I seriously don't understand the outcry for an 8-team playoff

[Franisdaman]

It would be interesting to have an 8 team playoff with the first round at the top 4 seeds place. We could do these Elite 8 games the 2nd weekend of December. What do you think about these matchups involving the P5 conf champions, 2 other teams and the highest ranked Group of 5?

#12 UCF
#1 Clemson (ACC)

#5 Ohio State (Big 10)
#4 Alabama (SEC)

#8 USC (Pac12)
#2 Oklahoma (Big 12)

#6 Wisconsin (Big 10)
#3 Georgia (SEC)

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

$11 billion over 14 years. Go ahead and guess where most of that money goes. Hint: It's not the teams.

Where do you think bowl money goes?

 

[iahawks10]

Since you asked, I'd say the three teams that won their conference championships handily, with only 1 loss during the season. Everyone else in the Power-5 either:

1) Wasn't a conference champion, or
2) Was a conference champion, but had 2 losses, including an arse-whipping

What does being a conference champion have to do with being one of the four best teams in the country?

Are you saying that it would be out of the realm of possibility that the best two teams in country couldn’t come from the same conf/division?

 

[ANYCHawk]

Where do you think bowl money goes?

The teams. It certainly isn't kept by the NCAA like the March madness contract. That's why I said to get rid of bowls and go to a playoff only model will cost these teams millions. Hell FCS school receive 0 dollars from teh playoffs and have to pay to host games.

 

[ANYCHawk]

It would be interesting to have an 8 team playoff with the first round at the top 4 seeds place. We could do these Elite 8 games the 2nd weekend of December. What do you think about these matchups involving the P5 conf champions, 2 other teams and the highest ranked Group of 5?

#12 UCF
#1 Clemson (ACC)

#5 Ohio State (Big 10)
#4 Alabama (SEC)

#8 USC (Pac12)
#2 Oklahoma (Big 12)

#6 Wisconsin (Big 10)
#3 Georgia (SEC)

Gid rid of UCF.

 

[Fan In Black]

You’ve never wondered why every other sport, from high school to the highest level of professional sports, has determined their champion from some sort of playoff?

understood is the wrong word. I didnt give a shit. D1 college sports is just a different animal to me. Different conferences, different rules, recruiting etc. I was ok with Rose Bowl being the championship for our conference. It doesnt matter to me who the best in the nation is. Again just me.

 

[SoDakHawk]

Again, think real world and not theory. Those other levels. How many people fit in a stadium? 20K? Kinnick is 60K. Lots more support staff needed when you're triple or quadruple the size. (not to mention those schools pay to host playoff games so there must be a demand for them)

And pro stadium do pull it off, in one or two days, but all those dates are set in advance. It's not just a surprise. Those teams, workforces, know the possibility a year in advance.

They also pull it off on a short turnaround, such as the wild card. But, some logistical things to think about here. At most you are going to have 3 or 4 teams facing a wild card home game possibilty. So they can start getting the logistics in order a couple of weeks before. You can also build it into contract and hold the staff on call so to speak and that one extra game isn't going to cost you and arm and a leg cause its only extends the overall contract by a couple days.

Not to mention every pro stadium even in the NFL is smaller than most colleges. Also you don't have to deal with things like student tickets, bands, etc at the pro level.

College football is a bit different, do 120 teams build contracts for 8 or 9 weeks instead of 6 or 7? How much more is that going to cost them?

I think the issue here is many don't understand how hard and complex it is to put together a Power 5 football game. See if you can go behind the scenes and find out. It's a hell of a challenge and way more complicated than even a pro event.

I am thinking real world. Schools would know, or have an idea, about mid-season whether or not they should start making contingency plans about hosting a game. About 3/4 of the way through the season things would start materializing, and by the week before the CCG you would have a pretty good idea of whether you would be hosting or not. Schools can pull that off. You are not giving them enough credit.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

This year there are 3 teams worthy of competing for the national championship. The big discussion for the past day is if the Committee chose the right unworthy team to take the 4th spot, which had to be filled. Is having 5 unworthy teams instead of 1 the solution?

Of the 6 semi-final games played thusfar, 5 have been blowouts.

How the heck is adding teams to this playoff going to make it better? The only positive is that it will stop the whining of the fans of the 1-2 conferences that has their champ left out in a particular year. Instead, there will be more whining about why so-and-so team wasn't given the #8 seed when it was clearly the logical choice. Then, there will be more bad games, with more unworthy teams competing.

