My ideal scenario would be a 16 team format. The first 8 teams selected would be the P5 champs, and the 3 highest ranked G5 champs if ranked in the top25. The next 8 would be at large and would be the 8 highest ranked teams not included in the first 8 (this leaves room for more G5 teams/champs if they are ranked high enough), and any Independent schools if they are ranked in the Top10 and not affiliated with a conference (like Notre Dame has recently done). If there are less than 3 G5 Champs ranked in top25, those spots become at-large slots. The first two rounds would be played on campus of the home (top 8 seeds) teams. The semifinals and championship game would be made up of the current playoff bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta) and would be played on NYD on rotation with the odd bowl falling out to the second round. The current existing bowls and their sponsorships could bid each year for the right to sponsor first and second round games with the odd NYD bowl being guaranteed a second round sponsorship for the game with the #1 seed, or first right to select any other matchup they prefer. This system, in my mind, would still give relevance to bowl games, bring about some importance to all the players involved, minimize the travel for players, staffs, families, and fans, and create tons more excitement throughout the traditional "bowl season" while ever increasing revenues along the way (which is what this all about anyway).
So with that, your playoff first round matchups this year would have looked like this (based on final AP poll before bowls began)...
#1 bama* vs #25 Oregon*
#2 Clemson* vs #22 San Jose St**
#3 Ohio State* vs #14 Northwestern
#4 Notre Dame vs #13 UNC
#5 Texas A&M vs #12 Coastal Carolina**
#6 Oklahoma* vs #11 Indiana
#7 Florida vs #10 Iowa State
#8 Cincinatti** vs #9 Georgia
* - P5 Champs
** - G5 Champs
All seeds are based on final rankings after conference championship games. Top 8 seeds are home team for round 1, top 4 seeds are home teams for round 2, top 2 seeds are home team for semi-finals, highest seed would be home team for Championship game.
Now, how would you make this better and bring enough importance to the overall post season to keep enough players playing across the country? If you suggest only an 8 team playoff, you better have something to go along with that as bowls are going to die off if players aren't playing as schools will begin to opt out of bowls entirely rather than be embarrassed like UF was last night. And that would mean tons of lost revenues for conferences across the board.
So with that, your playoff first round matchups this year would have looked like this (based on final AP poll before bowls began)...
#1 bama* vs #25 Oregon*
#2 Clemson* vs #22 San Jose St**
#3 Ohio State* vs #14 Northwestern
#4 Notre Dame vs #13 UNC
#5 Texas A&M vs #12 Coastal Carolina**
#6 Oklahoma* vs #11 Indiana
#7 Florida vs #10 Iowa State
#8 Cincinatti** vs #9 Georgia
* - P5 Champs
** - G5 Champs
All seeds are based on final rankings after conference championship games. Top 8 seeds are home team for round 1, top 4 seeds are home teams for round 2, top 2 seeds are home team for semi-finals, highest seed would be home team for Championship game.
Now, how would you make this better and bring enough importance to the overall post season to keep enough players playing across the country? If you suggest only an 8 team playoff, you better have something to go along with that as bowls are going to die off if players aren't playing as schools will begin to opt out of bowls entirely rather than be embarrassed like UF was last night. And that would mean tons of lost revenues for conferences across the board.
PS- I really don't care what you have to say as I think my proposal is by far the best idea ever and I will never conform to your neanderthal ways of thinking.
