What the initial bracket of a 8 team play off would look like 2010-2017

[HoggyCat]

There first 3?

Current 1, 2 & 3......

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Exactly.  Right now you have a 15 game playoff  12 regular season games, a conference championship and the 4 team bracket.  Why water it down??


Besides, this year alone should show you 8 is too many. After the first three, there's an argument for the next 10 or so.  Where do you draw the line??

There is a greater debate about the closeness of play between the top 8 and their schedules than the lesser 8 that fill out a 16 team bracket. This year in particular.

[IronHog]

so 8?

8 with the 1st round being the championship games


Just dumb Bama can get a do over every year.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

8 with the 1st round being the championship games


Just dumb Bama can get a do over every year.

You know, I am not a fan of Alabama either, but if they reside within the top 8 in and 8 team play-off, they should be involved. The more preferable placement is #1, #2 and #3 in that format and if you want to be in those slots, don't lose. But I wouldn't have any problem with the #8 team playing their way through the brackets to becoming national champion. Some teams get better as the season progresses. To me it isn't about Alabama or any other team, it is just who earned their way to the NCG.

[IronHog]

You know, I am not a fan of Alabama either, but if they reside within the top 8 in and 8 team play-off, they should be involved. The more preferable placement is #1, #2 and #3 in that format and if you want to be in those slots, don't lose. But I wouldn't have any problem with the #8 team playing their way through the brackets to becoming national champion. Some teams get better as the season progresses. To me it isn't about Alabama or any other team, it is just who earned their way to the NCG.

Who has Bama beat this year? 


Way it is now conference games don't mean much.  Make it a conference championship play in and every week is a war.

If 8-3 Penn State puts out tha 11-1 OSU so be it....

[MasterChiefHog]

We had an 8 team playoff already. Aub/GA  Miami/Clem Wisc/OSu  OU/TCU

Pretty good analogy. This way I get to hear Urban Meyer cry like a little.....never mind, I'll stop at cry.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Who has Bama beat this year? 


Way it is now conference games don't mean much.  Make it a conference championship play in and every week is a war.

If 8-3 Penn State puts out tha 11-1 OSU so be it....

I'm not going to re-hash what I have already said much earlier in this thread. Yes, the evaluation should involve not only wins, but SOS as well. If Alabama doesn't make the cut, just like any other team, they shouldn't be in the top 8 in this concept.

[Dudeman]

I like the 4 team playoff. If it gets expanded to 8 then it just feels less exciting to me. I like how interesting the regular season is with it being only four teams. I could handle what someone in another post earlier suggested by having the top 2 teams getting a by and 3 4 5 6 teams playing their way in.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I like the 4 team playoff. If it gets expanded to 8 then it just feels less exciting to me. I like how interesting the regular season is with it being only four teams. I could handle what someone in another post earlier suggested by having the top 2 teams getting a by and 3 4 5 6 teams playing their way in.

I can't imagine why less competition would be more exciting than more competition.

[Josh Goforth]

Do 6.
#1 and #2 get bye weeks
3 vs 6
4 vs 5

Yep 6 is where I think they should go next with byes.

[LRRandy]

I can't imagine why less competition would be more exciting than more competition.

it dilutes it. Does the 4 team format not sufficiently do the job of crowning the national champion? If you want to be champion, do the things necessary to get in the playoffs. 4 is plenty.

[IronHog]

Yep 6 is where I think they should go next with byes.

You could do that with the current P5 champs and one at large.

Preferribly a G5 team 😎

[Swine-as-wine]

We had an 8 team playoff already. Aub/GA  Miami/Clem Wisc/OSu  OU/TCU

with the winners playing Alabama?

[Bubba's Bruisers]

it dilutes it. Does the 4 team format not sufficiently do the job of crowning the national champion? If you want to be champion, do the things necessary to get in the playoffs. 4 is plenty.

Agree.  I dont see the likes of Miami, ND, or Wisky on the same level as the 4 already in the playoff.  tOSU and AU would at least be handfuls.

I'm good with 4 teams, but have always liked the 6 team idea with the top 2 getting first round buys.

[Dr. Starcs]

with the winners playing Alabama?

Excellent point.

[IronHog]

with the winners playing Alabama?

Just like LSU in 2007


Do over NC!

[EastexHawg]

And I'm saying I'm fine with that, but it would just put more pretenders into the fold.

Pretenders?  How do we know who the pretenders are since there is no verifiable way of knowing which conferences are strongest?  How do we KNOW that a one loss team from one conference is better than a two loss team from another?

