(12-14-2018 08:32 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 04:45 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 11:22 AM)McKinney Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 11:02 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  If we have an 8-team playoff, best to just have all at-large, no guarantees for any conferences, P5 or G5. That's a level playing field for everyone, and doesn't allow a team to leap-frog others merely because they win a conference - which proves nothing about how good they are versus teams from other conferences. If the B1G or SEC champ is only the 10th best team, then they don't belong in the playoffs ahead of better teams.

If there ever was a time where that excuse of "we'll be arguing why #9 got left out" was valid, it's here. If you do 8 at large you'll be in the same situation we have now. It'll just be with crappier matchups. Teams that should have been given a shot will be left out.

Nope, just the opposite: A conference champ auto-bid model is far more likely to put outrageously questionable teams in than just ranking the top 8. E.g., imagine if the PAC title is between 10-2 Utah and 7-4 unranked UCLA, and Utah's star QB is suspended before their CCG and UCLA eeks out a win?

You'd have a bad 8-4 UCLA team in the playoffs ahead of many teams that were clearly better. You can't ever have that in an 8-team playoff chosen by people, because people will never randomly choose the #23 team to be in the playoffs.

The worst situation you could likely have would be this year - #9 Washington, PAC champ, would be out in favor of #8 UCF. But Washington lost 3 more games than UCF, including losses to Auburn, Cal, and Oregon, none of whom are world-beaters, and all the computers have UCF ranked ahead.

Washington doesn't have much of a case, not worth worrying about. No #9 in an all at large model ever will.

Then the Bruins get in. Such is life.

That's not satisfactory to anyone who thinks it is important that more deserving teams get in - which i thought was everyone here.

Might as well just have a playoff based on drawing 8 lots, and if your lot isn't drawn, "such is life".

That said, I think it's pretty clear that an auto-bid system is much more likely to produce outrageously controversial entrants than a human voting system. Humans will put in Georgia over Ohio State or Ohio State over Georgia - debatable, but also something everyone would regard as a close call between two very worth teams.

But when auto-bid forces us to take a 8-4 UCLA because they win the PAC over a 10-2 Ohio State, who maybe beat UCLA during the season OOC, then that will create an absurd situation.