My Solution to College Football

[Herd Fever]

As most of you know I am a Big Proponent of 8 16 team conferences, 4 P4 conferences and 4 G4 conferences. With that break down, I believe a 12 team playoff would be best served to fix all the problems. That 12 team playoff would include all 8 conference champions and then the next 4 best teams. The P4 champions would all receive byes into the Quarterfinals. It will still be a 12 game season and all conferences will play 9 game schedules.

P4 Conferences

B1G
East - Rutgers, Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Indiana, Purdue
West - Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas

ACC
North - Boston College, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville
South - UNC, Duke, Wake, NC State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, Florida State

SEC
East - South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn
West - OL Miss, MS State, LSU, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Pac-16
East - Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Utah, Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona
West - USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State

G4 Conferences

AAC
East - Marshall, Cincy, UCONN, ECU, UCF, USF, Navy, Temple
West - Memphis, Tulane, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, SMU, Rice, Tulsa, Houston

Mountain West
Mountain - Kansas State, UTEP, Boise State, New Mexico State, New Mexico, Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming
West - San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, Hawaii, UNLV, Nevada, Utah State, BYU

CUSA
East - FIU, FAU, Appy State, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, UAB, WKU, MTSU
West - Troy, South Alabama, ULM, ULL, Arkansas State, Texas State, North Texas, UTSA

MAC
East - Buffalo, Akron, Ohio, Kent State, Charlotte, UMASS, ODU, Army
West - Miami(OH), Bowling Green, Toledo, CMU, EMU, WMU, Ball State, Northern Illinois

That is 128 teams right there. Sorry, Liberty and Coastal Carolina( I swear I am missing someone)

You take the 8 conference Champions and then the next 4 best teams
This year that would be Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, UCF, Boise State, FAU, Toledo, Alabama, Wisconsin, USC, and Auburn.

For the 12 team playoff you take the 4 G4 champions and the 4 at large teams and assign games based on location. Alabama/UCF, USC/Boise State, Auburn/FAU, and Wisconsin/Toledo. You play these games the week after the Conference Championships at home sites. The winners of these games will play the 4 P4 conference Champions at bowl sites the week of Christmas. The bowls will be the 6 CFP bowl on a rotating basis(4 for the Quarters and 2 for the Semis) The Semis will be held New Years Day. And the finals will be a week later. This is about as fair as possible for all 128 FBS schools.

 

[Tim Hensley]

Makes too much sense, Fever. Again, you do a good job of breaking this stuff down and sorting out the statistics.

 

[Herd Fever]

Makes too much sense, Fever. Again, you do a good job of breaking this stuff down and sorting out the statistics.

Stats add unnecessary fluff, just get straight to the point.

 

[JudgeDD]

I don't think it's the direction things are going. TV money does not support it.

I also don't like giving G5 conference winners automatic bids. Extremely unfair to compare all the conferences apples to apples.

 

[Herd Fever]

I don't think it's the direction things are going. TV money does not support it.

I also don't like giving G5 conference winners automatic bids. Extremely unfair to compare all the conferences apples to apples.

You dont think TV wouldnt rather broadcast these games instead of the 5th best team in the Mountain West against the 7th best team from the MAC playing in a half empty stadium?

Come on ESPN and Fox would go for broke to Broadcast these games. Also if you dont feel G5 conference champions shouldnt receive Auto Bids then we might as well end the facade of FBS football for 65 schools.

 

[JudgeDD]

You dont think TV wouldnt rather broadcast these games instead of the 5th best team in the Mountain West against the 7th best team from the MAC playing in a half empty stadium?

You're talking about the playoff comparison. I'm talking about the 8 16-team Conferences.

Also if you dont feel G5 conference champions shouldnt receive Auto Bids then we might as well end the facade of FBS football for 65 schools.

It is my opinion that giving an automatic bid to the winner of even your expanded G5 Conference champions over the second, third, and sometimes fourth-place finishers in the P5 Conferences you created, is unfair to those P5 schools.

 

[Herd Fever]

You're talking about the playoff comparison. I'm talking about the 8 16-team Conferences.



It is my opinion that giving an automatic bid to the winner of even your expanded G5 Conference champions over the second, third, and sometimes fourth-place finishers in the P5 Conferences you created, is unfair to those P5 schools.

You know whats Unfair, an Undefeated UCF not being ranked in the Top 10 or the fact Alabama is in over Ohio State. Any P5 program that wants to cry about a G5 getting an automatic bid well then how about this, Give back 95% of your TV money, lower you operating Budget to below $45M, and then join a G5 conference since you want an easier path. If not then just win your conference and you would have nothing to complain about.

