The NCAA 2006 Playoff Simulation (x2)

Ain't technology grand? Using just my little old PS2, and the latest copy of EA Sports' NCAA College Football franchise, I can simulate a 16 team playoff in a little over a week.

Using the two formulae I mentioned earlier (the Crawford/Conference Champ vs. the Patterson/Best 16 Teams), I will simulate how a playoff might look, and what its results might be. Keep in mind, these are the teams anticipated at the beginning of the season, and not how the season ended, so no injuries (see Alabama and Tyrone Prothro) will be taken into account, nor will unexpected breakout performances (see the Drews of UCLA, or some freshmen in the Penn State receiving corps). I'll post the results after each round of each formula.

So, first, since this is common to both, I'll talk about locations. Instead of playing games at home fields in the early rounds, I decided to play the games within the bowl system, and take advantage of next year's Plus One game. I took the 14 bowls with the highest payoff, arranged them by round by payoff (except for the Cotton, due entirely to its history and my senitmentality regarding that history), and the NC will be played in the Rose Bowl (which is otherwise a quarter-final site).

Round One: Alamo Bowl, Gator Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Independence Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Outback Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Sun Bowl
Round Two: Capital One Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl
Round Three: Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl
Final: Rose Bowl redux

So, on to the brackets and games, using BCS (or estimated, for Boise State and Arkansas State):

Crawford Method (bowls in alphabetical order):
1. USC vs. 16. Arkansas State - Alamo Bowl
2. Texas vs. 15. Akron - Gator Bowl
3. Penn State vs. 14. Tulsa - Holiday Bowl
4. Ohio State vs. 13. Boise State - Independence Bowl
5. Oregon vs. 12. FSU - Liberty Bowl
6. Notre Dame vs. 11. TCU - Outback Bowl
7. Georgia vs. 10. West Virginia - Peach Bowl
8. Miami vs. 9. Auburn - Sun Bowl

Patterson Method (bowls in alphabetical order):
1. USC vs. 16. UCLA - Alamo
2. Texas vs. 15. Texas Tech - Gator
3. Penn State vs. 14. TCU - Holiday
4. Ohio State vs. 13. Alabama - Independence
5. Oregon vs. 12. LSU - Liberty
6. Notre Dame vs. 11. West Virginia - Outback
7. Georgia vs. 10. Virginia Tech - Peach
8. Miami vs. 9. Auburn - Sun

Stay tuned for the first update, once Round One has been completed on both brackets.

Note: I forgot Akron the first time; poor LSU gets left off my bracket.

Note 2: I also forgot Tulsa the first time - bye bye, Va Tech (I need to actually read my posts before posting again)