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OT: Fun ways to replace conference title games with Playoff games

YaketySax

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Jun 28, 2018
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The best way to expand the Playoff is to let it absorb something else college football went a long time without.

The Playoff should expand beyond four teams. I think eight is a good number, because it would be easy and allow inclusion of non-powers who’ve been spurned for decades. We can haggle over the exact best format, even if we’re never going to settle on a number that makes everybody happy.

There’s a problem, though: An expanded Playoff makes the season longer for minimally compensated labor.

Shortening the regular season is unlikely in FBS. It would mean around 122 of 130 teams losing a game, which many can’t afford. That would have a downstream effect on FCS programs that need paycheck games.

The solution that’d be best for the most groups is ending conference championship games and playing expanded Playoff games the week after the regular season instead, with the Power 5 champions and the top Group of 5 champ getting automatic bids.

I’ve thought this through, including the business obstacle in your head right now. We’ll get to that.

A link to the rest of the argument here.
 
My preferred post-season system is captured in the comments:

16 team playoff – 10 conference champs & 6 at-large berths
No conference title games
First two playoff rounds on top seeds' campuses
Semis on New Year’s Day (Rose & Sugar)
Championship game the following Monday
Bowls can still happen
 
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I don't want to see it go to any more than 8 teams.

The regular season matters more in college football than in any other sport, and that's part of what makes every Saturday so great. I don't want upsets and cinderella in determining a football champion. Give me the best teams.

Anything beyond the top 8 is letting in teams that don't belong and devalues the regular season. You're giving teams who have proven not to be as good another bite at the apple. That's ridiculous in a sport as violent and damaging as football.

Eight teams. No awful conference championship games.
 
I think Harbaugh is a doofus, but I like his 11 team idea for a playoff.

The plan: 11 teams and 15 games spanning from the first week of December to the first week of January.

The plan includes getting rid of league championship games; Power 5 conferences would determine their champions with a 12-game schedule.

So Harbaugh says you take those five champions and six other teams, including the top non-Power 5 team (Notre Dame or Group of 5) and five at-large teams (using the old Bowl Championship Series system with computers and strength of schedule).

The bottom six teams would play on the weekend currently reserved for conference championships. The losers of these games would be thrown into the bowl pool.

On Heisman Trophy weekend, say hello to the national quarterfinals. That would still push the semifinals to near New Year's Day, with the title game a week after.

"You'd still have the same bowl structure that you have now, and teams that lost on Dec. 1, it's like they would've been in a championship game and then they play in a bowl game," Harbaugh said. "Nobody would play 16 games."

Well, not exactly. Conceivably, a team seeded 6 or higher would be playing a 16th game to win it all.
 
It is already a play off from the start of the season.. Win all your games and you are in.. When a bunch of idiots got to pick the last team standing for seems like a hundred years everyone was wanting a play off. Then it was the two best teams left after the season. Srill people cried that their team was left off the list. So they went to what I think is the best way 4 team's.. Now there are people crying for 8 or 16.. $ is the right number to keep it from getting watered down..

GBB
 
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Move the Power 5 to their own type of system, but still work in conjunction with the new Group of 5 for Bowls.


1. Either take a game off the schedule or start the season a week earlier. Maybe have week 1 before Labor day and make most all of the games cup cake type games. Move conferences to pod type scheduling.

2. Everyone now has an extra bye week. Rivalry week still Thanksgiving. Conference titles the week after...between 2 highest ranked team or best record if that cannot be determined.

3. 8 Team Playoff. 5 conference champion. Group of 5 gets their 1 national title representative. 1 bye week then first rounds are played on campus. Gives a break, but adds some good games to the calendar so there isn't a lull where we forget during bowl season.

4. The group of 5 representative gives an added perk to being the #1 overall seed getting to play them...and gives the G5 teams hope that they can actually compete for a title. Starting the week earlier can possibly get their conference titles settled by the week of Thanksgiving and then a G5 National title type game in conference title week. 6 big games the week determining playoff implications.

5. Playoff semi's are played in the bowl games at their best times. 4 losers get NY6 bowls against 4 other deserving teams. The bowl system is still alive and meaningful...

6. Have the national title game the weekend between the Super Bowl and NFL conference titles. Only adds 1 more month...but gives them plenty of rest between games. People have football fever that weekend. Give it a weekend time-slot where it's not in competition with the NFL.


It's fair, keeps the FBS together, and gives everyone a chance. Makes conference titles MATTER. Makes regular season games MATTER. Makes small conference teams MATTER.
 
