6 Florida vs. 11 Virginia Tech

Gainsville, FL - The Swamp was rockin' as the Gator fans sold out the stadium to do the Gator Chomp one more time for their beloved QB Tim Tebow, and he did not disappoint. A game that promised to showcase two of the top defenses in the country lived up to that in the first quarter, as neither team was able to get anything going offensively. The quarter was much similar to the first round of a heavy-weight boxing match as each team laid back and felt each other out. The second quarter was the knockout punch from the Gators.

Florida was able to put up 23 points in the 2nd quarter, including 10 in the last 1:30 of the half. Tebow lead his team on 5 scoring drives, two stalling in the redzone for Field Goals. At that point the game was all but over. In the second half, the fat lady sang, and her name was the Gator defense. The UF defense did not allow Virginia Tech to enter the redzone once the entire game. The only time that VT got the ball across the Florida 20 yard-line on a completion, it was to the wrong team and UF's Joe Haden took the interception back 89 yards for the pick six.

The only bad news of the day for Florida came from the injury report on running back Jeff Demps who broke his toe in the 2nd quarter. He is listed as questionable for Florida's second round game in the Sugar Bowl against the Cincinnati Bearcats on December 26th at 2pm.

1 Alabam vs. 16 West Virginia

Tuscaloosa, AL - In a game where there is nothing to lose for West Virginia, they played not to lose. WVU ran the ball 42 times, and only attempted 21 passes, only 16 of those from their starting QB. The entire Mountaineer defense was focused on stopping Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram up front and wide receiver Julio Jones down the field. They held Jones to just 2 catches for 47 yards and Ingram to just 73 yards rushing. However, all of that energy spent on those 2 players took away their ability to stop the Tide offense, which is very well rounded. All of that focus on Jones opened up the lanes for receiver Marquis Maze to have a career game with 7 catches for 113 yds.

The Crimson Tide took care of business in this late season bonus home game today, moving on to take on Ohio St. at the Orange Bowl in Miami, FL on December 26th at noon.

3 Cincinnati vs. 14 BYU

Cincinnati, OH - For a game that was touted as being the first round game with the most offensive firepower between the teams, the 1st quarter was quite a let down. That is unless you are the defensive coordinators of each team. The quarter did not have either team score until BYU got on the board with 19 secs left on a pass from BYU QB Hall to Chambers for 9 yards. That score was the fuse that set off the Cincinnati fireworks.

BYU did not score again and Cincinnati exploded into the offense that we have seen all year long. The Bearcats scored twice in the 2nd quarter, the last TD coming with 7 secs left in the half. UC repeated that quarter again in the 3rd with two more TDs through the air, taking a 28-7 lead into the 4th and never looking back.

Tony Pike finished the game with 299 yds passing and 4 TDs through the skies. His favorite target of the season stayed steady in that role as Gilyard finished with 10 catches for 137 yds and a TD. BYU's Max Hall had 324 yds passing, but threw 2 INTs and was sacked 5 times. The Bearcat defense won the game for UC in holding BYU to 5 for 18 on 3rd downs and 1 for 7 in redzone scoring.

8 Ohio St vs. 9 Georgia Tech

Columbus, OH - The Horseshoe was rocking for a first round game that pitted a strong defense from Ohio State against the powerful triple-option running attack of Georgia Tech. However, it was the passing games that made this must-see-TV game a great start to the first annual BCS Tournament. GT started it off in the first half by going to the air early and often in the first quarter, scoring 2 TDs on long drives kept alive with big plays through the air. After a 2nd quarter full of punts and only 1 TD by GT, the halftime score was GT 20-OSU 13.

The 2nd Half kicked the game into high gear as GT fumbled the opening kickoff and created the only turnover of the game. GT's defense stepped up and held OSU to a FG making it 20-16. After a defensive battle in the 3rd quarter, OSU's T. Pryor took over the game. Pryor marched his team down the field and handed it off to Brandon Saine for his only TD of the game. With only 1:22 left in the game OSU now lead 23-20.

Not to be outdone, GT's QB Josh Nesbitt lead a drive that included a 46 yard pass on 3rd and 11 to set up the game tying FG. After Scott Blair's 23 yard FG with exactly 1:00 left in the game, Pryor showed his talent once again. Pryor lead his team down the field through the air, putting them in FG range with 12 seconds to go. Not wanting his kicker to be the local hero, Pryor went no-huddle and threw a 19 yard strike on a slant to Lamaar Thomas for the win.

Pryor finished the game with 351 yds passing and 2 TDs. His backfield mate Saine carried the load on the ground finishing with 125 yds rushing and the 1 TD. The OSU defense held Georgia Tech's Jonathon Dwyer to under 100 yds rushing as he finished with just 90. As a team GT rushed 52 times for 213 yds, but could not convert on crucial 3rd down plays.

Ohio State moves on to the 2nd round to play the winner of the Alabama/West Virginia game played later today.

Bowl Selections

1 Rose Bowl - Chose to take the possible Texas/Oregon matchup due to their close ties to the Big 12 and Texas.

2 Orange Bowl - Chose the possible Alabama/Ohio St, Georgia Tech game to get the most fans due to the close proximity of Alabama and Georgia.

3 Fiesta Bowl - Chose the possible Boise St/TCU match-up because of their history with non-BCS teams.

4 Sugar Bowl - Took the last game, which happens to be the same possible match-up as their current "real" game between Florida and Cincinnati.

Rose Bowl gets the Texas side's semi finals and the Orange gets the Alabama side.

Background

I decided to do this for 1 reason, I wish it was actually true. There has been lots of speculation about why the NCAA does not have a playoff system for their Division I football as all other NCAA football levels have. There are many reasons why they have not moved to this system as of yet, most of which has to do with money and tradition. I would say that within the next 10 years we will have a similar system to what I am laying out. After all, it did take the NCAA 50+ years to change from the AP poll vote to the current BCS games.

I chose the teams that are in this tournament based on the current BCS standings, as I believe that is how the NCAA will eventually make both parties happy. The only change I made in the rankings is dropping Florida 1 spot to number 6 and moving Boise St up to 5 in order to aviod 2 SEC teams playing in the first round. With that said the rankings are as follows:

1 Alabama

2 Texas

3 Cincinnati

4 TCU

5 Boise St.

6 Florida

7 Oregon

8 Ohio St.

9 Georgia Tech

10 Iowa

11 Virginia Tech

12 LSU

13 Penn St.

14 BYU

15 Miami (FL)

16 West Virginia

In the first round games the higher seeded team will host the game. The game times are based solely on East/West Coast location. The second and third round games are given to the 4 current BCS bowls, Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange. They would get their choice of which game they want based on which bowl is in the "priority" slot that year. This year that is the Rose Bowl as it is hosting the "real" BCS National Championship. The Rose and Orange bowls also get a 2nd game in the semifinals, and in the following year, 2011, the Fiesta and Sugar would get that spot. Game times once again based on geographical location. The championship game is played in the new Cowboys stadium, because everything else cool seems to be happening there, well except for Cowboys games of course.

I will be simulating all of the games using NCAA Football 2010 on Playstation 3. I will have the rosters updated as of the start of the bowl season. I will use 8 minute quarters in order to get somewhat realistic scores and stats. Stay tuned for Game-by-Game recaps.

Enjoy.