What needs to happen…

[THEeyepatch]

B1G out along with the Pac-12 so they can start talking about expanding the CFP’s to six teams. 

1 and 2 bye

6 @ 3

5 @ 4

1 vs. lowest ranked

2 vs. highest ranked

Final Four

NC

5 Conference Champions in

1 At-Large P5/G5

It’s just that easy!

[FtheY]

I could see that for six. I still like 8 teams, 5 conf champs, one G5, two at-large bids. 

My concern is that we’ll just end up debating about 5-8 again and be unhappy. Or that the sec will perennially have 3 teams in the mix. 

Also, with 6-8 teams, it adds a few more games to teams schedules. Meaning, would regular or ooc games could get cut, or more sec patsy type tuneups happen? 

Either way, I still think the PAC 12  needs to go to 8 conf games. And that Utah needs to take that game and schedule a mid tier G5 team in a recruting hotspot. This ensures 1. Solid ecruiting exposure, 2. Some “rest” 3. Strength of schedule – 8 conf games and only 1 patsy eliminates the strength of schedule argument from the SEC, as they’ll have 2 patsys, making it harder not to select Utah (should we ever be in that position). 

[THEeyepatch]

FtheY:

With 8 teams, you would have to drop one or two regular season games, play 8 conference and two or three ooc’s. Also, no more than two teams from a single conference ‘rule’ which would squash any argument and make not losing more than one game more important in the final stretch of the season. So, losing a game early in the season could be detrimental to a team where now, it doesn’t seem to affect them (see Ohio State) now. Yes, there are going to be a 2-loss teams ranked high in the final polls and that’s where the highest ranked no loss G5 (see UCF this season) comes in. They get the At-Large bid and if there are none, the highest ranked P5 that doesn’t have two teams already in from the same conference so we don’t see three or four teams from the SEC and you know that’s exactly what ES(ec)PN would want. A six team playoff isn’t perfect but it’s doable.

Somebody is always going to make a case late in the season but the rules need room to evolve. 

[RiseasUtes]

Thats my preferred set up as well.  Then there isnt any question whether the best team is included in the top 8(at least there shouldnt be).  

[Puget Ute]

Unfortunately this is a big money issue. If it was just a championship with most of the money getting split by the major conferences (whether in the playoffs or not), a la the NFL, then it wouldn’t matter too much. 

But if the SEC somehow gets two teams in, then they are looking at taking half of the money, which runs into hundreds of millions for the total CFP.

[Sweetness]

I think 8 is the way to go. You go with the 5 power 5 champions, one G5, and two at large selections. I think it’s ridiculous that potentially the champions of the Big 10 and Pac12 might not have a chance to play for a national title.

No need to change the regular season schedule. This would amount to one extra game played by the final four teams. The teams eliminated in the first round would have been playing in a bowl game anyway, so their number of games doesn’t change. The remaining four each have one more game than they otherwise would have under the current system and I think they’ll all gladly be playing that extra game considering they are in the final four.

I think this would make the regular season and post season so much better. Think how much more meaningful this would make conference championship games. Knowing that the winner gets to go to the playoff would make those games huge! It would also make the divisional and conference races throughout the year way more interesting and meaningful. Think about this scenario last year. After losing to Washington we were eliminated from any hope a playoff birth (not that we had much at that point), but we still had a chance to win the south and play for a conference championship. Say we had one the Oregon game and were going to Colorado for a chance to win the south. That Colorado game would have been a play-in game to the conference title game, which would have been a play-in for the playoff. My mind is blown thinking about how amazing a season like that could have been.

I hate the current four team format. I feel like it just creates stupid debate and falls flat when it comes time to actually play the games. I hope we see a change soon.

[gothamute]

^^^^^^ THIS. EXACTLY THIS. Been pulling for this format from the beginning. Make winning your conference mean something, give the little guy a shot, and a redemption possibility for a 1-loss type team that only lost in-conference to the eventual division/conference winner but everyone thinks it is one of the “best” teams. You can even make Independents take one of the at-large bids if a team fulfills certain criteria, so BYU-P fans will have something to talk about all off-season on CB.

[Utah]

I think the easiest solution is 5 teams. Every P5 champ.  Teams 1, 2, and 3 have a bye. Teams 4 and 5 play two weeks after the conference championship games. Then the next round is on New Years and so on. 

[Utah]

Also, Utah, TCU and even Wisconsin and Iowa a couple of years ago are all arguments against G5 schools in the playoff. 

They don’t do enough to justify getting in. UCF only played Maryland. That’s just not enough. They do enough during the regular season to justify bumping a two loss P5 team. 

When everyone said Utah didn’t deserve a national title shot…they were right. 

[Utah]

The committee knows it’s about money. So, Alabama ain’t getting in. When that happens, all this talk goes away. 

[gothamute]

As much as I can’t stand Alabama, today is a great day for folks who want the playoff to expand. Excluding Ohio State and the B1G is the perfect way to mobilize a bunch of entitled fan bases to alter the status quo. They had to leave out one of the two conferences with all the power for this to happen.

[snommismr]

Here is my idea.  11 teams.  The five conference power 5 champions get a first round bye.  The 5 runner ups in each power 5 conference and the best G5 team play each other (six teams) to whiddle those down to three teams.  Add those to the five conference champions and standard playoff format from there.