6+ Team Playoff

[ScottyIce]

Some folks be talking about Frost to get UCF to a P5 Conference...

 

Instead maybe he is the coach to get the playoffs expanded to 6 teams?

 

If they go undefeated, and the perfectish storm occurs, and they miss the playoffs, folks will be upset. I will understand but there will be plenty of upset people who want them in.  Could be the perfect storm to expand the playoff format.

[Mavric]

It would take a LOT of chaos for them to get in the current playoff.  But it's kind of headed that direction.

 

I've long said eight is the right number and then you could/should probably take the top non-Power 5 team providing they are in the Top 10/12 overall (something like that).  

 

At six?  Maybe.  Would still have to be the right situation.  But this year might be it.

[zoogs]

16! 

[Nebfanatic]

UCF is going to have issues due to the cancelled GT game. 

[Mavric]

 

[The Murphinator]

So if it went to 8 team, would conference champion automatically be in? Also, would the highest ranked non P5 team get in? 

[mrandyk]

3 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

Still not big enough. Make it 18 teams.

 

All 10 conference champions get in.

 

Play-in round for teams seeded 15-18 (almost certainly champions from AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC, or Sun Belt - unless two managed to get ranked in the top 14).

 

Fill out the rest with at-large bids, selected by a committee. Here's how it would have looked this year:

 

 

[Mavric]

My theory has long been:

• Power 5 champions automatically in - provided they are in the Top 12
• Highest-rated Group of 5 team - provided they are in the Top 12
• Next two highest-rated teams from the Committee - max of two teams per conference
• Seeded by Committee rankings
• Seeds 1-4 host quarterfinals 1-2 weeks after CCGs
• Four winners advance to semifinals in rotating NY6 games
• Fours losers also advance to NY6 games - that way remaining bowls can be filled on the regular schedule
• Championship game same as current schedule

[mrandyk]

3 minutes ago, Mavric said:

My theory has long been:

• Power 5 champions automatically in - provided they are in the Top 12
• Highest-rated Group of 5 team - provided they are in the Top 12
• Next two highest-rated teams from the Committee - max of two teams per conference
• Seeded by Committee rankings
• Seeds 1-4 host quarterfinals 1-2 weeks after CCGs
• Four winners advance to semifinals in rotating NY6 games
• Fours losers also advance to NY6 games - that way remaining bowls can be filled on the regular schedule
• Championship game same as current schedule

Every team should be eligible for the national championship, like they are in every other level of college football and every other NCAA sport. Maybe that doesn't mean every conference champion gets a bid but there should at least be a viable path. If we went with this model this year then UCF barely would have made the cut. No undefeated team should ever be blocked from contending from the title.

 

I also believe we shouldn't bother with the bowl games if a team has lost. I think it would be better to just have them worked into the playoffs, just as we currently have the Rose Bowl etc. in the current system. I can't imagine anyone caring about a consolation bowl after being knocked out of the playoffs.

[Mavric]

1 minute ago, mrandyk said:

Still not big enough. Make it 18 teams.

 

All 10 conference champions get in.

 

Play-in round for teams seeded 15-18 (almost certainly champions from AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC, or Sun Belt - unless two managed to get ranked in the top 14).

 

Fill out the rest with at-large bids, selected by a committee. Here's how it would have looked this year:

 

 

 

First, why 18?  Why not just keep it at 16?  18 doesn't make any sense.

 

Second, I'm not a fan of getting more than 8.  There isn't any need to include the other conference champions.  FAU won C-USA this year - they got blown out by Wisconsin and Navy.  Toledo won the MAC - they got blown out by Miami.  Boise St. won the MW - the got blown out by an average Virginia team.  Most of those teams are simply non-competitive on this level.  No need to play a blow-out game and risk players getting hurt.

 

I don't think an 8-team playoff devalues the regular season.  Having a 16-team playoff devalues the regular season, imo.  What's the point of having three teams for a conference in the playoff?  The regular season is for figuring out which teams are the best and most deserving.

[Mavric]

Just now, mrandyk said:

Every team should be eligible for the national championship, like they are in every other level of college football and every other NCAA sport. Maybe that doesn't mean every conference champion gets a bid but there should at least be a viable path. If we went with this model this year then UCF barely would have made the cut. No undefeated team should ever be blocked from contending from the title.