I'm ok with the 4-team playoff and leaving it at that. It is extremely rare that more than 4 teams have had a good enough regular season to warrant a chance at the title, much less 8 teams. I know I'm in the minority, but I don't like where this is headed.

The point you're missing is that, worthy or not, Alabama gets a shot while other equally worthy (or equally unworthy if you will) teams do not. Not only that, but given the lack of inter-conference play at the major conference level, there's a lot of assumptions about conference quality, quality of wins, blue blood program bias etc that make the differences between a 4th ranked team and 7th ranked team pretty small (or even reversed).That means determining who is worthy is flawed right out of the gate.

Honestly, given the "any given Saturday" effect, even a team like Iowa would have a legitimate shot if they were in a 4 team playoff. What they did to tOSU is a perfect example.

Further, teams that are in the playoff get additional national exposure, positive press and a bigger bowl payout (even though for the B10 that gets pooled).

Don't get me wrong, I don't want an 8 game playoff. I don't want a playoff at all. The whole system is so flawed and biased that any playoff is really just a joke.

 

[ANYCHawk]

Are you saying that it would be out of the realm of possibility that the best two teams in country couldn’t come from the same conf/division?

Nope. But, if conference championships little and you are just picking the best teams why even play the games? Why not just look at the names on paper and pick the best?

Iowa is never, not even in 2015, going to be one of the 4 best teams or 4 most talented. But, we had a shot at the playoffs because we won and kept winning. I like that.

That's my big problem with the Bama argument this year. To me it starts a slipperly slope when we pick what people preceive to be the four most talent and not the combination of talent and what happened on the field.

 

[ANYCHawk]

I am thinking real world. Schools would know, or have an idea, about mid-season whether or not they should start making contingency plans about hosting a game. About 3/4 of the way through the season things would start materializing, and by the week before the CCG you would have a pretty good idea of whether you would be hosting or not. Schools can pull that off. You are not giving them enough credit.

3/4 through the year Iowa just beat Ohio State and was ranked 20th.

That gives you a pretty good idea how much things can change. And even if you go with CCG that's still 12 or so teams that have to put together elaborate plans in place. I don't think you are giving enough credit into how much goes into a home game at a college (not to mention college athletic department and students deal with way more than football).

 

[ANYCHawk]

understood is the wrong word. I didnt give a shit. D1 college sports is just a different animal to me. Different conferences, different rules, recruiting etc. I was ok with Rose Bowl being the championship for our conference. It doesnt matter to me who the best in the nation is. Again just me.

This who cares that Colorado and Washington split a title or Nebraska and Michigan. Most year it's was pretty clear who the #1 team was. That was fine, it was unique. It was fun. With 120 teams let's stop trying to treat college football like a 30 team league of professionals.

 

[iahawks10]

understood is the wrong word. I didnt give a shit. D1 college sports is just a different animal to me. Different conferences, different rules, recruiting etc. I was ok with Rose Bowl being the championship for our conference. It doesnt matter to me who the best in the nation is. Again just me.

I get that and respect it. Just disagree with it. The days of the traditional bowl games are gone and now we have a hodgepodge, which isn’t any better or worse.

Everyone complains that Alabama gets by on their name, their history, etc... Yet at the same time, these same folks are against a playoff. You’re going to put the trust of determining a champion in the hands of voters who look at a school’s name rather than determining it on the field. Just don’t make a lot of sense to me.

An 8, 12, or 16 team playoff will determine who is the best team and virtually eliminate all personal voter biases.

 

[Sbbesq]

I almost wish we could go back to the days of bowl tie-ins and polls. Big Ten and PAC in the Rose Bowl. Since that is gone and we have a playoff then the playoffs should be done the right way. This 4 spots but 5 Power conferences is a farce, one conference champ is always going to get the shaft. It devalues the conference race and what it means to be a conference champion.

College football would change for the better by simply expanding to a 6 team playoff. 5 - P5 champs and 1 at-large. The at-large bid is there in case of huge CCG upset or a Notre Dame/Independent/G5 were worthy. Give the top 2 seeds a first round bye, a reward for a stellar season, and hold the first round games this weekend at the higher seed's campus. Maybe we can get one of those southern teams to finally come north in late November/December and they will see what it is like. It may even change how teams are constructed given coaches have to consider playoff games in a cold weather environment.

