How about a 12 plus 2 College Football Playoff?

[Cruiser]

How about just get rid of automatic bids? That will solve 95% of our problems, and no expansion is needed. Teams that have no business being in the playoff are making it, and now everyone's first inclination is to expand? How about addressing WHY these teams are making it, instead of just adding more teams.

Get rid of automatic bids and take the top 8 from something like BCS formula.

 

[CrimsonTitles]

Get rid of automatic bids and take the top 8 from something like BCS formula.

I don't think that's enough in the current era. 4 was perfect pre-conference expansion, but unless they're gonna go by more than just record, I see 8 being even more of a disaster than 12. Can we trust a computer formula to evaluate this stuff any better than the committee? I mean I think I read that the BCS computers wouldve had Notre Dame ahead of Bama this year, so that's not taking SOS or resume into account either. I think 12 is actually perfect, because nobody (other than Vandy who is being penalized for their name) below 12 really has a legitimate argument. Texas may think they do, but do they really? I mean at least with Bama last year, we were in the top 12, but just got pushed for these automatics. Texas can't say that.

 

[BamaNation]

Ok, for giggles, I'm really going all out on this. I got the lat/long location of each stadium in my 64 team superleague above, calculated the statute miles between each school and the other 63. Threw that file into Grok and asked it to optimize into 8 divisions of 8 teams each based on distance.

Here's what Grok came up with. Again, I haven't verified anything but it passes the eye test. Similar groupings to some of the old conference alignments, but it makes sense given what we're trying to do here. I did do a handful of small tweaks by swapping Pitt and Maryland, and replacing UCF with SMU. We can argue about the specifics, but this is something to at least throw some darts at They're not power balanced would be one criticism.

	Division	Teams	Avg Intra-division distance (miles)
1	Pacific West	Oregon, Washington, Stanford, California, UCLA, Southern California, Utah, Arizona State	~520​
2	Desert Southwest	Arizona, BYU, Colorado, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Houston, SMU	~580​
3	Great Plains	Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa State	~380​
4	Upper Midwest	Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Purdue, Indiana	~440​
5	Deep South	Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky	~280​
6	Southeast Atlantic	Georgia, Clemson, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, NC State	~350​
7	Mid-Atlantic	Virginia Tech, Virginia, Wake Forest, Duke, Louisville, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Maryland	~360​
8	Northeast	Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh	~320​

 

[Joefus]

No more expansion. If anything, cut it to 8.

Top 8 as decided by bcs computers with no autos. I’d even be ok with no sec championship game and just a “reg season sec champion” decided by reg season w/l using tiebreakers

 

[4Q Basket Case]

My original proposal of a 128-team playoff was largely tongue-in-cheek.

The landscape of today’s college football doesn’t allow satire.

If we go to 16, why not 32, 64 or 128 teams? Take the extra three weeks out of the regular season and the conference championship games. Notice no blue font.

Nobody’s feewings get hurt. Nobody is triggered. Everybody gets in the playoffs. All the coaches get bonuses. All the players get even more play-for-play. Everybody wins…..right? Right? Right?!?!

 

[CrimsonTitles]

My original proposal of a 128-team playoff was largely tongue-in-cheek.

The landscape of today’s college football doesn’t allow satire.

If we go to 16, why not 32, 64 or 128 teams? Take the extra three weeks out of the regular season and the conference championship games. Notice no blue font.

Nobody’s feewings get hurt. Nobody is triggered. Everybody gets in the playoffs. All the coaches get bonuses. All the players get even more play-for-play. Everybody wins…..right? Right? Right?!?!

Why not just cancel the entire season and hold an 128 team double elimination tournament, instead? No blue font because I haven't decided whether I'm joking or not. It's gonna get there at some point anyways.

 

[crimsonaudio]

There's literally not a world where the 8th ranked team (or even the sixth) can claim to be the best.

If we have to include more than two (and I admit, occasionally this has been relevant) then go back the four team system.

