Playoff Poll

Select the postseason you would prefer for NCAA D1 football

  • Old Bowl System (pre-BCS)

    Votes: 22 19.5%

  • Current BCS

    Votes: 6 5.3%

  • BCS + 1

    Votes: 14 12.4%

  • BCS Bowls as Quarterfinals of Eight Team Tournament

    Votes: 40 35.4%

  • 16 team tournament (like FCS / D1A)

    Votes: 31 27.4%
  • Total voters
    113
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I voted for an 8 team tournament, athough having the NYD bowls as the quarterfinals is not what I would prefer. I would prefer having the opening game be at the higher seeded team, and let the bowls bid to host the semi-final and championship game.

Incidentally, I-AA expanded their playoffs to 20 teams. D-III has 32 teams in the playoffs. 8 teams is large enough for me.
 

8 team playoff

I will watch the national championship game and not any other game this year. I have zero interest in watching meaningless college games.

Keep the other bowl games for anyone not in the top 8.
 


16 would be my preference. I think it would allow for the BEST team to rise to the championship and give a fair nod to both non AQ schools as well as BCS schools bold enough to schedule (and lose) a very early season game against other powers. First round is at the home of the higher seed around Thanksgiving or first week in December. Second round is the 4 BCS bowls. Perhaps drop one non-con regular season game. Could maybe have a 'final four' at a neutral site covering 6 days. All or most other bowl games could continue as usual.
 


I think eight are all you need, although I could go 12. Move the best bowls back to Jan. 1 again, and follow that up with the semi-finals and finals the following two weeks.

I don't mind all the bowl games, but I do mind that the best games and best teams are no longer on New Year's Day (for the most part). Miami of Ohio and Middle Tennessee playing on Jan. 6? That's just wrong.
 

Anything more than a +1 will ruin the CFB regular season. Most fans don't realize that CFB's regular season, where teams are eliminated from the National Title and Conference title hunts each week, is what makes CFB the most compelling sport in the world.

Anyone who favors a playoff hasn't thought through how it would damage the regular season. In hoops no one cares about anything before the tournament. Do you really want that to happen to CFB?
 

AhliBobwa said:
Anything more than a +1 will ruin the CFB regular season. Most fans don't realize that CFB's regular season, where teams are eliminated from the National Title and Conference title hunts each week, is what makes CFB the most compelling sport in the world.

Anyone who favors a playoff hasn't thought through how it would damage the regular season. In hoops no one cares about anything before the tournament. Do you really want that to happen to CFB?
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I have thought about it. If it is done correctly, it enhances the regular season. What is needed are no at large spots in the tournament: win your conference or stay home.
 

AhliBobwa said:
Anything more than a +1 will ruin the CFB regular season. Most fans don't realize that CFB's regular season, where teams are eliminated from the National Title and Conference title hunts each week, is what makes CFB the most compelling sport in the world.

Anyone who favors a playoff hasn't thought through how it would damage the regular season. In hoops no one cares about anything before the tournament. Do you really want that to happen to CFB?
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Actually, I've thought it through a lot. If you have 6 BCS conference champs, plus ONE at large, plus ONE small school, explain to me how that takes anything away from the regular season? How is the regular season different at all? Conference championship is still your goal. The ONLY detraction I could see would be a late season game by a team that had already locked up the conference championship would be somewhat meaningless. But those would be rare, and playing for seeding could eliminate that problem. I would gladly trade a rare meaningless game to the awesome spectacle of playoff college football. I truly think it would supplant the NFL playoffs as the premier sporting event in the US. But yeah, the BCS is awesome too. I love waiting to see who the computers chose to play in the title game.
 



The top 8 teams (or 12 or 16.....) would participate in a PLAYOFF !.......and perhaps the big traditional bowls (i.e. Rose, Orange, etc) could host the semifinals and finals of this playoff. Perhaps the quarterfinal games of this playoff would be played at the site of the highest seeded team.

Then you can still have all these meaningless (yet entertaining and money generating?!) bowls for all the remaining "eligible" teams that do not make the playoffs.

It doesn't seem that difficult to me.
 

We need at least a 16 team tournaments.We need more match-ups like we have in college hoops. Small schools beating the big boys. College football would gain from David vs. Goliath kind of games. Right now the current system is set up to benefit a few select schools and as such the national championship is more a popularity contest and not a real test as to who is the best team in the land.I do not remember the exact year, but the game between Alabama and Utah was a prime example. I think they could have beat anyone that year, but because of the BCS system they could not win a national championship.
 