Let's take the OP's scenario and put it into play this year since the regular season just ended. Here would be what this looked like:

1) Ohio State (Big 10 Champ) vs. 8) Memphis (Group of 5 highest)
2) LSU (SEC Champ) vs. 7) Baylor (At-large)
3) Clemson (ACC Champ) vs. 6) Georgia (At-large)
4) Utah (Pac12 Champ) vs. 5) Oklahoma (Big 12 Champs)
 
I don't want to see it go to any more than 8 teams.

The regular season matters more in college football than in any other sport, and that's part of what makes every Saturday so great. I don't want upsets and cinderella in determining a football champion. Give me the best teams.

Anything beyond the top 8 is letting in teams that don't belong and devalues the regular season. You're giving teams who have proven not to be as good another bite at the apple. That's ridiculous in a sport as violent and damaging as football.

Eight teams. No awful conference championship games.
I agree.

12 game conference schedule for the P5 with winner of each conference getting an invite.

Instead of ranking the teams halfway through the season like they do now, instead rank the conferences (including G5). Those rankings determine seeding.

Top ranked G5 league gets the 6th seed. Last four G5 teams play an extra game to determine 7 and 8 seed.

This might put even more emphasis on the regular season by making seeding dependent on conference strength.

I’m sure there are holes in this scenario, but my two cents.
 
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College bowl games were never meant to determine a national champion. They were a way to get people to travel during the holidays to foster interstate commerce. "National Champion" in college FB is wholly a media creation. Adding playoff games is absurd. Why don't we just shorten the season to 6 games and then do a 64 team tournament like basketball. /rolleyes
 
Let's take the OP's scenario and put it into play this year since the regular season just ended. Here would be what this looked like:

1) Ohio State (Big 10 Champ) vs. 8) Memphis (Group of 5 highest)
2) LSU (SEC Champ) vs. 7) Baylor (At-large)
3) Clemson (ACC Champ) vs. 6) Georgia (At-large)
4) Utah (Pac12 Champ) vs. 5) Oklahoma (Big 12 Champs)
That would be sweet.
 
That would be sweet.
Ohio St. vs. Memphis would only be sweet for Ohio St., and LSU vs. Baylor would only be sweet for LSU. Four is enough for a playoff and even that doesn't guarantee against the occasional bloodbath.
 
Let's take the OP's scenario and put it into play this year since the regular season just ended. Here would be what this looked like:

1) Ohio State (Big 10 Champ) vs. 8) Memphis (Group of 5 highest)
2) LSU (SEC Champ) vs. 7) Baylor (At-large)
3) Clemson (ACC Champ) vs. 6) Georgia (At-large)
4) Utah (Pac12 Champ) vs. 5) Oklahoma (Big 12 Champs)
Those actually look like good games.
 
Ohio St. vs. Memphis would only be sweet for Ohio St., and LSU vs. Baylor would only be sweet for LSU. Four is enough for a playoff and even that doesn't guarantee against the occasional bloodbath.

you may be surprised at what those teams can do.
 
The best way to expand the Playoff is to let it absorb something else college football went a long time without.

The Playoff should expand beyond four teams. I think eight is a good number, because it would be easy and allow inclusion of non-powers who’ve been spurned for decades. We can haggle over the exact best format, even if we’re never going to settle on a number that makes everybody happy.

There’s a problem, though: An expanded Playoff makes the season longer for minimally compensated labor.

Shortening the regular season is unlikely in FBS. It would mean around 122 of 130 teams losing a game, which many can’t afford. That would have a downstream effect on FCS programs that need paycheck games.

The solution that’d be best for the most groups is ending conference championship games and playing expanded Playoff games the week after the regular season instead, with the Power 5 champions and the top Group of 5 champ getting automatic bids.

I’ve thought this through, including the business obstacle in your head right now. We’ll get to that.

A link to the rest of the argument here.

Could be a reasonable solution. IMO, I'm not for anything that eliminates a single bowl game. This may be the solution however, consider: Would you want the possibility of a team like virginia sneaking up on a clearly superior Clemson team and thus they get in the CFP over a clearly better team like UGA that may likely lose in its' conf championship game? You'd still have the same wrangling over who is ranked higher in the poll and still run into to problems like the current 'Bama being ranked behind penn state foolishness.
 
Would you want the possibility of a team like virginia sneaking up on a clearly superior Clemson team and thus they get in the CFP over a clearly better team like UGA that may likely lose in its' conf championship game?

Me personally, I don't mind Cinderella in college basketball so I think I'll be okay with college football too. Having said that, I think given the nature of CFB compared to CBB, it's much harder to pull off upsets so Cinderella making it to the ball would happen rarely.
 
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