Did the CFP system work??

Jmonty71

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After seeing UCF have little to no trouble with Auburn, did the committee get it right? We have an undefeated team and they aren't playing in the national championship. Is the system broke?
 

smathis30

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I know I'm a dead horse at this point, but UCF was undoubtedly under ranked and comparing them to WMU last year is a joke, but the committee got it right. Hard to argue against them beating the 1 seed. Bama is better than UCF in almost all advanced stats (also played Bama at home while UCF was essentially a road game for them)
 

smathis30

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I will say I prefer a 8 team playoff but decided by the BCS system. It was a decent system, just needed more teams. Combination of both would give G5 teams respect when they deserve it as they definitely got their fair share in the BCS system
 

FredJacket

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I also think an 8-team playoff with automatic berths for P5 conference champions and 3 at-large would solve some of the problems folks have with the current system. Although, I'd argue you will still have legit 'grey area' when isolating the best final 2 or 3 slots (of the 8) between what would usually be 4-6 teams with a good case to get in.

The current 4-team deal is being executed in probably the best way possible. I generally believe the committee has done a good job getting 4 of the best teams into the tournament. Again...there is obviously going to debate over who's in (and out). ...and it is impossible to establish black and white criteria when there are 130+ FBS teams.. and each only playing 12 (or 13) games in a season.

Now... specifically the UCF situation in 2017. The more I think about this... and especially after they handled Auburn, how good they are compared to Clemson, Alabama, OU, and UGA is not as simple as "well they didn't play a tough schedule" ...that is factually correct when comparing schedules. However, UCF did not LOSE. That means in simple terms they were better than ALL the teams they played. ..and frankly, how do we know (really) if this 2017 team is not on par with the very best in the nation. I feel like we (me included) just come at this with a real bias against teams like UCF who are not "supposed to be" the best team in the country. It has to be a P5 team or ND... well, perhaps a team like UCF has a LOT of things all come together in a particular year and they deserved to be in the conversation.
 

THWG

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I'm an advocate for the 6 team playoff. All 5 P5 champions (regardless of record) and either ND or the highest rated G5 as the sixth team. 1 and 2 would get a bye because they earned it and 3 and 4 would host their games. This would reward conference champions which is not easily accomplished. It also still creates some of the drama that the media loves because the question would become who deserves to get a bye and who gets to host. This system limits games somewhat and allows student-athletes to still be students by avoiding the extra game that an 8 team playoff brings.
 

RonJohn

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I also think an 8-team playoff with automatic berths for P5 conference champions and 3 at-large would solve some of the problems folks have with the current system. Although, I'd argue you will still have legit 'grey area' when isolating the best final 2 or 3 slots (of the 8) between what would usually be 4-6 teams with a good case to get in.

The big difference is that the grey area would not be who "qualifies" to get in. It will be which non-qualifiers get a second chance. Ohio State took care of USC convincingly. If you have a good case to get in, but didn't qualify you don't have as much justification to complain as a team that is undefeated and didn't get in. With an 8 team playoff this year you would have had: Clemson, mutts, Ok, OSU, USC, UCF. Then the non-qualifiers considered would have been, Alabama, Wisconsin, Auburn, Miami, Penn State. Alabama would have gotten in. Wisconsin would have probably gotten the other at-large. Every team that got in the playoff this year would have been in in an 8 team playoff. The difference is that the committee would not have excluded anyone.
 

RedPete

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A sixteen team playoff doesn’t work. The bowl game system was built around the regular season ending in early December, followed by Finals, and Christmas break. Further, adding two extra rounds would make the champ play SEVENTEEN games. This is supposed to be collegiate athletics, not pros.


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RedPete

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Why should we care what the bowl games were built around? To say that there can't be a real playoff because we must appease the Gasparilla bowl doesn't sway me much.

That’s not what I said. Lemme try again... Regular season ends in early Dec, followed by Finals, and Christmas break. So these extra bonus bowl games logically take place afterward around New Years. A sixteen team playoff forces teams to play on top of Finals and Christmas like pros instead of like the collegiate student athletes they are who should be focused on passing their classs and allowed to see their families. Also forces fanbases into extra short-notice travel plans over the holidays, which already is not working-out for those Gasparilla/Birmingham/QuickLane bowls.
 

MikeJackets1967

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That’s not what I said. Lemme try again... Regular season ends in early Dec, followed by Finals, and Christmas break. So these extra bonus bowl games logically take place afterward around New Years. A sixteen team playoff forces teams to play on top of Finals and Christmas like pros instead of like the collegiate student athletes they are who should be focused on passing their classs and allowed to see their families. Also forces fanbases into extra short-notice travel plans over the holidays, which already is not working-out for those Gasparilla/Birmingham/QuickLane bowls.
I'd be willing to can all the Bowl Games and just have the 16 team Playoffs
 

RedPete

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Again, I’m not talking about appeasing bowl games. I’m saying with Final exams and Christmas break for the student-athletes, December is a lousy time for add-on elimination games, for both players and ticket-buying fanbases alike. Always has been, always will be.
 

RonJohn

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That’s not what I said. Lemme try again... Regular season ends in early Dec, followed by Finals, and Christmas break. So these extra bonus bowl games logically take place afterward around New Years. A sixteen team playoff forces teams to play on top of Finals and Christmas like pros instead of like the collegiate student athletes they are who should be focused on passing their classs and allowed to see their families. Also forces fanbases into extra short-notice travel plans over the holidays, which already is not working-out for those Gasparilla/Birmingham/QuickLane bowls.

FCS has a 24 team playoff, Division 2 has a 28 team playoff, Division 3 has a 32 team playoff. Last I checked those are all colleges who have class and finals. They all have games Thanksgiving weekend, the first weekend in December, and the second weekend in December. Their fans have to travel great distances up to cross country. Their players are playing the weekend after finals. I'm not saying that I agree that they should be playing the weekend after finals, but pretty much every single argument except for money that is made against real FBS playoffs is easily countered because the NCAA does the exact same things with the exact same consequences at the lower levels.
 
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RedPete

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Must be numbers and earlier dates then. They start playoffs sooner and proportionally far fewer teams have to work over Finals.
- FCS only 24 playoff teams out of 124 and they start in November. Semis on Dec 16th and then a championship after New Years.
- Div II: 28 out of 312 teams and they started way back on Nov 18th.
- Div III: 32 out of 249; started Nov 18th with champion crowned on Dec 15th.

If you want to do away with all FBS conference championship games and the Army/Navy game and our annoying little game at the end of November then yeah 16 game playoff becomes totally doable.
 
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RonJohn

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Must be numbers and earlier dates then. They start playoffs sooner and proportionally far fewer teams have to work over Finals.
FCS only 24 playoff teams out of 124 and they start in November.
Div II: 28 out of 312 teams and they started way back on Nov 18th.
Div III: 32 out of 249; started Nov 18th and championship on Dec 15th.

If you want to do away with all FBS conference championship games and the Army/Navy game and our annoying game at the end of November then yeah 16 game playoff becomes totally doable.

I actually don't think 16 would be necessary. The P5 championship games would be a de facto play in game for an 8 team playoff. You could then play the first round mid-December at the higher seeds home stadium, take a break and then play the semi-finals on New Year's Day, and the final the week after.(Just like they do now for semis and finals) If you don't want it in the middle of December, then the quarterfinal could be the weekend before Christmas. That would even give Army or Navy time to get ready if they qualified.

The argument about finals still doesn't hold with FCS, D2, and D3. They had games this year 12/2, 12/8-9, and 12/15-16. I'm fairly sure that most if not all of the schools involved had finals one of those weeks.
 
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