You want to increase the importance of the regular season this is the way to do it.

Reason 1: Scheduling huge OOC matchups won't hurt you to lose. If you win it enhances your chances for the at-large. If you lose you still have your conference to play for. Coaches & ADs would schedule big profile games with big interest and for big dollars because there is little downside. Coaches would have a chance to really test the mettle of their team before the conference season.

Reason 2: Divisional races would intensify. Many, many more games would matter as these divisional races would have an impact on the National Title race. The path to the title is through the division, then conference, then playoff.

Reason 3: The money would be off the charts with this and this would enable us to better fund women's athletics. Or maybe Iowa could get a men's hockey program started with the cash.

I, too, wish the B1G and PAC 12 would keep their Rose Bowl tie-in. If you had a 6-team play-off, I would like to see a B1G/PAC 12 match-up whenever the Rose Bowl is a playoff game (6-team playoff assumes 5 of the 6 teams are conference champs.) In the years the Rose Bowl is not a playoff game, the runner-ups of the B1G/PAC 12 should play each other in the Granddaddy ...

 

[Sett1997]

No way 4 teams adequately determines the NC.
That's all I have to say.

 

[BigDelHawk]

Heavy practice requirements over two semesters. Currently summers consist of heavy training in preparation of the season, 6 hours a day and plenty of rest. Kids have to schedule their hard classes sometime. Right now that is the spring semester. Playoff is a bad idea.

 

[iahawks10]

Nope. But, if conference championships little and you are just picking the best teams why even play the games? Why not just look at the names on paper and pick the best?

Iowa is never, not even in 2015, going to be one of the 4 best teams or 4 most talented. But, we had a shot at the playoffs because we won and kept winning. I like that.

That's my big problem with the Bama argument this year. To me it starts a slipperly slope when we pick what people preceive to be the four most talent and not the combination of talent and what happened on the field.

Why play the games? That’s a loaded question and really doesn’t make a lot of sense. Obviously you play the games to find out who the best teams are.

There isn’t a balanced conference schedule that I know of besides the Big XII. Even that isn’t balanced home/away. Does Alabama lose to Auburn if the game is at Alabama? Who knows, but Auburn was a lot better team at home this year than on the road or neutral site.

 

[iahawks10]

Heavy practice requirements over two semesters. Currently summers consist of heavy training in preparation of the season, 6 hours a day and plenty of rest. Kids have to schedule their hard classes sometime. Right now that is the spring semester. Playoff is a bad idea.

Let’s not kid ourselves here when it comes to classes and academics.

 

[BigDelHawk]

Let’s not kid ourselves here when it comes to classes and academics.

What kind of a retort is that, some kids go to get an education, college athletes work their asses off. Yeah, they have tutors, because they miss a lot of classes.

 

[iahawks10]

What kind of a retort is that, some kids go to get an education, college athletes work their asses off. Yeah, they have tutors, because they miss a lot of classes.

I wasn’t talking about the “kids”. I was referring to the schools, conferences, and NCAA.

As you said, they miss a lot of classes. If it was already about the education, they wouldn’t miss a lot of classes to begin with.

 

[BigDelHawk]

I wasn’t talking about the “kids”. I was referring to the schools, conferences, and NCAA.

OK, some conferences still care about kids graduating. Unlike the SEC

 

[hawkfeever]

This year there are 3 teams worthy of competing for the national championship. The big discussion for the past day is if the Committee chose the right unworthy team to take the 4th spot, which had to be filled. Is having 5 unworthy teams instead of 1 the solution?

Of the 6 semi-final games played thusfar, 5 have been blowouts.

How the heck is adding teams to this playoff going to make it better? The only positive is that it will stop the whining of the fans of the 1-2 conferences that has their champ left out in a particular year. Instead, there will be more whining about why so-and-so team wasn't given the #8 seed when it was clearly the logical choice. Then, there will be more bad games, with more unworthy teams competing.

I'm ok with the 4-team playoff and leaving it at that. It is extremely rare that more than 4 teams have had a good enough regular season to warrant a chance at the title, much less 8 teams. I know I'm in the minority, but I don't like where this is headed.

It is because of the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

[Floyd_Of_Rosedale]

You’ve never wondered why every other sport, from high school to the highest level of professional sports, has determined their champion from some sort of playoff?

Do you want to go watch a football game at Kinnick in February?

 

[iahawks10]

Do you want to go watch a football game at Kinnick in February?

