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June 27, 2012

NORMAN, Okla. -- This week, the college football landscape changed dramatically as a committee of university presidents approved a plan for a four-team playoff put forward by commissioners of the top football conferences. Wednesday, OU head football coach Bob Stoops weighed in on the decision.

"We are allowing the best teams in the country to determine a national champion on the football field, and as a coach, that's what you want," Stoops said. "Our student-athletes, our universities, college football and the fans are all winners in this new playoff format.

"I've long advocated the many positives of maintaining the bowl system as part of the postseason. I'm very pleased that student-athletes competing for a national championship will still get to enjoy the rich part of college football's tradition that is that week-long bowl experience. To me, this decision further enhances the importance of our regular season games, and is good for college football and our student-athletes all the way around."

Though many details of the new format are to be determined, No. 1 will play No. 4, and No. 2 will play No. 3 on Dec. 31 and/or Jan. 1. The sites of those games will rotate among the four current BCS bowls -- Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar -- and two more to be named later. One of the new sites will likely be wherever the newly formed bowl created by the SEC and Big 12 is played, according to Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive.

The winners of the semis will advance to the championship on the first Monday in January that is six or more days after the last semifinal. The first "Championship Monday," as it was called in the BCS release, is set for Jan. 12, 2015.

The site of the title game will move around the way the Super Bowl does, with cities bidding for the right to host.

The teams will be selected by a committee, similar to the way the NCAA basketball tournament field is set. Among the factors the committee will consider are won-loss record, strength of schedule, head-to-head results and whether a team is a conference champion. The selection committee will also play a part in creating matchups for the games at the four sites that do not hold a semifinal in a given year.