The Solution to NCAA D1 Playoffs

[on_the_edge]

There is talk again about expanding the playoffs to include more teams. Personally I started losing interest in college football when they started with the BS, I mean BCS, stuff. But I think I have the solution to their problem. Pretty much get rid of the the regular season. Just have a pair of games in September to get the teams warmed up. Call the exhibition or preseason or even regular season. Keep to rivalry games like Michigan can play MSU and OSU every year, ND can play USC and maybe Army while Alabama plays Auburn and whoever else is a top rival. That or teams can mix it up year to year. Then after that you start a seven week playoff over an eight week period. But 32 teams in each of four regions or brackets. A total of 128 teams. Everyone gets a shot. Seeding done by a board who looks at last season and the current roster. Then the higher seed is the home team, play for seven weeks. That gets you to the final two teams. Take a week off to hype the game and finally have the championship. Basically forget the regular season and make each year the playoffs. Done.

[Big Bri]

Here's my pitch. Have it be 8 teams. All the Power 5 conference winners and then the committee can argue over the last 3 teams.

Once that's set, play the four quarterfinal games on Christmas Day. Can you imagine the TV ratings, and thus, advertising dollars rolling in? Sure, the players would miss out on Christmas with their families (as well as coaches, TV crew, etc.), but again, money talks. If I was a college football player I'd be totally cool with missing Christmas to play in such an important game.

Then, play the two semifinal games on New Year's Eve (like they've done a couple times already).

Play the championship game on a random Monday night like it is now.

[Tournament Master]

Aug 1, 2022 12:57:57 GMT -5 Big Bri said:

Here's my pitch. Have it be 8 teams. All the Power 5 conference winners and then the committee can argue over the last 3 teams.

Once that's set, play the four quarterfinal games on Christmas Day. Can you imagine the TV ratings, and thus, advertising dollars rolling in? Sure, the players would miss out on Christmas with their families (as well as coaches, TV crew, etc.), but again, money talks. If I was a college football player I'd be totally cool with missing Christmas to play in such an important game.

Then, play the two semifinal games on New Year's Eve (like they've done a couple times already).

Play the championship game on a random Monday night like it is now.

I've been saying pretty much this plan for years. You have to have atleast 5 teams to have all the major conference represented and enough spots for any undefeated teams and big teams upset in a conference title game to be included.

I'm sure it would do well, although I'm sure I still wont watch. Im from the Northeast, so college football has never interested me and I doubt ever will.

[Pete]

I don't want an 8-4 team that flukes their way past an 11-1 or 12-0 team in the conference title game anywhere near a playoff. A conference shouldn't have a representative if no one in the conference is good enough.

[Swarm]

We’re going to have 20 mega-conferences soon. It will prob all come down to a final four somehow.

[Tournament Master]

Aug 1, 2022 16:19:44 GMT -5 Swarm said:

We’re going to have 20 mega-conferences soon. It will prob all come down to a final four somehow.

20 mega conferences or 20 team mega conferences? I think you mean the later. If we have 4 mega conferences as Division 1 I think that would be ideal.

[on_the_edge]

I have said for years that Division 1 will not be fair till the top SEC, ACC and Big 12 teams have to come play the top Big Ten Teams in late October and in November. If you want to know why, look at the Ohio State vs Northwestern game today. Ohio State is a far superior team but the weather evened the playing field A LOT. OSU had a ton of trouble today. If you cannot play in football weather, you are not a great football team.

[paul]

Aug 1, 2022 16:00:53 GMT -5 Pete said:

I don't want an 8-4 team that flukes their way past an 11-1 or 12-0 team in the conference title game anywhere near a playoff. A conference shouldn't have a representative if no one in the conference is good enough.

Amen to that, brother. Whenever I hear anyone associated with the Pac-12 publicly complaining about not having a team in the playoff the past five years I want to shout at them: "That's because your conference hasn't had a team WORTHY of the playoff the past five years!"

As far as I’m concerned two losses should automatically DQ a team from playoff consideration in college football. That's why I DESPISE the new 12 team playoff coming into play in a few years. This is likely going to result in some teams with 3 losses qualifying.

