OT: My High-dea to improve Playoff System

[RepTheGables]

Four team playoff is perfect. Go through history. It would solve every problem.

Eight team playoff is a disgrace and a great way to ruin the best regular season in sports.

My only tweak is that non-conference champions should not be allowed in the playoffs.

100%

Two play-in games removes a lot of the uncertainty without making the regular season meaningless. And I really want to agree that a conference championship should be a pre-requisite to a playoff spot, but imagine a team pulling a VT and going 8-4 (8-0) and defeating the 12-0 (8-0) team on the other side of the conference in the CG. It'd make things sticky.

 

[Vizslacane]

College football is as great as it is because every game matters. The regular season is a 12 week playoff system. Every game matters. I currently root for teams ranked 1-7 to lose, and sometimes I even watch those games without a care in the world other than how the outcome helps Miami.

Whatever the playoff system looks like, do not for the love of God mess that up.

 

[DerekDohrman]

6 team playoff just like the NFL.

#1 & #2 seeds get a bye, #3 vs #6 & #4 vs #5

ACC, SEC, B1G, Big XII, PAC-12 & Top ranked G5.

Problem solved.

ive always argued this is how it should be

Can't just go with one at-large because you're going to get stuck with some bad conference champions. Gotta leave room for teams that deserve to be there but lost just the conference championship game or that went 11-1 and only lost to the conference champion.

yes you can & no you dont.

 

[DMoney]

It boggles my mind that people want to expand the playoffs. Does anyone dispute that Clemson was the true champion last year? What about Alabama in '16? And OSU in '15? Why do we need more teams?

Expanding the playoffs does nothing but water down the regular season and give some crappy Big 10 runner-up another chance. No, thank you.

 

[MIA42178]

Your new and improved totally ****ed up solution.

Four 16 team power conferences (8 total divisions)
Four 14 team mid major conferences (one associated w each power conference)

Conference championship games play into 4 team playoff

At end of season, Bottom team in each power division drops to mid major. Top 2 mid majors move up to associates power conference

I know I know

 

[StoneWallLoungeCane]

Eight team playoff is a great way to ruin college football. Why does anybody care to see a team like the loser of UGA and Alabama get a shot at the title? Did we need a bunch of 10 and 2 teams to get a title shot? Was Clemson not a valid national champ last year because Penn State didn’t get a shot at the title?

College football is the best because it’s not like any other sport. Why so many people want it to be like the NFL? It’s sad that it’s inevitable. The playoff will keep expanding and it will water down the regular season. Hey, lose that big non conference game in the beginning of the year..who cares? You can even drop another conference game or two, and still make it in. And why even schedule a big OOC game if you’re doing automatic bids?

I don’t hate the four team playoff, but it has been disappointing. Almost every semi final game has been a blowout.

People keep saying an eight team playoff is the only answer. The only answer to what?

Because the talking heads are thinking about putting the loser of the uga bama game in there anyways... I also think there needs to he more objective system for rankings.. bama has to lose to not be a one seed because they always start at the top...

So your solution is to make SURE that happens? Again, what problem are you trying to answer?

“Objective rankings” won’t ever happen, and part of the cool thing about college football is that what happened the season before matters. Ending seasons on high notes can get you into the national title conversation.

There is no reason Alabama shouldn’t have been #1 to start the year.

An expanded playoff would fundamentally change college football. It would lose what makes the regular season so fun and exciting. ****, even the offseason of college football is exciting because there’s story lines from last season that are built upon and influence the national title picture.

Because of the BCS and the playoff, you have guys from the SEC and ACC staying up late to see what happens in a Pac-10 game. Every major game matters on a national scale. Do away with that and CFB goes back to being a regional game.

There is zero reason to expand the playoffs unless you want cfb to be more like every other sport. It doesn’t solve any problem.

 

[StoneWallLoungeCane]

It boggles my mind that people want to expand the playoffs. Does anyone dispute that Clemson was the true champion last year? What about Alabama in '16? And OSU in '15? Why do we need more teams?

Expanding the playoffs does nothing but water down the regular season and give some crappy Big 10 runner-up another chance. No, thank you.

I won’t be satisfied until I see Alabama versus Wisconsin:

 

[LoungeLord]

Why does someone always need to make the football playoffs a Cinderella story like bball?

