ACC commish: Why not eight?

[Tom Frey]

ND will never join a conference unless the rules expressly make them. In an 8 team playoff they could make one of the 3 at-large bids. The confs going to 9 games won't effect ND as they got Arizona State and Northwestern to play them in November.

I have to disagree. Right now there are 4 spots. If it goes to an 8 team playoff with the P5 taking up 5 of those spots that leaves 3 spots to fight for. You can pretty much assume that one slot is gonna go to another SEC team and another slot to that Non-P5 team that turns some heads. So most years there is gonna only be one slot for ND to fight for. I think they pretty much have to go undefeated to get in.

 

[donniesyracuse]

I think an 11 - 1 Notre Dame, scheduling as they currently do, gets an at-large bid in most years.

 

[orangecuse]

16-20!? LOL...why even play the regular season at that point. The regular season will be so devalued at that point it will be very bad for the health of the sport

Doesn't seem to devalue any of the lower division schools, including D II & III. How many teams make the NFL playoffs when there's only 32 teams...it doesn't seem to devalue its regular season any either. 8 teams is considerably better than 4, but give me 16. Someday, SU may be ranked again, I'd love to believe if somehow they could crack the top 15, they'd get their shot at glory.

 

[Quazzum69]

How about the top 8 teams from the BCS calculations seeded in order? If it's 4 SEC teams and no Big10, who cares? It's supposed to be the 8 best teams not give Ohio State/Florida State an automatic seat because they are Ohio State and Florida State.

It should be the 8 best teams based on some predetermined method - specific computer systems with methodologies submitted to the committee and some sort of human poll.

...kind of like the BCS that all the luddite dummies like to hate.

 

[Btstimpy]

http://espn.go.com/college-football...ohn-swofford-8-teams-college-football-playoff
I mean this is the obvious end game. I am sure the CFB playoffs will expand and ESPN will have to pony up even more money for the privlege of televising these playoffs.

Easy solution 5 P5 conference champions get automatic bids with the understanding the Big XII will have a conference title game even if its with 10 teams. 3 at-large bids.

You play the first round the week after the conference title games in mid-December at the homefield of the top 4 teams.

4 winners play on New Year's Day in 2 of the 6 big bowls like now.

The Monday after the NFL regular season ends play the NC title game at whatever neutral site.

Boom roasted.

An easier solution would be to take the 5 P5 Champions and put them in the playoff. The P5 Champions seated 4 and 5 would have a Wild Card Game, and the winner would play the #1 seed in the Semifinal. The #2 and #3 seeds would play the other Semifinal. The wildcard would be at the home field of the #4 seed. The rest of college football can compete for the remaining 4 major bowls. This gives importance to a conference championship like it should, and it doesn't penalize any P5 conference.

BTW, the NFC and the AFC of the NFL had this format for decades. It worked very well.

 

[SmilinBob]

An easier solution would be to take the 5 P5 Champions and put them in the playoff. The P5 Champions seated 4 and 5 would have a Wild Card Game, and the winner would play the #1 seed in the Semifinal. The #2 and #3 seeds would play the other Semifinal. The wildcard would be at the home field of the #4 seed. The rest of college football can compete for the remaining 4 major bowls. This gives importance to a conference championship like it should, and it doesn't penalize any P5 conference.

BTW, the NFC and the AFC of the NFL had this format for decades. It worked very well.

I like that Bt but what happens when a 3 loss team win the conference championship game over a 0 or 1 loss team? I despise conference championship games especially with divisions being involved and they will throw a kink into this. If GT beats FSU we may get exactly the scenario I just mentioned especially if GT losses to Georgia.

 

[donniesyracuse]

An easier solution would be to take the 5 P5 Champions and put them in the playoff. The P5 Champions seated 4 and 5 would have a Wild Card Game, and the winner would play the #1 seed in the Semifinal. The #2 and #3 seeds would play the other Semifinal. The wildcard would be at the home field of the #4 seed. The rest of college football can compete for the remaining 4 major bowls. This gives importance to a conference championship like it should, and it doesn't penalize any P5 conference. BTW, the NFC and the AFC of the NFL had this format for decades. It worked very well.

that's great, except to the team's not in the P5. There are programs out there (e.g., Cincinnati) that want to play "big boy" football, invest in their program as such, but we're not invited to the table. You want to tell them to "-off?"

