Now that we’ve had a little time to reflect, it’s time for the CornNation team to chime in on our thoughts about the expanded College Football Playoff.
Was the 12-Team Playoff a Success?
Jon: Yes. First of all, there was more college football against top teams who never schedule games against each other because most top teams avoid tough games. It also gave hope to those teams beyond just the top four and ESPN was forced to do something besides shill for the SEC even though they tried as hard as they could.
The one way it was a failure – I’ve always thought Kirk Herbstreit was a pretty good national analyst. Now, not so much.
Patrick: Yes, it’s fine. Now, just leave it alone.
Todd: Yes. I watched every game and was entertained with most of them.
Mike: Absolutely. It made the regular season more meaningful because more teams were in contention for a berth in November, and bad losses just became bad games that you could recover from.
Andy: Define success, I guess? For the people counting the cash, sure. Beyond that, a mixture of flaws and successes.
Nate M: Yes. Fix the seeding and have more games at home stadiums and I’ll be a happy camper.
What went right, and what went wrong with this year’s playoff format?
Jon: According to public opinion, seeding seemed to be the biggest failure. You could argue that the top four teams deserve a bye and not conference champions, but the people who run this stuff come from all conferences, not just the Big Ten and SEC. Basically, it won’t change because those other conferences get a say as well, and they would be stupid to change it.
They need to stick with the on-campus games for two rounds before moving to bowl sites. They need to have a championship in the North.
Patrick: What went Right? Leaving ‘Bama out of it. What went wrong? A meteor didn’t hit Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Todd: What went right was that the first round was played on campus. At least the second round should have been as well. And, the was conference representation. Teams from all parts of the country were in the bracket. I don’t give a crap about the seeding and the whiners complaining about it. If you’re going to win it all, you got to beat them all. I’d rather watch Ohio State play three times than two.
Mike: Playoff games on campus were a huge success, by all accounts. But making the top four seeds conference champions really screwed up the bracket, and actually benefited the top teams that didn’t win their conference. Witness Oregon and Penn State: Penn State lost the Big Ten title game, got slotted out of the top four. They got a home game against SMU, then got matched up with Boise State. Two favorable matchups against teams that ended up #10 and #9 in the final CFP rankings. Oregon drew the winner between #6 Ohio State and #7 Tennessee.
Andy: Wrong? Most of these were problems I had before the games started and nothing much happened to change my mind.
A 1st round full of blowouts was proof positive 12 teams was about 4 too many – not that it’s changing. And four byes is too many, so look for a move to 14 or 16 teams.
The decision to top seed 4 of the 5 conference champs regardless of their ranking sounded weird on its face (4 out of 5? Doing this despite two conferences being several levels above the other three?) and looked even stranger with #’s 9 and 12 occupying the 3rd and 4th slots while the “top 4” seeds all lost. Stop overthinking this. Just seed them straight up.
Also, enough with the Notre Dame sucking up by allowing them to have the same vote as the conferences, while dodging conference title games. Time for them to join one or start looking in from the outside.
Right? While 9 of the 11 games being won by double figures didn’t exactly have people sweating much out till the final gun, it can’t be said the champion didn’t run the gauntlet. It actually was fun watching the top 4 seeds lose. 1st round home games in the north was highly enjoyable. And a year in which there was no single dominant team was the perfect springboard for the expanded playoff.
Nate M: I’m not sure I have much to add except that we shouldn’t be making any sweeping conclusions (except for the seeding) based off of one season of a 12 team playoff.
A new national champion was crowned on January 20. Is the college football season too long?
Jon: Yes. They need to eliminate conference championship games, but let’s face it, they’re not going to eliminate anything that makes them money. People have suggested moving the games to August, early August, and that’s just stupid of having games when students are not on campus.
Patrick: Yeah, we should probably shorten it a week or two…
Todd: Yep. Cut the conference championship games and set it up so that the championship game is played on New Year’s Day in the most beautiful place in the world — Pasadena in the Rose Bowl at dusk. Cue the Keith Jackson recording to kick it off and away we go!
Mike: NOPE! I can’t believe people are complaining about too much football. If anything, the championship game should have been pushed back another five nights to the Saturday night before the NFL conference title games. We’d have a week of hype, and then the game would have on a Saturday like college football is supposed to be played on.
Andy: It is, but it doesn’t bother me. The main issue is bowing to the NFL and playing it on a Monday night. Here’s a hot take – drag the season out even longer and play the title game on the Saturday or Sunday between the NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl!
