2009 CBSSports.com College Football Playoffs

EDITOR'S NOTE: This feature requires Adobe Flash installed in your browser. If you don't see anything on this page, install Flash from here .

Let the debate begin.

Every year more than 75 percent of college football fans want a playoff and every year the BCS gives us the same thing ... controversy. Maybe TCU deserves to play in the national title. What about Cincinnati? We can all dream about an 8- or 16-team playoff, but I say if you are going to do one, let's do it right!

CBSSports.com gives you the ultimate tournament -- a 64-team playoff. Before you flood us with e-mails and ridiculous posts on the message board, remember we are just having some fun. We know this will never happen, but if you're going to dream, you might as well dream big.

We have to do it right, so we came up with a selection committee and a few simple rules.

1. All conference champions receive an automatic bid. Pretty easy since there are only 11 conferences, but let's do it like our friends at the NCAA do college basketball.

2. Four regions: Northeast, South, Midwest and West. We did our best to keep teams in their regions or close to home, but we can't just throw everybody in the SEC in the South, so some teams are scattered. The CBSSports.com 120 was used in helping decide which teams got which seed.

3. Teams must have at least a .500 record and all teams with winning records are in. We have 60 teams with a winning record this year and nine at 6-6, so some will be left out. The selection committee looked at Florida State, Michigan State, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Iowa State, UCLA, Wyoming, Minnesota and Marshall.

Marshall and Wyoming were out. They both were the lowest-ranked teams and the strength of schedule was weak. The committee wanted Notre Dame, but because of what the Irish said are 'unique circumstances,' they declined our invitation. (We'll remember that!)

We loved the Bobby Bowden retirement story, so the Seminoles are the No. 16 seed in the South. UCLA finished strong (winning three of its last four), so it got the final pick in the Midwest. In the Northeast, Minnesota beat Michigan State earlier in the year, so the Golden Gophers are the No. 16 seed, and Texas A&M beat Iowa State, so the Aggies got the final spot in the West.

4. First-round games cannot match teams within the same conference. (Teams were moved in different regions to accommodate this.)

5. First and seconds rounds will be played at higher-seeded teams' home stadium. This will cut down on travel costs for fans and give the higher-seeded teams the advantage they deserve for a good season. Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will be bid on by numerous bowls. If the Little Caesars Bowl wants a Sweet 16 game in the Midwest, time to pony up the cash.

6. BCS national championship game is in the Rose Bowl this year. Last year it was the Orange Bowl. Last year we had semifinal games in the Sugar and Fiesta, so this year the Northeast/South regional final will in the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta and the Midwest/West regional final in the Cotton Bowl (the new Cowboys Stadium). We can have the big bowls bid -- Holiday, Alamo, Capital One, Gator are all being considered next year (make the checks out to J. Darin Darst, please).

7. Again, don't take this too seriously. This could obviously never happen -- we can't cut the regular season down to seven games to have a six-week NCAA tournament. But have fun, print out your brackets, fill them out and see who you like to win the national title.

Vote for the winners in the message board and post your sleepers. (Pittsburgh is a very dangerous No. 5 seed in the Northeast. How about Oregon State as a No. 7 in the West?)

-- CBSSports.com College Football Producer J. Darin Darst

Pick the teams that will advance in the message boards below. Results will be counted and announced on Wed., Dec. 16.