TCU and/or Baylor got hosed. (and I'm an Ohio State fan). Had TCU/Baylor gone in Ohio State would have been screwed. So here's how to solve the problem. An 8 team playoff. That part doesn't solve the problem. This part does.....
Make it a playoff of conference champions. You want in? Win your Conference. Didn't win your conference? You are not in.
There are 10 conferences and 1 set of Independents (which includes Notre Dame)
Seven of those conferences are a step above the others. They are:
1. SEC
2. ACC
3. Big 10
4. Big 12
5. PAC 12
6. AAC
7. Mountain West
Those 7 conference winners automatically get in. Then you have some system to pick one other conference champion from
Conf USA
MAC
Sunbelt
Independents
As far as seeding, I would only seed 1-4. And draw their opponents randomly. That way one conference (AAC for example) doesn't get perennially "judged" to be the weakest and therefore faces the #1 seed every year.
This system is specifically NOT designed to pick the best teams. If you do that it becomes a beauty contest and you have the same arguments every year. This system is designed to crown a national champion from conference champions.
You are misinformed. There are only five conferences (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pacific 12), which are known collectively as "the Power Five" conferences, considered to be superior. The AAC, MWC, MAC, C-USA, and Sunbelt together are known as the "Group of Five" and one team from all of them gets the automatic qualification. Therefore when Marshall lost the last game, Boise State got the automatic bid despite being in a different conference.
You are talking about the current system. I was not.
He's speaking of a new system J-Dub
I like it.
Personally I've never been a fan of the four team playoff system. It's a start and a step in the right direction but four isn't nearly enough teams to be included.
I like that, and would eventually like to see all conference champions entered into a playoff system. But with that scenario, we're also talking about a possible extra 3-4 post season games to determine a national champion.. That's a lot of games for a collage football playoff system.
Right now with just 4 playoff teams, just to reach the national championship game, a team would have to play 15 games. If you add more teams to the playoffs, you're going to have to add more semi round playoff games to narrow the field. Now we're talking an NFL schedule and beyond.
If you are at 4 now, it only adds 1 more round/game. But I agree that 16 game schedules for the finalists are a lot. I'm old school. I'd like to go back to 10 regular season games.
Quote:If you are at 4 now, it only adds 1 more round/game. But I agree that 16 game schedules for the finalists are a lot. I'm old school. I'd like to go back to 10 regular season games.
I think that would be the only feasible way for 8 conference champions to have playoff berths..
My solution is a little more elaborate, but would be amazing, imo. Here's what I'd do:
First you would have to realign college football. Now, it'd be too complicated to permanently rearrange the conferences, so this format would be exclusively for NCAA football. Imo, The NCAA should take on all responsibility for the scheduling and administering the games (i.e. referees no longer being assigned my conference), but I digress.
NCAA Div 1 has 128 teams. Divide into two leagues... let's just say A and B for now. They use the same league format and follow the same playoff/championship format, but, for all intents and purposes, are separate leagues. They won't interact.
The first year would be controversial because you'd need to invite the 64 best teams into league A. When you think about it, there aren't really 64 great football teams, so you're basically just slimming down the playing field. Fear not, Kent St fans, as the other 64 teams will get the opportunity to join the A league if they play well (more on that to come). League A and B are divided into 4 conferences roughly based on geography, let's just go with A-SEC, A-SWC, A-NWC, and A-NEC (do the same thing with B league: B-SEC... etc). Each of those conferences will have two divisions... we'll just do east and west for now. You end up with 8 teams in a division. 2 divisions in a conference, 4 conferences in a league, and 2 leagues in NCAA Div 1 football.
Now that we'e got the structure in place, let's talk about competitive scheduling. The knock on most systems is that the season gets too long when we look at adding a playoff, so we need a system that both has a relatively short season AND maximizes competition. I think I have the solution to that as well:
Each team plays the other team in their division once a year. That is 7 games right off the bat. Each team will also play against one corresponding division team from the other 3 conferences (e.g. A-SEC East plays A-SWC East). That will be on a rotating basis, so over 8 years, they will play every team the other conference division has to offer. That brings your game total to 10. After that, every team is then ranked in their division, 1-8. The eleventh game of the year is the conference championship game. That weekend each team in the division squares off against their conference counterpars; the highest rated team in the A-SEC East plays the highest rated team in the A-SEC West... all the way to the bottom, where the lowest ranked team in the division squares off against the lowest team.
Now every team in each league has played at least every conference, division and team in their respective leagues, and it only took 11 games.
Remember where I made the appeal to Kent St fans? Here's where it pays off: The loser of each conference game gets relegated down to League B the following year, and the winner of the conference championship game in League B gets relegated up to League A. Man, what a treat. I can't think of a more exciting thing in college football outside of the playoff system I am going to propose.
There is a 12 team playoff. The conference champions get a bye week and home-field advantage in the quarter finals. The 8 remaining teams are chosen by a formula that looks at wins and losses, strength of schedule, and margin of victory. It would be something very similar to the BCS formula, only you don't need human rankings because there will be a large body of evidence to work from; there is a good measuring stick. The formula ranks those 8 teams are ranked (only after the championship game), and they fill in a typical bracket... 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, etc. They will play in 4 neutral field bowl games that correspond to each conference. For example 1 vs 8 might be assigned to A-NEC. The winner of that game gets paired up against the A-NEC conference champ in the quarterfinals at their home field. Those bowl games can rotate each year.
The semi-finals and finals are neutral site bowl games, which for all intents and purposes could be the Tostitos, Fiesta, and Orange Bowl. The rose bowl might have something to say about that, I dunno. Again, League B is following a similar format, so a lot of the schools that can't even compete for bowl eligibility in the current system have something to bring to the table in recruiting.
Welp, there's my idea. You have a completely competitive college football league in only 15 games. If you're still reading this, feel free to comment.
It's a nice thought, but I'm not sure the Power 5 will go for this. A system where the Power 5 conference winners are in and then 3 at large or wildcards if you will might be a better possibility and would produce a better representation of the best football teams to be entered into a playoff. This wouldn't exclude conferences like the AAC, Mountain West, Conf USA, Sunbelt, MAC or the Independents, but it wouldn't automatically reward weaker conferences with a guaranteed spot at the dance either. No other playoff system that I can think of only has division or conference champions. I'm not sure why the thought that college football should be held to this requirement is so widespread. The OP's system would be leaving out some of the best teams in the country year after year and I can't envision the Power 5 schools, who have the biggest budgets and by virtue of that the most power, would be ok with extending guaranteed spots to the AAC and MWC and reserving 1 more spot for the lesser conferences.
No matter how many teams there are, someone deserving is always going to feel left out. I do believe 8 teams is the right number though.
I think it should be a 8 team playoff but with this distinction:
Each of the power 5 conference champions get in.
Then have 3 invitees from any conference. That would permit a great team in the MAC or other to get a shot.
Do NOT allow teams in D- I conferences to play teams outside of D-I conferences. No more playing East Kentucky or Middle Tenn State, for instance.
Reduce the schedule to 11 regular season games. One conference championship game.
This way the committee gets to select 3 teams only since the Power 5 conferences will have selected their own. There won't be any padding the schedule with easy teams before a big rivalry game. Each opponent for each team in each conference will be at the very least a D-I school.
Regards.............................the Chiefjag