If we had a College Football Playoff - Play In Games Matchups

Over the course of the next seven weeks - I will simulate an NCAA football tournament.

The tournament will:

1) Incorporate the Bowl System

2) Still have postseason for 68 teams - the 68 highest Sagarin ranked Bowl Eligible teams

3) Be over before the Super Bowl

4) Determine a True National Champ

This week's games are played at neutral sites and are play-in games for the main 64-team bracket

BOWLING GREEN VS MARSHALL - HONOLULU, HAWAII - THURSDAY DECEMBER 10
This game pits two MAC Conference teams - as this tournament makes no special allowances for conference affiliation. The play-in games are at neutral sites, as they will be at the site of four postseason bowl games. Bowling Green is the higher seed in this one. The winner gets to face top-seeded Alabama.

MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE VS SMU - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - FRIDAY DECEMBER 11
There should be plenty of offense between these two teams. MTSU is the highest ranked team in the Play-In round, so it got to choose the site from the four possible round sties. SMU's June Jones will look to lead his team back to Texas, as the winner faces fourth-seeded TCU next weekend.

IOWA STATE VS NORTHERN ILLINOIS - FORT WORTH, TEXAS - SATURDAY DECEMBER 12
First matchup between a BCS school and another conference team in the tournament history. That will be an interesting sidebar to see how that develops throughout the playoff. Iowa State certainly isn't a top tier team, but the Texas Longhorns who await the winner are.

OHIO VS IDAHO - NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - SATURDAY DECEMBER 12
The Bobcats are the fourth MAC team to compete in the opening round. Idaho will bring a wide-open offense to New Orleans, but whether or not they will be able to stop Ohio is the question. The winner will take on the 2nd seeded Florida Gators next.

Check in Saturday for play-in game results.