 

[Jaromir Jagr]

6 team playoff just like the NFL.

#1 & #2 seeds get a bye, #3 vs #6 & #4 vs #5

ACC, SEC, B1G, Big XII, PAC-12 & Top ranked G5.

Problem solved.

ive always argued this is how it should be

Can't just go with one at-large because you're going to get stuck with some bad conference champions. Gotta leave room for teams that deserve to be there but lost just the conference championship game or that went 11-1 and only lost to the conference champion.

yes you can & no you dont.

You are correct, if you want a retarded playoff system. People are going to be real excited to have 8-5 Wisconsin in a playoff while 11-1 Georgia and 12-1 Washington are left out.

 

[ca954]

Four team playoff is perfect. Go through history. It would solve every problem.

Eight team playoff is a disgrace and a great way to ruin the best regular season in sports.

My only tweak is that non-conference champions should not be allowed in the playoffs.

I suppose. I don't see the 8 team playoff being as bad as you think - it kind of makes sense with our current bowl structure. You have 5 major bowls (Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, OB, Rose). You run your 8 teams through 4 of those bowls (rotate every year) and then in the 5th bowl, you play your NCG. Only problem is that you have to shift around your regular season a bit b/c it adds a game.

2nd problem, which bowl sites are chosen for the semi-final games?

All in all, keep it at 4 teams. no matter how you change the structure teams will be crying. When it was at 2 teams the 3rd and 4th were crying. Now at 4 teams the 5th and 6th are crying. Change it to 8 and the 9th and 10th will be crying. Have to realize that you can never make everyone happy all the time.

 

[AUcane]

Four team playoff is perfect. Go through history. It would solve every problem.

Eight team playoff is a disgrace and a great way to ruin the best regular season in sports.

My only tweak is that non-conference champions should not be allowed in the playoffs.

I suppose. I don't see the 8 team playoff being as bad as you think - it kind of makes sense with our current bowl structure. You have 5 major bowls (Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, OB, Rose). You run your 8 teams through 4 of those bowls (rotate every year) and then in the 5th bowl, you play your NCG. Only problem is that you have to shift around your regular season a bit b/c it adds a game.

2nd problem, which bowl sites are chosen for the semi-final games?

All in all, keep it at 4 teams. no matter how you change the structure teams will be crying. When it was at 2 teams the 3rd and 4th were crying. Now at 4 teams the 5th and 6th are crying. Change it to 8 and the 9th and 10th will be crying. Have to realize that you can never make everyone happy all the time.

Same way you would picking the NC site - rotate it. Not that hard to come up with a process for it.

 

[ca954]

Four team playoff is perfect. Go through history. It would solve every problem.

Eight team playoff is a disgrace and a great way to ruin the best regular season in sports.

My only tweak is that non-conference champions should not be allowed in the playoffs.

I suppose. I don't see the 8 team playoff being as bad as you think - it kind of makes sense with our current bowl structure. You have 5 major bowls (Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, OB, Rose). You run your 8 teams through 4 of those bowls (rotate every year) and then in the 5th bowl, you play your NCG. Only problem is that you have to shift around your regular season a bit b/c it adds a game.

2nd problem, which bowl sites are chosen for the semi-final games?

All in all, keep it at 4 teams. no matter how you change the structure teams will be crying. When it was at 2 teams the 3rd and 4th were crying. Now at 4 teams the 5th and 6th are crying. Change it to 8 and the 9th and 10th will be crying. Have to realize that you can never make everyone happy all the time.

Same way you would picking the NC site - rotate it. Not that hard to come up with a process for it.

So some sites will have multiple games played? Nope.

To make your theory work you add in the Peach bowl in ATL. And then have a 7th non-bowl affiliated site host the NC.

But like I said, the best thing to do is keep it at 4.

 

[AUcane]

Four team playoff is perfect. Go through history. It would solve every problem.

Eight team playoff is a disgrace and a great way to ruin the best regular season in sports.

My only tweak is that non-conference champions should not be allowed in the playoffs.

I suppose. I don't see the 8 team playoff being as bad as you think - it kind of makes sense with our current bowl structure. You have 5 major bowls (Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, OB, Rose). You run your 8 teams through 4 of those bowls (rotate every year) and then in the 5th bowl, you play your NCG. Only problem is that you have to shift around your regular season a bit b/c it adds a game.

