Big Ten details 24-team CFP plan with no league title games

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PMWinSTP said:
Seems a little odd if that's to the case. A 16 beating a 1 in a straight up 16 seed bracket is infinitely small, but it didn't happen in the BB tournament until it did. I can totally see a 3 seed getting beat by a 14 with some regularity, and so on.

I think it would be a fantastic tournament with 16 teams.
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No the issue isn’t about if it’s a good tourney at 16
The issue is the big ten commissioner wants to end conference title games and 16 doesn’t cover the losses of the championship game so need 24
 

Some guy said:
No the issue isn’t about if it’s a good tourney at 16
The issue is the big ten commissioner wants to end conference title games and 16 doesn’t cover the losses of the championship game so need 24
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Which I said seems odd.
 


24 is way too many. CFB is not like NFL, the talent and depth differential between #1-4 and #21-24 are bigger than the top and bottom NFL playoff seeds.

Think about the teams ranked around 18-24 at the end of every regular season. What is the chance that those teams are going to win more than one, much less 4 games in a row against top 15 opponents? It’s multiplying probabilities - probably 1%.
 

The problem with any CFP playoff plan is not with any plan it is with the ranking system. The SEC had 7 teams ranked in the top 16. The Big Ten obviously the superior conference had 4. No system can't make up for the SEC biases. Ideally have a big ten vs sec 3-6 playin games but the SEC has no incentive to do that.
 


Gopher Mac said:
The problem with any CFP playoff plan is not with any plan it is with the ranking system. The SEC had 7 teams ranked in the top 16. The Big Ten obviously the superior conference had 4. No system can't make up for the SEC biases. Ideally have a big ten vs sec 3-6 playin games but the SEC has no incentive to do that.
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Agree
 

Catechol said:
24 is way too many. CFB is not like NFL, the talent and depth differential between #1-4 and #21-24 are bigger than the top and bottom NFL playoff seeds.

Think about the teams ranked around 18-24 at the end of every regular season. What is the chance that those teams are going to win more than one, much less 4 games in a row against top 15 opponents? It’s multiplying probabilities - probably 1%.
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They play in the regular season, should we get rid of those games too?

I just don’t get this argument.
You don’t want blow outs? But they already play these types of teams all year
They don’t have a chance? Then they’ll lose so what’s the harm?



The argument that I get and the argument that works is the argument expansion of at large bids devalues the regular season.
 

Been beating that drum regarding the conference championship game for a bit now...It's completely pointless already in the 12-team playoffs.

Kind of feels like 24-team playoff will essentially kill bowl games. Can't imagine most fans would travel for that many playoff games (if various bowls still hosted in neutral stadiums).
 

Catechol said:
24 is way too many. CFB is not like NFL, the talent and depth differential between #1-4 and #21-24 are bigger than the top and bottom NFL playoff seeds.

Think about the teams ranked around 18-24 at the end of every regular season. What is the chance that those teams are going to win more than one, much less 4 games in a row against top 15 opponents? It’s multiplying probabilities - probably 1%.
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^

The first round bye for top 8 while the bottom 16 play is tacit admission nobody really expects or respects those teams as championship material (despite 2025 Miami’s late season resurrection). The sole reasons are revenue $ and probably more importantly for PE salesperson Pettiti the valuation of the enterprise. The real money (for him).

If 24 why not 32? More games, more revenue, no byes.. Makes more sense than 24.
 



Pompous Elitist said:
^

The first round bye for top 8 while the bottom 16 play is tacit admission nobody really expects or respects those teams as championship material (despite 2025 Miami’s late season resurrection). The sole reasons are revenue $ and probably more importantly for PE salesperson Pettiti the valuation of the enterprise. The real money (for him).

If 24 why not 32? More games, more revenue, no byes.. Makes more sense than 24.
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I think 24 giving the top 8 a bye does help the regular season mean more than 32 would

I would love to see 12 with 11 conference title auto bids.
But a conference loses its auto bid if they aren’t in the AP Top 25.

The committee picks the seeds and the at large.

I feel that will never happen
 

Some guy said:
I’m not sure how that seems odd
The big ten recoups 100% of the big ten title game

The big ten recoups as little as 0% of 2 more playoff games


Seems pretty obvious
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Seems odd to want to jettison the championship game.
 


The 24 team CFP will take 5 weekends to play for 16 teams. I don’t think many fan bases will travel well to all games.

Nothing like empty seats in a stadium to help create an exciting atmosphere. /s

I think a 16 team playoff should be tried before 24 teams. There will be fewer challenges, plus they’ll get a better idea of fan support and revenue streams. Petitti and the other commissioners should be smart enough to make it work.

Since rankings will always be biased, I like the idea of conferences having a minimum guaranteed slots. I don’t know if that number is 3 or 4 for the B1G and SEC, but it makes sense they should have more based on they are the two leagues driving the revenue for everyone.
 



Catechol said:
24 is way too many. CFB is not like NFL, the talent and depth differential between #1-4 and #21-24 are bigger than the top and bottom NFL playoff seeds.

Think about the teams ranked around 18-24 at the end of every regular season. What is the chance that those teams are going to win more than one, much less 4 games in a row against top 15 opponents? It’s multiplying probabilities - probably 1%.
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~48 of the 68 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament have zero chance to win it. They still cherish making it and it's still fun to watch.
 




howeda7 said:
Why?
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A football team has at least 4 times as many players, and at least double if not triple the staff. Football games are longer and played at separate facilities, where basketball has at least 4 teams sharing the same venue.