 

[Marine03]

You know whats Unfair, an Undefeated UCF not being ranked in the Top 10 or the fact Alabama is in over Ohio State. Any P5 program that wants to cry about a G5 getting an automatic bid well then how about this, Give back 95% of your TV money, lower you operating Budget to below $45M, and then join a G5 conference since you want an easier path. If not then just win your conference and you would have nothing to complain about.

Why would OSU deserve to be in over Bama? It’s hard to hide a 35 Point drubbing by IOWA when BAMA’s only loss was to Auburn

 

[JudgeDD]

You know whats Unfair, an Undefeated UCF not being ranked in the Top 10 or the fact Alabama is in over Ohio State. Any P5 program that wants to cry about a G5 getting an automatic bid well then how about this, Give back 95% of your TV money, lower you operating Budget to below $45M, and then join a G5 conference since you want an easier path. If not then just win your conference and you would have nothing to complain about.

I'm just saying that winning the MAC or Conference USA or even the P5-pretender AAC is not equal to winning the ACC, B1G, and certainly not the SEC. Treating them like they are the same is a ridiculous notion.

 

[HerdBuckeye]

Why would OSU deserve to be in over Bama? It’s hard to hide a 35 Point drubbing by IOWA when BAMA’s only loss was to Auburn

Losing last game of the season, not making conference championship game, no wins over top 15 programs, I could go on.

 

[Marine03]

Losing last game of the season, not making conference championship game, no wins over top 15 programs, I could go on.

You should stop, it’s simple OSU lost twice, BAMA once. I love how OSU fans cry about this now but last season all this was justified.

 

[Herd Fever]

I'm far from an OSU fan. Last year I felt Penn State should have got in because they beat Ohio State and won the conference.

But I'm of the belief a conference Champion should matter over a non-conference champion when the rankings are close.

 

[Marine03]

I'm far from an OSU fan. Last year I felt Penn State should have got in because they beat Ohio State and won the conference.

But I'm of the belief a conference Champion should matter over a non-conference champion when the rankings are close.

Only 1 team lost twice and by 31 to Iowa. Ohio State has been beat down by Oklahoma and Clemson already the past 12 months. No one really wants to see that again, BAMA was the better choice.

 

[JudgeDD]

You should stop, it’s simple OSU lost twice, BAMA once. I love how OSU fans cry about this now but last season all this was justified.

You can make a good case for Alabama, but it's wrong to say it's simple. Yes, OSU lost twice and BAMA lost once. But let's look at wins. Alabama 11-1, Ohio State 11-2. Same number of wins. Ohio State was required to play an extra game, against a Top 10 team, while Alabama got a pass. Also, look at Ohio State's wins vs Alabama's wins. It isn't even close. (I can even make a case for Wisconsin, and I did in another thread).

Listen, I'm glad Ohio State didn't make the playoffs, if for no other reason than they made it last year under the exact opposite scenario and I thought that was unfair then. It would have been a travesty if they had made it again this year under some flip of the criteria. (BTW, I love how Urban now believes Conference Championships mean something) A case can be made for both Alabama and OSU. To not be able to see that, or to argue that the choice is clear-cut or simple is a very narrow way of thinking.

 

[The Real SamC]

What you see in all this discussion of who should be in or out of these playoffs is the fact that we should not be having playoffs, or the previous, yet more idiotic BcS. This year there just are not four deserving teams. That simple.

Just play the bowls, voters pick a "national champion". Problem solved. Oh, and, but we had the same record as the "national champion". Umm, did you win all your games? No? Then STFU. You did? Oh, who did you play? Well, that is nice, but not the same as the other team from the higher league, so STFU.

Problem solved.

 

[CarolinaHerdzilla]

Losing last game of the season, not making conference championship game, no wins over top 15 programs, I could go on.

WRONG WRONG WRONG.....buckeye....Bama defeated ranked teams [at the time of playing them during the season]...plus, they were HIGHLY ranked in both polls during the season and the First Playoff Bowl a few weeks ago. osu is always crying for help when at best they play 2-3 strong teams during their ENTIRE regular season. For Woody's sake...they had TWO LOSSES. Remember when Penn State got screwed last year (2016)....The Lions had a right to complain.....

LET'S Go USC ....put more tears in the buckeyes eyes......

Zilla22

 

[sistersville]

Losing last game of the season, not making conference championship game, no wins over top 15 programs, I could go on.

How about watching bama. I think they are still the best team in college football.

 

[sistersville]

Sam get your head out. America wants a playoff. Why not? Pee wee's pop warner, high school the pros. College doesnt because of past fat cat college presidents. Playoff is the only. Settle it on the field not by a bunch of nerds voting at a starbucks.

