What the expanded playoffs have revealed is how questionable previous "national champions" have been

[isucy86]

With the NFL playoffs kicking off this week, it makes me wonder why a vocal contingent of college football fans can be so fickle and whiny. Or maybe my characterization is wrong , Maybe it should be: Why does the media try to rile up college football fans?

With the NFL, I don't hear a lot of fan or media uproar over the fact that 2 division champs: LA and Tampa get to host first round games against teams that had markedly better records in the Vikings and Commanders. There should be a reward for teams that win their Conference Championship. At least in the early years of the 12 team playoff. Instead of making assumptions or buying into conference and media PR machines- let 4-5 years of results provide guidance on long-term structure.

I'll stir the pot on a second issue. I bet the SEC and ACC would be in an uproar if they had to play in a CFP game outdoors in a northern climate. Why should the new CFP be married to the historical bowl location? How did the Peach Bowl suddenly become an elite bowl? Maybe the CFP powers-to-be need to consider taking all quarter, semi & final games out to bid and award games to the highest bidders. Why should SEC and ACC teams have the ability to play CFP games in their home states, whereas only a few Big12 & Big10 teams have the potential for the same advantage?

 

[AlaCyclone]

We are going to see Florida State try this route in a few years is my guess. If ND & FSU have success with independence, there is a path to every blue-blood being independent. Dissolving the conferences might be the solution to realignment

Florida State's Dynasty began while they were an Independant. If they can find a home for their other sports like they had back in the day (Metro Conference), that would be toally cool.

 

[Cyforce]

The 7 and 8 seeds are in the finals. None of the 1-4 seeds won a game and 3 of 4 games were not close. Only Big 12 school Arizona State got close to winning. It brings up the question of what the list of national champions would look like if we had expanded playoffs before instead of a group of bureaucrats with influence from the networks deciding what schools played.

The SEC with their $3 billion business partnership with ESPN didn't get a team in the finals despite having 3 schools in the tournament. How did the ACC get 2 schools in? SMU??? It was asinine for the Big 12 to be given only one spot.

ASU was hosed. But they are going to use their loss to take away the four conference champ byes. Honestly the fix is expand to 16 teams to avoid the long layoff. Guarantee the top five conference champs home games in the first round. Big XII probably ends up with a six or seven seed most years which isn’t a bad thing. But I feel allocating a certain number of bids to certain conferences just causes the possibility of undeserving teams a slot. The better solution is to have a selection committee like basketball to ensure the right teams get in.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I mean, whoever wins this year might be one of the more fraudulent national champs of all
time. It’s either a team that lost to NIU and doesn’t play in a real conference, or a team that didn’t play in their conference championship because they couldn’t beat a mediocre Michigan team at home.

No one calls a wild card or a non-1st seed in the NFL, MLB, or NBA fraudulent. The “best” thing is stupid because “best” is just a subjective term.

If you’re good, you earn your way to the postseason. Then you compete to win a championship and, if you win, you’re a champion. That’s all that matters (or should matter, not some hypothetical best team).

 

[SolterraCyclone]

With the NFL playoffs kicking off this week, it makes me wonder why a vocal contingent of college football fans can be so fickle and whiny. Or maybe my characterization is wrong , Maybe it should be: Why does the media try to rile up college football fans?

With the NFL, I don't hear a lot of fan or media uproar over the fact that 2 division champs: LA and Tampa get to host first round games against teams that had markedly better records in the Vikings and Commanders. There should be a reward for teams that win their Conference Championship. At least in the early years of the 12 team playoff. Instead of making assumptions or buying into conference and media PR machines- let 4-5 years of results provide guidance on long-term structure.

I'll stir the pot on a second issue. I bet the SEC and ACC would be in an uproar if they had to play in a CFP game outdoors in a northern climate. Why should the new CFP be married to the historical bowl location? How did the Peach Bowl suddenly become an elite bowl? Maybe the CFP powers-to-be need to consider taking all quarter, semi & final games out to bid and award games to the highest bidders. Why should SEC and ACC teams have the ability to play CFP games in their home states, whereas only a few Big12 & Big10 teams have the potential for the same advantage?

