8 team playoff in the future?

[VectorVictor]

TCU was a better team, and watching the games, one of the four best in the country.

Really? Because TCU's own conference didn't think so.

9 CONFERENCE GAMESROUND ROBIN SCHEDULE

ONE. TRUE. CHAMPION!!!!

(6 months later)

Here they are, your Co-Champions of the Big 12 TCU and Baylor! Even though they played eachother and settled it on the field our dumbass conference standings say they are both winners! And Texas gets a bigger trophy for simply participating, go Longhorns!

Yup. This is why any pro-TCU argument ultimately is a waste of time and falls flat on its face.

After what happened this year, I'd be shocked if we don't hear rumblings of expansion to 12 by the Big XII here soon. Hell, maybe our game with BYU will be a Power 5 Non-Con game.

If BYU is still interested they would be foolish not to snatch them up. Maybe Boise State to even it out.

Cincinnati would be a better choice, IMO, but I don't know if the American Conference has a GOR or not. I thought they were operating w/o one...

Don't get me wrong--Boise is a good quality team. But there's no one out there (unless BYU joins up) to play. Kind of like West Virginia all over again.

EDIT: Frank the Tank already weighed in on this, and BYU, Cincy, Memphis, and UConn round out his top four prospects for the Big XII, in order of preference. Frankly, Cincy and Memphis would be better than BYU just in the regard that it throws a bone to WV, who has been a dutiful lapdog since coming into the Big XII fold. That, and the whole 'no games on Sunday' crap that BYU throws out there.

 

[dlrn1964]

If we do go yo 8 team playoff, I go not want any automatic bids to P5 a Champions.. They should still have a committee pick the 8 best teams period. I don't want a 3 or 5 loss team ( like Wisky when they killed Neb a few yrs ago in the B1G a Championship game) to get into a CFP just because they upset a team in their Conf Championship game. That would be terrible.

Just have best 8 teams, have 1st rd games at Top 4 seeds and then to Regional Bowls for next round. With seeding and no auto bids to P5 conferences,, I doubt teams are going to rest players in last couple regular season games if they know that 1) they would not be guaranteed a spot if they lose any game with no auto bids 2) they might lose one of top 4 seeds and home playoff game.

 

[Hayseed]

I was a proponent of 8 teams from the beginning, but a sports radio guy convinced me that 4 is the right number. These are students playing sports, not video game characters. It's not right to ask them to wear themselves out any more for the profit of ESPN and the entertainment of fat beer guzzlers on couches. Plus,nobody wants number 8 to win the championship anyway. Most years 4 teams will be aplenty to determine who is the true champ.....this year was an aberration. If they had chosen March Madness style instead of the multi-week buildup, they wouldn't have had nearly the controversy.

 

[Redux]

If we do go yo 8 team playoff, I go not want any automatic bids to P5 a Champions.. They should still have a committee pick the 8 best teams period. I don't want a 3 or 5 loss team ( like Wisky when they killed Neb a few yrs ago in the B1G a Championship game) to get into a CFP just because they upset a team in their Conf Championship game. That would be terrible.

Just have best 8 teams, have 1st rd games at Top 4 seeds and then to Regional Bowls for next round. With seeding and no auto bids to P5 conferences,, I doubt teams are going to rest players in last couple regular season games if they know that 1) they would not be guaranteed a spot if they lose any game with no auto bids 2) they might lose one of top 4 seeds and home playoff game.

Wiscy winning the league took an extreme set of circumstances. Penn State was ineligible as was Ohio State. Both would have been in over Wiscy. Then Nebraska came in depleted and unprepared.

If an underdog knocks off the league heavyweight in a title game to win the conference crown, why dont they deserve a chance? If they dont belong there, they will be seeded low and probably knocked out by #1 or #2 right away. And besides if we are at 8 teams the team they upset likely gets in with an at large spot. 8 teams is alot to fill, and if we arent going to reward the power 5 champions with a berth we have no reason to expand past 4 teams.

 

[California Husker]

I know my opinion won't match the "dream playoff scenario" that many people here are proposing...but heck, I don't like the playoff at all (I didn't like the BCS either). So what if you have a co-champion once in a while? Who does it hurt?

Anyway, a four team playoff didn't work. TCU and Baylor got left out and should not have. I know Baylor didn't end up looking good in their bowl, but they beat TCU heads up and had an equal record (although against inferior opponents I guess).

My point on this topic (and I know EVERYBODY is going to disagree) is that if there is going to be a silly playoff, then it should be 8 teams. However, I don't think there should be any "at large" teams selected. I think if the NCAA thinks there has to be a playoff and if people are going to call this a "true" championship, then some changes need to take place.

1) Standardize the rules of college football. Get rid of gray-shirting, over-offering of scholarships, force schools to honor their commitments to the kids to whom they offer scholarships (unless the kids does something illegal or becomes ineligible in some way), and come up with some way to enforce academic eligibility (mandatory NCAA academic audits? Idk how exactly that would work, but something should be done).

2) Nobody gets to the playoffs without wining their conference and that means wining a conference championship game. That would make certain that every team played something of a first round playoff game to advance to the actual playoffs.

* Now I know #2 above creates some issues so here's how we solve those issues.

3) Force every conference to have a conference championship game. I realize this would call for some realignment. If the Big XII(10) wants a CCG, they will have to add teams. Also, if any of the non-Power 5 want to be considered, they too would have to have a CCG.

4) For the love of God, don't make special dispensation for Notre Dame. If they want to be considered for a playoff spot, force them to join a conference (and that goes for any of the other independents for that matter although I don't think Army or Navy would play along).

5) the playoff committee would now have a much easier job on one hand, and a much more difficult on the other. The winners of the Pac-12, B1G, Big XII(10), ACC and SEC would get into the playoff (provided the Big XII(10) actually expands to become a real Big "Twelve"). For the other three spots, the playoff committee decides ahead of time (meaning at the end of the season, but before the CCG) which of the other non-power 5 conferences are the best and those champions would make it in as bottom seeds in the playoff.

So there you go. With my system we wouldn't have to worry about TCU getting left out, and we wouldn't have to worry about an average Notre Dame getting slotted ahead of some team that played in a tough conference, AND best of all, we wouldn't have to worry about the playoff being one Pac 12, one B1G, one Big XII, one ACC and four SEC teams. If you're in the SEC and you want to make the playoffs....win the conference.