February? Why would there be a game in February?

The latest a team would play at home would be New Year’s Day. I would absolutely be at Kinnick if that were the case. The only thing that would make it better would be if an SEC team had to travel here.

So I understand it, NYC on Dec 27 okay. Iowa City Jan 1 unreasonable?

 

[soybean]

Eliminate all bye weeks. All regular season games are over the weekend before Thanksgiving. The 16 team playoff the next week with Fri/Sat games on campus on highest seeded teams regardless of location.. Next round on campus of 1st round winners. Final Four played in warm weather cities to be determined by rotational bidding by the cities to NCAA. You have a NC by the first week in January like we do now.

Every level of football except D-I has a playoff. In fact I can't think of a single NCAA or Professional team sport that does not.

 

[Floyd_Of_Rosedale]

Eliminate all bye weeks. All regular season games are over the weekend before Thanksgiving. The 16 team playoff the next week with Fri/Sat games on campus on highest seeded teams regardless of location.. Next round on campus of 1st round winners. Final Four played in warm weather cities to be determined by rotational bidding by the cities to NCAA. You have a NC by the first week in January like we do now.

Every level of football except D-I has a playoff. In fact I can't think of a single NCAA or Professional team sport that does not.

I can't think of any sport with 5 divisions and a special provision for 1 team in its own division.

 

[ChuckBarkley]

The great thing about college football is that every game matters. If you move to 8 teams you can afford to slip up once and possibly twice.

To me, once a team loses, they lose the right to complain.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

I really like the "play-in" atmosphere that an 8 team playoff could provide, assuming they do it the way I want them to. P5 champions are in - I don't care if one of them sucks. That makes the conference championship games critical and end the tireless discussions about the2nd place team from this conference is better than the champ from another. The last 3 slots are for the best of the rest, but I would like to see them take at least 1 or 2 non-P5 teams.

 

[iahawks10]

The great thing about college football is that every game matters. If you move to 8 teams you can afford to slip up once and possibly twice.

To me, once a team loses, they lose the right to complain.

This makes sense. Basically you’re saying end the season now and crown UCF the champion.

Oddly enough, they weren’t even thought of for the CFP.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

The day they make the tournament larger you are going to see an even larger shift of the balance of power go to the south. Think Scott frost would have gone to Nebraska if he could have stayed in FL and made it in as a p5?

 

[H4wkfan4life]

This year there are 3 teams worthy of competing for the national championship. The big discussion for the past day is if the Committee chose the right unworthy team to take the 4th spot, which had to be filled. Is having 5 unworthy teams instead of 1 the solution?

Of the 6 semi-final games played thusfar, 5 have been blowouts.

How the heck is adding teams to this playoff going to make it better? The only positive is that it will stop the whining of the fans of the 1-2 conferences that has their champ left out in a particular year. Instead, there will be more whining about why so-and-so team wasn't given the #8 seed when it was clearly the logical choice. Then, there will be more bad games, with more unworthy teams competing.

I'm ok with the 4-team playoff and leaving it at that. It is extremely rare that more than 4 teams have had a good enough regular season to warrant a chance at the title, much less 8 teams. I know I'm in the minority, but I don't like where this is headed.

So losing to isu and syracuse makes you more worthy than a team that loses to ohio state? Or an undefeated non power 5 team? good to know

 

[H4wkfan4life]

If there were an 8 team playoff. fans would only beg for 16. Would Notre Dame still get a free invite if they made it to a field of the top ranked(8?....16? .....that would kinda jack up the party and there would be chaos again. How about a P5 conference that doesn't play a conference championship game? It still becomes a tireless mess of politics, rankings and uneven numbers.

if you don't win your conf you can't complain
instead we'll just let a small group of people tell the teams who is better and anyone else can F off

WHY DO WE EVEN PLAY THE GAMES? JUST HAVE THE PLAYERS DO SOME ATHLETICISM TESTS AND WE'LL JUST CROWN THE MOST ATHLETIC TEAM VICTORIOUS!

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

A full playoff works at every other level of football.

Yup. I have a plan for a 16 team playoff.

FCS makes it work. FBS only doesn't because of $/bowls.

You can have a 16 team playoff and utilize the bowls. It' not gonna take away anymore from the mid level bowls then they already have.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

What does being a conference champion have to do with being one of the four best teams in the country?