2nd problem, which bowl sites are chosen for the semi-final games?

All in all, keep it at 4 teams. no matter how you change the structure teams will be crying. When it was at 2 teams the 3rd and 4th were crying. Now at 4 teams the 5th and 6th are crying. Change it to 8 and the 9th and 10th will be crying. Have to realize that you can never make everyone happy all the time.

Same way you would picking the NC site - rotate it. Not that hard to come up with a process for it.

So some sites will have multiple games played? Nope.

To make your theory work you add in the Peach bowl in ATL. And then have a 7th non-bowl affiliated site host the NC.

But like I said, the best thing to do is keep it at 4.

Ah yes, I see. Yeah, you’d have to elevate another bowl to play that extra game. Regardless, there’s a way to figure it out. How long does this top 4 team playoff stuff last before they do a new format or renew the current one?

 

[DerekDohrman]

6 team playoff just like the NFL.

#1 & #2 seeds get a bye, #3 vs #6 & #4 vs #5

ACC, SEC, B1G, Big XII, PAC-12 & Top ranked G5.

Problem solved.

ive always argued this is how it should be

Can't just go with one at-large because you're going to get stuck with some bad conference champions. Gotta leave room for teams that deserve to be there but lost just the conference championship game or that went 11-1 and only lost to the conference champion.

yes you can & no you dont.

You are correct, if you want a retarded playoff system. People are going to be real excited to have 8-5 Wisconsin in a playoff while 11-1 Georgia and 12-1 Washington are left out.

i can think of several scenarios in which what you describe happens that all have very exciting results.

all you're doing is attempting to make the playoffs better at the expense of the regular season, conferences, & their championships.

i think the concepts "team that deserves to be there" & "not a conference champion" are not compatible, so your statement doesn't really even make sense to me. win the conference championship, which will now become even more of a monumental milestone, or watch your opponent play in the playoffs. it should be that simple. as a fan, i dont care to see two teams that already played in the regular season meet again in the playoffs.

 

[kendallcanes]

TCU 2014

12-1, only loss was an away game by 3 points to Baylor (Ranked 5th). TCU Ranked 6th during playoff selection. Ohio State gets the last seed into the playoffs as 4 seed (controversial, but they ended up winning the title). TCU plays #9 Ole Miss. in the bowl (a team that beat #1 Alabama) and blows them out 42-3. TCU finishes the season ranked 3rd.

Five power conferences and only 4 playoff slots. Flawed system.

 

[DaU83]

Eight team playoff is a great way to ruin college football. Why does anybody care to see a team like the loser of UGA and Alabama get a shot at the title? Did we need a bunch of 10 and 2 teams to get a title shot? Was Clemson not a valid national champ last year because Penn State didn’t get a shot at the title?

College football is the best because it’s not like any other sport. Why so many people want it to be like the NFL? It’s sad that it’s inevitable. The playoff will keep expanding and it will water down the regular season. Hey, lose that big non conference game in the beginning of the year..who cares? You can even drop another conference game or two, and still make it in. And why even schedule a big OOC game if you’re doing automatic bids?

I don’t hate the four team playoff, but it has been disappointing. Almost every semi final game has been a blowout.

People keep saying an eight team playoff is the only answer. The only answer to what?

Because the talking heads are thinking about putting the loser of the uga bama game in there anyways... I also think there needs to he more objective system for rankings.. bama has to lose to not be a one seed because they always start at the top...

So your solution is to make SURE that happens? Again, what problem are you trying to answer?

“Objective rankings” won’t ever happen, and part of the cool thing about college football is that what happened the season before matters. Ending seasons on high notes can get you into the national title conversation.

There is no reason Alabama shouldn’t have been #1 to start the year.

An expanded playoff would fundamentally change college football. It would lose what makes the regular season so fun and exciting. ****, even the offseason of college football is exciting because there’s story lines from last season that are built upon and influence the national title picture.

Because of the BCS and the playoff, you have guys from the SEC and ACC staying up late to see what happens in a Pac-10 game. Every major game matters on a national scale. Do away with that and CFB goes back to being a regional game.

There is zero reason to expand the playoffs unless you want cfb to be more like every other sport. It doesn’t solve any problem.