It’s just a lot easier to have more basketball teams than football teams in the post season.
 

WAGopher said:
A football team has at least 4 times as many players, and at least double if not triple the staff. Football games are longer and played at separate facilities, where basketball has at least 4 teams sharing the same venue.

It’s just a lot easier to have more basketball teams than football teams in the post season.
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Add to that the recovery time for football players. They need at least 4 or 5 days for physical recovery which makes multiple games in a week impossible. I threw out 32 teams if they are going to go beyond the current 12 simply because I abhor byes, but 32 would stretch the season out further into January and we don't want the players to miss class (I'm joking). Go to 16 games and keep the conference championships.
 

Assuming quarterfinals stay neutral site, Something 32 would do that 24 doesn’t do is have teams hosting 2 playoff games

I don’t understand why people dislike a bye.
I understand why they dislike the bye in the correct model because all 12 get multiple weeks between games but the bye teams get 5-6 weeks off.

But if the regular season finished on Saturday and the first playoff game was 6-7 days later on a Friday night or Saturday (round of 24) and the second round was 7 days after that I think people would dislike the byes less
 

Some guy said:
Well it’s guaranteed the big ten gets 100% of big ten title game

Extra two playoff games may lead to zero big ten teams and zero extra revenue
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I didn't follow what you're saying here.

I'm guessing what they're trying to pigeonhole into the expansion is that whatever the Big Ten's share of the new (16 or 24 team) expanded playoff payout will be, needs to offset the loss of the Big Ten champ game from their own TV contract.
 

Some guy said:
They play in the regular season, should we get rid of those games too?

I just don’t get this argument.
You don’t want blow outs? But they already play these types of teams all year
They don’t have a chance? Then they’ll lose so what’s the harm?
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I think the idea is that when you see Ohio State putting up 28 against Purdue in the first quarter, there are other games you can switch to. When it's the playoff and Ohio State is up 28-0 in the first quarter, it's the only college football game available.

Some guy said:
The argument that I get and the argument that works is the argument expansion of at large bids devalues the regular season.
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I agree with this.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
I think the idea is that when you see Ohio State putting up 28 against Purdue in the first quarter, there are other games you can switch to. When it's the playoff and Ohio State is up 28-0 in the first quarter, it's the only college football game available.
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This already happens in the current playoff format.
This also happened in the 2 team BCS


www.espn.com

Miami 37-14 Nebraska (Jan 3, 2002) Final Score - ESPN

Game summary of the Miami Hurricanes vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers NCAAF game, final score 37-14, from January 3, 2002 on ESPN.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
Was 27-0 4 minutes into the second quarter


The only way to have no blowouts is to not play the games.

GopherTheJugular said:
I agree with this.
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WAGopher said:
A football team has at least 4 times as many players, and at least double if not triple the staff. Football games are longer and played at separate facilities, where basketball has at least 4 teams sharing the same venue.

It’s just a lot easier to have more basketball teams than football teams in the post season.
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It's one more game vs the current format and would replace the conference championship games which have become meaningless.
 

Some guy said:
This already happens in the current playoff format.
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Yeah, and were people "excited" about Tulane? If that happens year in and year out, will people look forward to watching?

Some guy said:
This also happened in the 2 team BCS


The only way to have no blowouts is to not play the games.
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That is a true statement. We can also try to mitigate how often we see them though; once every 20 or so years is tolerable.
 

24 with all conference champs auto bid.
 

Some guy said:
No the issue isn’t about if it’s a good tourney at 16
The issue is the big ten commissioner wants to end conference title games and 16 doesn’t cover the losses of the championship game so need 24
Click to expand...
Simple fix with such large conferences: Intra-conference 4 team playoff. Conference finalists are auto-bids. Teams that make CFP that are not conference finalists cannot be ranked higher than conference finalists. There's ways to make conference championships meaningful.

What the B1G may or may not realize is that creating a megaconference without a clear conference champion and such a large playoff field makes the idea of traditional conferences obsolete. Maybe that is by design and we'll in the not too distant future see college playoff grouped into NFL style conferences and divisions.
 

50PoundHead said:
Add to that the recovery time for football players. They need at least 4 or 5 days for physical recovery which makes multiple games in a week impossible. I threw out 32 teams if they are going to go beyond the current 12 simply because I abhor byes, but 32 would stretch the season out further into January and we don't want the players to miss class (I'm joking). Go to 16 games and keep the conference championships.
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Why abhor Byes?

When rewarded appropriately it's a fantastic incentive to do well on the Regular Season. I think the NFL has diluted their product by awarding fewer of them.
 

Might as well play year round? When it gets so diluted, there is no taste, no desire to watch.
 

How about a 24 team CFP with top seed getting home field until the championship game which is held at a neutral site unaffiliated to any bowl organization? And then the CFB equivalent to the NIT, another consolation tourney for 24 additional teams? Scrap the bowls and the bowl system. There's no reason to be beholden to chambers of commerce in Pasadena, Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta any more, and with mass transfers and opt outs, bowls are less and less meaningful. The consolation tourney would have something like an inverse ratio of P4:G6 teams from the CFP to ensure access to G6 teams and prevent the consolation tourney from getting flooded with mid P4 teams. In other words, if 23 CFP teams are P4 and 1 G6, then the consolation tourney would have 23 G6 teams and 1 P4 (although maybe that's too drastic. Perhaps that number is 1/2 or 3/4). Two tourneys would provide plenty of games for ESPN and to keep us all entertained through the holidays and hopefully keep more teams and fan bases engaged.
 

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