Alternatives to a National Championship?

Much has been written about how the CFP has diminished the bowls and only 3-5 teams have a chance to win it all each year. We all spill ink about how to improve the post-season, but is there an alternative way we can “engineer” the college football schedule to make it more fun for fans?

Bring back the old rivalry games? Would eliminating CCGs or even the playoff help? Better regular season scheduling? Could one even draw up an “equitable” schedule for 130 teams?

Bring back the polls


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Have the NCAA involved.

I have no idea if there’s a right answer but after watching this season play our, here’s an option:

Reduce the regular season to 10 games with a minimum of 8 conference games. Shift bowls to beginning of the season as non-conference matchups. There would be zero pointless bowl games. A CCG would game #11 for 2 schools in each conference. Expand the playoff to 24. Each conference champion plus (as of today) 14 at-larges decided by the committee. Seeds are also determined by the committee. Top 8 seeds get a first round bye.

This season based of final CFP poll:

#1 Alabama vs #16 BYU / #17 USC
#2 Clemson vs #15 Iowa / #18 Miami (FL)
#3 Ohio St vs #14 Northwestern / #19 UL Lafayette
#4 Notre Dame vs #13 North Carolina / #20 Texas
#5 Texas A&M vs #12 Coastal Carolina / #21 San Jose St
#6 Oklahoma vs #11 Indiana / #22 Oregon
#7 Florida vs #10 Iowa St / #23 Marshall
#8 Cincinnati vs #9 Georgia / #24 Ball St

(01-02-2021 08:11 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  Have the NCAA involved.

That ship has sailed. Diminished bowls is what ever wanted anyway since the FBS needed a playoff.

(01-02-2021 08:13 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  That ship has sailed. Diminished bowls is what ever wanted anyway since the FBS needed a playoff.

Why does FBS need a playoff? It was more interesting when there was debate. Do we really care if Michigan and Nebraska both claim a title (wow, the world really has changed since 1997)

How about conferences of 8?

Northeast Coast - ND/Pitt/PSU/Syr/BC/MD/VT/NC State
ACC - WF/Duke/UNC/UVa/GT/CU/SC/Miami
SEC - UF/FSU/Auburn/Bama/UT/Vandy/UGA/UK
SWC - Texas/TAMU/LSU/Ark/OU/OSU/Ole Miss/MSU
B10 - Rutgers/OSU/Michigan/MSU/Purdue/Indiana/Cincy/NW
B8 - Minn/Iowa/ISU/Nebraska/Illinois/Whisky/Louisville/Mizzou
Mountain 8 - Colorado/Utah/Arizona/ASU/BYU/TT/TCU/Baylor
Pac 8 - USC/Cal/Stanford/UCLA/OSU/Oregon/Washington/WSU
American 8 - Army/Navy/Temple/Memphis/UCF/USF/WVa/Houston

Then into a 16 team field you seed the 8 highest rated conference champions 1-8. They get a home game against an at large conference champ and 7 others. Using this year for instance that might yeild:

1. Bama / NCSU 16
2. Clemson / Indiana 15
3. Ohio State / Texas 14
4. ND / Georgia 13
5. TAMU / UNC 12
6. Washington / UF 11
7. Iowa / OU 10
8. Utah / Army 9(a champ)

That gives you a second round of -

1. Bama / Utah 8
2. CU / OU 10
3. OSU / UF 11
4. ND / TAMU 5

Then a likely final four of:

1. Bama / TAMU 5
2. Clemson / OSU 3

Of course such a structure means a lot of compromise and some substantial moves. 7 Conference games allows for 5 ooc games. You drop the conference championship game. With this system you somewhat neuter the polling aspect as 9 of 16 will have won on the field and only 7 are subjected to a beauty contest.

(01-02-2021 08:16 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 08:13 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  That ship has sailed. Diminished bowls is what ever wanted anyway since the FBS needed a playoff.

Why does FBS need a playoff? It was more interesting when there was debate. Do we really care if Michigan and Nebraska both claim a title (wow, the world really has changed since 1997)

I care if both the AP and coaches deny an undefeated Penn State a national championship. Under the current format, we would've settled it on the field.

(01-02-2021 08:16 PM)CoachMaclid Wrote:  

(01-02-2021 08:13 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  That ship has sailed. Diminished bowls is what ever wanted anyway since the FBS needed a playoff.

Why does FBS need a playoff? It was more interesting when there was debate. Do we really care if Michigan and Nebraska both claim a title (wow, the world really has changed since 1997)

I’m sure you can recall the numerous media pundits, bloggers and folks on the board that stated that FBS needed a playoff because a ‘champion can only be determined on the field’. The dream at this point is to create some 16 or 24 team field.