Hates Monikers said:
I think eight are all you need, although I could go 12. Move the best bowls back to Jan. 1 again, and follow that up with the semi-finals and finals the following two weeks.

I don't mind all the bowl games, but I do mind that the best games and best teams are no longer on New Year's Day (for the most part). Miami of Ohio and Middle Tennessee playing on Jan. 6? That's just wrong.
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+2​
 



AhliBobwa said:
Anything more than a +1 will ruin the CFB regular season. Most fans don't realize that CFB's regular season, where teams are eliminated from the National Title and Conference title hunts each week, is what makes CFB the most compelling sport in the world.

Anyone who favors a playoff hasn't thought through how it would damage the regular season. In hoops no one cares about anything before the tournament. Do you really want that to happen to CFB?
Click to expand...

Yep. March Madness great idea but it's killed the public's interest in the regular season.
 

The key to a playoff is to keep the integrity of the CFB regular season since it is the best and most meaningful regular season of any sport. Thus in an ideal system only conference champions would be eligible for the playoff. Since we only have 11 conferences plus the Notre Dame factor this complicates things. So if I were the dictator of the universe here is how I would set it up.

12 teams. Only conference champions are eligible plus 1 at-large team. If Notre Dame has a higher BCS ranking than 6 of the conference champions than they are in instead of an at-large team.

Year 1: All conference champions plus highest rated at-large team using the BCS formula. Top 4 rated teams get a bye (at-large team, including Notre Dame, is ineligible for a bye).

Year 2 and beyond: 4 conference champions from the conferences that reached the semi-finals the year before earn the bye. If the at-large team (or Notre Dame) reached the semi-finals the year before they do not get a bye. Instead the highest ranked conference champion would earn the bye.

To me this creates a bit of the "relegation" aspect to CFB that you have in FIFA and the World Hockey Championships. Instead of countries automatically being in the higher bracket, you have conferences being in the higher brackets but still giving the little guys a chance to move up.
 

RodentRampage said:
I have thought about it. If it is done correctly, it enhances the regular season. What is needed are no at large spots in the tournament: win your conference or stay home.
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I hate to keep bringing up UConn, but some of you are not getting how a playoff devalues the regular season. I know it usually doesn't play out this way, but you could lose all of your non-con games, and if you are in a weak division of a conference, go 5-3 and go to the playoff as a 6-7 team. UConn is at a slightly more respectable 8-4, but still have no business playing for the title.
 

Is the goal of college football purely to establish a national champion? Someone please answer this after thinking it through.
 

FreakyDeke said:
I hate to keep bringing up UConn, but some of you are not getting how a playoff devalues the regular season. I know it usually doesn't play out this way, but you could lose all of your non-con games, and if you are in a weak division of a conference, go 5-3 and go to the playoff as a 6-7 team. UConn is at a slightly more respectable 8-4, but still have no business playing for the title.
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I don't think their conference games would be devalued unless they clinched early but yes it would truly devalue some of the NC games. When I was in school in '88 ND won three big games against Michigan, Miami, and USC to win the NC. Think of the Texas win over OSU at the shoe in '05, many FSU-Miami games in the 90's. All meaningless with an eight Or 16 team playoff.
 

A playoff which only rewards conference champions might actually HELP get more high-profile non conference matchups. Think about it. Suppose you are a program with NC title aspirations what will help you prepare more for the regular season and playoffs, playing a top 25 team or a directional school from the MAC?
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
A playoff which only rewards conference champions might actually HELP get more high-profile non conference matchups. Think about it. Suppose you are a program with NC title aspirations what will help you prepare more for the regular season and playoffs, playing a top 25 team or a directional school from the MAC?
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You're right that there could be more big time match-ups scheduled, but what fun is it if they don't matter? I guess you'd be playing to say "We beat Texas!" or maybe for a higher seed if you happen to win your conference later.
 

My preference in order:

1 pre-bcs
2 current bcs
3 +1
4 BCS as quarters
5 16 team

I honestly think that the last two would ruin the bowl tradition and devalue the regular season and would, in the end, make me less of a CFB fan. I think the +1 is dangerous in this regard because all that is needed is a couple of complaints about who is the #2 vs. #3 before it would lead to option four or five.
 

The regular season is already devalued when a team can win all their games and have no chance at being the national champ. Any system that allows for that is broken.