 

[sistersville]

The true winner. VS. A man's opinion. Have a playoff. Bowls for those who miss the playoffs.

 

[Marine03]

You can make a good case for Alabama, but it's wrong to say it's simple. Yes, OSU lost twice and BAMA lost once. But let's look at wins. Alabama 11-1, Ohio State 11-2. Same number of wins. Ohio State was required to play an extra game, against a Top 10 team, while Alabama got a pass. Also, look at Ohio State's wins vs Alabama's wins. It isn't even close. (I can even make a case for Wisconsin, and I did in another thread).

Listen, I'm glad Ohio State didn't make the playoffs, if for no other reason than they made it last year under the exact opposite scenario and I thought that was unfair then. It would have been a travesty if they had made it again this year under some flip of the criteria. (BTW, I love how Urban now believes Conference Championships mean something) A case can be made for both Alabama and OSU. To not be able to see that, or to argue that the choice is clear-cut or simple is a very narrow way of thinking.

I don’t see why it’s so hard to figure out. 2 blowout loses vs 1, OSU was blown at home and their losses are far worse than BAMAS loss to Auburn. SOS isn’t much difference and both made a living blowing out lesser opponents.

 

[Sash19]

If osu wanted that 4th spot they shouldnt have gotten the shit kicked out of them at Iowa. The Oklahoma loss (at home) is somewhat forgiveable but not Iowa.....That has to be the #1 reason they are not in the top 4. Bama had 1 loss and not "bad" one....osu had 2 and a BAD one....

 

[JudgeDD]

I don’t see why it’s so hard to figure out. 2 blowout loses vs 1, OSU was blown at home and their losses are far worse than BAMAS loss to Auburn. SOS isn’t much difference and both made a living blowing out lesser opponents.

SOS is sometimes misleading. The only reason Alabama's even close to OSU's is because of Auburn, which they lost. If you throw out Alabama's Auburn loss and OSU's Oklahoma loss, then SOS isn't even close. I agree that OSU's losses are worse than Bama's. But their number of wins are the same, and so much better quality.

 

[Herd Fever]

Its sad we are arguing who lost the worst and not who is a Conference Champion or even played for 1.

If that is the case, maybe Auburn has an argument since the beat Alabama.

 

[Marine03]

SOS is sometimes misleading. The only reason Alabama's even close to OSU's is because of Auburn, which they lost. If you throw out Alabama's Auburn loss and OSU's Oklahoma loss, then SOS isn't even close. I agree that OSU's losses are worse than Bama's. But their number of wins are the same, and so much better quality.

And still it’s 2 vs 1 in the loss column

 

[The Real SamC]

Settle it on the field not by a bunch of nerds voting at a starbucks.

First, of course, this self-appointed committee is just people (the old time polls were sports writers and coaches, don't know where the "nerds at Starbucks" comes from) voting at a five-star resort in Dallas. But, more importantly, college football without these playoffs is settled on the field. During the greatest regular season in all of sports. Win ALL your games against the best possible schedule, play the best bowl you can, win that. National champion.

 

[Marine03]

Its sad we are arguing who lost the worst and not who is a Conference Champion or even played for 1.

If that is the case, maybe Auburn has an argument since the beat Alabama.

Maybe but none of the above were blown out by Iowa and Oklahoma at home

 

[CarolinaHerdzilla]

Its sad we are arguing who lost the worst and not who is a Conference Champion or even played for 1.

If that is the case, maybe Auburn has an argument since the beat Alabama.

FEVER...never since Auburn had 3 losses.......Clemson; LSU; and The Dawgs

Zilla22

 

[CarolinaHerdzilla]

And still it’s 2 vs 1 in the loss column

Silent Sam--------Nothing good ever came out Mythical Champions.....ask Penn State back in their hey days! Those days gave Notre Dame an advantage even with 2-3 loses. Plus, the Miami Canes were screwed out of a couple mythical championships because of their Bad Boy persona......

ZillaSweeney22

 

[sistersville]

First, of course, this self-appointed committee is just people (the old time polls were sports writers and coaches, don't know where the "nerds at Starbucks" comes from) voting at a five-star resort in Dallas. But, more importantly, college football without these playoffs is settled on the field. During the greatest regular season in all of sports. Win ALL your games against the best possible schedule, play the best bowl you can, win that. National champion.

Sam that is total fantasy. Wont happen Cant happen. Wake the hell up. Marshall's only chance at a championship is a playoff. Or are you like aaron perkins and the rest of the delusionals who will be content with never winning a championship. Nerds at jerry's world cant pick shit with the chickens.

 

[Herd Fever]

So bad losses matter more than Conference Championships?

