I would like something that solves ALL of the "fairness" issues, as well as rewarding other good teams, and emphasizing conference championships.


What if you had

At large (1)-----Stanford
SEC Champ-----Alabama

MAC Champ-----Northern Illinois
At large(2)-----Miami

PAC12 Champ-----Oregon
SunBelt Champ-----UL-Lafeyette

AAC Champ-----Central Florida
At large(3)-----Clemson
``````````````````````````````````````````````
B1G Champ-----Ohio State
CUSA Champ-----Rice

Big12 Champ-----Baylor
At large(4)-----Missouri

ACC Champ-----Florida State
At large(5)-----Oklahoma

At large(6)-----Auburn
MWC Champ-----Fresno State








Theoretically assuming, right now, here's what the bracket would look like. Its a 16 team format, includes ALL conference champs, and the 6 highest ranked teams after all automatic bids have been placed. You can flip and flop what conference plays who, but I thought it would only be fair that if you're a non AQ and you think you can hang with the big dawgs, then that's who you should play to start with. I also mixed up the geography a little, just to give it a different look. I'm not looking for politics in this necessarily, but if you think it would for most all major purposes satisfy every conference fan pundit in the nation since everyone gets representation for the most part, please tell me. I think its fair and effective. My guess is an independent team, in order to get in, would have to be ranked at LEAST top 12. Any lower is probably too low. So basically, if you don't win your conference, you need to be the next best team in your conference, and finish with a record of at least 10-2 or 11-1.

The criteria to get in would be:

1. Win your conference.
2. Finish with 2 losses or less.

This would end any conference bias for the most part. Right now, all at large teams in my theoretical bracket have 1 or no losses. The rest are predicted conference champs.

Last year would have looked like this(after conference championships, before bowl games):


Notre Dame
Alabama

Northern Illinois
Florida

Stanford
Arkansas State

Louisville
Oregon
``````````````````````````````````````
Wisconsin
Tulsa

