My Take...

7 December 2016

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Playoffs? PLAYOFFS? Don't talk to me about playoffs?! [Again ...]

(ED December 2020: We are STILL talking about getting it right. I think we can.)

It is the college football post-season again. And again we have controversy as to who legitimately belongs in the playoff. The more things change, yes. The more they remain the same. I first proposed a sixteen-team playoff ... in 1994. That proposal can be read here.

The landscape has changed somewhat since back then. There have been comings and goings - and reorganizations - of NCAA college conferences. Presently we have "The Power 5" and the "Group of 5".

I now believe the sweet spot for playoff teams is eight. Take the 5 conference winners and choose 3 more by our "Blue Ribbon Panel" from the remaining teams to fill the tournament.

Take the top 8 teams as determined by the committee. If we had that 8 team playoff today it might look something like this:

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
(8) Wisconsin vs. (1) Alabama (5) Penn State vs. (4) Washington
   
Rose Bowl Allstate Sugar Bowl
(6) Michigan vs. (3) Ohio State (7) Oklahoma vs. (2) Clemson
   


Goodyear Cotton Bowl Capital One Orange Bowl
Quarterfinal Winner Quarterfinal Winner

CFP National Championship
Semifinal Winner vs. Semifinal Winner)

I personally would have USC in the 8-spot instead of Wisconsin. And there you have an example of the continuance of discussion. Never gets old. But 8 teams is plenty. It keeps the value of and interest in the regular season. In addition I would seriously consider changing some things:

1] Drop the Conference Championship games
2] Develop a fair money distribution of all the Playoff games to ALL Power 5 teams
3] Increase scholarship living expenses to players
4] Preserve the Bowl System. It's a nice reward for teams and provides an economic boost.
5] Normalize schedules. Some conferences play fewer conference games than others.
6] Legislate OOS [out of conference] schedules. Require that at least ONE game be against another Power 5 team and no more than ONE game be against a lower division team
7] Cap participants in the Playoff from any given conference at 3.

Alternatively, if we must keep the Conference Championship games then the process should change as to how the participants are determined for these games. Use the current blue ribbon committee process - but at the conference level - to determine who plays. Then the Conference Champions have more weight and less controversy as Playoff participants.

Come on, people. This can be done. Eight is enough. Let's GO!

Go Ducks


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