What's the perfect playoff system?

[Yo Tee]

So a win in early December, trumps a win in the national title game?

Do you honestly believe that Alabama is NOT the best team in the country? I mean, even better than Georgia. Just your opinion here.

They were the best team when it counted last night. Not the best team in the country though.

 

[WizardHawk]

I go back on forth on what is the best playoff system. I think the one we have is pretty good but it's not perfect. I think the two best options are:

A) 6 team playoff. All 5 power-5 conference champions and the best group of 5 conference champion make it. Top 2 get a bye.

I realize there isn't a legitimate G5 team every single year, but they'd have to still beat 3 P5 conference champions to actually win it all. So I think if they did that then people shouldn't argue too much.

B) 8-team playoff. The same as above except also 2 "wild card" teams make it.

Thoughts?

C) Leave the current system, but make some adjustments as needed.

It isn't just a 4 team playoff as it is. Since it uses a lot of information to make those final rankings it is a regular season and CCG playoff of sorts that leads to a final 4. You aren't blindly rewarding say Bama beating Mercer and treating it the same as Auburn beating Georgia (which anything based on record inherently does). You are making BOTH the quality of the match up and how they looked in the game matter just as much as final score. You would lose all perspective in any type of auto bid system.

Any form of auto anything would just screw with the system so badly it would make things quite worse IMO.

You cannot use current seasons and look at matchups under your proposed new playoffs to conclude any other system would be better because any change to an auto bid would entirely change how schools schedule OOC, and could potentially change how the conferences themselves make their schedules and/or CCG's. There is zero doubt it would bring sweeping and drastic changes.

 

[belcherboy]

I don't think Bama should've been in the playoff. OSU should've gotten the spot.

Also, I just want to clarify this. You want an Ohio State team that (I take GREAT pleasure in saying this) lost two games by a combined 50 points this past season to be the final team that you want to put into the playoffs ABOVE Alabama?

 

[Deep Creek]

This should get a whole bunch of bullshit tags! For those that don't want CFB to be comparable to March Madness. It ALREADY is.

Alabama has won the national championship twice without winning its own conference the same year. Can any other school claim such?

We need to go back to the old bowl system because CFB can't protect the regular season where every game matters in this format. This shit has made it like CBB.

In all seriousness, I say leave it as is. The three playoff games this year were damn good to watch IMHO.

 

[Yo Tee]

Also, I just want to clariy this. You want an Ohio State team that (I take GREAT pleasure in saying this) lost two games by a combined 50 points this past season to be the final team that you want to put into the playoffs ABOVE Alabama?

I think conference titles should be rewarded more than they have been the last 2 years. I also think Bama's schedule should've hurt them more than it obviously did.

 

[belcherboy]

They were the best team when it counted last night. Not the best team in the country though.

So they beat both Clemson AND Georgia, but they don't belong in the playoffs? Who is the best team in the country, if it is not Alabama? Just your opinion here.

 

[WizardHawk]

They were the best team when it counted last night. Not the best team in the country though.

There isn't any system, either that has been tried, proposed, or even possible, that can tell you what team in the country is 100% 'best'.

Even if you had a 130 team tournament, you simply find who the best team in that tournament was which doesn't necessarily mean the best overall team through the season.

Sometimes the 'best' team doesn't win march madness. Upsets happen and teams with less overall talent and a weaker resume win that thing and are crowned champs.

College football cannot employ anything remotely similar, but even if they could it again just crowns a tournament champion and doesn't tell you who is the 'best' team in the country.

When we have such imbalanced schedules even within conferences and we have so little games outside of those conference schedules to try to tie it all together, you simply cannot find equal footing in ANY method for determining a national champion. It simply isn't possible to give what so many of you want.

Let the G5's have their own tournament and crown their own champ. They wouldn't necessarily have to leave FBS to do this. I mean we have the NIT on top of the larger tournament for basketball without splitting them off.

 

[broncosmitty]

I go back on forth on what is the best playoff system. I think the one we have is pretty good but it's not perfect. I think the two best options are:

A) 6 team playoff. All 5 power-5 conference champions and the best group of 5 conference champion make it. Top 2 get a bye.

I realize there isn't a legitimate G5 team every single year, but they'd have to still beat 3 P5 conference champions to actually win it all. So I think if they did that then people shouldn't argue too much.

B) 8-team playoff. The same as above except also 2 "wild card" teams make it.

Thoughts?

A

 

[belcherboy]

I think conference titles should be rewarded more than they have been the last 2 years. I also think Bama's schedule should've hurt them more than it obviously did.

Again, how have conference titles NOT been rewarded the past two seasons in the playoff selections? 75% of the playoff teams are conference winners. The playoff committee simply chose a team that didn't win their conference when comparing two team like Bama and Ohio State this year. I'm not even sure Ohio State fans would agree that the Buckeyes should have gotten in over Alabama. They lost two games, one of them in rather embarrassing fashion.

It seemed pretty easy for the selection committee to choose Bama over Ohio State last month, and that decision seemed to be proved correct the past 2 weeks.

