There would be 6 “regions” (basically pods in the bracket, for example the ncaa basketball tourney has 4) of 4 teams. 4 of the regions would each be the top 4 teams from each power4 conference.

This year it would’ve looked like this:
(1)Sec- Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama
(2)Big 10- Oregon, Indiana, Penn St, Ohio St
(3)Big 12 - Arizona St, BYU, Iowa St, Colorado
(4)ACC- Clemson, SMU, Miami, Syracuse

This would also be how conference championships are determined.

So that’s a pretty straightforward concept now here’s where it gets interesting. You can’t have it like that because it eliminates the chance for g5 teams, right? Same thing with Notre Dame. What about them? On the other hand, you can’t just reward them simply for being Notre Dame.

! The next 2 regions are
(5) The top 4 g5 teams. This year would’ve been Boise St, UNLV, Army, Tulane
(6) The “at large” region. The top 4 teams outside of the previous listed regions. This is where Notre dame gets their shot, but no guarantee. This year would’ve been Notre Dame, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Missouri.


The 2 highest ranked conference champs from regions 1-4 get a bye after winning their conference pod. The 3rd highest ranked conference champ would play the winner of the g5 bracket while the lowest ranked conference champ would have to play the at-large bracket winner. After conf champ 3 and conf champ 4 play g5 winner and at large winner, there would be 4 teams left. Top ranked conference champ plays conference champ 4/ at large winner while 2nd ranked conference champ plays conf champ 3/g5 winner. The winner of those two will play each other in the National Championship.

This opens the door to lots of other possibilities; Shorten the regular season a couple games, but have more teams with postseason type games. Have the losers of early rounds play each other for bowl games. Create an NIT equivalent for teams that don’t make it, etc. don’t get too caught up in this paragraph as the main point of this post is what the playoff bracket above would look like.

The best part about this is with the exception of deciding the top 4 at large teams and top 4 g5 teams, this is a lot more standing based than the current arbitrary season that’s in place.

Thoughts?