If California regional playoffs were implemented this season

Close your eyes. Look deep into the future. Well, not that deep, just a year from now.

That's when the California Interscholastic Federation will introduce its regional football championships to feed into the always debatable, but unquestionably successful, Bowl Championships.

The change is an attempt to answer critics who think that State Bowl participants should be required to play their way into the state's pinnacle games rather than being hand-picked by 10 section commissioners.

The commissioners will still hand-pick, but simply a week earlier. In theory, picking 20 participants instead of 10 should be easier, and for sure everyone likes the idea of the final step to a Bowl game to be earned, not debated.

Though some have complained that a 16-game season is too long - even if it's only 10 teams - all agree this is a sound and strong compromise short of a full-fledged state playoff, like Texas and Florida.

To get a sense if picking 20 participants is easier than 10, and get a basic feel of how it will look, we'll try it out today with the 2011 squads.

Keep in mind, next season, every section will have completed its championships at this point, and, like Bowl teams, only section champions will be eligible for regional football championships.

So,  assuming the favorites in the various sections win this weekend, and assuming the commissioners used the Freeman ratings to a tee (which they do not), these are what the regional football championship game picks would have looked like.

See current California State Bowl Game (Freeman/computer) Ratings

* - Already won Section title

Southern California

Open: Westlake (Westlake Village) vs. San Clemente

Division I: Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) vs. Bakersfield

Division II: *Helix (La Mesa) vs. Arroyo Grande

Division III: Lompoc vs. Washington Union (Fresno)

Small school: Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) vs. *Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach)

Very tricky in the top two divisions. But the Freeman rankings would have the following winners this weekend to qualify as Section champs: Westlake over Oaks Christian; San Clemente over Santa Margarita; Vista Murrieta over Centennial. … One very positive sign here is that the Central Section, which hasn't boasted a Bowl participant yet, would at least have a chance to play for it.

Northern California

Open Division: De La Salle (Concord) vs. *Bellarmine (San Jose)

Division I: *Granite Bay vs. *Serra (San Mateo)

Division II: *Del Oro (Loomis) vs. *Vacaville

Division III: Marin Catholic (Kentfield) vs. *Palma (Salinas)

Small school: *Le Grand vs. *Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento)

Ferndale is currently the highest ranked Division IV (small-school) squad, but it plays favored Salesian, a Division III school (by state standards) in a North Coast Section title game on Saturday. … De La Salle-Bellarmine would be a rematch of both teams' season-opener, a 26-23 De La Salle double-overtime winner. … The Del Oro-Vacaville matchup would be one humdinger and far better than what will occur on Sunday when the commissioners have to pick between the two squads. … Judging by message boards, Vacaville is already feeling very frustrated by the process, believing Del Oro has already been handpicked this season. ... Of note: If a team loses a regional final at the Open Division, it is not then Bowl eligible. That is significant. As an example, if Bellarmine lost to De La Salle in this make-believe scenario, even though it would probably have a higher rating than Granite Bay or Serra, it couldn't be selected into the Bowl. ... That is also significant for another reason. The section commissioners nominate teams for the Open Division. We could see coaches from Bellarmine or Del Oro, for instance, nudging their commissioners and saying "no thank you" to moving up because a better chance at reaching a bowl game is playing a team at their own division.