One thing that I think everyone fails to grasp is that the biggest problem with the idea of a college football championship playoff system is the current make-up of the conferences.
But no one on this site or anywhere seems to understand this. Everybody wants to protect that with which they are familiar and then whine about how the system is messed up.
Okay, so I hear over and over how there should be an 8 team playoff. How the heck do you come up with an 8 team playoff when you have 6 automatic qualifiers - paricularly when qualifiing for say the Big East championship is way easier than the Big Ten championship? That gives you two at large spots. If you don't give them to TCU and Boise this year, all heck breaks loose. Woo hoo! That's a better system!
The only way college football can have a viable championship system is for there to be a radical overhaul of the leagues (that is why the superconference model made so much sense) and to force every D-1 team into a conference, if the want to be a part of the playoff system. If you can't make it into a super-conference or don't want to be there you don't belong in FBS.
I just think it is hysterical how everyone is so fixated on the end of the process when the beginning and the middle are messed up as well.
Finally, the next time I hear about people comparing basketball, where you can play 4 games in 4 nights, to football, where you need a week to recover, I will puke.
Add to all of this that an 8 team play off system right now helps the Ohio State's, Texas, Florida's of the world but doesn't help the Iowa's and Wisconsins much at all.
In an 8 team play off system how many times out of the past 30 years would Iowa have qualified for the play offs? Maybe a couple? How long do even the best of fan bases stay interested and as invested when you see little or no chance year after year. Don't get me wrong I think Iowa fans would still be strong but not like what we have seen over the past 8 or 9 years.
What happens to the bowl games? If there is a playoff going on for the BIG8 of college football does anyone really pay attention to bowls anymore or do they turn out to be obsolete?
Then you get into play off expansion talks and this thing grows. Football is a rough sport. With the athletes that are playing the game today each body has only so many games in it. To think that a college team would have to play 16-17 games just to be crowned champions is silly. For what so we can all feel better about having a "true Cahmpion?" I don't think the current system is broken enough to justify that.
So what do you do about the 17 game season for the chamions each year? Do you shorten the regular season by one game for the rest of the country so no one has to play more than 15 or 16? Is that fair and just? how does that affect the budgets at schools like Wisconsin PSU Nebraska who will be on the outside looking in each year?
How about play off locations? Are they all played down south and out West and the northern teams and their fans have to travel to every play off game? Or do you expect the USC's, Texas, Florida's of the world to come up and play in Happy Valley, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Madison in November, December because OSU /Pitt ect earned homefield? How will that go over? Do you move all games to indoor stadiums and just make everyone travel?
Who among us will make it to all 4 play off games to cheer on our once in a lifetime Dream Hawkeye team plays in as we travel to Miami, New Orleans, LA and back to Orlando over the course of 5 weeks? Will there really be anyone there for the games? I can assure you that no SEC team will ever have to play in Kinnick stadium in December.
Will a play off really make things fair and crown a true champion? 8 invitees from 117 schools and we know for sure we invited the 8 best teams? An undefeated Boise State gets in ahead of a 1 loss Iowa team that was undefeated in the B10 but didn't have to play OSU? Or does a 1 loss Iowa team get in a 1 loss Auburn and undefeated Boise State team get left out?
CAAR is absolutely correct that to even begin to discuss a playoff system you need to look at super confrences. how does that effect iowa when our suber confrence has all of it's current members and adds for example Pitt, ND, Texas and maybe a hand full of other schools?
Man I tell you what. There are soooooo many things wrong with the idea of a playoff in my opinion. I don't think that things are perfect now but I sure as hell think that playoff system would reck college football as we know it. At least for very good but not elite football schools like Iowa it would. JMO sorry for the rant.
