The Playoff must expand to eight teams or the same four will always be playing.

[freescooter]

Every other division of college football has a sixteen team playoff.

That would be my “realistic” preference since I don’t see it ever going back to a bowl system. 16 to 20 teams. But cut regular season to 11 games or 12 if you don’t have a league championship game.

I actually think another problem that is different from the basketball tournament is that basketball is not directly competing with the NBA playoffs. And relatedly it is a very different format with 1-done. Football is and the format is too similar. In the NCAA tourney UMBC can beat Virginia. They wouldn’t in a best of 7 or even best if 3. That adds an element of chance Sure if they played 50 times Virginia probably wins 49. But that 1 makes it. In football you are not only competing with the NFL playoffs but there is no differentiation. To borrow an idea from Hank Stram it’s the same game as the NFL, just with smaller, slower people. If you have no life I suppose it doesn’t matter. But for the casual fan, who has to choose, the NFL will win most of the time. Final factor: college football is more like baseball than the NFL. People care about “regional” or local teams. So when there are no western teams in the playoffs they do poorly. If there are no Midwestern ones they don’t get great draws in Michigan. That, fwiw is why Notre Dame is going to get the bid over Florida or Texas A&M. It is one of the few programs, maybe the only one, with a national following.

 

[freescooter]

And the games are less competitive than the BCS games The same teams win every year on those levels too

At least in the FCS there were some pretty good games judging by score. Yeah ND State won but there were 3 upsets in the 2nd round and another in the 3rd. The final was 28-20, not 56-28. And there were several one score games along the way. I’d take that over the blow-outathon that the FBs playoffs typically offers.

 

[bc puckett]

At least in the FCS there were some pretty good games judging by score. Yeah ND State won but there were 3 upsets in the 2nd round and another in the 3rd. The final was 28-20, not 56-28. And there were several one score games along the way. I’d take that over the blow-outathon that the FBs playoffs typically offers.

The purpose of any playoff is to determine the best team nothing more and nothing less. The current system has done that

 

[Palatine]

The purpose of any playoff is to determine the best team nothing more and nothing less. The current system has done that

No, playoffs exist to create interest and money for sports and their leagues. If you are interested in finding the best team you don't need playoffs. Do you really believe sports leagues expand their playoffs and add wild card games to find the best team? Of course not. Playoffs not only add money and excitement to a sport they add interest and relevance to the regular season.

 

[bc puckett]

No, playoffs exist to create interest and money for sports and their leagues. If you are interested in finding the best team you don't need playoffs. Do you really believe sports leagues expand their playoffs and add wild card games to find the best team? Of course not. Playoffs not only add money and excitement to a sport they add interest and relevance to the regular season.

Because nothing says excitement like the Bears in the playoffs. BTW the ratings for the NFL last weekend were down over 20 percent from last year. I guess not too many people were feeling excited. I’m also very aware of why they do it as everything is a money grab which is why CFB has CCGs but it doesn’t make it right. I probably should have said “playoffs should only..”

 

[Palatine]

Because nothing says excitement like the Bears in the playoffs.

That's what the NFL thinks.

Did you see the amount of coverage on numerous channels that game received. And about six million people in Illinois were engaged because of that game.

Wake TF up.

 

[Drew]

It realistically should be either 12 or 16 with all 10 FBS leagues’ conference champion getting in and then the corresponding number of at large selections- either 6 in a 16 team model or 2 in a 12 team model with the top 4 teams receiving byes in the 12 team model for a “Wild Card” type round.

2020 examples:

12 team w/ top 4 receiving byes:

8. Oregon v 9. San Jose State (Eugene, OR)—> winner to play 1. Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL
5. Texas A&M v 12. UAB (College Station, TX) —> winner to play 4. Notre Dame in South Bend, IN
7. Cincinnati v 10. Coastal Carolina (Cincinnati, OH) —> winner to play 2. Clemson in Clemson, SC
6. Oklahoma v 11. Ball State (Norman, OK) —> winner to play 3. Ohio State in Columbus, OH

Assuming higher seeds win you’d be left with 8 teams consisting of:

1. Alabama v 8. Oregon (Tuscaloosa, AL)
2. Clemson v 7. Cincinnati (Clemson, SC)
3. Ohio State v 6. Oklahoma (Columbus, OH)
4. Notre Dame v 5. Texas A&M (South Bend, IN)

16 team playoff with no byes:

1. Alabama v 16. UAB (Tuscaloosa, AL)
2. Clemson 15. Ball State (Clemson, SC)
3. Ohio State v 14. San Jose State (Columbus, OH)
4. Notre Dame v 13. Oregon (South Bend, IN)
5. Texas A&M v 12. Coastal Carolina (College Station, TX)
6. Oklahoma v 11. Indiana (Norman, OK)
7. Florida v 10 Iowa State (Gainesville, FL)
8. Cincinnati v 9. Georgia (Cincinnati, OH)

Assuming higher seeds win you’d be left with 8 teams consisting of:

1. Alabama v 8. Cincinnati (Tuscaloosa, AL)
2. Clemson v 7. Florida (Clemson, SC)
3. Ohio State v 6. Oklahoma (Columbus, OH)
4. Notre Dame v 5. Texas A&M (South Bend, IN)

Either format ROCKS and is miles better than the existing one. Look at the quality of those games and matchups! And what a reward for the schools and local communities to host 1, potentially 2 home games in a playoff format. Cincinnati gets to HOST UGA in December! Texas A&M v Coastal?! Notre Dame v Oregon?! Pretty awesome stuff if you ask me and is much more inclusive for the entire country. I would imagine the viewership would be ridiculous for this sort of setup, especially that second round with OSU/OU, Clemson/UF, Bama/Cinci (or UGA part 2 with Daniels), and ND/TAMU. CFB leadership needs to figure out a way to make this happen.

 

[bc puckett]

That's what the NFL thinks.

Did you see the amount of coverage on numerous channels that game received. And about six million people in Illinois were engaged because of that game.

Wake TF up.
Me? What part of ratings being down over 20 percent do you not understand? So 6 million people in Illinois were “engaged “. What about the rest of $&@ country? I’n some things in life more is better the CFP playoffs is not one of them.

 

[Exit 4]

Gang, BC funkit just loves to troll this subject. We’ll see with the next 5 years brings, very much doubt the current format remains in place especially if the recent trends continue (same small pool of teams/continued ratings slide).

I think they go to eight, although there is a great case for much more. ESPN will pretty much decide this issue almost singlehandedly as they already control most of the bowls and thus the tv bowl money.

Its all about the tv money, ratings and fan interest.

 

[Drew]

Gang, BC funkit just loves to troll this subject. We’ll see with the next 5 years brings, very much doubt the current format remains in place especially if the recent trends continue (same small pool of teams/continued ratings slide).

I think they go to eight, although there is a great case for much more. ESPN will pretty much decide this issue almost singlehandedly as they already control most of the bowls and thus the tv bowl money.

Its all about the tv money, ratings and fan interest.

I think the solution for the extra $$ is to potentially have Fox partner with them to produce games in the first round if needed (or first two rounds depending on the number) and split games between Friday/Saturday. Then ESPN retains the final four/NY6 games if those are still going to be a thing.

In the format I made previously using 2020’s teams you could do something like:

12 Team Format: All games on Saturday (Split between ESPN and FOX but 12 team model wouldn’t require it to have split providers per se)

1st Round:

12:00pm ET ESPN: 7. Cincinnati v 10. Coastal Carolina (Cincinnati, OH)
3:45pm ET ESPN: 5. Texas A&M v 12. UAB (College Station, TX)
7:15pm ET FOX: 6. Oklahoma v 11. Ball State (Norman, OK)
10:30pm ET FOX: 8. Oregon v 9. San Jose St (Eugene, OR)

Second round:

12:00pm ET ESPN: 2. Clemson v 7. Cincinnati (Clemson, SC)
3:30pm ET ESPN: 1. Alabama v 8. Oregon (Tuscaloosa, AL)
6:15pm ET FOX: 3. Ohio State v 6. Oklahoma (Columbus, OH)
8:45pm ET FOX: 4. Notre Dame v 5. Texas A&M (South Bend, IN)

16 Team Format: Games Split between Friday/Saturday and likely needs 2 network providers

First Round:

Friday:

6:15pm ET ESPN 2. Clemson v 15. Ball State (Clemson, SC)
9:45pm ET ESPN: 1. Alabama v 16. UAB (Tuscaloosa, AL)

Saturday:

12:00pm ET ESPN 8. Cincinnati v 9. Georgia (Cincinnati, OH)
2:00pm ET FOX 3. Ohio State v 14. San Jose State (Columbus, OH)
3:45pm ET ESPN 5. Texas A&M v 12. Coastal Carolina (College Station, TX)
5:45 pm ET FOX 6. Oklahoma v 11. Indiana (Norman, OK)
7:30pm ET ESPN 7. Florida v 10 Iowa State (Gainesville, FL)
9:30pm ET FOX 4. Notre Dame v 13. Oregon (South Bend, IN)

Second Round: (All Saturday)

12:00pm ET ESPN 1. Alabama v 8. Cincinnati (Tuscaloosa, AL)
4:30pm ET ESPN 2. Clemson v 7. Florida (Clemson, SC)
7:15pm ET FOX 3. Ohio State v 6. Oklahoma (Columbus, OH)
8:45pm ET ESPN 4. Notre Dame v 5. Texas A&M (South Bend, IN)

 

[bc puckett]

Gang, BC funkit just loves to troll this subject. We’ll see with the next 5 years brings, very much doubt the current format remains in place especially if the recent trends continue (same small pool of teams/continued ratings slide).

I think they go to eight, although there is a great case for much more. ESPN will pretty much decide this issue almost singlehandedly as they already control most of the bowls and thus the tv bowl money.

Its all about the tv money, ratings and fan interest.

Well I prefer to think of it as debating but you’re not that far off