I would prefer that if there are 8 teams competing vs. 4.

you just used to same argument they used to use for not having a playoff at all.. not a good argument. If Bama loses to UGA, and gets in as a a 6 or 7 seed , I wouldn't have a problem with that.. if they lose and get in as a 4 seed, i would.

Also, it would be MUCH more objective at 8 teams. 5 conference winners leaves no room for subjectivity, and 3 at large selections which can be selected as they do now.

 

[DaU83]

It boggles my mind that people want to expand the playoffs. Does anyone dispute that Clemson was the true champion last year? What about Alabama in '16? And OSU in '15? Why do we need more teams?

Expanding the playoffs does nothing but water down the regular season and give some crappy Big 10 runner-up another chance. No, thank you.

if we win out, and everyone ranked 1-7 wins out ( i understand this is not possible as a few of them play each other, but work with me here) .. let's say we do, win the ACC title, and no one ahead of us loses, and we miss the playoff, would you be like "No big deal" .. let's say they go Bama, Penn State, TCU, UGA (because they're dying to put in another SEC team) or let's say wisconsin is the 4th seed... is that better than us getting in to an 8 team playoff as a 5 seed? would that diminish the season?

 

[StoneWallLoungeCane]

Eight team playoff is a great way to ruin college football. Why does anybody care to see a team like the loser of UGA and Alabama get a shot at the title? Did we need a bunch of 10 and 2 teams to get a title shot? Was Clemson not a valid national champ last year because Penn State didn’t get a shot at the title?

College football is the best because it’s not like any other sport. Why so many people want it to be like the NFL? It’s sad that it’s inevitable. The playoff will keep expanding and it will water down the regular season. Hey, lose that big non conference game in the beginning of the year..who cares? You can even drop another conference game or two, and still make it in. And why even schedule a big OOC game if you’re doing automatic bids?

I don’t hate the four team playoff, but it has been disappointing. Almost every semi final game has been a blowout.

People keep saying an eight team playoff is the only answer. The only answer to what?

Because the talking heads are thinking about putting the loser of the uga bama game in there anyways... I also think there needs to he more objective system for rankings.. bama has to lose to not be a one seed because they always start at the top...

So your solution is to make SURE that happens? Again, what problem are you trying to answer?

“Objective rankings” won’t ever happen, and part of the cool thing about college football is that what happened the season before matters. Ending seasons on high notes can get you into the national title conversation.

There is no reason Alabama shouldn’t have been #1 to start the year.

An expanded playoff would fundamentally change college football. It would lose what makes the regular season so fun and exciting. ****, even the offseason of college football is exciting because there’s story lines from last season that are built upon and influence the national title picture.

Because of the BCS and the playoff, you have guys from the SEC and ACC staying up late to see what happens in a Pac-10 game. Every major game matters on a national scale. Do away with that and CFB goes back to being a regional game.

There is zero reason to expand the playoffs unless you want cfb to be more like every other sport. It doesn’t solve any problem.

I would prefer that if there are 8 teams competing vs. 4.

you just used to same argument they used to use for not having a playoff at all.. not a good argument. If Bama loses to UGA, and gets in as a a 6 or 7 seed , I wouldn't have a problem with that.. if they lose and get in as a 4 seed, i would.

Also, it would be MUCH more objective at 8 teams. 5 conference winners leaves no room for subjectivity, and 3 at large selections which can be selected as they do now.

Look, you don’t really like college football and want to make it more like the NFL. Maybe that’s more “objective” for a football scientist like yourself.

What non-conference winners have gotten into the playoffs? What undeserving national champion has been crowned? Your entire premise is false.

 

[ddun1eavy2]

I liked the system where we played in the game that decided the NC every year and everyone hated us. So whatever that was.

+1 on that system

 

[DMoney]

TCU 2014

12-1, only loss was an away game by 3 points to Baylor (Ranked 5th). TCU Ranked 6th during playoff selection. Ohio State gets the last seed into the playoffs as 4 seed (controversial, but they ended up winning the title). TCU plays #9 Ole Miss. in the bowl (a team that beat #1 Alabama) and blows them out 42-3. TCU finishes the season ranked 3rd.

Five power conferences and only 4 playoff slots. Flawed system.

That was the Big 12's fault for not having a championship game. They fixed the problem.

Five power conferences are not going to produce five championship contenders. And they sure as **** won't produce eight.