Are you saying that it would be out of the realm of possibility that the best two teams in country couldn’t come from the same conf/division?

Most don't play the same teams, so who really knows.
If we're just gonna do the eye test....just go to practice and watch them, then crown a champ
I hate this "4 best teams" Hell all year bama was "the best team"...until they played a good team

 

[MeetTheFerentz]

What does being a conference champion have to do with being one of the four best teams in the country?

Are you saying that it would be out of the realm of possibility that the best two teams in country couldn’t come from the same conf/division?

You asked about this year's field, and I answered. I made no such broad statements.

The point of my thread is that I have a hard time understanding why so many people want MORE teams playing for the championship, when it seems to me that four is usually more than enough.

 

[iahawks10]

You asked about this year's field, and I answered. I made no such broad statements.

The point of my thread is that I have a hard time understanding why so many people want MORE teams playing for the championship, when it seems to me that four is usually more than enough.

Because I don’t KNOW that Georgia is better than Alabama. I don’t know that Clemson is better than OSU just because OSU has two losses.

I don’t know that there’s three clear cut teams that are better than everyone else simply because they won their conference.

I’d say there is at least eight teams that could make a case that they’re the best team in the country or who would have a shot of winning it all.

 

[HaydenHawk8]

College Football needs to honor the Champions of
the Big Ten, Pac 10, SEC, ACC, and the Big 12, all
of the Power 5. This takes all the politics out of the
equation. One at large team would make 6 teams.
Give the top 2 a bye.

I'd go with 8 just strictly because you give every power 5 a spot at the table. I mean USC is 10-2 but no one was talking about them this year. OSU was 10-2 as well. I would have an 8 team playoff with first round being played two weeks after conf champ weekend. So this year you would have.

1. Clemson vs 8. USC @ Clemson
4. Alabama vs 5. OSU (In Alabama)

2. Oklahoma vs 7. Auburn @ OU
3. Georgia vs 6 Wisky @ Georgia

Then play the semi's on New years and then the final the following week. If you have a non-power 5 team in the top 10, then let them get in over a 3rd team from the SEC or Big 10.

 

[j0nnyhb_Prime]

I get that and respect it. Just disagree with it. The days of the traditional bowl games are gone and now we have a hodgepodge, which isn’t any better or worse.

Everyone complains that Alabama gets by on their name, their history, etc... Yet at the same time, these same folks are against a playoff. You’re going to put the trust of determining a champion in the hands of voters who look at a school’s name rather than determining it on the field. Just don’t make a lot of sense to me.

An 8, 12, or 16 team playoff will determine who is the best team and virtually eliminate all personal voter biases.

Seriously? 8, 12 or 16??? That would completely ruin the BEST REGULAR SEASON in all of sports ... That is what makes CFB great, EVERY game counts! Every fan base has an interest in some other game clear across the nation because if could affect them ... if you water down the playoff with 8 or more teams, just watch your regional games and you are fine (no need to worry about UCLA if you are over in Georgia, just win your conference and you are in). TV ratings will slip and you start inching toward NCAA basketball's regular season ...

Want crappier non-conference games??? You'll have them, as there is clearly 0 incentive to play anyone OOC.

How about resting players at the end of the season ... that would start creeping into coaches heads ... if you have a a big lead in your division, just rest your guys ... hell, with 16 team playoff coming, you might have CC game plus 4 play-off games (and 4 knock out drag out Iowa vs MSU type games).

Be careful what you wish for folks .... This is the perfect fit as it is. I could possibly be OK with 6 teams, but that is it IMO. I still think 4 is best.

 

[takai]

I find the current format unfathomably boring as two of the spots are basically guaranteed for Alabama and Clemson. It would be so much more interesting to see a couple of dark horses in the fray.

 

[Floyd_Of_Rosedale]

Because I don’t KNOW that Georgia is better than Alabama. I don’t know that Clemson is better than OSU just because OSU has two losses.

I don’t know that there’s three clear cut teams that are better than everyone else simply because they won their conference.

I’d say there is at least eight teams that could make a case that they’re the best team in the country or who would have a shot of winning it all.

Name the eight teams, Not easy; or is it?

 

[iahawks10]

Name the eight teams, Not easy; or is it?

Pretty easy: (in no particular order)

UCF
Alabama
Wisconsin
OU
OSU
Clemson
Georgia
USC
Penn St
Washington

There’s 10 teams off the top of my head. Took about 20 seconds worth of typing.