December 18th, 2018 at 7:16 PM ^
Okay sure, go ahead and destroy the regular season pageantry. While we're at it, let's murder kittens and drink their blood too.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:32 PM ^
I think 32 games is too much but the way it is now most regular season games don't mean anything anyway. Realistically, at the start of each season there are only 8ish teams who can win it all as the system stands.
Iowa has no real chance of ever winning it all and those fans show up to every game. Regular season will always matter because people love the schools they went to and/or root for. College football is as much about nostalgia as it is about competing for a championship.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:36 PM ^
I feel like your 2nd paragraph is arguing against your 1st paragraph.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
I am saying they mean something for other reasons than playing for a title. In terms of a championship there are very few games that actually matter. It is essentially which one of the 8 teams win out. Outside of those schedules the games have no impact but people still show up to them.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:30 PM ^
Drinking their blood is a bridge too far.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:03 PM ^
Bathe in it then
December 18th, 2018 at 8:54 PM ^
I use to be on that boat, but I think I am moving away from it.
FCS has a 24 team playoff. D2 has a 28 team playoff. D3 has a 32 team playoff.
They still have rivalries and pageantry.
In a 24 team playoff why wouldn't there be value to regular season games?
You fall out of the top 8 and you lose a crucial first round bye. You fall out of 9th through 16 and you lose a home game in the first round. You fall out of the top 24 and your coach might lose his job.
We currently have a highly flawed 4 team playoff that has made bowls less meaningful. Players sitting, half the fans complaining about uninteresting matchups and players sitting. Conferences whining...etc.
December 19th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
The bowls are finished as things players take seriously either way, four team or 24. Anything ore than 8 ruins the a far more important thing, the regular season, which is the best regular season in sports, precisely because even one loss is devastating. Once you can get in with three losses, that goes away.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^
Because it’s what no girl has ever said to me
December 18th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
Because the vast majority of those 32 teams aren't at the caliber of Alabama, Clemson, OSU...
Most of those games would be just as meaningless as the crappy bowl games they would replace.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^
Exactly the same thing for NCAA tournament for basketball yet they do it
December 18th, 2018 at 7:39 PM ^
You can play 3 basketball games a week in basketball. Also, there isn't as much variance in football. You would rarely have any upsets in the first round of a 32 team football playoff. And it would take over a month to complete.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:57 PM ^
I've always wondered, what is so special about football that you can only play it once per week? Basketball, hockey, soccer, etc., all of them can play multiple times per week.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
Football is a collision sport. It takes a lot of time to heal up from games.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:25 PM ^
This is a serious question?
December 18th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
Football is the ballet of team sports. Bring on curling! That’s a real blood sport!
December 18th, 2018 at 9:34 PM ^
Yet it's not a problem for lower level football like FCS, D2, D3, NAIA.....
December 18th, 2018 at 7:52 PM ^
Not the same at all. Upsets are easier to come by in basketball. Due to the physical nature of football, the team with more size, strength, and speed will easily beat up on a lesser opponent essentially every time.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:40 PM ^
2018 been a good year for upsets...
11. Temple, 16-point underdog, won at Maryland in Week 3
9. (tie) Eastern Michigan, 17-point underdog, won at Purdue in Week 2
9. (tie) East Carolina, 17-point underdog, beat North Carolina in Week 2
6. Hawaii (tie), 17.5-point underdog, won at Colorado State in Week 0
6. (tie) Wake Forest, 17.5-point underdog, won at No. 14 NC State in Week 11
6. (tie) Charlotte, 17.5-point underdog, won at FAU in Week 13
5. Akron, 21-point underdog, won at Northwestern in Week 3
4. UNLV, 22.5-point underdog, won at San Diego State in Week 11
3. BYU, 23.5-point underdog, won at No. 6 Wisconsin in Week 3
2. Oregon State, 24.5-point underdog, won at Colorado in Week 9
1. Old Dominion, 28-point underdog, beat No. 13 Virginia Tech in Week 4
As well, some team from Ohio lost at Purdue.
Credit: https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/9/2/17796432/college-football-upsets-2018-biggest-ranking
December 18th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
There are 350 teams to draw 68 from. If they want to improve the tournament and increase the number of 16 over 1 seeds, they would stop giving autobids and pick teams based on merit.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:02 PM ^
I love the autobids because it gives all 350 teams a shot at the title. I hate when titles and privilege are decided on paper. Sometimes George Masons actually happen.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
Yes. I would like an 8 team playoff though. Or make it 10 with two play-in games.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^
Why not 128
December 18th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
256!!!!!