After watching the first year, I’d suggest:

1. Going to a 16-team model and eliminating the byes.
2. Play simultaneous or slightly staggered games the first weekend (to help ratings if one game is a blowout), like March Madness does.
3. Have the first two rounds be played at home sites, transitioning to neutral bowl sites for the semis and championship. This would help attendance/ticket revenue which was pretty poor for this years quarterfinals.
4. Conference champs earn an auto-bid and home game to maintain an incentive to win the conference
5. With 16 teams I’d eliminate the conference championship games and use that weekend for first round games. That also prevents conflict with the NFL(for now).

 

[Mr Janny]

No one calls a wild card or a non-1st seed in the NFL, MLB, or NBA fraudulent. The “best” thing is stupid because “best” is just a subjective term.

If you’re good, you earn your way to the postseason. Then you compete to win a championship and, if you win, you’re a champion. That’s all that matters (or should matter, not some hypothetical best team).

This. There's nothing fraudulent about it. This is the path that you have to take to get a national championship. A single elimination tournament will always have the opportunity for upsets. That's a lot of what makes it fun. But it doesn't make the winner fraudulent.

 

[isucy86]

No one calls a wild card or a non-1st seed in the NFL, MLB, or NBA fraudulent. The “best” thing is stupid because “best” is just a subjective term.

If you’re good, you earn your way to the postseason. Then you compete to win a championship and, if you win, you’re a champion. That’s all that matters (or should matter, not some hypothetical best team).

IMO teams that are playing their best at seasons end are typically teams that do well in playoffs. So ND beating Indiana, Georgia and PSU shouldn't be a stretch. And it the case of the Buckeyes- money CAN buy titles. Just ask the Dodgers and Yankees

 

[isucy86]

After watching the first year, I’d suggest:

1. Going to a 16-team model and eliminating the byes.
2. Play simultaneous or slightly staggered games the first weekend (to help ratings if one game is a blowout), like March Madness does.
3. Have the first two rounds be played at home sites, transitioning to neutral bowl sites for the semis and championship. This would help attendance/ticket revenue which was pretty poor for this years quarterfinals.
4. Conference champs earn an auto-bid and home game to maintain an incentive to win the conference
5. With 16 teams I’d eliminate the conference championship games and use that weekend for first round games. That also prevents conflict with the NFL(for now).

I think we'll eventually see a 16 team playoff, money to be made from more games.

At this point, the only big change I would make in 4-5 years is the first 2 rounds played at home sites. That way Conference Champs get to host a home game- just like teams seeded 5-8.

 

[LivntheCyLife]

The Big 12 really got screwed by its scheduling this year with ASU, ISU, BYU, and CU hardly playing each other.

The large conferences clearly work from a TV perspective getting more eyeballs on conference games. And I honestly like the variety.

I think a simple fix is the Big 12 (and other conferences for that matter) should go to two yearly round robin schedules. 8 teams in group A all play each other and same for group B. Then the next year group A is based on previous finish with A1, B2, A3, B4 etc and B is the other 8 teams.

 

[BCClone]

Yeah, but its feast or famine though. if they would have coughed up one more game after losing to N. Illinois, they may have been left out and got zero.

Here’s the summary for the Fighting Irish: $20M

$4 million for qualifying for the CFP
$4 million for advancing to the quarterfinals
$6 million for advancing to the semifinals
$6 million for advancing to the national championship game
There is no additional payment for the winner of the title game.

And unlike the other schools — Penn State, Ohio State and Texas — Notre Dame, as an independent school, won’t have to share its payout with a conference.
SEC does a performance based payout, which would mean Texas would get the most followed by Georgia, Tennesee.

another thing that earns ND more money that people are not talking about is the fact that they don't get a bye so when they do make the playoffs they are probably going to always be a 5-8 seed. Which means they get to host a game which brings in even more money for the university.