Kansas State
Georgia

Florida State
LSU

Boise State
Texas A&M


Now tell me you would not have loved to see that bracket last year

And this is how I would think last year would have ended

Notre Dame
Alabama-----------Alabama-----Alabama---Alabama

Northern Illinois
Florida--------------Florida

Stanford------------Stanford-----Stanford
Arkansas State

Louisville
Oregon-------------Oregon
`````````````````````````````````````Alabama Nat'l Champs
Wisconsin-----------Wisconsin
Tulsa

Kansas State
Georgia-------------Georgia-----Georgia

Florida State
LSU-----------------LSU

Boise State
Texas A&M---------Texas A&M-----Texas A&M---Texas A&M

I'm fine with this.

It'll never happen though because you'd give access to the big money to lower divisions (like Men'sBBall does) and it sends product AWAY from the mega-conferences. Right now, the conference championship games are ATTEMPTING to be the access games to the CFP. If they can pull it off, the TV money for those games on that final weekend will SKYROCKET.

To use last year as an example, Stanford (11-2 and Pac-12 champ game winner) would have been taken over Oregon (11-1) because the power conferences want that game to be WORTH a lot.

If you give Oregon the bid while they stayed home on CCG weekend, then you diminish their importance. There will still be a threshold...like maybe a top 8 ranking or something (which Stanford would have met last year). You don't want 8-5 Big Ten champ Wisconsin getting a prestigious top 4 bid.

A 16-team playoff with guaranteed access for all FBS conferences would be great, but I doubt we'll ever see it because the P5 conferences don't want to lose the recruiting advantage that comes with keeping the playoff largely to themselves.

As long as the playoff is restricted to 4 teams selected by a P5-stacked committee, or 8 teams with auto-bids for the P5 champions plus 3 at-large teams selected by a P5-stacked committee (which is where I think we're headed), it will be close to impossible for G5 teams to get in. That will allow the P5 schools to keep using "the chance to play for a championship" as an exclusive selling point to blue-chip talent, thereby preserving their competitive superiority and justifying the continuation of their auto-bids. The system will be neatly stacked in their favor and self-perpetuating, just as it has been with the BCS.

I think the best the G5 can hope for is an 8-team playoff with no auto-bids. Let all FBS teams be eligible and take the top 8 regardless of conference affiliation. Even if the selection committee is stacked in the P5's favor, a G5 team is likely to get in most seasons, and at some point will win a national title. That will eventually erode the P5's ability to use superior playoff access as a selling point to recruits, leaving them only money, fan support and tradition as advantages (which I don't begrudge them since those advantages are earned).

The playoffs won't expand past 8, simply because 16 dilutes the value of the regular season & eliminates the bowl system. The power conferences along with ESPN & fox have to much invested in the current system to expand it to much further

8 teams is kind of far fetched. Nobody wants 3-4 loss teams in a playoff. It is a disservice to the regular season. Some years you may have 5-6 teams in the mix for the top 4. But more than likely, most of those schools will have a loss or two. Mid major schools simply will not have the strength of schedule to be taken seriously. Tough break if they couldn't schedule any noteworthies OOC.

It's not perfect. I'd like 6 teams to be honest. But 8 teams with P5 conference champs is a bigger disservice than just the most deserving 4 teams. This year, is perfect for a 4 team playoff. No one is taking Baylor/Frenso seriously, and rightly so. There are clearly 4 teams head and shoulders above the rest.

For decades college football fans wanted a pro sports-style playoff system,
but in reality they didn’t want a pro sports-style playoff system.

The whole winning conferences and home field playoff games doesn’t promote
the controversy and bickering that is an intricate part of college football.

I

(10-28-2013 08:07 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  8 teams is kind of far fetched. Nobody wants 3-4 loss teams in a playoff. It is a disservice to the regular season. Some years you may have 5-6 teams in the mix for the top 4. But more than likely, most of those schools will have a loss or two. Mid major schools simply will not have the strength of schedule to be taken seriously. Tough break if they couldn't schedule any noteworthies OOC.

It's not perfect. I'd like 6 teams to be honest. But 8 teams with P5 conference champs is a bigger disservice than just the most deserving 4 teams. This year, is perfect for a 4 team playoff. No one is taking Baylor/Frenso seriously, and rightly so. There are clearly 4 teams head and shoulders above the rest.

I guess Buffalo didn't take them seriously:
Baylor 70 Buffalo 13
Ohio St. 40 Buffalo 20

Good thing you aren't on the committee.

This type of 16 team playoff might work. But it would be pushing the limit on how many teams to put it w/o impacting the regular season. Any more than 6 wildcards would definitely be too many. And in this 16 team playoff, it effectively could be 25 or 26 because of ccgs. Do you eliminate ccg losers? Or if you keep them in does it devalue ccgs? With 6 wildcards there will be several ccg losers.

You would also have to end the season a week earlier. You won't have 4 playoff games in January. You can't have any Christmas week because people won't travel. You can't have a bunch of games when most schools are having finals. So I don't think a 16 team playoff happens for a very long time, if ever. There are huge logistical challenges in addition to control issues for the P5. This isn't like the lower divisions where the regular season isn't that valuable financially.

I do think 8 happens, in 12 years, if not before. Even that has some of the same logistical issues.

I think 8 is pretty feasible. If its done with AQ's for all P5 champs along with the highest ranked G5 champ you have some inclusion. Plus there are 2 "at large" bids meaning #1 and #2 are always guaranteed to be included. The conference championship games will become more valuable to be important and the regular season is preserved since conference championships will be important. In effect, such a system is close to a 16 game playoff due to the CCG's. This is where I think we are headed in 6-12 years.

2011 would be the perfect scenario bracket.


Alabama-----Alabama----Alabama
LSU

Ohio
Stanford-----Stanford
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Alabama
Oregon -----------Oregon----Oregon
Arkansas State

West Virginia
Arkansas----------Arkansas
`````````````````````````````````Alabama Nat'l Champs
Wisconsin---------Wisconsin
Southern Miss

Oklahoma State---Oklahoma State----Oklahoma State
Boise State
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Okie St
Clemson
Kansas State-----Kansas State

South Carolina---South Carolina----South Carolina
TCU

(10-28-2013 07:26 AM)mj4life Wrote:  The playoffs won't expand past 8, simply because 16 dilutes the value of the regular season & eliminates the bowl system. The power conferences along with ESPN & fox have to much invested in the current system to expand it to much further

The FCS would prove that you are wrong - 24 team playoff, and regular season is still very, very important.

As for the bowls, who cares?

(10-28-2013 08:07 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  8 teams is kind of far fetched. Nobody wants 3-4 loss teams in a playoff. It is a disservice to the regular season. Some years you may have 5-6 teams in the mix for the top 4. But more than likely, most of those schools will have a loss or two. Mid major schools simply will not have the strength of schedule to be taken seriously. Tough break if they couldn't schedule any noteworthies OOC.

It's not perfect. I'd like 6 teams to be honest. But 8 teams with P5 conference champs is a bigger disservice than just the most deserving 4 teams. This year, is perfect for a 4 team playoff. No one is taking Baylor/Frenso seriously, and rightly so. There are clearly 4 teams head and shoulders above the rest.