I know some people keep mentioning that all the other sports leagues have expanded playoffs so what's the big deal? But for me I love the fact that major college football is different. In my opinion it has the best regular season because if you want a chance to play for it all at the end you have to prove you belong by making it through the season with no more than one loss. I love how a top team losing a game can shake up the entire playoff picture. It makes watching the games more exciting knowing how much is riding on them.

Once the expanded playoff comes in that excitement factor will be gone for me. Will I care if Alabama or Ohio State loses an early regular season game? No, because I know that they can probably lose two more and still make the playoff at the end.

I think we can all agree that the BCS was an outdated system that had to go. By today's standards it's shocking that an undefeated SEC team, 2004 Auburn, got denied entry into the championship game during the BCS era. I feel like the 4 team playoff solved the problems of the BCS as it gave all of the teams with a LEGITIMATE claim a chance to win the Natinal Championship. I suppose you could convince me that a 6 or 8 team playoff would be OK as it would have given that undefeated UCF team from 2017 a chance to win it but 12 teams is ridiculous.

I remember when the BCS came to its overdue end some people warned us to enjoy the 4 team playoff while it lasted because it likely wouldn't last long. Turns out they were right.

[DK II]

IF YOU DON'T HAVE REPRESENTATION FROM ALL OF THE CONFERENCES THAT ARE IN THE "BOWL" Division of College Football, you CANNOT have a National Champion.

Win your Conference, you earn a bid into the NCAA D1 Playoff to compete for the "NATIONAL Championship". End of Story. Want every game to count...well, this will do it.

I don't want to see two teams from any conference in the playoffs...EVER.

There are currently 9 Conferences in D1 Football, get it down to 8 or back to 12 (like it used be before all of the craziness of conference consolidation and moves) and eliminate "independents" (join a conference for goodness sakes!!!! because there doesn't need to be a "Notre Dame Rule" for ANYTHING)...and WIN YOUR CONFERENCE to earn your chance to play for a National Championship.

If those powerhouses are "THAT" good...they will win...and if there's an upset, well, that's sports, they happen.

[paul]

Nov 14, 2022 20:42:53 GMT -5 DK II said:

IF YOU DON'T HAVE REPRESENTATION FROM ALL OF THE CONFERENCES THAT ARE IN THE "BOWL" Division of College Football, you CANNOT have a National Champion.

Win your Conference, you earn a bid into the NCAA D1 Playoff to compete for the "NATIONAL Championship". End of Story. Want every game to count...well, this will do it.

I don't want to see two teams from any conference in the playoffs...EVER.

There are currently 9 Conferences in D1 Football, get it down to 8 or back to 12 (like it used be before all of the craziness of conference consolidation and moves) and eliminate "independents" (join a conference for goodness sakes!!!! because there doesn't need to be a "Notre Dame Rule" for ANYTHING)...and WIN YOUR CONFERENCE to earn your chance to play for a National Championship.

If those powerhouses are "THAT" good...they will win...and if there's an upset, well, that's sports, they happen.

Well, I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. We both seem to be firmly entrenched on opposite sides unwilling to budge on our stance. I'm sure you're a decent person and I don't want to start a back and forth argument with you.

I do agree with you though that all the conference jumping the past 10-12 years is getting out of hand. Based on their success this century it was nice to see Utah join a Power 5 Conference and TCU re-join one. At least those ones made geographic sense unlike West Virginia in the Big 12 and Maryland & Rutgers in the Big Ten.

What I hate most about all the re-alignment is that it's killed off so many of the old and storied rivalries: The Kansas-Missouri Border War, The Lonestar Showdown, The Backyard Brawl etc. etc. What's next?: Army & Navy ending their annual game? Now with Oklahoma leaving for the SEC we're probably going to lose the Bedlam Game too. At least Utah & BYU have kept the Holy War going on a semi-regular basis.

I also agree that Notre Dame doesn't deserve all that special treatment. Now that USC is heading to the Big Ten The Irish could probably join too and keep the rivalries with the Trojans, Michigan and Michigan State as conference games while still allowing them to keep their other rivalries such as Stanford and Navy as non-conference tilts.

In light of all the conference jumping I have to give credit to the MAC for mostly avoiding all the chaos. With the exception of Temple and UMass temporarily joining and then leaving they've managed to keep their membership together amidst all the turmoil.