Bama

[nofishfisherman]

53 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

 

 

 

In your opinion, what would a "true" playoff look like in a league with 129 teams?

 

A true playoff would include more teams and allow the opportunity for teams from outside the power 5 to compete. Currently the ranking system penalizes anyone from outside the power 5 from having a chance at making the playoff simply based on strength of schedule.  However, those teams also have no way of playing better competition so they are effectively playing for nothing from day 1. 

 

For starters I'd aim for a 12 team field. I'd look at automatic bids for maybe the top 8 conferences champs and then 4 at large spots.  That gets the power 5 conference champs 5 automatic bids plus they'd likely get the bulk of the remaining 4 at large bids but there would be a chance for 3 teams outside of the power 5 to play for a title. 

 

 

[Big Dave2]

7 minutes ago, nofishfisherman said:

 

A true playoff would include more teams and allow the opportunity for teams from outside the power 5 to compete. Currently the ranking system penalizes anyone from outside the power 5 from having a chance at making the playoff simply based on strength of schedule.  However, those teams also have no way of playing better competition so they are effectively playing for nothing from day 1. 

 

Maybe they could move to a better conference? They always have the opportunity to schedule better opponents  in their non-conference games. In the case of UFC, if you schedule non-conference games like FIU and Austin Peay you get what you get. Sure they beat a defeated and deflated Auburn team but it was much too late to help their rankings. 

 

7 minutes ago, nofishfisherman said:

 

 

For starters I'd aim for a 12 team field. I'd look at automatic bids for maybe the top 8 conferences champs and then 4 at large spots.  That gets the power 5 conference champs 5 automatic bids plus they'd likely get the bulk of the remaining 4 at large bids but there would be a chance for 3 teams outside of the power 5 to play for a title. 

 

 

 

What 12 teams would have been in your playoff system this year?

 

[nofishfisherman]

Scheduling stronger non-conference games is not solely up to one team looking for competition.  It has to be agreed to by both schools.  Also the top teams don't always want to give competitive non-conference teams a chance to play them because they know a loss to one of them effectively torpedoes their season and a win does them little good because it won't be viewed as a quality win in most cases. So more often than not there is no motivation for a top tier team to give a team like UCF a shot.

 

Also a team can't just up and switch conferences on a whim and if they could following your logic every team wanting to compete should just join the power 5.  Of course then the power 5 conferences will each be 25-26 teams deep and all the other conferences would fold.

 

Here is who I thought would make a 12 team playoff field based on my previous criteria. 

 

SEC Champ - Aubrun

Big 10 Champ - Ohio State

Big 12 Champ - Oklahoma

PAC 12 Champ - USC

ACC Champ - Clemson

AAC Champ - UCF

Mountain West Champ - Boise State

Conference USA Champ - Florida Atlantic

 

At Large - top ranked teams that did not win conf championship. 

Georgia

Alabama 

Wisonsin

Penn State

 

I used an arbitrary ranking to pick the top 8 conferences but I suppose you could include the winners from all 10 if you wanted but you'd have to either reduce at large bids or expand the field.  Obviously this isn't a perfect snap shot of the top 12 best teams in the nation but its close and it allows other teams from outside the top 5 conferences a shot at competing.  Odds are Florida Atlantic gets run by 30 in the first round but maybe not, maybe they catch lighting in a bottle and make a little run. 

 

In the short term it might look odd having a team like Florida Atlantic given a shot but in the long run I think the hope would be that opening up the field and giving more teams a chance will help spread the wealth of talent around a little which over the years will create a more competitive balance across the conferences which could make for some better playoff games.  Right now there is no way the top talent goes to anyone outside the top 5 conferences because they know they'll never be playing for anything.

[Big Dave2]

What about the rest of the conferences? Why don't they get a chance then? Sounds like you would either have to leave good teams out that happen to be in a conference with another good team or you have to leave out conference champions. Seems to me there is no good way to narrow down 129 teams into 4, 8 or 12 without the use of polls. Either way you will always leave someone out. What is good about college football right now is that the regular season means everything. If you expand the playoffs it will be just like NFL football where the regular season is almost meaningless.

 

Quote

College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock squashed talks of expanding the College Football Playoff before the championship game in January. Hancock maintains that the four-team playoff format likely will stay in place through the length of the current 12-year contract. Hancock maintained the stance most advocates of the four-team playoff uphold.

"The disappointment that team No. 5 feels would be the same disappointment that team No. 9 feels," Hancock said. “There wouldn't be any change in that. For me, it's about the regular season. Our regular season is so compelling, and I don't think our leadership would do anything to diminish the regular season."