This is the bias that prevents any team not already considered a "name " team from making it, and why FBS football never crowns a REAL champion.

I suppose you'd have preferred a NCAA basketball tourney without butler, Gonzaga, Wichita State, etc as well.

(10-28-2013 09:33 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  I think 8 is pretty feasible. If its done with AQ's for all P5 champs along with the highest ranked G5 champ you have some inclusion. Plus there are 2 "at large" bids meaning #1 and #2 are always guaranteed to be included. The conference championship games will become more valuable to be important and the regular season is preserved since conference championships will be important. In effect, such a system is close to a 16 game playoff due to the CCG's. This is where I think we are headed in 6-12 years.

I like this plan, but I would go with 12 teams. 5 P5 champions, 1 G5 champion, 6 at large. 4 best conference champions that won their CCG get a bye first round.

At large (6)-----Oklahoma
SEC Champ-----Auburn

MAC Champ-----Bowling Green
At large(3)-----Missouri

PAC12 Champ-----Stanford
SunBelt Champ-----UL-Lafeyette

AAC Champ-----Central Florida
At large(2)-----Ohio State
``````````````````````````````````````````````
B1G Champ-----Michigan State
CUSA Champ-----Rice

Big12 Champ-----Baylor
At large(5)-----Oregon

ACC Champ-----Florida State
At large(4)-----South Carolina

At large(1)-----Alabama
MWC Champ-----Fresno State

The REAL CFB PLAYOFF FORMAT

8 may happen. P5 champs + 5 at large ranked in Top 10-15 with "RPI" in top 10-15. The RPI will be SOS based and non-P5 games will be same as playing 100+ to 200+ in CBB. No FBS will play an FCS or if it does it will not count. The idea is to limit access to non-P5 schools not out of animus or elitism or anything other than TV has paid for/invested in the P5 and just like any club access is for members + whatever minimum level of non-member access has to be given for legal purposes. Also "access" is relative; there are plenty of P5 teams that will struggle to ever a name January bowl, e.g. all ACC not named FSU or Clemson, bottom non-marquee 8 of B1G, B12 not named TX or OU or lacking at least 11 wins, PAC not named USC, Stanford or ORE. So likely it's 65 playing for 10 spaces with maybe another 65-70 playing for 1 spot.

The logical answer is a 12-team playoff.

top 4 conference champions get a first round bye.

At least 6 conference champions total get guarunteed spots. Plus 6 at large spots. Beyond that its hard to argue any more teams deserve a chance.

its the first round bye that makes the regular season important.

(10-28-2013 09:16 AM)bullet Wrote:  This type of 16 team playoff might work. But it would be pushing the limit on how many teams to put it w/o impacting the regular season. Any more than 6 wildcards would definitely be too many. And in this 16 team playoff, it effectively could be 25 or 26 because of ccgs. Do you eliminate ccg losers? Or if you keep them in does it devalue ccgs? With 6 wildcards there will be several ccg losers.

You would also have to end the season a week earlier. You won't have 4 playoff games in January. You can't have any Christmas week because people won't travel. You can't have a bunch of games when most schools are having finals. So I don't think a 16 team playoff happens for a very long time, if ever. There are huge logistical challenges in addition to control issues for the P5. This isn't like the lower divisions where the regular season isn't that valuable financially.

I do think 8 happens, in 12 years, if not before. Even that has some of the same logistical issues.

FCS already does it so let's not act as if it's logistically impossible. As for the regular season---if a conference championship guarantees a trip to playoff, then how does the playoff devalue the regular season? The regular season would eliminate 90% of the field. Like I said, that seems to protect the regular season. The reason basketball has devalued the regular season is because the regular season doesn't mean a darn thing. The only thing that matters is winning the conference tournament.

With the help of Whatif Sports, I simulated a 16 team national championship. Link and scores below:
http://challonge.com/2014ncaa

(01-01-2014 10:10 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  FCS already does it so let's not act as if it's logistically impossible. As for the regular season---if a conference championship guarantees a trip to playoff, then how does the playoff devalue the regular season? The regular season would eliminate 90% of the field. Like I said, that seems to protect the regular season. The reason basketball has devalued the regular season is because the regular season doesn't mean a darn thing. The only thing that matters is winning the conference tournament.

Exactly. I can live with 12, 14, or 16 teams in the tournament, as long as all the conferences have a single rep for their regular season.

(01-01-2014 10:10 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  FCS already does it so let's not act as if it's logistically impossible.

FCS has a 24-team tournament, but the FCS tournament is not undermining a bowl system that has given millions of dollars worth of cruises, rounds of golf, booze, hookers, and other indirect bribes to college administrators over the last umpteen years.