Not necessarily. The BCS tried to pick the top two teams. But there were always people who thought they picked the wrong teams. That was the entire premise behind the CFP (making sure the top two teams played). The BCS used multiple variables to decide who the top two were and every year people complained that they chose incorrectly.. It would be highly unlikely that the top two weren’t included in a field of 4. What would expanding the field do other than add more games?
I am not condoning a bigger playoff... I was against the move to a playoff originally as with such a fractured, disparate landscape across the nation and with such vast differences between conferences... I did not see a ramshackled attempt to slap 4 teams together at the end of the year as being any better than the BCS they risked all the things that came to fruition from it- the death of parity, the rich getting WAYYY richer, the disinterest in regular season and bowl games (as evidenced by opt outs, even before this year we saw it happen)...
The only way to make this better is to blow it all up and start over-
1. Fire the NCAA
2. Make a new “power 8” division of CFB
3. Power 8= power 5+ 3 other conferences (Sunbelt, MW and American IMO, or some amalgamation there of)
4- each conference has even number of teams between 12-16 with two separate divisions.
This allows for a bigger “playoff” without the subjective “picking” and without extending the regular season. Just like FCS, only conf champs get in (“what about Navy, or ND, they are indiependant”= eff em if they don’t want to participate, they don’t get considered for the playoffs)
Her is how it breaks down- regular season is the same length, conf championships happen on championship Saturday after the regular season ends as they do now, that get us down to 8 teams, they play around the time bowls usually start (around the end of this week usually), first round of the playoff starts around the same time and CG= same time.
This is indisputable criteria “well I thought __ was better than the conf champ”= tough! They should have won their division and their conf. If not... OH WELL...
It is no l than the normal time period really is- at worst you might push things back one week?
“no benefit for teams ranked higher”? You would play the second round at the home stadium of the highest ranked team in the matchup. 🤷♂️ Something like that..
“but the Sunbelt/whoever conference is not on par with the SEC/ACC!” 1st- aren’t they? Second.,, Over time this will lead to more broad equality across conferences as players realize they can go to COASTAL or UCF or Boise st... and still make the playoffs if they win their division! It will lead to a more fair split of TV money which will increase budgets and facilities for those schools abd this would require at least a little bit of conference realignment and shuffling to make it all work... So the would be a bit different than what we see today in the end result.
Any scenario of letting a committee or computer pick teams is in the end subjective Bs that is no better than BCS/pre-BCS. If a team gets hot late and makes their way into a playoff bc they won their conference, they deserve to be there. If Cincinnati wins their conference, they deserve to be there. If Coastal wins- they deserve to be there. This all works assuming covid is gne and conf championships are played, if not.., One off rules will need to be made.
There. I just fixed CFB, and did what I did not really want originally- expanded the playoffs! What I did not do is simply add more BS to the heaping, stinking pile of BS that already is the CFB playoff system.
I think this is the only way to do it, but we all know it will never be done! As Dan Patrick puts it- they are not putting the best teams in a playoffs now, the selection committee is designed to make the best TV show. So fair/equitable resolution is not and never has been the goal. But if you guys want the best solution this is it. The powers that be do NOT want that, so it will not happen. Ever.