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Pretenders?  How do we know who the pretenders are since there is no verifiable way of knowing which conferences are strongest?  How do we KNOW that a one loss team from one conference is better than a two loss team from another?

This is a good question and one which is difficult to answer.

If you listed the top 10 teams according to the CFP Committee and then went through their schedules awarding:

+30 points for every win over a ranked team (at the time that they were played)
-10 points for every loss to a ranked team
+10 points for every win over an unranked team
-30 points for every loss to an unranked team
-20 points for every game scheduled with less than a G-5 level team

That might give you a pretty fair ranking. If we believe that we are what our schedule says that we are, that should produce as fair of an evaluation as possible, despite the differences in each P-5 conference.

As far as how those results would compare to the current CFP rankings, Alabama would be out and Wisconsin would be in at #4. The difference being Alabama having scheduled a team like Mercer for which they would be penalized -20 pts. 

[okrazorback]

4 is too few, 16 too many, 8 is just right. JMO

16 is not too many

[NuttinItUp]

Can't do it under the current set up. I have long been a fan of 4 16 team super conferences. There are 130 fbs team, and a majority of them are just pretending to be fbs. They have to do funky schedule stuff to continue to meet fbs qualification numbers on attendance, and many of them draw horribly and are never going to have the resources to compete. So why not just go to 4 leagues?  Then you could have 2 divisions in each of the 4 leagues and the 8 division winners all make the playoff.

Until then all we have is a invitational tournament, done at the whim of the selection committee.

The NCAA cannot force individual conferences to invite members or consolidate though. That is up to the individual conferences to do. This whole "mega conference" stuff that people propose is just a pipe dream that will never happen.

You have to do it within the current setup.

[NuttinItUp]

16 is not too many

Depends on what you are talking about.

16 punches to the face is too many. 16 dollars in my pocket is too few.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

16 is not too many

I'll disagree. 16 is too many for one simple reason, it won't ever get past the college administrators. They have always been against a play off system for the same reasoning, it eats into finals and it lasts too long.

I think you might be able to get an 8 team play off by them but only if we stop this foolishness of thinking that teams need 3 weeks to a month to prepare. If they went to a format where the first round of games was the Saturday before Christmas, Finals are over. Play the weekend of Christmas and the weekend after Christmas and everything is done and completed before classes pick up again in the second week of January. That would fit everyone's schedules.

[Hoggish1]

No thanks. 4 is fine. If we go to 8 then some won't he satisfied so the answer will be to go to 16.

I think we could stop with eight and all but a few would be happy. 

But, all conference championship games would have to be dropped plus one game in the regular season to make room for the additional three games necessary to get to a NChampion.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I think we could stop with eight and all but a few would be happy. 

But, all conference championship games would have to be dropped plus one game in the regular season to make room for the additional three games necessary to get to a NChampion.

No, CCG wouldn't have to be dropped. Those are usually played the first weekend in December. That leaves at least a one to two week span in between the last game that some of the 8 teams would play and the start of the play offs if they began the weekend before Christmas. Second round, weekend of Christmas, NCG the weekend following Christmas.

[Hoggish1]

No, CCG wouldn't have to be dropped. Those are usually played the first weekend in December. That leaves at least a one to two week span in between the last game that some of the 8 teams would play and the start of the play offs if they began the weekend before Christmas. Second round, weekend of Christmas, NCG the weekend following Christmas.

I was thinking of:
1.  Wear and tear on the bodies of college athletes/time out of classes and
2. Fan travel

[the 1 and only]

Moving to 8 teams is a joke . Has soon as you go to 8 Someone will be left out and the talk will move to 12 teams

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Pretenders?  How do we know who the pretenders are since there is no verifiable way of knowing which conferences are strongest?  How do we KNOW that a one loss team from one conference is better than a two loss team from another?

Why stop at a 2 loss team?  What about a 3 loss team?  Why don't we just do like Basketball and invite most anyone with a pulse?

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Moving to 8 teams is a joke . Has soon as you go to 8 Someone will be left out and the talk will move to 12 teams

I think Sanity has a decent idea if we end up with 4 - 16 team super conferences.  The winner of each of the 8 divisions gets into an 8 team playoff.

Or the champion of each of the P5 conferences plus an invite to a 6th team for a 6 team playoff.  Top 2 seeds get a bye.

[Dr. Starcs]

I think Sanity has a decent idea if we end up with 4 - 16 team super conferences.  The winner of each of the 8 divisions gets into an 8 team playoff.

Or the champion of each of the P5 conferences plus an invite to a 6th team for a 6 team playoff.  Top 2 seeds get a bye.