 

[Moontan]

As I've mentioned in several threads over the last 2 years, the current playoff setup actually consists of two 6-year cycles. One would reasonably expect* that a change could be made following the first cycle. As long as the bowl games get their $, anything is possible. It'll happen, the only question is "when?".

* actually, I'd be shocked if there wasn't a look-in clause that allowed a change after the first cycle.

 

[Btstimpy]

that's great, except to the team's not in the P5. There are programs out there (e.g., Cincinnati) that want to play "big boy" football, invest in their program as such, but we're not invited to the table. You want to tell them to "-off?"

I'm pretty sure that the committee is already telling them that. No one outside the P5 has been ranked higher than 9 this season, and that was Notre Dame at 9. I think the committee will continue to rank this way.

 

[Btstimpy]

I like that Bt but what happens when a 3 loss team win the conference championship game over a 0 or 1 loss team? I despise conference championship games especially with divisions being involved and they will throw a kink into this. If GT beats FSU we may get exactly the scenario I just mentioned especially if GT losses to Georgia.

Since it is a P5 that will be running the show, setting their own rules, etc., it makes sense for them all not to have to worry about being left out. It also avoids the possibility of 3 SEC teams getting into the playoffs and excluding everyone else. I don't really care if a 3 loss team gets in as long as that team wins the Conference Championship. It helps make winning that Championship mean something.

Equal participation by all of the P5 in the playoffs avoids a lot of other issues. And again if you take the NFL as an example. There have been years when a 8-8 team wins a division and gets in when a 11-5 team who doesn't win their division gets left out.

The rest of the teams will be taken care of with the 4 remaining major bowls that have to select 8 teams.

 

[Quazzum69]

Since it is a P5 that will be running the show, setting their own rules, etc., it makes sense for them all not to have to worry about being left out. It also avoids the possibility of 3 SEC teams getting into the playoffs and excluding everyone else. I don't really care if a 3 loss team gets in as long as that team wins the Conference Championship. It helps make winning that Championship mean something.

Equal participation by all of the P5 in the playoffs avoids a lot of other issues. And again if you take the NFL as an example. There have been years when a 8-8 team wins a division and gets in when a 11-5 team who doesn't win their division gets left out.

The rest of the teams will be taken care of with the 4 remaining major bowls that have to select 8 teams.

Some leagues are not as hard to win as others. Finishing third in one league is harder than winning other leagues (divisions within a single league can be very lopsided). The method of picking divisional winners like in pro leagues is not quite as ridiculous because its much closer to a round robin than in college.

Why does it have to be equal participation?

Would it be good for the NCAA basketball tournament to arbitrarily limit the number of bids that a league can have? I don't think the SEC and ACC should be given the same number of teams just so one doesn't feel left out. The SEC should put on their big boy pants and get some better basketball teams.

Similarly, if the ACC or BiG wants a school in the CFP each year, put on your big boy pants and get some better teams.

 

[donniesyracuse]

I'm pretty sure that the committee is already telling them that. No one outside the P5 has been ranked higher than 9 this season, and that was Notre Dame at 9. I think the committee will continue to rank this way.

That's because none of them are good this year. That might not always be the case.

 

[Btstimpy]

Some leagues are not as hard to win as others. Finishing third in one league is harder than winning other leagues (divisions within a single league can be very lopsided). The method of picking divisional winners like in pro leagues is not quite as ridiculous because its much closer to a round robin than in college.

Why does it have to be equal participation?

Would it be good for the NCAA basketball tournament to arbitrarily limit the number of bids that a league can have? I don't think the SEC and ACC should be given the same number of teams just so one doesn't feel left out. The SEC should put on their big boy pants and get some better basketball teams.

Similarly, if the ACC or BiG wants a school in the CFP each year, put on your big boy pants and get some better teams.