Nate M: I just want SEC teams to play football in outdoor stadiums in the winter.
The winners of the conference championship games went 0-5 during the playoffs. Do these games matter anymore, other than the money?
Jon: No.
Patrick: Eh, I mean…I think the correct question is, do we even care?
Todd: Nope. They didn’t matter before the playoff. The last team standing at the end of the regular season is your conference champion.
Mike: Nope. With the ACC talking about staging their game between their #2 and #3 seeds, it’s clear that the conference title games are on their way to obsolescence. They may be played for a few more seasons due to contractual obligations, but they are going away.
Andy: What Jon said. But no one ever gives back money, so it’s a moot point.
Nate M: Oregon would probably say that it mattered to them. They won the conference championship in the greatest conference in the history of both NFL and college football.
You are the college football commissioner: How do you structure the regular season around the realities of academics, other college sports and the increasing conflicts with the NFL schedule with games on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays?
Jon: I remove two games from everyone’s regular season schedule. It has only been in recent history that we’ve played 12-game seasons. Of course, no one will want to do this because more games = mo money.
First, I stop worrying about conflicts with the NFL and schedule my games whenever the hell I want. Second, the TV executives threaten to have me killed for such a stupid idea but I weasel my way out of death by inviting them over for a drink, at which time we laugh heartily at the idea of “realities of academics’ when none of us give a single shit about academics, student athletes, or anyone who is a player, omg what an asinine thought that someone would care about the meat that plays these sports. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Patrick: Hard pass on this one. I don’t have time to write a whitepaper right now. I love this sport, but it’s a dumb sport.
Todd: They haven’t worried about academics even since they started playing games on Thursday nights. The hell with the NFL. Go head to head with them on Saturday and screw ‘em. With all the streaming does is it necessary to spread them out from Thursday to Saturday night? People can watch whatever game they want somewhere. As commissioner, I would require 50% of the games to start at 1:00 local time on Saturday, and the other 50% to start at 4:00.
Mike: I didn’t watch them, but the NFL games up against the first round games drew triple the viewers the CFP games did. So the money demands that college football work around the NFL. The NFL is also likely to start playing on Labor Day weekend very soon, and that’s going to also affect the start of the college season as well. So here’s my proposal: Tell the NFL that you’ll cede the Thursday, Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend to the NFL in exchange for (a) the NFL limits themselves to just one game on Black Friday and (b) the NFL moves their Saturday slate of games on the CFP first round weekend up a weekend and surrounds the Army/Navy game. Then move the National Championship game to the Saturday prior to the NFL conference title games.
Andy: Shit, it took me a minute to realize you were serious.
I would love to see a reality TV show about a “college football commissioner” who held his first spring meetings and had for his discussion topics – hold on, I’m giggling again – 1) the realities of academics, 2) other college sports and 3) the increasing conflicts with the NFL schedule.
No one’s suddenly going to start caring about the first two and the NFL doesn’t give a damn about the third.
Nate M: I think we need to come to the realization that academics, in terms of decision making going forward, will be largely irrelevant. In regards to the NFL, they are going to continue to take up as much bandwith as possible. Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays…at some point I’m sure they’ll have games on every single day of the week.
How long until Nebraska fans can start realistically being in the mix for a playoff spot?
Jon: Dylan Raiola said next season, so there you go.
Patrick: 2 years. No reason, just 2 years.
Todd: I didn’t know there was a playoff for fans. Knowing that now, hell, Nebraska fans are ready right now. Greatest fans in the world! You didn’t ask, but I do think the Nebraska football team will be in the mix in a couple of years. They are going to have to win at least ten games and finish in the top three of the B1G. I don’t see that big of a jump next year.
Mike: I wrote this question, and I can’t answer that. I’ve thought Nebraska was in position to make a big jump the last six seasons, and it ain’t happened yet. Indiana showed it can happen, and it will happen eventually. But I’m done trying to guess when it’s going to happen.
Andy: If the Holgo-fence performs at the level of every one of Dana’s other years as an offensive coordinator, that is always in the Top 10 nationally, then next season is very doable.
But if two years go by and the offense is still in the bottom half, then the curse as real and we better just accept it as Holgorsen flees this demon-sotted train wreck of a state.
Nate M: If the assumption is that the Big Ten will get four spots next year again then you need to figure out if you think Nebraska will be one of the top four teams in the conference. So could they be better than the rest of the Big Ten not named Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State as I expect most would pencil them in for 2025 at this point.
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