(12-12-2013 09:42 PM)10thMountain Wrote: I think eventually well have an 8 team playoff where the P5 champs have autobids and 3 wild cards are selected by comittee
I agree and think that's like predicting there will be a Tuesday next week. It's just mind boggling that everything is such a struggle in CFB. It is almost a miracle that these moronic and greedy bastards haven't already killed the golden goose.
The only value of a four team playoff is that it starts the sport down the playoff road once and for all. Once people get a taste of this there will be no going back - just like the BCS. Literally everything else about the four team playoff is inferior to the current deeply flawed system. That's a remarkable feat in and of itself.
There will not be a consolidation to four leagues. Notre Dame isn't going to be forced into anything and there is no such thing as a super division that does not include the Irish. Like it or lump it, that is the reality of the situation.
Also, state politics will preclude this from happening. North Carolina politicos aren't going to allow UNC to prosper and NC State to sink. Similarly, Texas legislators aren't going to allow Texas Tech to go by the wayside....and on and on.
This is going to be what it always has been in college athletics - a series of loose alliances, not a unified, organized megaleague.
Just make the conference championship games - for the leagues that have them - AQ games. Then add three wild card entries with no more than two teams from any one league eligible for the eight team playoff. I know people will respond to that by saying, "Let the best teams in," and in spirit I absolutely agree with that sentiment. However, this this is the real world and this whole deal has never been about merit and it never will be. Rather it is all about straight cash, homey and it always will be. As such, you need to spread the wealth as much as possible to keep everyone on board.
One way to change that is to just pool all of the money together and distribute it evenly among all P5 teams. If they did that then you really could get away with putting the best eight teams in. However, that is never going to happen so you are going to have to adopt the other model or you are going to very shortly have all kinds of unhappy campers and, as they say, that dog won't hunt.