Four Alternates to the BCS, 2011 edition

Now that the season is over, let's take a look at four of the main anti-BCS post-season options that are on the table. A season-by-season listing is here, and generally we've found that no matter what other system is used, there's still BCS-type problems of exclusion, rematches, and inadequacy. Let's see if 2011 changes any of that...

2011 Final BCS Standings	Conference Champs	Relevant Bowls
1. LSU (13-0) 2. Alabama (11-1) 3. Oklahoma St (11-1) 4. Stanford (11-1) 5. Oregon (11-2) 6. Arkansas (10-2) 7. Boise St (11-1) 8. Kansas St (10-2) 9. South Carolina (10-2) 10. Wisconsin (11-2) 11. Virginia Tech (11-2) 12. Baylor (9-3)	ACC: Clemson Big10: Wisconsin Big12: Oklahoma St BigEast: West Virginia, Cincinnati, & Louisville Pac10: Oregon SEC: LSU	National Champ: #2 Alabama def #1 LSU, 21-0 Sugar: #13 Michigan def #11 Virginia Tech, 23-20 Rose: #5 Oregon def #10 Wisconsin, 45-38 Fiesta: #3 Oklahoma St def #4 Stanford, 41-38 Orange: #23 West Virginia def #15 Clemson, 70-33 --------------- Cotton: #6Arkansas def #8 Kansas St, 29-16

Plus-One Possibilities - w/ Bowl Results:
Alabama v Oklahoma St (v LSU?)
Of course it seems like a plus-one could be tacked on pretty easily this year - we had two matchups involving all four top-4 teams, so just let the winners, Alabama and Oklahoma State play each other. Right? In theory, yes. But there's a bit of a rub - LSU is #2 in the final polls, both AP and Coaches. So, technically, if we take the two highest ranked teams after the bowls, as some people describe the plus-one, then we'd be treated to a third game between Bama and LSU.

Plus-One Possibilities - Top 4:
#1 LSU v #4 Stanford, #2 Alabama v #3 Oklahoma State
This is pretty close to the best a top-4 Plus-one setup before the bowls can offer. But even then there are issues in that neither Stanford nor Alabama won their conference championships. A case can be made for Bama, but with Oregon sitting at #5 with the Pac12 championship and a head-to-head win over Stanford in their pocket, it'd be hard to say this worked fairly. (But if you include Oregon instead, you've got a rematch between the Tigers and Ducks from the regular season...) Lotsa issues here.

Eight-Team Playoff Possibilities - Conf Champs:
If you take the conf champs, you've got #1 LSU, #3 Oklahoma St, #5 Oregon, #10 Wisconsin, #11 Clemson, and #23 West Virginia. The two at-large would most fairly be #2 Alabama and #4 Stanford. But then you're leaving three teams better than half of the conference champs out, in #6 Arkansas, #7 Boise St, #8 Kansas St. Is it fair to leave them out of an 8-team playoff when they're all ranked in the top-8?

Eight-Team Playoff Possibilities - Top 8:
If you just take the top eight in the BCS rankings, you're only including 3 of the 6 BCS conference champs: Wisconsin of the Big10 is getting left out, which wouldn't work, as is Clemson of the ACC and West Virginia of the BigEast. Seven of the eight teams would be from 3 conferences (SEC, Pac12, and Big12).

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I think it's safe to say that any of those four options produces just as much controversy as the BCS this season, continuing the trend.