A Radical Idea Leading to a 32 team Playoff

[Ree4]

8 feels right to me. 5 x P5 champs is a no brainer. It's those 3 "at large" that give me pause. Among other things, you're asking for ND to schedule in such a way that they are almost always a 1-loss-or-fewer team.

I thinking finding 3 playoff worthy teams that didn't win a P5 championship is a doable task, but I want some good definition around it. I really doubt it's ever going to be so boldly self-evident so as to not generate significant butthurt factor.

In practical terms, the 3 at larges will be:

1. Notre Dame
2. Whoever lost to Alabama in the SEC championship game
3. Wildcard

That's fine, I would just like to have well defined and hard-to-game criteria for how that's being arrived at.

I still like the idea of having the 5 P5 champions with 6 at larges, the 6 play each other to determine the 3 spots. Kind of like 3 "play-in" games. Basically it's a 16 team playoff where CCGs determine 5 of the spots and the play ins determine the other 3.

 

[Fryowa]

I thinking finding 3 playoff worthy teams that didn't win a P5 championship is a doable task, but I want some good definition around it. I really doubt it's ever going to be so boldly self-evident so as to not generate significant butthurt factor.

How about a 5 team bracket where the lower two RPI (publicly available formula that everyone knows at the beginning of the season) P5 champs play each other as the first round to advance?

-Criteria are defined to get in (win your conference) and all information is available, i.e. the RPI formula used has to be made publicly available so no teams can complain about "computer magic" screwing them over. This would also have the long-overdue effect of rendering the AP poll 100% obsolete which would be great.

-It's only three weeks and 2 of the 4 games can count as bowl games.

If you're not P5 have your own playoff or join a big boy conference. We all know that P5 football is all we care about anyways.

If we took 2019 (last year unaffected by covid) and used ESPN's rpi rating (don't have to use that one), the playoff would look like this:


#1 OSU vs. winner of #4 Oregon/#5 Oklahoma

#2 Clemson vs. #3 LSU

No one could be whiny because everyone would know beforehand that the way you get in is win your conference. Would there be some teams better than others that don't get in? Absolutely. The NFL has been doing just fine with that model since before most of us except @HuckFinn and @earlkoppelman were born.

Alabama could bitch all they want about not getting in but guess what...they shoulda beat LSU.

 

[Luftgekuehlt67]

How about a 5 team bracket where the lower two RPI (publicly available formula that everyone knows at the beginning of the season) P5 champs play each other as the first round to advance?

-Criteria are defined to get in (win your conference) and all information is available, i.e. the RPI formula used has to be made publicly available so no teams can complain about "computer magic" screwing them over. This would also have the long-overdue effect of rendering the AP poll 100% obsolete which would be great.

-It's only three weeks and 2 of the 4 games can count as bowl games.

If you're not P5 have your own playoff or join a big boy conference. We all know that P5 football is all we care about anyways.

If we took 2019 (last year unaffected by covid) and used ESPN's rpi rating (don't have to use that one), the playoff would look like this:


#1 OSU vs. winner of #4 Oregon/#5 Oklahoma

#2 Clemson vs. #3 LSU

No one could be whiny because everyone would know beforehand that the way you get in is win your conference. Would there be some teams better than others that don't get ion? Absolutely. The NFL has been doing just fine with that model since before most of us except @HuckFinn and @earlkoppelman were born.

Alabama could bitch all they want about not getting in but guess what...they shoulda beat LSU.

I like that. The only subjectivity is in who lands in the 4/5 spots, which isn't a huge deal. Beyond that, everything is defined - P5 conference champion or go eat peppers, kid.

 

[Fryowa]

I like that. The only subjectivity is in who lands in the 4/5 spots, which isn't a huge deal. Beyond that, everything is defined - P5 conference champion or go eat peppers, kid.

Not really, though. As long as before the season starts everyone knows that the RPI formula being used is a^2+b^2=c^2, no one can complain since its a totally level playing field that way. And it'd be a whole lot better than being left out altogether.

 

[ssckelley]

The playoff system is fine as it sits. It's working

 

[Fryowa]

The playoff system is fine as it sits. It's working

 

[Knight78]

Isn't it strange that FBS football can't seem to do a 16 team playoff?

How can FCS have 24 teams in a playoff? In 2019 (the last year they had one) the champion had a record of 16-0, with a regular season record of 12-0.

How can Division II have 28 teams in a playoff? In 2019, the Division II champion had a record of 13-2, with a regular season record of 9-2.

How can Division III have 32 teams in a playoff? In 2019, the Division III champion had a record of 14-1, with a regular season record of 9-1.

The reason? Money, plain and simple. With a total of 40 (yes, 40!) FBS bowl games, the entire FBS benefits from having all the bowl games and less playoff games.

 

[Luftgekuehlt67]

Isn't it strange that FBS football can't seem to do a 16 team playoff?

How can FCS have 24 teams in a playoff? In 2019 (the last year they had one) the champion had a record of 16-0, with a regular season record of 12-0.

How can Division II have 28 teams in a playoff? In 2019, the Division II champion had a record of 13-2, with a regular season record of 9-2.

How can Division III have 32 teams in a playoff? In 2019, the Division III champion had a record of 14-1, with a regular season record of 9-1.

The reason? Money, plain and simple. With a total of 40 (yes, 40!) FBS bowl games, the entire FBS benefits from having all the bowl games and less playoff games.

You make a really good point. Funny how it works at all those levels, but DI? "Whoa, that's too many games!!!"

FCS playoffs are awesome. Lots of exciting games, really intense action.

I guess we should be thankful with what we have, though. A frighteningly short time ago, the DI system is "let's hope #2 loses their bowl and #1 wins theirs convincingly!". That is of course assuming we didn't get lucky and happen to get a #1 vs #2 direct matchup. Oh, and assuming we had consensus agreement on who #1 and #2 even are. What a way to run a sport.