Playoff Bracket

[huskymedic]

 

[ScottVib]

Texas' reward for losing the SEC title game... the bottom two teams that qualified for the playoff. I think they'll adjust to reseeding because the top-ranked non-bye team will typically end up with the "easiest" path to the semis, while the top two seeds face comparatively more difficult paths. (This year it turns out even the 6 seed got a "easy" paths.

They might keep the conference champion byes... but I still think they reseed the quarterfinals starting next year.,...

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Texas' reward for losing the SEC title game... the bottom two teams that qualified for the playoff. I think they'll adjust to reseeding because the top-ranked non-bye team will typically end up with the "easiest" path to the semis, while the top two seeds face comparatively more difficult paths. (This year it turns out even the 6 seed got a "easy" paths.

They might keep the conference champion byes... but I still think they reseed the quarterfinals starting next year.,...

Agreed. Also Oregon getting Ohio State in their first knockout game is crazy. I know tOSU lost to Michigan but they’re always playoff contenders.

 

[ScottVib]

Especially the optics where you can argue both the SEC & Big Ten champions got tougher matchups than the teams they beat in their conference title games.

 

[KryHavok]

At the very least, the new playoff system forces a couple of them to play in the cold for once...

Yep, and I love this. The legacy B10 showed their advantage against the southern teams in playing in cold weather. Kinda easier to run up the score when it's +70°. Tenn and SMU can defrost over winter at home.

 

[Tenspro2002]

What was the point in going to 12 instead of 8? (This is rhetorical, I know it was money. But that was a horrible product this weekend.)

 

[nelsonmuntz]

What was the point in going to 12 instead of 8? (This is rhetorical, I know it was money. But that was a horrible product this weekend.)

The 12 team CFP has been an abject failure, and it really brings into question the entire college football product. If you look at the history of this sport, it has always been this way at the top, just a series of mismatches and blowouts.

The middle of the pack teams, in the fat part of the distribution curve, produce fun, competitive games between each other for the most part, but the top teams have always been so much better that a playoff was pointless. Finding two teams that should play for a championship was manageable, four, difficult given the number of blowouts in the CFP the last 10 years, and 12 teams, silly. Unfortunately, if any kind of playoff outcome is predetermined, it turns all the games into exhibitions. None of them matter. They are just for entertainment.

 

[Purple Stein]

The 12 team CFP has been an abject failure, and it really brings into question the entire college football product. If you look at the history of this sport, it has always been this way at the top, just a series of mismatches and blowouts.

The middle of the pack teams, in the fat part of the distribution curve, produce fun, competitive games between each other for the most part, but the top teams have always been so much better that a playoff was pointless. Finding two teams that should play for a championship was manageable, four, difficult given the number of blowouts in the CFP the last 10 years, and 12 teams, silly. Unfortunately, if any kind of playoff outcome is predetermined, it turns all the games into exhibitions. None of them matter. They are just for entertainment.

It keeps the game interesting on a local level, not just a national level.

I would love to see a 24 team, FCS style playoff. UConn could have a shot at a playoff game every once in a while. Give the MAC a spot, the Sun Belt, everybody. Not because they are going to win a national championship, but because it gives us more meaningful football and regionalizes a national tournament. And the occasionally upset -- imagine the equivalent of App State winning at Michigan in a playoff context.

 

[Vowelguy]

The 12 team CFP has been an abject failure,

We are 1 weekend in and you’ve already decided this?

 

[Vowelguy]

Funny people keep talking being more like the FCS playoffs ….

The round of 16 games had an average margin of 18 points, and only 2 of 8 were 1-score games.

 

[Tenspro2002]

We are 1 weekend in and you’ve already decided this?

The rest of the CFP may be a rousing success, but the opening weekend was a total dud, and predictably so.

Doesn't mean that an 8-team playoff wouldn't have been compelling, but we can already conclude that 12 was pointless.

 

[ZooCougar]

FBS needs to either go to 16 or completely relook how the seeding happens.

Being a conf champ should get you in the door not a bye.

The next batch of games will be bad too.

 

[Jimdish255]

What was the point in going to 12 instead of 8? (This is rhetorical, I know it was money. But that was a horrible product this weekend.)

Year 1 is a pretty small sample size and the fact that the home teams won is a big surprise to no one. But I agree that it should be 8 or 16. I hate byes in any tournament but the physical demands of football with travel and potential injuries make it punitive.