16 team playoff

[hammb]

It makes great sense, but it won't happen for various reasons.

Firstly, in order to properly implement a 16 team playoff, I think you need to shorten the regular season. Either take it down to 11 games, or drop the conference championship games. Somewhere I think you need to trim a game. Pretty sure the lower divisions that all have a playoff currently play 11 game regular seasons. I personally have no problem with going that route, and if it brings about a pure national championship I'd applaud it. But in reality, realize, that you're talking about the OSUs, UMs, etc of the world giving up a home game, and the millions that go with it.

Secondly, as everybody notes, opening up the playoff to all conference champs also provides those conferences a piece of the tournament revenue. The way revenue is distributed for the hoops tourney makes the most sense and the winners would continue to take the largest piece, but they would have to give SOME to the rest of us. And while the revenue this would pull in would absolutely be more than the current setup, is it enough more to justify giving some to the "have nots"?

Finally, and this is a big one, nobody is crying for this. Outside of folks like us, fans of programs that would greatly benefit from such a setup, who is calling for a 16 team playoff that provides all of college football a representative? I have never heard any. When I hear big school fans complain they want an 8 team playoff and only want to include the top 8 teams, the ones that all have a legit chance to maybe win. They want nothing to do with including the MAC champion. Even if those folks did talk of expanding it to 16 I guarantee they'd want the 4th team from the Big10 in there, NOT the MAC champ. At this point the bulk of the fanbase (the ones that keep paying the bills) aren't asking for a playoff like this. And of course they aren't. Bringing in Michigan or Penn State (or whoever else is the 3rd/4th team in the Big10) will bring more fans than the MAC will, and that's assuming that every die hard MAC fan is actively supporting whoever our given champ is on that year...that's just the nature of what we're fighting here.

The real value to the NCAA in something like this is that it would actually renew faith in the sport. People like me who barely pay attention to college football anymore would be more interested if I knew we had a legit championship path. But again, they're not in the business of caring about me.


Bottom line this will never happen because the schools that control the NCAA don't want it, and neither do the fans that the NCAA caters to.

[Schadenfreude]

When I hear big school fans complain they want an 8 team playoff and only want to include the top 8 teams, the ones that all have a legit chance to maybe win. They want nothing to do with including the MAC champion.

So, when we get to discussions about going to eight, that's when the Group of Five conferences step up and say: You want our support? Make sure one of those automatic bids is from a Group of Five champion.

This would be a reasonable move. Central Florida is 10th in the AP poll. They belong. Western Michigan pushed Wisconsin hard in last year's Cotton Bowl. They proved they belonged in that game.

The Group of Five conferences got the access they now have because they do have some influence. Their votes do matter in some scenarios.

[Globetrotter]

While the 16 team playoff to me is the most fair. Another thing that I think most fans would love is relegation. 10 conferences. 5 in the upper division 5 in the lower division. Each conference has a partner. Conference champion in lower division rises to upper division. Worst team in upper division falls. Imagine a scenario where Toledo wins the division and then moves to the Big Ten. Then then play a Big Ten schedule getting the big boys to travel to them. Constant sellouts. This would build programs. They remain out of the last place and then they stay. This also means teams like Illinois are forced to invest in their team or move down. And end of the year games become super important. This year it would have been:

ACC North Carolina 3-9
American UCF 12-0

Big 12 Kansas 1-11
Con USA Florida Atlantic 10-3

Big 10 Illinois 2-10
MAC Toledo 11-2

Pac Oregon St 1-11
MW Boise St 10-3

SEC Tennessee 4-8
Sun Troy 10-2

[gmartin]

Globe this is American football. This isn't soccer. Lol. I would not love this. I would hate it.

[Globetrotter]

https://www.facebook.com/SWXRightNow/vi ... 991405833/" target="_blank

[Schadenfreude]

https://www.facebook.com/SWXRightNow/vi ... 991405833/

That Washington State head coach is like Yogi Berra or something.

[Siborg]

I like the idea of a 16 team playoff however I prefer my idea on how to get those 16 teams better. Each of the power 5 conferences get in 2 teams. Each of the power 5 conferences gets in the conference Champion as well as the runner-up. The conference Champion gets the higher seed in the playoffs. That will then get you 10 teams out of the 16. Five more teams come from each of the conference champions from the Group of 5. You now have one more bid available. The 16th team will come from any of the Independenta or a deserving at-large bid. This way each of the power conferences get two and only two teams into the playoff. It allows each of the smaller schools one bid but also leaves an open wildcard just in case you have a second deserving team. Like this year you could say Memphis and UCF each should be in the playoff. Or possibly Auburn or Penn State as the third team from a conference.

As long as all 10 conferences get their winner in I don't care what it looks like

For reference in my scenario.
Big 10: Penn S, OSU, Wisconsin
Big 12:Oklahoma
SEC: Alabama, Georgia, Auburn
ACC: Clemson, Miami
Pac 10: USC, Washington

So in your scenario TCU is in replacing either Auburn or Penn State? I can't argue against that.

Actually in his scenario, Auburn is in. Alabama or Penn State would be out.

I'd adjust his rules just a little. Conference champs are in.........then let the P5 conferences choose their second team based on their own rules. The 2 division champs might not always be the best two teams from that conference.

My preference is a 12 team event. Top 4 get a bye. All 10 conference champs get auto-bids (this will never happen) and 2 at large.
or
A 24 team event with top 8 getting a bye. This lends itself to better matchups and the top 8 would likely produce the champ so no more games than a 16 team event for the final 2. However, many would argue its too watered down.

[It's the Journey...]

16 team field with the P5 getting 2 bids each and the G5 getting 1 each. The final spot goes to the highest ranked Independent, UNLESS a G5 school is above them. Move to an 11 game season without a bye week and ALL games on Saturdays unless it is opening weekend. That should finish the regular season, including championship games before Thanksgiving. The weekend after Thanksgiving would bring the field down to 8. The first weekend in December brings us to 4. At that point everyone who is bowl eligible in the REGULAR season (6-5 minimum) including those eliminated in the first two rounds of the playoffs can accept bowl bids. That preserves the bowl money. The last four standing compete as it is now.

That's how I see it.