CFP to expand to as many as 16 teams?

[UMFarArcher]

With 16 teams it would take 4 weeks to decide the winner, just do not think that is going to happen.

Go right into playoffs after the regular season ends.

Week one - sixteen teams play,
Week two - eight teams play.
Week 3 Final Four.
Week four - maybe delayed another week - the Championship game. That puts us right in the start of the New Year.

 

[Trafficante]

Clemson wasn't Clemson when the playoffs started in 2014. They earned their way into the club by doing things right.

Just because we're mad at the results doesn't mean we need to change the rules. This kind of tournament turns college football into college hoops. And that's terrible.

I'm a proponent of expansion not because i'm a fan of a team that has been mired in mediocrity, but because I realize the ultimate goal is to maintain maximum integrity & parity in the sport, not a "meaningful" regular season. The reason why the CBB regular season has less intrigue than CFB's is because they play 30+ games each yr-not because they allow 19% of teams to be selected in their post season tournament. The actual tournament itself though has more excitement & unpredictability than CFB's. Furthermore, you think MIA playing teams like FAMU, Bethune, and Central Conn, is good for ratings? The proper way to improve ratings in the regular season is by scheduling more intriguing non-conference games.

The main issue with the 4-team playoff system is that it helps to entrench the current power structure in CFB, because other aspects of the sport are also not on a level playing field. If all programs had the same level of resource allocation this would be less of an issue, but because they don't, what ends up happening is it creates even a bigger chasm between the 4 selected teams and everyone else. Another issue with the 4-team playoff system is that it introduces unnecessary subjectivity into the selection process. How can there be 5 power conferences but only 4 teams in the playoffs? It's beyond retarded, and makes no sense

 

[TruCane81]

Can't happen fast enough. Kill the bowls, roll with the CFP.

CFP subcommittee presents expansion scenarios

A working group within the CFP management committee this week considered dozens of possibilities for future expansion, including options ranging from six to 16 teams, though no change to the current four-team format is imminent.

www.espn.com

Why kill the bowls? They are awesome.

This was always an easy fix. Either incorporate the bowls into playoff rounds or fill them with playoff losers.

Automatic bid for conference champs. 5 at large selected by formula or committee. You lost your conference? Suck it. Your playoff hopes are out of your hands.

The season gets more thrilling for more teams. It also gives good teams a fair shot to have adversity (injuries) and still have a title shot (like every other team sport on the planet).

 

[Kjdcanefan]

I like the idea of 6 teams.

5 conference champs
1 at large

Still exclusive, emphasis on conf championships instead of “SOS” which is only used when it’s convenient for certain (SEC) teams. The only debate comes down to the at-large spot which gives the media something to ***** and whine about. Everyone’s happy.

I've been advocating this for years. Make winning your conference mean something again

 

[GojiraCane]

RIP best regular season in sports. But ncaa may have already done too much damage to stick to the current format. They’re going to have to reduce regular season games

Yes, it's really, really bad for the long-term national interest in the sport if it is just a rotation of Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, and LSU that make the CFP each year. You want to drive down viewership and streams, by all means keep it at 4 teams. If you want colleges to begin dropping football because the theoretical hope of competing for a title is now void, fans have lost interest, and the cost doesn't justify the expense, by all means keep it at 4 teams. If you want the sport itself to be politicized and regulated out of existence - which would be far easier to do if it is just a collection of southern and midwestern colleges that have football - by all means keep it at four teams.

 

[DMoney]

I'm a proponent of expansion not because i'm a fan of a team that has been mired in mediocrity, but because I realize the ultimate goal is to maintain maximum integrity & parity in the sport, not a "meaningful" regular season.

College football has never been about parity. Was there parity when Miami won 4 out of 9 championships?

In the 7 years of the playoff era, 5 different programs have won the national title. In the 7 years before that, 5 different programs won the title. In the 7 years before that, 6 different programs won the title (5 if you count USC in '03). In the 7 years before that, 5 different programs won the title.

This is college football. We all love it. Please don't let them ruin it.

 

[TruCane81]

6 to 8 teams is the sweet spot.

Anything more kills the urgency of every game in the regular season.

How??????

People always say this and it makes zero sense.

Expanding the playoffs increases the urgency because more teams have a shot. The battles for those at large spots will be more intense than anything we have seen yet.

One loss does not exclude ANY SEC team, OSU, Notre Dame,or Clemson. It’s everyone else that has to sweat bullets. The current system entrenches power with the schools that cheat the most and make can predictable and less exciting.

16 teams get a bunch of teams fighting tooth and nail for style points to earn at large bids. It keeps more fan bases fanatically engaged with every game instead of now where one loss kills the excitement for 95% of the country.

The real resistance is purists hating change.

 

[Da Jumbo Mutombo]

How??????

People always say this and it makes zero sense.

Expanding the playoffs increases the urgency because more teams have a shot. The battles for those at large spots will be more intense than anything we have seen yet.

One loss does not exclude ANY SEC team, OSU, Notre Dame,or Clemson. It’s everyone else that has to sweat bullets. The current system entrenches power with the schools that cheat the most and make can predictable and less exciting.

16 teams get a bunch of teams fighting tooth and nail for style points to earn at large bids. It keeps more fan bases fanatically engaged with every game instead of now where one loss kills the excitement for 95% of the country.

The real resistance is purists hating change.

I disagree.

First of all, a top 8 wouldn't eliminate any team except the UCFs and Coastal Carolinas of the world with one loss. So a top 8 doesn't serve the teams that cheat the most.

Second of all, a top 18 would create a battle with the 14-22 teams fighting for their lives. That can be said with any cutoff number you assign. Why not just do a top 80? Teams 70-90 would would be fighting for their lives.

And yes, you'll have teams 14-22 fighting for their lives. Those will also be 3-4 loss teams. If you can lose 3 to 4 games a year and still have a shot at the playoffs, how does that not dilute the urgency of the regular season?

So, I disagree with everything you said and every point you made. Sorry.

 

[TruCane81]

CBB regular season is terrible. Nobody cares if Duke or Kentucky is losing on a Wednesday because the tournament is what matters.

When the #1 team is losing in the CFB regular season, it's must-see TV.

Football games always matter more because there are so few games, not because of the playoffs.

This is the case at all levels,
high school on up.

 

[TruCane81]

I disagree.

First of all, a top 8 wouldn't eliminate any team except the UCFs and Coastal Carolinas of the world with one loss. So a top 8 doesn't serve the teams that cheat the most.

Second of all, a top 18 would create a battle with the 14-22 teams fighting for their lives. That can be said with any cutoff number you assign. Why not just do a top 80? Teams 70-90 would would be fighting for their lives.

And yes, you'll have teams 14-22 fighting for their lives. Those will also be 3-4 loss teams. If you can lose 3 to 4 games a year and still have a shot at the playoffs, how does that not dilute the urgency of the regular season?

So, I disagree with everything you said and every point you made. Sorry.

I could role with 8 teams if they gave g5 their own championship.

College football is the only sport in the world you can win your conference/division and have no opportunity to play for the big prize. That’s corrupt bull****.

I don’t necessarily want to see some g5 bum teams either but why have them in the division if they are not allowed to compete? It’s the same thinking that leads to the rules being enforced in such an unbalanced way. Free cars in Saban Land . Everybody knows, nobody cares.

 

[SmokeyRone]

if they go to 64, we'd make it in once in a while

 

[The canesman]

It’s the only “smart” way to bring attendance, tv, and interest back to the post season. Right now with all the meaningless bowls with opt outs etc the post season sucks.

 

[OriginalCanesCanesCanes]

Again, every year, the non-playoff bowls, ie, any post season games that don’t involve the four playoff teams, lose more interest and participation, little by little. It’s undeniable.

Now that’s only partially due to the current playoff system, but it’s true nonetheless in my opinion. We will see more and more key players opting out every season, I remember just a few years ago it was a huge controversy when key players opted out, now it’s almost expected.

Pretty soon, players that still have eligibility and will play the following year may start opting out in one way or another. It could happen.

Expanding the playoffs, even if it’s only to 6 teams, may help to alleviate that some extent.

What suggestions do people have for making the bowl season stop its steady decline?

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Why kill the bowls? They are awesome.

This was always an easy fix. Either incorporate the bowls into playoff rounds or fill them with playoff losers.

Automatic bid for conference champs. 5 at large selected by formula or committee. You lost your conference? Suck it. Your playoff hopes are out of your hands.

The season gets more thrilling for more teams. It also gives good teams a fair shot to have adversity (injuries) and still have a title shot (like every other team sport on the planet).

The bowls haven't been "awesome" in 20 years. they have gotten progressively worse and more worthless.

The stupidity of this all is that it is not the "bowls" which make the college football season "meaningful", it is the avoidance of competition. At one point (a long time ago), colleges weren't afraid to schedule good OOC games because everyone did it, and many national champions had 1 loss (including 2 UM national championship teams).

Now, these quality OOC games are avoided and 2/3 to 3/4 of the entire schedule is made up of conference games, thus we have already regionalized and minimized the college football "regular season", which has been getting worse nearly every year.

And the very concept that college football teams won't "play hard" in the regular season because so many teams make the playoffs is just a joke. There is still a massive advantage to higher seeds and (possibly) home games, depending on whether the current bowl sites are used or are not used for the playoff.

I'm not saying we get to 16 teams immediately. The obvious answer would be to go to 8 first, before the contract is over, and then see how the ratings and fan interest go.

But anyone who thinks that ESPN and/or Fox won't pony up HUUUUUGE money for a larger CFP playoff is just nuts. And, sadly, monetary interests have dominated CFP for 30 years, it's why we have the conferences we have and the landscape that we have.

 

[LoungeLord]

Can't happen fast enough. Kill the bowls, roll with the CFP.

CFP subcommittee presents expansion scenarios

A working group within the CFP management committee this week considered dozens of possibilities for future expansion, including options ranging from six to 16 teams, though no change to the current four-team format is imminent.

www.espn.com

***** the Cinderella story crap.

 

[CaneDawgCrew]

I see everyone's point of view.

Just think it gives you some wiggle room...Win the regular season but lose conference championship you are still in. Other conference champions can get automatic bids and then seeded. Gives you opportunity to maybe rest some players who are injured or get an injured player back and make a run.

I say 16 but at least 8. 16 if you start giving AAC, MWC, etc. some automatic bids...

 

[AquinasStatGuy]

So it wasn't enough that Alabama beat the #3, #4, #5, #7, and #9 CFP teams by an average of 19 points. Let's add a few more rounds and see if #16 can knock them off!

 

[SayWhat]

RIP best regular season in sports. But ncaa may have already done too much damage to stick to the current format. They’re going to have to reduce regular season games

That's a silly take if you ask me.

You lose a game or even two, your season is likely over the way it currently stands. So playing for some bowl game makes the season have a point?

This option allows you to have a possibility of making it to the big show. That's much more to play for than some random bowl game. You still have a chance to be the best team in all the land. Working towards that goal, getting better week in and week out.

What if this started this season? Say we lose to Bama and they roll through the season. We keep it close and lose by a late touchdown or even two as we're pressing late to tie it up.

Season moves on and we're undefeated until the ACC championship game. We lose another close one to Clemson who like Bama is undefeated.

We have two close losses to the two top teams. Would you rather have a shot at the big show or head off to whatever bowl game?

Nothing became meaningless. This isn't the NCAA basketball tournament where there's a ton more teams and power conferences are getting nearly half their teams in, teams sitting on winning percentages in the 55 to 60 percentile range.

This would be a win for college football.

 

[Echtcane]

@Echtcane rather than put a dumb emoji how about telling me why it’s dumb.

After I read, "butt hurt people mad Clemson and Bama winning every year" that sealed it.
Do you really think there's a level playing field, especially with the SEC's bag culture and the NCAA's highly selective looking the other way at some while cracking down on others? Then there's the "everyone getting a trophy" thing. No one gets a trophy until you beat all the others, no matter how big the playoff. What you may get is a little more opportunity, and as it stands, the opportunities handed to some are vastly different from the opportunities others would like and can't dream of because of a CFB structure that is rigged against many and set up for continued almost guaranteed success for others. That's not what most of college athletics is about and there's no reason football has to be that way. An expanded playoff won't solve it, but it would open the gates a little bit.

 

[HighSeas]

How did the CFP trivialize bowl games? There used to be 1 championship bowl game, maybe 2. Now there are 3. The other games never meant anything but pride.

The argument for the CFP was making sure we crowned the best team. It has obviously accomplished its purpose. Now we're blaming the system for things that have nothing to do with it.

The top teams are so consistently good because of great coaches, money and improved efficiency in recruiting. Kids are opting out of bowls because they are more self-focused, for better and worse. These things were in motion well before any playoff.

College football is better than every sport because it has the best regular season. It's not bands, it's not student section chants. It's the importance of every game. This proposal kills that dead for 4 weeks of entertainment and a ton of blowouts. It's a bad and short-sighted idea.

BCS bowl season used to have significance. Pride is what matters in college football. The CFP has killed the larger bowls and there's not even pride at stake anymore. Florida's B team getting stomped by OU in the Cotton Bowl is a good example.

The best team might be crowned but no one wants to see the best team destroy Michigan State or ND in the semis. The best teams should have the opportunity to advance rather than play in irrelevant bowls with no stakes and top draftees opted out.

Kids are not gonna opt out of a playoff and if they do their draft stock will crater.

I just plain disagree about everything you said in the last paragraph. The college regular season is mostly boring, has tons of blowouts and most games are irrelevant. It should be a buildup to a climactic playoff, not the main event. Top teams matching up in the regular season will be no less relevant and exciting with 12 more teams in the playoff. The rest of the games will be more relevant and exciting because teams will be jockeying for top-16 position. How many times have we seen Cane teams lose one game to a rival or top team and tank the rest of the year? That shouldn't be a thing.

You're taking a very inert stubborn traditionalist position on this and it really doesn't make any sense, but you do you...