 

[nofishfisherman]

3 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

What about the rest of the conferences? Why don't they get a chance then? Sounds like you would either have to leave good teams out that happen to be in a conference with another good team or you have to leave out conference champions. Seems to me there is no good way to narrow down 129 teams into 4, 8 or 12 without the use of polls. Either way you will always leave someone out. What is good about college football right now is that the regular season means everything. If you expand the playoffs it will be just like NFL football where the regular season is almost meaningless.

 

 

 

No matter what system you use there will always be good teams left out.  Thats the nature of the playoffs, there has to be a line drawn somewhere and no one is disputing that.  You're also right in that you'll never be able to get away from rankings entirely given there are so many teams.  However, you can't tell me that the current system is the best that can be done.  Right now the system is little better than figure skating or gymnastics where judges pick a winner versus letting the competitors figure it out.

 

You may think that the regular season means something in college football but that is only true for schools in the power 5.  For teams outside those 5 conferences the regular season is virtually meaningless because even if you go undefeated you aren't going to be allowed to play for a title. 

 

 

[Big Dave2]

I think the problem is the size of the league. The only way a playoff system will work is to cut down the number of Division 1 NCAA schools. It will never work for the game of football in a league with 129 teams in 11 conferences of all different sizes. There's no conformity to it. 

 

With all the concussion and health issues and players NFL careers at stake, there is no way the NCAA lengthens the season for these teams 3 or 4 more games, it isn't happening.

 

TV Ratings would take a hit also with all those watered down games. Who wants to watch Auburn play Boise State in a first round playoff match up?

 

College football is not the NFL and for good reason. College football is all about the rivalries and the rituals. SEC fans don't want to watch their team play a Big 10 team unless it is for all the marbles...

3 minutes ago, nofishfisherman said:

 

You may think that the regular season means something in college football but that is only true for schools in the power 5.  For teams outside those 5 conferences the regular season is virtually meaningless because even if you go undefeated you aren't going to be allowed to play for a title. 

 

 

Then maybe the answer is to split college football into 2 tiers. The top 5 conferences in one tier to play for a championship and the rest go into tier 2 to play for another championship?

[Rick]

6 hours ago, Big Dave2 said:

 

You think the 2 best teams in the country are Ohio State and Wisconsin? No bias there, huh? At least you could have thrown in UCF to give your argument at least a shred of credibility. 

 

Do you think Clemson deserved to be there?

I think Ohio State and Wisconsin are the two best teams in the country.

 

All the Georgia vs Alabama game is, is a rehash of the SEC Championship with Auburn removed.

 

After all, Auburn beat both Alabama and Georgia. Auburn didn't make it in and Alabama wasn't even in the SEC Championship game. So, no matter what happens, the title game tonight is a joke. You might even say tonight's game is the "Opinion Bowl" for the 4th best team in the country...

 

Behind Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Auburn.

 

[Big Dave2]

6 minutes ago, Rick said:

I think Ohio State and Wisconsin are the two best teams in the country.

 

All the Georgia vs Alabama game is, is a rehash of the SEC Championship with Auburn removed.

 

After all, Auburn beat both Alabama and Georgia. Auburn didn't make it in and Alabama wasn't even in the SEC Championship game. So, no matter what happens, the title game tonight is a joke. You might even say tonight's game is the "Opinion Bowl" for the 4th best team in the country...

 

Behind Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Auburn.

 

 

OK, whatever.....

[smurfy]

Ol bama is getting there hinder handed to them 

[Big Dave2]

16 minutes ago, smurfy said:

Ol bama is getting there hinder handed to them 

 

Lots of game left. 

[smurfy]

Hope they play better then the half tine entertainment. UGH!

[smurfy]

Man now the refs are on there side! didn't call an obvious face mask!!

[Big Dave2]

Touchdown!

[smurfy]

Georgia should still have the ball based on a facemask that wasn't called and a 15 yarder at that.

 

Ya know I'm just yanking your chain!!

[smurfy]

Touchdown Georgia!

Interception Georgia!

[PurpleFloyd]

Blair Walsh just got Bama into double digits.

[Big Dave2]

Interception right back at ya!

[smurfy]

I really don't care who wins, sure is a fun game to watch.

[Big Dave2]

Nice to see Hershel Walker is still alive... 

[smurfy]

15 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

Nice to see Hershel Walker is still alive... 

Who's he??

[PurpleFloyd]

22 minutes ago, Big Dave2 said:

Nice to see Hershel Walker is still alive... 

He could probably still put up 220 against the Tide.

[smurfy]

WOW I'm impressed. What a hellova game.

[Big Dave2]

The dynasty continues. 

[smurfy]

Just now, Big Dave2 said:

The dynasty continues. 

Wadda mean, they didn't win it last year or the year before??

[Big Dave2]

1 minute ago, smurfy said:

Wadda mean, they didn't win it last year or the year before??

 

I would say that 5 championships in 9 years is a dynasty.