Ok Cowboy, Cardinal, and Duck fans this one's for you! A College Football Playoff.

The Big Ten’s statement this last week that they were considering a 4 team playoff (if you haven’t heard about it, read it here: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2012/02/big-ten-bcs-changes-playoffs-semifinals-campus-sites/1 ) perked my curiosity and my imagination about what could have been using that format this year.  Taking that curiosity/imagination duo and running with it (along with time created by my wife watching American Idol), I decided to use the best tool I have to recreate what could have been; that tool being my PS3 and NCAA Football 2012.  What I decided to do was create virtually my own form of March Madness in December taking the BCS Top 24 teams (24 just because I couldn’t find a BCS standing that extended to 36) and simulating games that would be played from December 17^th to January 14^th .  (Disclaimer before all the College Football Traditionalists reading this melt at their keyboards; I in no way support a 24 team playoff in reality.  I am all for the 4 team format the Big Ten has described, and 4 teams at the most.) In reality, playing a tournament spanning this time frame would cause all sorts of problems (finals, holidays, travel) but thankfully my virtual players didn’t have many complaints.  I have done the best I can to recreate every possible detail before simulating these games including roster changes, weather conditions at the time of kickoff, etc.  Other than that here are the major elements of this tournament:

1)     Top 24 from the regular season BCS poll are in

2)     Top 8 get a first round bye

3)     The higher seed will host until the semi-finals

4)     Semi-final games will held at the Sugar and Orange Bowls

5)     Championship game will be held at the Rose Bowl

Feel free to comment on the action as it occurs, and remember this is only for entertainment meant for College Football whack jobs (like me) starting to feel the effects of the off-season, hopefully there are others out there.   Without further babbling by me, let me present the first ever College Football playoff bracket: