It's quite clear that this system is stupid and, if someone were to start something new, this is not what would happen. So, I will propose a different way of doing this that, IMO, is much better.
First, the whole idea of the conferences, which is currently a farce, needs to be nuked. We need to reorganize college football into eight ten team groups. These 80 teams are comprised of the 67 power conference teams, 12 non-power teams, and ND. ND and the 67 power teams are guaranteed to be in every year and the other teams have a relegation/promotion system which I have not spent any time thinking about but needs to exist.
At the end of each season, the 80 eligible teams for the following year are identified and separated into 8 pots of 10 teams and World Cup style draw is held to sort the teams into 8 groups/conferences. Pot 1 is the "seeded" teams so, for example, the top 8 teams at the conclusion of the current seasons's playoffs and the following pots are arranged to try to control for some sort of competitive and regional balance. You do a draw and now you have the groups that will each play a 9 game round robin. The winner of each group gets an auto spot in the playoff and the 2nd and 3rd teams play a play in round for the next eight spots. There are 2-3 non-conference schedule spots available for rivalry games or other traditional match ups that have no bearing on the group results but do play a role in power ratings that will be used for seeding in the playoff and pot assignment the next year so there will be some incentive to play good games like these.
The bracket is then set up like the World Cup where the slots are preassigned and arranged to keep the top teams away from each other and from rematches impossible until late. It takes away most of the seeding subjectivity and like results in a pretty balanced first round and heavyweight games all the rest of the way.
If done correctly, you end up with every group with a fair distribution of teams across the talent and region spectrum which leads to a lot of matches we never see. The result is objective since it was played on the field and doesnt rely on "the eye test" or too much subjectivity that comes from ranking or preconceived notions that the SEC is good therefore all SEC teams end up with a boost. The initial pot assignments have some subjectivity so it's not perfect but better than now. The TV element of this has to be appealing from the draw to the schedule having a few big games every week (no longer does it matter when you win or lose since all games are weighted equally unlike now when an early loss is better than a late loss) to a longer playoff with a likely very good distribution of teams across the whole country.
I am quite sure this would make for a better post-season and I think the constant rearrangement of the groups would make the regular season more fun with different teams on the schedule every year. Allowing for the traditional games is important because tradition is part of the appeal of the sport but it's pretty clear that the traditional element is losing out to the dollars. So, the time is now to lean into that and totally change the way we do things. I think this is the way to do it.
First, the whole idea of the conferences, which is currently a farce, needs to be nuked. We need to reorganize college football into eight ten team groups. These 80 teams are comprised of the 67 power conference teams, 12 non-power teams, and ND. ND and the 67 power teams are guaranteed to be in every year and the other teams have a relegation/promotion system which I have not spent any time thinking about but needs to exist.
At the end of each season, the 80 eligible teams for the following year are identified and separated into 8 pots of 10 teams and World Cup style draw is held to sort the teams into 8 groups/conferences. Pot 1 is the "seeded" teams so, for example, the top 8 teams at the conclusion of the current seasons's playoffs and the following pots are arranged to try to control for some sort of competitive and regional balance. You do a draw and now you have the groups that will each play a 9 game round robin. The winner of each group gets an auto spot in the playoff and the 2nd and 3rd teams play a play in round for the next eight spots. There are 2-3 non-conference schedule spots available for rivalry games or other traditional match ups that have no bearing on the group results but do play a role in power ratings that will be used for seeding in the playoff and pot assignment the next year so there will be some incentive to play good games like these.
The bracket is then set up like the World Cup where the slots are preassigned and arranged to keep the top teams away from each other and from rematches impossible until late. It takes away most of the seeding subjectivity and like results in a pretty balanced first round and heavyweight games all the rest of the way.
If done correctly, you end up with every group with a fair distribution of teams across the talent and region spectrum which leads to a lot of matches we never see. The result is objective since it was played on the field and doesnt rely on "the eye test" or too much subjectivity that comes from ranking or preconceived notions that the SEC is good therefore all SEC teams end up with a boost. The initial pot assignments have some subjectivity so it's not perfect but better than now. The TV element of this has to be appealing from the draw to the schedule having a few big games every week (no longer does it matter when you win or lose since all games are weighted equally unlike now when an early loss is better than a late loss) to a longer playoff with a likely very good distribution of teams across the whole country.
I am quite sure this would make for a better post-season and I think the constant rearrangement of the groups would make the regular season more fun with different teams on the schedule every year. Allowing for the traditional games is important because tradition is part of the appeal of the sport but it's pretty clear that the traditional element is losing out to the dollars. So, the time is now to lean into that and totally change the way we do things. I think this is the way to do it.