Anyone ending up fifth in the final standings has ZERO claim to being the best team in the nation. Period.

 

[BamaNation]

There's literally not a world where the 8th ranked team (or even the sixth) can claim to be the best.

If we have to include more than two (and I admit, occasionally this has been relevant) then go back the four team system.

Anyone ending up fifth in the final standings has ZERO claim to being the best team in the nation. Period.

Don't go throwing logic around like that. It has no place in CFB! That's why I came up with the 64 team superleague

 

[bamaga]

How about l find something else to watch and everyone else as well.

I have never in my life, seen any beautiful yet flawed sport do more to increase the flaws but demolished the beauty then college football has managed to do over the last five years or so.

It’s almost like whoever is making the decisions got a raging case of long Covid.

Well said!

 

[bamaga]

JMU and Tulane are getting 4 million a piece by making this playoff. I assume that will be shared among the Sun Belt and AAC teams.

Surely a G5 standalone playoff would generate much more revenue than that? These games can be staged on days/nights that the P4 are not playing. It's that simple.

Will it be called the NIT?

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Don't go throwing logic around like that. It has no place in CFB! That's why I came up with the 64 team superleague

The problem, though, is that 99% of people are illogical when it comes to the CFB playoff.

"I don't want automatic bids" - that means you either have a committee or a human programmed computer
"I don't want a committee" - that means you have automatic bids or a human programmed computer

And then remember there were computers that chose Notre Dame as the 2012 national champion AFTER the BCSNCG blowout loss to Alabama.

How about this?
1) Sagarin is used as the basis for ranking
2) the top 8 teams REGARDLESS in Sagarin go to a three-round playoff (this could incentivize a conference championship game, say, for an SEC team that sits at 9 but is playing a team ranked #2)
3) if you have 8 teams from the same conference, so be it

No committees
No automatic bids
SOS and SOR play an outsized role

You're welcome


(Don't worry - some poster who wants 3-9 Alabama in a playoff will be by within a day or two to tell me why this won't work......)

 

[PacadermaTideUs]

(Don't worry - some poster who wants 3-9 Alabama in a playoff will be by within a day or two to tell me why this won't work......)

I’ll tell you it won’t work because Sagarin is one of the worst computer models. All individual computer models have biases and flaws, which is why the BCS used a suite of models, throwing out the outliers and averaging the remainder. But as bad as Sagarin is, it shouldn’t be included in the suite, much less the sole decider. Otherwise, I’m on board with your plan.

 

[JBW819]

If you go back and watch the 1993 Sugar Bowl - and who wouldn't want to at this point - there is commentary by Keith Jackson, citing Miami head coach Dennis Erickson. The point of contention concerns a "college football playoff." Now keep in mind that Erickson began his head coaching career at Idaho, a then Division I-AA school, which had a playoff. Indeed, in his four years as head coach, they made the playoffs twice. Those appearances helped improve his pedigree so that he could move on to Wyoming, Wazzu, and Miami as the head coach.

Musing about the (now) FBS situation, Erickson was opposed to the traditional playoff model held in the lower divisions. We could theorize, of course, his issue was the fact he couldn't win one there but being an Independent (at the time) at Miami freed you up to win national championships. But even if we suspect that's an underlying reason, Erickson made another crucial point: a playoff does not guarantee the best team is going to win the championship. His stated reason? When his teams had participated in playoffs, the team that won the championship was the one who was luckiest in regards to not losing their best player(s) due to injury. In other words, it was more of a quest or death march than it was an arbiter of the best team. (Note: Keith was relaying what Erickson had told him since the point was always "but Florida State is playing the best ball at this time of year").

And now go look at the I-AA playoff:

1978 - 4 teams (3 regional reps and one at large selection)
1981 - 8 teams
1982 - 12 teams
1986 - 16 teams
2010 - 20 teams
2013 - 24 teams (except for the Covid year)

They quadrupled the size in only 8 years.