All P5 leagues are hard to win. There may be a perception of a third place team in one league being better than a champion of another, but they don't play. In a Conference the third place team is already deemed not as good as its conference champion, and it didn't win its conference. So it should be out in the playoffs. The other conference champions have probably not played each other in the regular season. They've each proven the best in their respective leagues. Now they can prove it inter-league. If one conference champion isn't so good, then they won't get very far in the playoffs.

One of the downsides of the NCAA basketball tournament, or March Madness, is that it completely overshadows the college basketball regular season. Most of the public only tunes into college basketball in March. Having the conference championships evolve into "who cares?" hurts interest in the college basketball regular season. You can still make March Madness if you don't win your conference. College football needs to implement a playoffs where it is extremely important to win the conference championship IMO. If this is the case, then it will mean every regular season game is extremely important.

I get what you're saying though in that it could become like March Madness where many at large bids are available, but the College Presidents really don't want it to interfere with exams in December or to be a two semester sport. So there will continue to be very limited weekends to work with. They could go to 8 games and have a quarterfinal with at large teams. We'll just move the complaints about seeding from 4 to 8 like we've done from 2 to 4. Swofford's point is to make it large enough to have a spot for all 5 Conference Champions plus some extra. I'm just suggesting "Why have extra?" There are other bowls for them.

The answer to your question about why have equal participation, it is to limit the complaints of bias by the media and the committee. There is a pot of money to be divided, so if each P5 will be getting some, they each should participate.

 

[Btstimpy]

That's because none of them are good this year. That might not always be the case.

Consider this. Marshall is undefeated this season. How can a school from one of those leagues (AAC, CUSA, MW, Sunbelt, MAC) do much better than that? They really can't.

They are guaranteed one spot in the New Years Six bowls from the G5. With the P5 increasingly edicting limited scheduling of those teams and improving strength of schedule, those teams will increasing only have the New Years Six bowl to prove themself. It's just the reality of what just took place with the autonomous or Power 5.

 

[KaiserUEO]

There's 1 P5 championship that's not hard to win...and that's the bevo, for they have no champ game.

And that's why the bevo will be left out this year...and for years to come till they expand and get 1.

 

[javadoc]

A couple changes need to happen, IMO.

• Regular season reverts to 11 games
• Would prefer that P5 schools are only allowed to schedule one non-P5 each year (ideally that would be 0)
  
• All teams are allowed to practice for 4 weeks after the regular season ends, up to the date of the championship game

If a committee is going to be picking at-large teams for a small number of extremely valuable spots, it is crucial that there be some statistical measure between conferences so that "SEC-bias" can be countered. You have to force the P5 teams to play each other outside conference as much as possible to build that interrelation.

 

[Btstimpy]

A couple changes need to happen, IMO.

• Regular season reverts to 11 games
• Would prefer that P5 schools are only allowed to schedule one non-P5 each year (ideally that would be 0)
  
• All teams are allowed to practice for 4 weeks after the regular season ends, up to the date of the championship game

If a committee is going to be picking at-large teams for a small number of extremely valuable spots, it is crucial that there be some statistical measure between conferences so that "SEC-bias" can be countered. You have to force the P5 teams to play each other outside conference as much as possible to build that interrelation.

I don't know if the genie can be put back in the bottle to reduce games from 12 to 11. There are only 4 or possibly 8 teams out of the 120 or so that make playoffs. The rest still want the 12 games. I agree with the P5 teams playing other P5. It would help with subjectively comparing. For the New Years Bowls, there are six with two of the six being the semifinals. I still think all of the P5 are guaranteed a tie in to the other four, and a G5 is too. That leaves only 2 at large. If Notre Dame takes one of those, then only one. I sort of expect a SEC team to get that spot most of the time unfortunately.

 

[Moontan]

Consider this. Marshall is undefeated this season. How can a school from one of those leagues (AAC, CUSA, MW, Sunbelt, MAC) do much better than that? They really can't.

They'd have to follow the old Boise State model. Schedule 2 big boys on the road (or at neutral sites) and go undefeated.