[This is a weekly feature exploring what the BCS standings would look like if my proposed designs were in effect.]

First of all, what is the deal with a tropical storm in November.  Really?  And it is a cold rain.  Every tropical storm I have ever been in has been a warm soaking rain.  Just saying.  Cold November Rain? There was a day when I would have called that an oxymoron.   The days of the powdered mountains of Utah.

The days before Urban Meyer awoke a state to the potential of their program, when I first dabbled in crafting rankings of my own and watched as the MWC and BCS formed simultaneously and in a destined collision coarse.  The days I first wanted a change in the BCS and for the MWC to bust it wide open.

11 years latter, here is how the leading design I have crafted would work if the season ended today:

Qualifying teams: 6

Top group: Florida, Alabama, Texas
Undefeated: TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State

Tournament:

Florida and Alabama would receive a first round bye and be seeded into the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl respectively.

Texas would host Boise State.
TCU would host Cincinnati.

The lowest seeded team to advance would play Florida in the Sugar Bowl, with the other team meeting Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl.  The winners of these games would go to the National Championship game.

The Rose Bowl would have Oregon and Iowa
The Orange Bowl would have Georgia Tech and an at-large (likely USC)

What would the actual championship race be like in this design and a look at the plus-one I presented last week next:

The season does not end this week

If my plan was in effect, who would be satisfied they had a reasonable chance at the tournament?  Certainly all six undefeated teams would know they had a direct path ahead of them.  Florida and Alabama will play in the SEC championship game if neither loses, so at least one will lose a game.  If Texas or the eventual SEC champion loses a game this opens the door for the next pack of teams.  The question becomes who could join this group of teams.

It is not out of the question that Cincinnati could close enough of the gap to make it not qualify as significant by the standards I have defined.  The loser of the SEC championship game could help to fill the void as well.

Any of the top three teams could end up in this group with a single loss in their remaining games.  USC and the Ohio State vs. Iowa winner would be likely to join it with continued wins.  This is a total of ten teams that would have a shot at the tournament at this point in the season.

Not bad.  Lets also take a look at the plus-one design I forged last week: 

All teams better than 10-2 would be able to play 2 bowl games.  This is the only NCAA rule change required to allow this to happen.  This model assumes the top 15 would finish better than 10-2.

The semifinals would be Florida vs. TCU and Alabama vs. Texas.  The winners would go to the national championship game and the losers would participate in the traditional BCS bowls.

Currently all BCS conferences are on pace to have a champion with 10 wins.  The SEC and Big 12 champions are in the semi-finals.  The next two automatic qualifying champions are Cincinnati and Georgia Tech.  Georgia Tech would be placed in the Orange Bowl and Cincinnati would be guaranteed a spot in the BCS selection pool.  Both would be free to play a pre-Christmas bowl without risking these bids.

No conference has more than three teams in the top 14, so they are all available.  Selecting the highest ranked teams we get Boise State, LSU, USC, Iowa, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Oregon and Miami in the four newly christened regional first round games.

Mid-West: Iowa vs. Oregon
North: Ohio State vs. Pittsburgh
South: LSU vs. Miami
West Coast: Boise State vs. USC

The winners would advance to be selected by BCS bowls and the losers would be selected by four bowls electing to leaving a spot open for a later pick when the initial round of selections were made.

Notice that half of the BCS bowl participants would have to win their way into the game.  This would help to accentuate their merit as a stand alone regional championship in their own right.  They would still have the rights to pick first among the members of their traditional conference tie-ins if at least one qualifies.

This looks much better than allowing 6-6 team to be on equal footing for bowl eligibility as a winning team to me.