 

[Yo Tee]

So they beat both Clemson AND Georgia, but they don't belong in the playoffs? Who is the best team in the country, if it is not Alabama? Just your opinion here.

Alabama was the best team in the playoffs. They were obviously the best when it mattered most. I think Georgia had a better season, beat better opponents. I'd still put Georgia overall ahead of Alabama. Georgia was also the better team for 3/4 of that game last night.

 

[WizardHawk]

I think conference titles should be rewarded more than they have been the last 2 years. I also think Bama's schedule should've hurt them more than it obviously did.

THEY STILL WON BOTH PLAYOFF GAMES

Bama wasn't handed a championship. People can bitch until the cows come home about whether or not they deserved to be in over wisky, OSU, or anyone else, but they still had to go beat two champions to win the title.

Let me say that again: THEY BEAT TWO CHAMPIONS to win the title. Yes, THEY won the title and are the tops of college football. And they had to prove they belonged by beating two power five conference champions in back to back games.

The system worked perfectly. 100% so.

 

[Yo Tee]

Again, how have conference titles NOT been rewarded the past two seasons in the playoff selections? 75% of the playoff teams are conference winners. The playoff committee simply chose a team that didn't win their conference when comparing two team like Bama and Ohio State this year. I'm not even sure Ohio State fans would agree that the Buckeyes should have gotten in over Alabama. They lost two games, one of them in rather embarrassing fashion.

It seemed pretty easy for the selection committee to choose Bama over Ohio State last month, and that decision seemed to be proved correct the past 2 weeks.

You keep saying 75% blah blah blah. That's by DEFAULT! In order to be one of the best in the country, you gotta be the best of your conference which means you've probably won your conference title. It's by default. Those teams are not chosen because they won their conference title, they are chosen because they are one of the best teams in the country. Their conference title is just icing on the cake.

 

[belcherboy]

Alabama was the best team in the playoffs. They were obviously the best when it mattered most. I think Georgia had a better season, beat better opponents. I'd still put Georgia overall ahead of Alabama. Georgia was also the better team for 3/4 of that game last night.

We definitely aren't going to agree on this. I'm just going to leave this right here:

1) You think Bama didn't deserve to be in the playoffs.
2) You think Ohio State deserved to be in the playoffs.
3) You would still put Georgia ahead of Alabama, with one reason being they were better for 3/4 of the game.
4) You think the AAC was a better conference than the Pac 12 last season.
5) You don't think the playoff committee gives enough weight to conference champions when deciding playoff spots the past two seasons

Does that pretty much sum up your stances in this thread?

 

[Yo Tee]

We definitely aren't going to agree on this. I'm just going to leave this right here:

1) You think Bama didn't deserve to be in the playoffs.
2) You think Ohio State deserved to be in the playoffs.
3) You would still put Georgia ahead of Alabama, with one reason being they were better for 3/4 of the game.
4) You think the AAC was a better conference than the Pac 12 last season.
5) You don't think the playoff committee gives enough weight to conference champions when deciding playoff spots the past two seasons

Does that pretty much sum up your stances in this thread?

Glad you kept notes.

 

[belcherboy]

You keep saying 75% blah blah blah. That's by DEFAULT! In order to be one of the best in the country, you gotta be the best of your conference which means you've probably won your conference title. It's by default. Those teams are not chosen because they won their conference title, they are chosen because they are one of the best teams in the country. Their conference title is just icing on the cake.

That's just not true. Bama proved that you don't have to be a conference champion to be the best team in the country...but again, your opinion is that Georgia is still the better team, and Bama shouldn't have even been in the playoffs to begin with. I just don't see the logic in your opinions.

 

[Old Lion]

Bottom line is a team that beat everyone that was put in front of them should have the opportunity to compete for the championship. Period. Eliminate all the arguing by letting them settle it on the field. D1 football is the only major sport college or pro where opinion decides who plays for the championship.

 

[belcherboy]

Glad you kept notes.

It's kind of like watching a car accident...you just can't forget how tragic it is.

 

[belcherboy]

Bottom line is a team that beat everyone that was put in front of them should have the opportunity to compete for the championship. Period. Eliminate all the arguing by letting them settle it on the field. D1 football is the only major sport college or pro where opinion decides who plays for the championship.

So who's opinion got us the Bama vs Georgia game? I'm pretty sure that victories over Oklahoma and Clemson determined who played for the championship last night.

 

[amszete]

Before I provide my thoughts below, while I think it is utterly shit the SEC had two teams in the playoff, they were 2 damn good teams who deserved to be there and while I swore I would not watch this game, I was ultimately glad I did, for as a fan of college football it delivered...

IMO one of the following should happen:

A. The CFP Committee provide a framework, formula or whatever you want to call it that conveys how teams get selected for the playoff. This will help teams like P5 conferences, G5 teams and/or Independents understand what they need to do in order to reach the playoff (with 4 spots). **Preferred**

B. Expand the playoff to incorporate conference champions, G5, etc with one of the interesting formats that the Op and others listed.

 

[Old Lion]

So who's opinion got us the Bama vs Georgia game?

Whoever decided they should be in the top 4 teams.