My idea too

[IronHog]

No, CCG wouldn't have to be dropped. Those are usually played the first weekend in December. That leaves at least a one to two week span in between the last game that some of the 8 teams would play and the start of the play offs if they began the weekend before Christmas. Second round, weekend of Christmas, NCG the weekend following Christmas.

Makes more sense to have them as 1st round of the playoffs


Huge TV interest etc vs making them irrelevant

[Augustus]

This is what I've been saying. 5 conference winners and the best G5 team.

Agreed. Take the P5 Champs and make the 6th spot either the best G5 team or a wildcard from P5

Take for example this year.  There's no way UCF is better than Bama, so we would have:

(not ranked in any order)
1. Clemson
2. OU
3. Georgia
4. tOSU
5. USC
6. Bama (wildcard - next best team from P5 and is better than the best G5 team)

It takes a ton of the BS out of the CFB Playoff Committee's arbitrary method for deciding who's in the playoffs, and eliminates most of the conspiracy theories and butthurt across fan bases.

You want to be in the Playoffs? It's simple.

Either:
1) Win your conference, and be eligible for post-season play
or
2) Be the highest ranked non-champion, either P5 or G5

Then, the CFB Playoff Committee's BS with regard to their ranking teams would only determine:
1)  How the 6 teams were to be seeded for the playoffs
2)  Which team would fill the 6th slot.  I would imagine that in and of itself would still cause quite a bit of butthurt & conspiracy theories.

I don't see any changes being made, anytime soon.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Makes more sense to have them as 1st round of the playoffs


Huge TV interest etc vs making them irrelevant

CCG's will never be irrelevant particularly as they play into who may be going to an 8 team play off. Aside from that, people just pay a lot of attention to those, especially the SECCG. So the viewing audience isn't going to be any less interested. And no need for them to be the first round of a play off system.

[playamade76]

Screw it...Do top 10...5 conference champs and 5 at large

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Screw it...Do top 10...5 conference champs and 5 at large

Or just 3 at large.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I was thinking of:
1.  Wear and tear on the bodies of college athletes/time out of classes and
2. Fan travel

The max that any team would play under an 8 team format, even if they had a CCG, would be 16 games. That's the max and just one more game than is being played now.

There wouldn't be anymore out of class time than there is now if they played the week before, the week of and the week after Christmas. What you wouldn't have is 3-4 weeks of waiting.

If you think that fan travel is a problem with 4 games among 8 teams, just think about the idea of having 16 teams being involved.

8 is a manageable number and it allows even those with the most remote chance of being competitive with the top 4 to do so. The "any given day" factor? Plus, if you are in the top 8 you have had to play some pretty consistently good football over the course of the year and probably deserve a shot.

And I don't like the idea of anyone getting a "bye" like you would be forced to have with 6 teams. No one deserves a "bye" when this few teams are involved. This isn't the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

[bennyl08]

Didn't read the whole thread, but here's my 2 cents on the issue.

To accurately crown a national championship, you need a playoff format.

How big should the playoff be? It needs to be big enough that anybody who has a legitimate argument to be one of the top 2 teams in the country should be in the playoff. No matter how big the playoff is, there will be arguments from those who just missed the cut about why they should be in and another team not. That does not matter. Whether you have just as good a resume or even better than another team that got in is irrelevant. The only argument that matters is whether or not you have just as good an argument to be playing for the national championship if there was no playoff.

A four team playoff does not accomplish that feat. Most every year, there are at least 5 teams that have a genuine claim. Therefore, it is my opinion that an 8 team playoff is the best approach. It is very rare that there's a year where more than 8 teams could argue they should be ranked in the top 2. A six team playoff is another option as a good majority of the time, that value would capture every team it needs to as well. However, it isn't particularly rare for there to be 7. Maybe about one in ten years, perhaps a bit higher than that even. So, I definitely have an open ear to a 6 team playoff, but I think that format would miss out on teams that have a legitimate claim to be in the top 2 just a bit too often.

[IronHog]

CCG's will never be irrelevant particularly as they play into who may be going to an 8 team play off. Aside from that, people just pay a lot of attention to those, especially the SECCG. So the viewing audience isn't going to be any less interested. And no need for them to be the first round of a play off system.

So why is a team like Auburn punished for playing in the Championship game but Bama gets to sit at home and go to the playoffs?

[MuskogeeHogFan]

So why is a team like Auburn punished for playing in the Championship game but Bama gets to sit at home and go to the playoffs?

