8-Team Playoff...

[davidg32]

It's always seemed to me that an 8-team playoff would be the best CFB arrangement.  Most years it would include every team that has a reasonable argument that they deserve to be in, while being compact enough that it wouldn't take too long to get done with.  (You wouldn't be able to have as much time between games, since you would need one more round.)  That's my two cents' worth, anyway...others are certainly free to disagree.

Here's one mockup of an 8-game playoff this year:

LINK

[rolltidefan]

i'm not a huge fan, but not completely opposed to it either.

you'd almost certainly have the p5 champs guaranteed a spot. so that's uga, clemson, osu, usc and ou.

then 3 spots up for grabs.

nd and maybe byu would likely be guaranteed a spot for some kind of criteria met (being in top 10 with 2 or fewer losses for example). didn't meet it this year, so open spot.

g5 would also have a similar provision to what they had in bcs, something like being undefeated and in top 15, within 5 spots of a competing contender, and if that contender has 2+ losses, the g5 gets that spots first. some weird calculation. likely ucf meets thats this year and gets in.

then you're left with either 1, 2, or 3 at large depending on the above. this year would be 2. my guess is they'd take the easy road and take 1 loss bama and wisk. there might be some provision of being in top 5 guarantees a spot, but i could see that being an issue as well with potentially guaranteeing a 9-10 spots when only 8 are available.

[MikeDeTiger]

There needs to be some kind of uniformity in P5 conference size and determining a champ for this to fly with me.  In general the P5 champs + 3 at large teams would be okay with me, but I'd want to avoid situations like 2001/LSU/UT.  Also the B12 and Big Ten (not sure about PAC and ACC) play 9 conference games, which the SEC needs to catch up with for more even comparisons.  

Basically, I just want a better way to determine conference champions in general.  The Big 12 had it right with a round robin and then dumbed it all up.  If we're going to persist with these super-conferences, there needs to be something more definitive, because a winner-take-all cross-division championship starts getting really goofy when one team has no chance of matching the other team's season, even with a win.  

Under such a playoff scenario, it wouldn't actually be the playoff violating us old-timer's plea for the regular season to matter, it'd moreso be our own conference championships devaluing the regular season.  Under the BCS, that wasn't a problem, under an 8 team playoff, it would be.

Not that I think what we have right now is so hot.  

[bamajoe]

An eight team playoff would move the controversy from the 4th place team to the eighth and accomplish nothing except extend the season to 16 games for certain teams, furthur destroy the regular season and the bowls. How much physical trauma do the players have to experience before enough is enough?



 

[rolltidefan]

i don't buy into the play to many games argument. it'll only be for a couple teams each year. rd 1 will be like a bowl, so no different from any bowl eligible team of the last 30+ years. then you're down to 4 teams, 2 of which will play at most 15 games, which is what almost all hs champs play across the country, and fcs plays. then 2 teams will play 1 more game. not that big a deal.

there are arguments against expanding, but adding 1 game to 2 teams per year is a weak one imo.

[847badgerfan]

Wisconsin's 3* kids would kick everyone's ass. We all know it. Consider it done.*


* So long as Wisconsin gets its 9 injured players back, that is.



 

[OrangeAfroMan]

Let's water down the regular season even more.  Funnnnn.

It used to be if you lost, you crap your pants, because you're kinda screwed.  Now?  Clemson loses to Pitt, and it's "they'll be okay".  OU loses to ISU and it's "okay that's one loss, but they can't have another and be safe".  

Let's just have a 64-team tournament starting in October - everyone over .500 gets in.  How about that?



College football used to have one thing over every other sport - all of them, the NFL, the NBA, etc......the best regular season.  It was a tight-rope with no safety net.

But let's distance ourselves from that further.  Sure.  Great idea.

[Cincydawg]

Talking about it is fine, but it won't happen for a long time I suspect, decades.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Well decades from now, remember UGA's 2017 season.  The loss to Auburn already didn't matter one bit, thanks to the 4-team playoff.  They got blasted on the road and it warranted a shrug.  How about the 2002 Dawgs?  One little close loss to Florida, season ruined, no NC.  

An 8-team playoff turns the 1-loss shrug into a 2-losses shrug.  Apathy.  

[Cincydawg]

I do tend to be apathetic about most things over which I have no control, and I personally would not like an 8 team playoff.

[ALA2262]

EIGHT teams!? I am of the opinion there has NEVER been more than three teams in any one season worthy of being the NC. And the CFP has done nothing to disprove that opinion. There has been at least one of the four teams in each of the three CFP's to lose by THIRTY or more points! tOSU 0-31, Michigan State 0-38, and FSU 20-59!

[847badgerfan]

EIGHT teams!? I am of the opinion there has NEVER been more than three teams in any one season worthy of being the NC. And the CFP has done nothing to disprove that opinion. There has been at least one of the four teams in each of the three CFP's to lose by THIRTY or more points! tOSU 0-31, Michigan State 0-38, and FSU 20-59!

Preach it ALA.

[AUauditor86]

I like the idea of a 12-team playoff (even though I think that is too many teams).

Five conference champions are ranked by the committee with the top four getting byes. The committee would then pick seven wild cards and rank them six through 12 with the other champ getting seed five.

This would make the regular season and the conference championship games means something - the rankings and the week bye.

Just a thought.....

[847badgerfan]

I'd rather have the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton and Fiesta mean something, along with all the other bowls - which could be reduced from 40 (or however many we have) to about 20.

But, I'm an old man and we aren't going back.