 

I also believe we shouldn't bother with the bowl games if a team has lost. I think it would be better to just have them worked into the playoffs, just as we currently have the Rose Bowl etc. in the current system. I can't imagine anyone caring about a consolation bowl after being knocked out of the playoffs.

 

Every team is eligible.  But there's no need to include those that have absolutely no chance.

 

Mainly, that's my concession against the argument that the bowls need to be kept.  But I don't know how that is any different than teams that currently lost their CCG.  It's still a trip/reward for the season.  No need to deny some of the best teams in the country a bowl trip while 70+ others get to go.

[mrandyk]

3 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

First, why 18?  Why not just keep it at 16?  18 doesn't make any sense.

 

Second, I'm not a fan of getting more than 8.  There isn't any need to include the other conference champions.  FAU won C-USA this year - they got blown out by Wisconsin and Navy.  Toledo won the MAC - they got blown out by Miami.  Boise St. won the MW - the got blown out by an average Virginia team.  Most of those teams are simply non-competitive on this level.  No need to play a blow-out game and risk players getting hurt.

 

I don't think an 8-team playoff devalues the regular season.  Having a 16-team playoff devalues the regular season, imo.  What's the point of having three teams for a conference in the playoff?  The regular season is for figuring out which teams are the best and most deserving.

I picked 18 because it let all of the G5 schools in, but not all into the field of 16. It's a play on how the NCAA works at every other level of football and in every other sport where every single conference champion competes for the title (if they can do it in D2 then why can't they do it here?).

 

I will agree that teams like FAU or Boise State would not stand a chance in this playoff, but that's also reward for those teams that earned the top seeds.

 

I'd argue that the regular season will hold more value this way. Top teams will be eager to get those 1 or 2 seeds where they host a cupcake in the first round, and the teams ranked 10-25 will be desperate to either hang on or slide in to the field. I follow FCS football closely, where a similar model is employed, and I assure you that every game has a lot of weight to it.

[mrandyk]

11 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

Every team is eligible.  But there's no need to include those that have absolutely no chance.

 

Mainly, that's my concession against the argument that the bowls need to be kept.  But I don't know how that is any different than teams that currently lost their CCG.  It's still a trip/reward for the season.  No need to deny some of the best teams in the country a bowl trip while 70+ others get to go.

If we have to depend on a committee deciding a G5 champion is good enough, then they aren't all eligible. Undefeated UCF only got to 12th in the rankings. At the very least we need to include all Power 5 champs and the best G5 champ.

 

I'm not married to the idea of every champion going. I agree entirely that most G5 champs will get crushed, it's the exception when they do stand a chance, my model is just working off how the NCAA otherwise operates.

[Mavric]

4 minutes ago, mrandyk said:

If we have to depend on a committee deciding a G5 champion is good enough, then they aren't all eligible. Undefeated UCF only got to 12th in the rankings. At the very least we need to include all Power 5 champs and the best G5 champ.

 

I'm not married to the idea of every champion going. I agree entirely that most G5 champs will get crushed, it's the exception when they do stand a chance, my model is just working off how the NCAA otherwise operates.

 

I'd be fine with adjust the bar on when the best G5 team gets in.  But there should be a bar.  I could live with Top 20 but I think it should be lower.

[Mavric]

11 minutes ago, mrandyk said:

I picked 18 because it let all of the G5 schools in, but not all into the field of 16. It's a play on how the NCAA works at every other level of football and in every other sport where every single conference champion competes for the title (if they can do it in D2 then why can't they do it here?).

 

I will agree that teams like FAU or Boise State would not stand a chance in this playoff, but that's also reward for those teams that earned the top seeds.

 

I'd argue that the regular season will hold more value this way. Top teams will be eager to get those 1 or 2 seeds where they host a cupcake in the first round, and the teams ranked 10-25 will be desperate to either hang on or slide in to the field. I follow FCS football closely, where a similar model is employed, and I assure you that every game has a lot of weight to it.

 

There isn't as big of a disparity between conference in D2 as there is in FBS.  That's the difference.

 

Their reward is winning a conference championship and getting to go to a bowl game.  Giving them a reward is well below making teams play another game and having too-many teams in the playoff on the priority scale.  Or have their own playoff for G5 teams.

 

Not nearly as big of a reward as it is risk of playing another game and losing a star player to injury.  And if a team is, say 10-1 or even (maybe) 9-2 and can't make the CCG but is about #10 there'd be no reason for them to play their last regular season game.  They could rest their starters like you see in Week 17 in the NFL.  Bad look.