It is sounding more and more like
a 12-team playoff is in our near future.
I honestly don't get it. I honestly consider myself a "moderate" in between the hardcore "Best Teams Only" proponents like
@OrangeAfroMan and the legion of "Conference Champs Only" proponents on here and, IMHO, this proposal is basically the worst of both worlds.
The proposal from the linked article above is (really short version):
- The top-6 highest ranked Conference Champions without regard to which conference they come from get in as do
- Six at-large teams that will be the next highest ranked six teams. Then
- The top-4 Conference Champions get a bye in the first round while the other eight CFP participants play campus-site opening round games (5v12, 6v11, 7v10, 8v9). Then
- The four winners and the four highest ranked league champions play neutral-site quarter-finals (I'm assuming around NYE/NYD). Then
- The four winners play neutral site semi-finals (I'm assuming roughly the current time of the NCG). Then
- The two semi-finalists play a neutral site NCG (I'm assuming mid-to-late January).
Why I think this is a worst-of-both-worlds proposal:
First, I think that six is WAY too many at-large teams. Looking at the last "normal" season, in 2019 the entrants (based on AP) would have been:
- #1 SEC Champ LSU - bye
- #2 B1G Champ tOSU - bye
- #3 ACC Champ Clemson - bye
- #4 B12 Champ Oklahoma - bye
- #5 UGA 11-2, L SECCG to #1 LSU and a regular season SEC game to unranked USCe. Best win was #6 UF.
- #6 Florida 10-2, L regular season SEC games to #1 LSU and #5 UGA. Best win was 8-5 either @KY or vsTN.
- #7 PAC Champ Oregon
- #8 Baylor 11-2, L twice to #4 OU. Best win was 8-5 either @KSU, @OkSU, or vsTX.
- #9 Bama 10-2 L regular season SEC games to #1 LSU and #10 Auburn. Best win was @8-5 aTm.
- #10 Auburn 9-3, L regular season SEC games to #1 LSU, #5 UGA, and #6 UF. Best win was vs #9 Bama.
- #11 Wisconsin 10-3, L twice to #2 tOSU and once to unranked IL. Best win was #19 Iowa.
- #15 AAC Champ Memphis
You have two teams that lost twice to their respective league champions (Baylor and Wisconsin) and three teams whose best win was over an 8-5 team (UF, Baylor, Bama). You also have both the winner AND the loser from all of the following CCG's:
- SEC: LSU and GA
- B1G: tOSU and UW
- B12: OU and Baylor
Second, I just don't like byes. I'm not sure that they even help. I think you'd be better off to be in Georgia's spot with a home tune-up against Memphis than in the position of LSU/tOSU/Clemson/OU waiting for an opponent.
Third, to reseed or not to reseed: Suppose that Memphis (yeah right) and Wisconsin upset UGA and UF respectively. If you don't reseed then the top-2 League Champions (LSU, tOSU) get theoretically stronger quarterfinal opponents (Oregon and Baylor) than the third and fourth League Champions (Clemson and OU) who get Wisconsin and Memphis. It is tricky either way.
Fourth, this will create way too many games that don't matter. This mock-up includes two three-loss teams (Auburn and Wisconsin). In both cases they lost to some really good teams but they still lost.
Fifth, this give insufficient deference to Conference Champions. The reward of a bye isn't much of a reward IMHO and with six at-large teams winning the league title isn't terribly important since you can easily get in without it.