The Perfect College Playoffs

[Kevin C]

Liked a lot of Joel Klatt’s take in support of 24 Team format.   Gaining support from college commissioners (starting with Big 10).   It would make December even better than it already is for CFP imo.

A quick summary of points (my twists on top of Klatt’s overall framework).  https://youtu.be/FcIHsfqD4YI

1. Eliminate conf championship games.   Use regular season conf records (and tie breakers) to name conf champs.   

2. Each of Big 4 conferences get 4 AQ based on conference rules (conf record, head to head, common opponents, etc)

3. ND automatic if Top 20 plus 5th Conf Champ.

4. With 18 Teams locked (17 if ND outside Top 20), the remaining 6 spots at large based on CFP committee voting.  This year that likely would have meant 4 more spots SEC and 2 more for Big 10.

5. CFP Committee determines seeding with heavy emphasis on SoS, SoR, Quality Wins, (motivates tier1 non conf matchups in Sept) 

6. Tuesday following final season games is big announcement of 24-team bracket by CFP Committee.   Second Saturday in Dec is first round of playoffs hosted by 9-16.   Top 8 teams get a bye.   

7. Third weekend of December is Round 2 of CFP hosted by teams ranked 1-8 against winners of round 1.

8. Quarterfinals played at 4 Big Bowl Traditional sites on NewYears (1 game NYE and 3 on NYD).   Same as current format.   Love it.   NewYears back to being spectacular for CFP. 

9. semifinals and championship continue as is.   Not broken.  Why fix?

Love this model for lots of reasons, most importantly:

1) Eliminates conf championship games which are becoming more punitive (champs all lost first round CFP last season)

2) Two rounds of home games hosted at universities.   Both rounds have predictable locations for advanced planning.   
 
3) Allows for heavier inclusion from SEC / Big 10 with at 6 large but keeps heavy emphasis on conference play with 4 AQ per conf. Also, this model rewards playing big boy game in Sept.   This model makes Big12 and ACC more relevant for stability and stop trend of ongoing realignment. 

4) Most of all, it rewards teams getting better through the season and keeps lots of teams interested all season.   Texas is a good example, could come in at 14, host round 1 but on positive trajectory headed into Dec. 

Hook em!! 🧡🐂🤘🏼

Edited 16 hours ago by Kevin C

[Kevin C]

In model proposed, this year…Texas would still have shot at AQ spot with A&M win and likely host round 1 against 3rd or 4th best from Big 12 / ACC.

[TexasMDcoach]

Could also make those second round games slotted into some of the lesser bowl game sites with emphasis on regional locations.  This model would motivate players not to skip the bowl games as well.  

[GoHorns1]

Screw #3. ND must join a Power 4 conference. Stop the special rules crap for ND.

[Thorn007]

24 neuters regular season. Only 16 teams tourney at the most yo

[Kevin C]

13 minutes ago, Thorn007 said:

24 neuters regular season. Only 16 teams tourney at the most yo

Respectfully disagree.   Look at Men’s Basketball (68) and Baseball (64) for references to EOY Championship Tournaments that feel too diluted but still great tournaments.   24 is the right number for football longterm, imo.   Makes full season even more relevant for larger number of schools.  
 

On same topic…..Old school bowl games are completely dead.   Meaningless.   They need to die.   Everyone playing to win one of Top 8 seeds for first round bye in this 24-team model.   Everyone outside top 24, consider having a second tier tournament, rather than bowl games.   Similar to NIT.   
 

Whether it stays at 12 or grows to 16 or 24, I’m loving the new expanded playoff format that started last season.   
 

Hook em!! 🧡🙏🏼🐂

[Kevin C]

1 hour ago, TexasMDcoach said:

Could also make those second round games slotted into some of the lesser bowl game sites with emphasis on regional locations.  This model would motivate players not to skip the bowl games as well.  

I loved having playoff game last year at home against Clemson.   Forget random location tier 3 bowl games.   Much prefer playing at campus stadiums.   Better atmosphere, more fan friendly, imo. 

[GoHorns1]

6 minutes ago, Kevin C said:

I loved having playoff game last year at home against Clemson.   Forget random location tier 3 bowl games.   Much prefer playing at campus stadiums.   Better atmosphere, more fan friendly, imo. 

Unless you are the visiting team.

[Kevin C]

6 minutes ago, GoHorns1 said:

Unless you are the visiting team.

Which makes regular season and final season rankings more important.   The first two rounds should give big home field advantage to the teams that had best regular season imo. 

[horns96]

My initial reaction - in a typical season, there aren't 12 teams worthy of a playoff.  Unfortunately, conference politics  and automatic qualifiers necessitate expanding to 24 teams.  This isn't basketball or baseball or softball, there are consequences to adding games to the season and this is another money grab.

...but after giving it some thought - anything that gets rid of the meaningless conference championship games is a step in the right direction.

[HookedOnTF]

11 minutes ago, horns96 said:

My initial reaction - in a typical season, there aren't 12 teams worthy of a playoff.  Unfortunately, conference politics  and automatic qualifiers necessitate expanding to 24 teams.  This isn't basketball or baseball or softball, there are consequences to adding games to the season and this is another money grab.

...but after giving it some thought - anything that gets rid of the meaningless conference championship games is a step in the right direction.

The truth is 8 is enough, without AQs.

What fanbase wouldn't buy into the hopium that a 16 team playoff would offer? But tossing the ACC and G5 a bone, and allowing OU and a 2nd Big 12 team in, means teams like us feel slighted we can't sneak in as #10. Even if we didn't schedule OSU, get a 4th Q beating by Uga, and lose to Florida, we have enough data points to know we're not winning 3 straight top 10 games. 

But getting rid of CCGs and bad bowls is worth a discussion. How about adding a revenue generating spring game instead?! 

[CHorn427]

13 hours ago, Kevin C said:

Respectfully disagree.   Look at Men’s Basketball (68) and Baseball (64) for references to EOY Championship Tournaments that feel too diluted but still great tournaments.   24 is the right number for football longterm, imo.   Makes full season even more relevant for larger number of schools.  
 

On same topic…..Old school bowl games are completely dead.   Meaningless.   They need to die.   Everyone playing to win one of Top 8 seeds for first round bye in this 24-team model.   Everyone outside top 24, consider having a second tier tournament, rather than bowl games.   Similar to NIT.   
 

Whether it stays at 12 or grows to 16 or 24, I’m loving the new expanded playoff format that started last season.   
 

Hook em!! 🧡🙏🏼🐂

Do you feel the need to watch all regular season baseball or basketball games. I don’t, neither do many. That’s the point. 
 

There’s no way in hell 24 team playoff is necessary. Klatt just wants that so more Big10 and Big12 teams could get in. Because if it’s just a 16 team playoff, literally 8 SEC teams are in this year, with 4 Big10 and 2 from each other conference.