And what actually happens as you increase access for teams?


You get a dominant champion like North Dakota State.

I don't think FBS will allow an Ohio State to win the title 10 times in 14 years or whatever, but the more they can qualify even with 2-3 losses, the more they can win, too.

That is the problem with a deep playoff system…the healthiest, best team at the end of the year wins. Just like in the NFL where wildcard teams can win the Super Bowl.
The 4 team model was the best and as we move to a 9 game conference schedule, we are less likely to have a healthy team deep into the playoffs. We will be playing our 17th game if we make the championship game and we are already banged up.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

We'll be up to a 24 team playoff pretty soon using all of the bowl games as a round in the Playoffs!

 

[CrimsonTitles]

We'll be up to a 24 team playoff pretty soon using all of the bowl games as a round in the Playoffs.

That's the Big Ten's preferred model. Sankey better grow a spine this time and stand his ground.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

That's the Big Ten's preferred model. Sankey better grow a spine this time and stand his ground.

Giant Pop Tarts and $$$ will win the day!

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Part of the problem is that the nitwits who cover this sport really do believe - I mean, they either do or PRETEND to believe - that football is like every other sport, and thus a team that is scrappy and can put together a good run can pull off the equivalent of "The Bad News Bears" or (and I've pointed out many times they have the fairytale wrong) 1985 Villanova.

And I will say it again - it's been damn near 40 years since we had anything resembling a "Cinderella" in basketball and 2 of the 3 (at least) they say that about, it isn't true. 1985 Villanova was about like if 2011 Arkansas won a 12-team playoff for the national title, especially if they managed to avoid a rematch with Alabama or LSU. It's just not THAT BIG of an upset. Same with 1983 NC State. Sure, they were 26-10 in a 52-team tournament, but look at who beat them: UNC (with Jordan), UVA twice (with Ralph Sampson), Louisville (a #1 regional seed), Maryland twice (a then raw and not refined Len Bias), and Missouri (a #2 regional seed). And MOST of those games were pretty close. It was sorta shocking, but it was more like 2019 Florida winning the championship than if UCF actually won it. The one case that can actually be made for a Cinderella in basketball is Kansas in 1988 - and then remember they DID have the college player of the year (Danny Manning) who won all the trophies like he was Jameis Winston or whoever.

An upstart can make it in PRO sports, that's not the comparison. The margin between the worst team in the NFL and the best can be covered by maybe 3-4 really good players and a solid coach. College BASKETBALL lends itself to such upsets because of how their tournament is set up - and you sometimes get, say, a Butler and players who are together for four years squaring off against a powerhouse with five one-and-dones (when that was a thing) that have talent but not great chemistry.

Despite all the chances for a Cinderella to win it, it hasn't happened, even though there are more Cinderellas every single year in CBB.

The problem is that a group of idiots REALLY DO THINK it can happen in college football. They REALLY DO THINK that "you know, if BYU or UCF or Boise was JUST GIVEN A CHANCE, they could win it!"

And literally nobody with a functioning brain actually believes this.

Football is so brutal, it does not lend itself to "hey, this team of Air Force Academy cadets can WIN FOUR GAMES IN A ROW against 4 of the 8 best teams in the country and be champions." Air Force CAN beat Notre Dame four times in a row (they've done it) across four years, but if they played four straight weeks, nobody pretends even the worst Irish teams against the best AFA teams would lose more than two at most. More often than not, they wouldn't lose any. And remember: a playoff is the BEST Irish (or whomever) team, not the lean Gerry Faust years.

It's just not going to happen.

As I keep saying…. The college basketball comparison doesn’t work even in the abstract.

 

[crimsonaudio]

That's the Big Ten's preferred model. Sankey better grow a spine this time and stand his ground.

Hahahah, Stanley…. Grow a spine, hahahahahahahahah

He leads the most powerful and influential conference in CFB and what has he done for it?

Expecting him to suddenly be proactive and protective is hilarious.