16 teams is a small playoff, if you gave every conference champ an autobid this year the worst at-large team would be LSU. A team that went 10-2. Don't see how that devalues the regular season in anyway when a team has to go 10-2 to make the playoffs if they don't win their conference.
 

Bowls are just entertainment

16FeetUnder said:
Is the goal of college football purely to establish a national champion? Someone please answer this after thinking it through.
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I agree. If I watch a bowl game, it's to see some different schools playing each other. There's some real interesting match-ups and some upsets to be had (Washington, Tulsa). I don't think college football needs one more tier of games to give some schools additional bragging rights ("We made it to the final four of football"). Crowning a playoff champion dilutes the process.

On a slightly different point, college football does not equal college basketball. Totally different game, therefore totally different format. At least with the big field in Bball, weird match-ups and different styles of play will work themselves out so that some hot 3-pt shooting mid-conf team probably won't go all the way without balance and depth. A playoff for football would make the match-ups more critical to success (ex. a wishbone offense or spread could do damage to teams that don't have time to prepare).
 

FargoBison said:
The regular season is already devalued when a team can win all their games and have no chance at being the national champ. Any system that allows for that is broken.

16 teams is a small playoff, if you gave every conference champ an autobid this year the worst at-large team would be LSU. A team that went 10-2. Don't see how that devalues the regular season in anyway when a team has to go 10-2 to make the playoffs if they don't win their conference.
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You better check out the Big East champion's record. You can also go back the last 10-12 years and you'll probably find a number of 3 (or 4) loss teams who won their conference. If you go to a playoff there would be no way to exclude any of the conference champs. That would bring in the WAC, MAC, Conference USA, Mountain West and the Sun Belt into it. There have been a LOT of 3 -5 loss Champs in those leagues.

What usually happens in these debates is supporters of a playoff say that wouldn't happen because someone can just "pick the teams". Isn't that what people are complaining about in the first place?

Which brings everybody back to square one, except if a lot of people were honest about it they only want BCS teams to be eligible for a playoff in the first place. Present company excepted Fargo.:)

Jim Valvano and NCState was a great story but a team that lost a third of their regular season games shouldn't have been playing for the title. The saving grace in basketball is you have had to win 5,6 0r even 7 :)confused:) games to get to the title game.

I'm okay with plus one. Four or even eight teams becomes a "pick-um" anyway. 16? That means a couple of teams would play 15-16 games. Anybody really think that teams will give up a home gate or two so they can get the TV watchers who don't watch during the regular season to tune-in to a playoff?

Probably not. Maybe people really just want to see better match-ups then they get in a lot of Bowl games now. I can't argue with that. I would too, but I also just want to see more College Football.

Not on January 10 though. :banghead:
 

Since there are 11 conferences, the playoff has to be at least that big.

I prefer 16 teams, one at-large is not enough.
 

My point was about it devaluing the regular season, if a team has to win their conference to get in the playoffs the season is obviously going to have a lot of value. If a team has to go 10-2 to get an at-large bid the season is obviously going to have a lot of value.

A playoff of even 16 teams doesn't hurt the regular season one bit.

That said I wouldn't mind an eight team playoff, as long as it allowed all undefeated teams not in the top 8 a chance to play-in. You could have a play-in round right after the season, then the quarterfinal round a week later, play the semifinals on New Years Day at bowl sites and then play the title game on roughly the same date as now.

I think a deserving team would win every year, it would be exciting and it would still allow for some good bowl matchups. Plus you could still play 12 regular season games.
 

FreakyDeke said:
You're right that there could be more big time match-ups scheduled, but what fun is it if they don't matter? I guess you'd be playing to say "We beat Texas!" or maybe for a higher seed if you happen to win your conference later.
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The VAST MAJORITY of college football games do not matter to the national title. Are they fun? Heck yeah! The Iowa game was AWESOME and it had no bowl, title, or league championship implications. Quit worrying so much about the regular season, it will still be awesome. And at the end we will have 7 unbelievable games. The BCS is TERRIBLE. It gives us TERRIBLE matchups, and does not settle without great controversy, who is the best team in the nation.
 

If a team loses 3 tp 5 regular season games but still wins it's conference and gets to a playoff it devalues everything.
 


I like the pre bcs system. I don't mind at all when teams are co champions either. The regular season and bowl games were all more exciting in the old system. It was like watching 3 or 4 bcs championship games in the old bowl system. I don't think people would get pissed with having to share a title either.
 

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