So...if the CFP goes to 16 teams

[gamecockcat]

Will the early games resemble the 1/16 and 2/15 matchups in March Madness, i.e., once in a blue moon upset but most games are very one-sided? I don't keep up with FCS playoffs but it seems like it's very often #1 seed vs #2 or #3. I think I heard this year that the four top seeds are in the semis.

Does a #16 team with either 3 losses in a P4 conference or a 1-2 loss G5 really deserve a chance to win the CFP? Or, more likely, deserve the chance to pull a huge upset and/or injure critical players from a much higher seeded team?

Certainly cheapens the regular season, imo. Of course, they'll do it anyway because more $$$$.

 

[doc4UK]

Same could be said for basketball and baseball however

 

[catsfanbgky]

Bigger question is, what 4 teams would have made it ? You would have to think based on rankings, Bama and SC get in at a minimum. Ole Miss ? I would say the extra 4 would be Bama (11th in rankings but missed playoffs Clemson #16 leaped them and some how SMU who lost to Clemson in the title game is ranked ahead of Bama #10), Miami #13 , Ole Miss #14, and SC #15.
Bama #11 is a lock
Miami #13 - No way you can put BYU ahead ranked 16th / Iowa State got slaughtered by ASU, no way they should jump up.
Ole Miss #14
SC #15

16-20 ranked :
Clemson #16 - Already in, LOL ranked 16th.
BYU #17 - Best win, SMU by 3.
Iowa State #18 - Lost 45-19 to ASU and it wasn't that close as score shows. Not one quality win.
Missouri #19 - 9-3
Illinois #20 - 9-3

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Bigger question is, what 4 teams would have made it ? You would have to think based on rankings, Bama and SC get in at a minimum. Ole Miss ? I would say the extra 4 would be Bama (11th in rankings but missed playoffs Clemson #16 leaped them and some how SMU who lost to Clemson in the title game is ranked ahead of Bama #10), Miami #13 , Ole Miss #14, and SC #15.
Bama #11 is a lock
Miami #13 - No way you can put BYU ahead ranked 16th / Iowa State got slaughtered by ASU, no way they should jump up.
Ole Miss #14
SC #15

16-20 ranked :
Clemson #16 - Already in, LOL ranked 16th.
BYU #17 - Best win, SMU by 3.
Iowa State #18 - Lost 45-19 to ASU and it wasn't that close as score shows. Not one quality win.
Missouri #19 - 9-3
Illinois #20 - 9-3

Yeah, it's funny how if you go from 12 to 16 the sec doubles in teams. Sec will be leading the charge for expansion as they are being punished for having a deeper conference.

The current rules are dumb anyways as it should have been the best 12 teams. Rank them correctly. It would lead to some better quarterfinal matchups. I think you are gonna see some ass kickings due to the dumb seeding rules in the quarters.

If and when it goes to 16, just seed them 1 to 16. Winning a tomato can conference should not guarantee a top 4 ranking either and should not guarantee a home playoff game.

 

[gamecockcat]

Yes, the teams should be seeded with no automatic byes. You could potentially have #1 vs #2 in the B10 or SEC conference championship game with the loser playing an extra game while a 3-loss B12 team could win their conference and receive a bye. So, in that scenario, the regular season means very little (much the same way as CBB, imo).

 

[CondorCat]

The byes MUST go to the 4 top ranked teams if we stick with 12 teams. The bracket is unbalanced this year. By losing the B1G championship game, Penn State got a better draw. Oregon likely has to go through Ohio State and Texas to reach the final.

 

[Emarc]

By results so far, 12 too many.

 

[rick64]

Four best teams get the byes regardless if they won their conference championship or not.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Same could be said for basketball and baseball however

Football has always been different. Some people cannot stand different. Everything must be the same.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

12 sux. 16 sux more.

 

[Eccain01]

12 teams is good for the sport. They could make 16 work. Only thing that should change is the byes should be the 4 best not just conference championships and id make the 2nd round also be played in campus.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Imo no for two reasons: 1) there should be no home games. Thats way too much advantage for bigger schools and 2) there is no 3pt shot as an equalizer.

In basketball, getting 1 out of your 5 guys hot from behind the arc on a neutral court is going to happen infinitely more often than 22 significant contributors outplaying 22 other much more talented significant contributors over the course of an entire game.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

Bigger question is, what 4 teams would have made it ? You would have to think based on rankings, Bama and SC get in at a minimum. Ole Miss ? I would say the extra 4 would be Bama (11th in rankings but missed playoffs Clemson #16 leaped them and some how SMU who lost to Clemson in the title game is ranked ahead of Bama #10), Miami #13 , Ole Miss #14, and SC #15.
Bama #11 is a lock
Miami #13 - No way you can put BYU ahead ranked 16th / Iowa State got slaughtered by ASU, no way they should jump up.
Ole Miss #14
SC #15

16-20 ranked :
Clemson #16 - Already in, LOL ranked 16th.
BYU #17 - Best win, SMU by 3.
Iowa State #18 - Lost 45-19 to ASU and it wasn't that close as score shows. Not one quality win.
Missouri #19 - 9-3
Illinois #20 - 9-3

If it were 16 teams, imo, Bama, S. Carolina and OM would be 3 of the extra 4. I think there the 4th would likely be Miami if we used the same criteria that was used to pick 12 teams.

16 teams will do away with first round byes, even with UGA having one i think is too big of an edge, so drop to 8 or go to 16. But whatever the number the first couple teams left out are going to claim they were more deserving than whoever lost big. There is no such think as making everyone happy.