The Big12 with only one team is really going to start showing financial disparity head over time.
If Penn St would have played OSU in the title game, those two schools would have made 40M for the league.

You forgot that the teams also get expense money to travel to the games. So if ND is frugal, they could also get funds from that area.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

No one calls a wild card or a non-1st seed in the NFL, MLB, or NBA fraudulent. The “best” thing is stupid because “best” is just a subjective term.

If you’re good, you earn your way to the postseason. Then you compete to win a championship and, if you win, you’re a champion. That’s all that matters (or should matter, not some hypothetical best team).

The reason why this isn’t happening is because they are all still NFL teams so the thought process is they are coming from an equal space.

The logic people use for the CFP is that outside the P2 there conferences aren’t equal and certain paths are eaiser, obv with the SEC shitting the bed this narrative doesn’t work very well but this is the reason why it’s brought up in college where it isn’t in the NFL

 

[Mr Janny]

The reason why this isn’t happening is because they are all still NFL teams so the thought process is they are coming from an equal space.

The logic people use for the CFP is that outside the P2 there conferences aren’t equal and certain paths are eaiser, obv with the SEC shitting the bed this narrative doesn’t work very well but this is the reason why it’s brought up in college where it isn’t in the NFL

Nobody ever says that a college basketball national championship fraudulent, though.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Nobody ever says that a college basketball national championship fraudulent, though.

Just about everyone says that March madness doesn’t do a great job at determining the best team. Especially the teams that get knocked out early. Just like how everyone on here was still talking about the Big12 being the best conference last year despite the tourny performance.

 

[Darius Bieber]

That’s correct. Which is why they are smart to stay indy

Well, in theory. But if they don't make a bowl game, they don't get any payouts. Teams in conferences who don't make a bowl game still get a share of the conference's bowl payouts. (Kansas still gets $$$$ from AlamoBowl, Pop Tarts Bowl, ASU's playoff game etc).

 

[Mr Janny]

Just about everyone says that March madness doesn’t do a great job at determining the best team. Especially the teams that get knocked out early. Just like how everyone on here was still talking about the Big12 being the best conference last year despite the tourny performance.

That's not the same thing as saying a championship is fraudulent, though.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

That's not the same thing as saying a championship is fraudulent, though.

Agreed. Was just pointing out why people view the seeding differently from cfb playoffs to NFL like the post I was responding too

 

[alarson]

honestly think the byes were fine, the bigger problem was that the committee did an pretty poor job, resulting in Boise and the ACC being massively overrated, which gave us 2 bids from a bad ACC instead of, for example, ASU seeded #3 and BYU in the field, who likely would have performed better. If ASU is in the 3 slot there's a decent chance they come out of that side

That and OSU threw a wrench in the works by losing to michigan and knocking itself out of the big 10 championship they likely would have otherwise had most years.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

honestly think the byes were fine, the bigger problem was that the committee did an pretty poor job, resulting in Boise and the ACC being massively overrated, which gave us 2 bids from a bad ACC instead of, for example, ASU seeded #3 and BYU in the field, who likely would have performed better. If ASU is in the 3 slot there's a decent chance they come out of that side

That and OSU threw a wrench in the works by losing to michigan and knocking itself out of the big 10 championship they likely would have otherwise had most years.

Also the fact that they said they wouldn’t punish teams for losing the championship game against those that didn’t. That’s why Penn state got propped up when they had no business being that high

 

[cyputz]

Just about everyone says that March madness doesn’t do a great job at determining the best team. Especially the teams that get knocked out early. Just like how everyone on here was still talking about the Big12 being the best conference last year despite the tourny performance.

Are you referring to IOWA?

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Are you referring to IOWA?

I am almost never referring to Iowa because I’m never really thinking about Iowa