ACC commissioner Jim Phillips: 'Now is not the right time to expand the College Football Playoff'
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips: 'Now is not the right time to expand the College Football Playoff'
IMO a 12 team expansion with Top 6 conference champs will become...
Big 2 (B1G, SEC)
Power 4 (ACC, B12, P12, AAC)
Group 4 (CUSA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt)
That is good for the B2 but bad for the rest of the current P5. It creates a gap with the B2 and it promotes a G5 to P4. A 16 team with all conference champs will be similar.
Which is why IMO the number needs to be 20 teams. That will usually yield...
4 teams - B1G, SEC
2 teams - ACC, B12, P12
1 team - AAC, CUSA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt
Which leaves 1 bid that rotates between the P5 and ND.
That will keep a clear division between the P5 and G5, which will make the P5 happy.
Also I think the P5 needs to consolidate the remaining brands by going 5 x 16. That would create an even bigger gap with the G5. If the P5 is taking the Top 11 G5 schools there won't be anything left over.
Something like:
B1G - adds Kansas and Mizzou
SEC - adds Okie State
ACC -adds Notre Dame and Cincy
P12 - adds Houston, New Mexico, Texas Tech, and UNLV
B12 - adds Boise State, East Carolina, Fresno State, Memphis, Rice, San Diego State, SMU, Tulsa, and USF
That takes 5 of the 12 MWC teams leaving them with 7 weak schools. It takes 6 of the 14 AAC schools leaving 8 weak teams. There will be an even bigger gap between the B12 and the AAC/MWC. The ACC/P12 have a small gap above the B12.
Also you would probably have a tickle down effect where one conference goes away completely. Does the AAC take all but Hawaii from the MWC and create a 16 team national conference? Does the AAC raid the Sun Belt, who then has to raid CUSA leaving nothing left there? So by the P5 going 5 x 16 it might create a G4 instead of G5.