 

[NavyCat88]

Will the early games resemble the 1/16 and 2/15 matchups in March Madness, i.e., once in a blue moon upset but most games are very one-sided? I don't keep up with FCS playoffs but it seems like it's very often #1 seed vs #2 or #3. I think I heard this year that the four top seeds are in the semis.

Does a #16 team with either 3 losses in a P4 conference or a 1-2 loss G5 really deserve a chance to win the CFP? Or, more likely, deserve the chance to pull a huge upset and/or injure critical players from a much higher seeded team?

Certainly cheapens the regular season, imo. Of course, they'll do it anyway because more $$$$.

Having graduated from a FCS school, I can only say this is the double edge to the expanded playoffs. The first round of the 24 team FCS playoffs can be a real slaughterhouse with weaker conference champs getting whipped by stronger conference champs and big conference at-large picks. Every now and then you'll see a sizable upset. Even in the final 8 teams, you get some lop sided contests about half the time. By the time you get to the final four teams, you typically get some pretty good contests. Presently, North Dakota St and S Dakota St are locked into a one score semi-final with a minute to go in the 4th. Get ready for similar trends in FBS CFP in my opinion.

GBB!

 

[NavyCat88]

Will the early games resemble the 1/16 and 2/15 matchups in March Madness, i.e., once in a blue moon upset but most games are very one-sided? I don't keep up with FCS playoffs but it seems like it's very often #1 seed vs #2 or #3. I think I heard this year that the four top seeds are in the semis.

Does a #16 team with either 3 losses in a P4 conference or a 1-2 loss G5 really deserve a chance to win the CFP? Or, more likely, deserve the chance to pull a huge upset and/or injure critical players from a much higher seeded team?

Certainly cheapens the regular season, imo. Of course, they'll do it anyway because more $$$$.

I should also add, D1-FCS conferences don't have championship games, so no one is backing into an auto-bid with an upset win at the end of the year. The regular season champ (a.k.a. the best team in each conference) is automatically a playoff entrant. At large teams are usually pretty good also-rans from good conferences. They also seed the teams with byes based on overall poll ranking as I recall.

GBB!

 

[gamecockcat]

I think #1 vs #2 for the FCS championship, is it not? Ridiculous that PSU, the 6 seed, has an easier road to the finals than #1 Oregon who beat PSU. Gotta seed all 12 teams to prevent this travesty.

 

[NavyCat88]

I think #1 vs #2 for the FCS championship, is it not? Ridiculous that PSU, the 6 seed, has an easier road to the finals than #1 Oregon who beat PSU. Gotta seed all 12 teams to prevent this travesty.

You are correct. Montana St and North Dakota St are the #1 and #2 FCS playoff seeds respectively, and today they won the right to face each other in the final game on January 6th. If D1-FBS is going to have expanded playoffs (and I believe we will eventually move to 16 teams), they need to follow the D1-FCS selection and seeding model.

GBB!

 

[CGblue]

If a team deserves to be in the playoffs then they should be playing on a neutral field in the playoffs.

 

[BBNinSC]

I do not believe that SMU, Clemson, Arizona St,
Boise St or Indiana are among the 12 best teams in the country.
Alabama or Ole Miss would beat any of those teams most of the time.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

12 sux. 16 sux more.

It's all about the money. These games will have great ratings. More games equal more money.

 

[UKBrassowTipIN]

How these first round games have gone it doesn't look like it needs to expand but to shrink.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

I think one sided games were kind of expected, I don't think it was expected that all would be one sided. I thought TN would put up a fight, but they just rolled over and according to 1 vol board he said players weren't fully bought in. That's on him. When you dress and groom with no pride how can he expect to instill pride in his guys?

 

[Thecycle27]

The lower levels are seeded by a computer model that tries to keep in their regions to limit travel. It is impossible to know who the best teams are with the schedules.

The easiest way is to give each P4 conference X amount of AQ. Let the computer model rank which teams in those conference go to the playoff. The SEC and Big 10 may get 4 AQ and ACC/Big 12 get 3. It just clean and easy. The champ isn’t coming for a 5th place team in SEC or Big Ten. The SEC and Big Ten would more than likely get the higher seeds therefore home field advantage. The ACC/Big 12 get the opportunity to compete. Everything decided on the field.

All playoff formats have big margin of victories in the early rounds.

 

[CNJ1966]

The thing is, all the teams that got blown out yesterday would still have made the 16 team format—and would have gotten blown out again.

 

[Wildcat40229]

I think there are 41 bowls at the end of the season, not including the playoffs. With all the opt outs and portal entries, most are unwatchable and have, mostly, empty seats. Why don't they go to a 20-team playoff format, with 4 play-in games? That would be 19 bowls and most teams would stay intact, for the most part and make these bowls more watchable. Some bowls had to cancel this year because of the amount of portal entries some teams had.
Changes have to be made with the bowl system, with the portal being as big as its become.

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

I wish they would shrink it to 8. A9-12 seed has no chance of winning it,so why include them. Before you tell me it could happen, lets see if it ever does. Not a game played this weekend was ever in doubt.Why put a bunch of good teams in there, playoff should be for great teams. Finally football isn't basketball, injuries happen in EVERY game so the more teams you put in the greater the attrition. Scenario. 1 seed rolls the 16 seed but has 2 injuries to key players. Why should they have to risk that playing a team that has no chance at winning the playoff. Why not have the 8 best use those resources to try and win it. This is all about money but if the next few opening rounds are as non competitive as this one slot of people will not watch.