SI's college football playoff

Long-time readers know I have been opposed to a college playoff system for a number of reasons, chief among them being that I think it cheapens what is, without question, the most exciting and meaningful regular season in sports.

Sports Illustrated, however, has proposed a playoff system that I find intriguing. First, it is a 16-team playoff, not an eight-team one, which most propose. Second, it would be seeded totally disregarding the BCS, which would be mandatory for me to support a playoff system.

If the college football season ended after last week's games, here's how SI's first round matchups would look (the number in parenthesis is the team's seed):

(1) Florida vs (16) Auburn
(8) Oklahoma vs (9) Houston
(5) Virginia Tech vs. (12) Ohio State
(4) LSU vs (13) Iowa

(3) Texas vs (14) Oregon
(6) Boise State vs (11) TCU
(7) Cincinnati vs (10) USC
(2) Alabama vs (15) Miami

You gotta admit, there's a lot of appeal to those eight games. I know I would pay the semi big bucks to see that first-round Houston/OU matchup.