 

[Herd-in-ATL]

What you see in all this discussion of who should be in or out of these playoffs is the fact that we should not be having playoffs, or the previous, yet more idiotic BcS. This year there just are not four deserving teams. That simple.

Just play the bowls, voters pick a "national champion". Problem solved. Oh, and, but we had the same record as the "national champion". Umm, did you win all your games? No? Then STFU. You did? Oh, who did you play? Well, that is nice, but not the same as the other team from the higher league, so STFU.

Problem solved.

Sam the playoff genie is out of the bottle, there is way too much money being made off of the CFP now to go back to the way it was when coaches and writers voted for the National Champion. A prime example, look at how the hype for the Heisman Trophy is almost non existent now that media outlets have the Playoffs to talk about.

I'm the imaging voice for ESPNU Sirius XM channel 84, I'm a huge college football fan and I had no idea who was in the running other than Baker Mayfield until I received bio scripts for their Heisman Town Hall special.

 

[The Real SamC]

Marshall's only chance at a championship is a playoff.

Or are you like aaron perkins and the rest of the delusionals ...

If you believe that Marshall will ever win a Division I-A national championship under any system whatever, you are the one who is delusional.

 

[sistersville]

No I said its their only chance. As far as delusional I leave that to alot of herd fans. The kind of herd fan who thinks we close to wv in football. The 99 team could have upset anybody. 96 team would have done well. Marshall would play in alot of bowls. Chance your name to the unreal sam

 

[sistersville]

I do enjoy your posts sam. Unlike most I like everybody on here

 

[JudgeDD]

And still it’s 2 vs 1 in the loss column

And it's a zero in the loss column for UCF. And that's my point really. WHO you beat matters, too.

 

[Marine03]

And it's a zero in the loss column for UCF. And that's my point really. WHO you beat matters, too.

Both teams won 3 games against teams that were ranked when they were played. BAMA was 3-1 against ranked teams and their lone loss on the road against their most hated rival by 12. OSU was 3-1 with a home loss by 15 to Oklahoma, and a blowout loss to Iowa l could make a better argument for USC with 2 losses getting in ahead of OSU with a SOS of 16.

 

[JudgeDD]

Both teams won 3 games against teams that were ranked when they were played. BAMA was 3-1 against ranked teams and their lone loss on the road against their most hated rival by 12. OSU was 3-1 with a home loss by 15 to Oklahoma, and a blowout loss to Iowa l could make a better argument for USC with 2 losses getting in ahead of OSU with a SOS of 16.

It's a good argument. And again, I'm not trying to say OSU SHOULD be in. I'm glad they're not. I'm just saying there is a strong argument for them.

Using those ranked-when-they-played-them games you mentioned:

Alabama
W #3 Florida State
W #19 LSU
W #16 Miss St
L #6 Auburn

Ohio State
L #5 Oklahoma
W #2 Penn State
W #12 Michigan St
W #4 Wisconsin

The losses for each are a wash. #2PSU/#3FSU are a wash. That leaves Alabama with wins against #16 and #19; Ohio State with wins against #4 and #12. Ohio State wins in the wins category. Hard to see that part any other way.

Yes, OSU does have one more loss. And maybe Alabama would have another if they had to play a 13th game. We'll never know.

 

[Marine03]

It's a good argument. And again, I'm not trying to say OSU SHOULD be in. I'm glad they're not. I'm just saying there is a strong argument for them.

Using those ranked-when-they-played-them games you mentioned:

Alabama
W #3 Florida State
W #19 LSU
W #16 Miss St
L #6 Auburn

Ohio State
L #5 Oklahoma
W #2 Penn State
W #12 Michigan St
W #4 Wisconsin

The losses for each are a wash. #2PSU/#3FSU are a wash. That leaves Alabama with wins against #16 and #19; Ohio State with wins against #4 and #12. Ohio State wins in the wins category. Hard to see that part any other way.

Yes, OSU does have one more loss. And maybe Alabama would have another if they had to play a 13th game. We'll never know.

If BAMA played a 13th game the loss vs Auburn would’ve been a W, so that’s a wash.

 

[JudgeDD]

If BAMA played a 13th game the loss vs Auburn would’ve been a W, so that’s a wash.

Nice try

 

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

It's not even close. A loss - especially a blowout loss to an average team - is far more damaging than any win(s).

They both had a comparable loss. Ohio State's was by more points and at home, but it was against a higher ranked team (Oklahoma). Alabama's was on the road and by a smaller margin, but it was against a team ranked a little behind Oklahoma. Those basically negate each other.

Now, what is more important: beating more highly ranked teams or getting your ass kicked by an average team? When both teams have shown they can do very well against a P5 schedule, you absolutely weigh getting your ass kicked as a second loss more than having a couple of better wins.