December 19th, 2018 at 6:41 AM ^
I'm with you! In fact, open it up to D2 and D3 teams and make it 512! No more "meaningless exhibitions", every game's a playoff game!!!!
/s
December 18th, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
I'd love to see a selection committee that meets to leave two teams out.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^
That is essentially what you have now. The top 6 are usually narrowed down by common sense.
December 18th, 2018 at 11:27 PM ^
Yeah, but those teams would be UConn and UTEP instead of Georgia and Ohio St.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:48 PM ^
1 team, really...'cuz Rutger
December 19th, 2018 at 1:28 AM ^
Rutgers and somebody else
December 18th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^
The reason involves the night and touching.
December 19th, 2018 at 3:20 AM ^
So did my prom, but that didn't involve 32 teams.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^
Because that would be 25% of the teams. Most of the NCAA tournaments are a little bit more exclusive than that. Having 16 teams would allow an appropriate level of exclusivity (12.5% of teams) while also allowing the tournament to take place over four weeks.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:26 PM ^
Stick to apparel threads.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:26 PM ^
No one's mentioned it, but individual football games are so much more demanding on a team than individual basketball games, for example. Unless you're cutting out regular season games, you're going to have way more injuries if you make teams play a bunch of games on the way to a national championship like in the NCAA tournament. With less teams, and therefore less games to reach 1v1, you're much more likely to have the final two teams at or near the peak strength.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:27 PM ^
It would take too long to do this in football. I think 16 would be about the most you could get into a tourney. Id prefer 8, think 16 would sill be good. I also think there should be another tourney for the group 5 teams. Let them have a championship.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:27 PM ^
Lets have a pre-season too!!
December 18th, 2018 at 7:29 PM ^
Because everyone will die from closed head injuries? Because the players are people and students, not professionals? Because Diagonal Blue touches himself at night?
December 18th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
There is only 1 way you can know that last answer. Are you willing to take one for the team? /s
December 18th, 2018 at 7:30 PM ^
Every regular season, the MSU basketball fanbase says "wait until March" every time their team loses. If there was a non-zero chance of them missing the tourney, then the loss would hurt them more and bring moar lulz. I'm not saying scale back March madness, but I don't want that attitude toward football.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:34 PM ^
DII has more than 4 teams and it has not killed their regular season. Open your minds, people.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:36 PM ^
They also don’t play 13 games before the tournament.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
16 teams. Yes. Current model is outdated and the bowl games are stupid. Blow it up.
December 19th, 2018 at 5:54 AM ^
Seems like for nostalgia's sake, people bemoan that bowl games don't mean anything when they never really meant anything anyway. The Peach Bowl is just as much a feelings-ball exhibition as it was years ago. Same with just about every other bowl that didn't have a say in the national championship
December 18th, 2018 at 7:36 PM ^
An 8 team playoff would be fine. Once you get past 8-10 teams the quality really lessens. With the soft schedules in college football, it's hard to say that 3 loss and 4 loss teams deserve a chance at the National Title. For example, in 2017's last pre-bowl games poll, EVERY power 5 team in the rankings from #12 down had at least 3 losses. Do you really think that 4 loss Stanford, and 3 loss MSU deserved a chance to be in some kind of tournament for the National Title?
Going with 8 teams would be a fine and fair playoff. The five Power-5 Champions, plus 3 at large teams (regardless of conference affiliation) would possibly be inclusive of all the teams deserving. It would be quite difficult, in ANY year, for the 9th best team to stake a claim to having been robbed of their chance at a title.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:44 PM ^
An 8 team playoff will give you 5 conference Champs & 3 additional SEC teams. Is that what everyone wants to see? Not what I want to see.
December 19th, 2018 at 12:57 AM ^
Actually, this year it would have given you 5 conference Champions, Notre Dame, Georgia, and MICHIGAN! Last year it would have been 5 Champions, Alabama, Wisconsin, Auburn/Penn St. In 2016 it would have given you 5 Champions, Penn St, MICHIGAN, Wisconsin. In neither of the past 3 years would the SEC have gotten all of the at large berths. In reality, only the Big Ten would have been poised to achieve that feat. SEC bias is indeed real, but it is not as pervasive as some loudly proclaim it to be.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:36 PM ^
I'd like to see all conference champs make the playoff. Like every other sport.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
8 is the best, leave it alone
December 18th, 2018 at 7:45 PM ^
Unpopular Opinion Alert:
A 4-team playoff is perfectly fine.
The committee has selected the right teams every year.
Don't fix what isn't broken.