Auburn lost to an unranked team as well as 2 ranked teams and they played an opponent lower than G-5 status.

Alabama lost to Auburn and played an opponent lower than G-5 status.

Neither would be in the play offs by my ranking but Alabama would deserve more consideration than Auburn.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Auburn lost to an unranked team as well as 2 ranked teams and they played an opponent lower than G-5 status.

Alabama lost to Auburn and played an opponent lower than G-5 status.

Neither would be in the play offs by my ranking but Alabama would deserve more consideration than Auburn.

So Bama wouldn't make your 8-team playoff?  I admit I haven't gone back to find your proposed format.

[oldhog63]

My idea too

I don't like leaving out the other 60 or so FBS teams. I guess a separate division could be created for those. Even though not perfectly objective, I still like a few at-large teams for those one or two non-P5 teams that are having a dream season to be included in the playoffs. I think that would add a little excitement having non traditional power teams involved.

[Cale]

I think a 10 team would be good. 7-10 seeds play a play in game kind of like the ncaa tourney. 7-10 matchup and 8-9. Winner of those play in top 8.

[IronHog]

Auburn lost to an unranked team as well as 2 ranked teams and they played an opponent lower than G-5 status.

Alabama lost to Auburn and played an opponent lower than G-5 status.

Neither would be in the play offs by my ranking but Alabama would deserve more consideration than Auburn.

Needs to be settled on the field with conference games instead of ranking

Your method would maintain some inter conference matchups.  Mine would eliminate most of that

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Needs to be settled on the field with conference games instead of ranking

Your method would maintain some inter conference matchups.  Mine would eliminate most of that

You aren't ever going to get away from rankings. Whether generated by computers, based on human opinion or a combination of both. Both of those take conference games, total games played, their evaluation of SOS and "quality wins" into consideration now and we are still relying on the opinions of the CFP committee.

[Peter Porker]

I actually would prefer 12 like the NFL uses. 

1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma
3. Georgia
4. Alabama

All get first round byes.  Matchups for round 2 will be made after round 1 with the highest seed playing the lowest seed. 

5. Ohio State vs 12. Washington
6. Wisconsin vs. 11. Miami
7. Auburn vs 10. Central Florida
8. USC vs 9. Penn State


That would make for a great month of College Football

And a bad regular season...just like the NFL.

[hogsanity]

For all of you saying 8 team or 10 team or 12 or 16, just when and where are they supposed to play all of these games? They are not going to do away with the ccg's, so are you saying start the following week, which is the 2nd Sat in Dec? A 6 or 8 team playoff is going to take 3 weeks, 10, 12 or 16 takes 4.

[oldhog63]

For all of you saying 8 team or 10 team or 12 or 16, just when and where are they supposed to play all of these games? They are not going to do away with the ccg's, so are you saying start the following week, which is the 2nd Sat in Dec? A 6 or 8 team playoff is going to take 3 weeks, 10, 12 or 16 takes 4.

Make the championship games round 1, so at most there will be one more game. Make any at-large teams play the same week so all the teams play the same number of games.

[hogsanity]

Make the championship games round 1, so at most there will be one more game. Make any at-large teams play the same week so all the teams play the same number of games.

How is that different that what we have now. The SEc, big10, bog12, and acc ccg's all had playoff implications. The sec and acc were in fact playoff games as the winner was in and the loser was out.

[oldhawg]

For all of you saying 8 team or 10 team or 12 or 16, just when and where are they supposed to play all of these games? They are not going to do away with the ccg's, so are you saying start the following week, which is the 2nd Sat in Dec? A 6 or 8 team playoff is going to take 3 weeks, 10, 12 or 16 takes 4.

If the playoffs go to an eight game bracket, I would like to see the first round games to to played in the home stadiums of teams 1 - 4.  They have earned that advantage.  The remaining games to be played at neutral sites as is currently done.   

[oldhog63]

How is that different that what we have now. The SEc, big10, bog12, and acc ccg's all had playoff implications. The sec and acc were in fact playoff games as the winner was in and the loser was out.

Because the ccg's are not currently part of the play-off's. Winning your conference doesn't guarantee a spot in the playoffs. IMO, Bama actually benefits from not making the ccg as they get extra time to rest and heal.

[hogsanity]

If the playoffs go to an eight game bracket, I would like to see the first round games to to played in the home stadiums of teams 1 - 4.  They have earned that advantage.  The remaining games to be played at neutral sites as is currently done.   

Wait, you just said make the ccg's the 1st round, so which is it, you want 8 teams AFTER the ccg's or for the ccg's to be part of the 8?