UCF mentioned
There would be three at-large bids allowed, with one twist. If a non-Power Five club goes unbeaten and the committee ranks it in say, the top 10 or 15 (some number) then that team gets in automatically. Is UCF one of the eight best teams? We don’t really know, but it’s close and allowing an underdog into the tournament is good for the sport. Playoffs are businesses and a Cinderella is good for ratings and interest. Besides, if UCF proves to be a weak No. 8 seed, that is just a benefit the No. 1 seed earned. This year, Clemson’s reward is Alabama on a neutral field that is closer to Alabama. Gee, thanks.
Would expanding the playoff water down the regular season?
No. First off, it would make every Power Five conference race matter (or even, this year, the American Athletic Conference title game, where the country would have been riveted to see whether UCF would go unbeaten and steal a bid from a power program). Instead, each year at least one major conference comes up empty. This year it was two. The Pac-12 season was essentially valueless for the last month of the season once teams hit a second regular-season loss. How about all those games that would now count for something?
Second, not winning your conference still would be incredibly risky. UCF grabbing a bid may have meant that, say, Miami would have been out based on its loss to Pitt (depending on how the ACC picked its champion). So the regular season would have meant more because Miami wouldn’t have been bailed out with a ACC title game appearance. Meanwhile, Ohio State would have known it was eliminated at the end of the regular season instead of going through Saturday’s title game without realizing it had been eliminated at the end of the regular season.
Here’s what this year’s playoff would look like (using committee rankings from Nov. 28, pre-conference title games) and giving UCF the No. 8 spot.
No. 8 UCF at No. 1 Clemson
No. 7 USC at No. 2 Auburn
No. 6 Georgia at No. 3 Oklahoma
No. 5 Alabama at No. 4 Wisconsin
Five of the top six teams played last weekend anyway in elimination games. So no change for them. Alabama was essentially given a bye into the semifinals under the current system, which is absurd. This way the Tide has to earn it. USC and UCF both played for conference titles, but this way both teams would have been in meaningful playoff games.
There would be three at-large bids allowed, with one twist. If a non-Power Five club goes unbeaten and the committee ranks it in say, the top 10 or 15 (some number) then that team gets in automatically. Is UCF one of the eight best teams? We don’t really know, but it’s close and allowing an underdog into the tournament is good for the sport. Playoffs are businesses and a Cinderella is good for ratings and interest. Besides, if UCF proves to be a weak No. 8 seed, that is just a benefit the No. 1 seed earned. This year, Clemson’s reward is Alabama on a neutral field that is closer to Alabama. Gee, thanks.
Would expanding the playoff water down the regular season?
No. First off, it would make every Power Five conference race matter (or even, this year, the American Athletic Conference title game, where the country would have been riveted to see whether UCF would go unbeaten and steal a bid from a power program). Instead, each year at least one major conference comes up empty. This year it was two. The Pac-12 season was essentially valueless for the last month of the season once teams hit a second regular-season loss. How about all those games that would now count for something?
Second, not winning your conference still would be incredibly risky. UCF grabbing a bid may have meant that, say, Miami would have been out based on its loss to Pitt (depending on how the ACC picked its champion). So the regular season would have meant more because Miami wouldn’t have been bailed out with a ACC title game appearance. Meanwhile, Ohio State would have known it was eliminated at the end of the regular season instead of going through Saturday’s title game without realizing it had been eliminated at the end of the regular season.
Here’s what this year’s playoff would look like (using committee rankings from Nov. 28, pre-conference title games) and giving UCF the No. 8 spot.
No. 8 UCF at No. 1 Clemson
No. 7 USC at No. 2 Auburn
No. 6 Georgia at No. 3 Oklahoma
No. 5 Alabama at No. 4 Wisconsin
Five of the top six teams played last weekend anyway in elimination games. So no change for them. Alabama was essentially given a bye into the semifinals under the current system, which is absurd. This way the Tide has to earn it. USC and UCF both played for conference titles, but this way both teams would have been in meaningful playoff games.
