Fixing College Football Bowls and Playoffs - One Man's Opinion

andrewhfine · Dec 3, 2018

I think we can all agree that the college bowl system and playoffs are an imperfect if not broken system. Because they still feel beholden to the old bowl system and the conference tie-ins but still want to crown a national champion, you end up with a hybrid system that accomplishes the latter but makes the former relatively meaningless. If anything, its worse than the BCS system because they are pulling more elite teams from the best bowls and creating matchups like Michigan vs Florida in a supposedly prestigious bowl.

So here's my solution - do the 4 team playoff after the bowl games are played. This accomplishes three things:

The bowls now actually mean a ton as they are a de facto play in game to the playoffs
It still allows for conference tie ins and the tradition of the bowls
Most importantly, it creates a better measuring stick because it forces teams to play a legitimate opponent from outside their conference before getting into the playoffs. And you also can see how the entire conference fares in bowl games overall to give you a better idea of which conferences might be better overall. More data will lead to a fairer process

In order to make this happen, you keep the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowl tie ins. The other slots for the Fiesta, Peach, Cotton, and remaining Orange Bowl slot would be a rotation of the #2 and #3 and if need be #4 teams from the other power 5 conferences plus any deserving Group of 5 or independent teams. The bowls would have discretion to pick who they wanted, with some parameters, but the idea is to match as many Top 12 teams as possible.

This year might look something like this:

Rose - Washington (Pac 12 #1) vs OSU (Big Ten #1)
Sugar - Bama (SEC #1) vs Oklahoma (Big 12 #1)
Orange - Clemson (ACC #1) vs ND (Independent)
Cotton - Michigan (Big Ten #2) vs Georgia (SEC #2)
Fiesta - Texas (Big 12 #2) vs Washington State (Pac 12 #2)
Peach - LSU (SEC #3) vs UCF (Group of 5 top ranked team)

Sample 2017 Pairings:

Rose - OSU (Big Ten #1) vs USC (Pac 12 #1)
Sugar - Georgia (SEC #1) vs Oklahoma (Big 12 #1)
Orange - Clemson (ACC #1) vs Wisconsin (Big Ten #2)
Cotton - UCF (Group of 5) vs Bama (SEC #2)
Fiesta - Washington (Pac 12 #2) vs Auburn (SEC #3)
Peach - Penn State (Big Ten #3) vs TCU (Big 12 #2)

Sample 2016 Pairings:

Rose - PSU (Big Ten #1) vs Washington (Pac 12 #1)
Sugar - Bama (SEC #1) vs Oklahoma (Big 12 #1)
Orange - Clemson (ACC #1) vs OSU (Big Ten #2)
Cotton - Michigan (Big Ten #3) vs FSU (ACC #2)
Fiesta - USC (Pac 12 #2) vs Oklahoma State (Big 12 #2
Peach - WMU (Group of 5) vs Auburn (SEC #2)

You can tinker around with it, but the idea is to make sure that the bowls without conference tie-ins attempt to create compelling matchups and make sure different conferences get matched up each year (outside of the Rose and Sugar with their locked in matchups). In almost every year, at least 8 of the 12 teams would still have a chance to prove they deserved a playoff spot. And now fans of other teams still in contention have a vested interest in the outcome of the other games.

The committee would announce their Top 4 choices the morning of January 2nd. This time with the added value of seeing how teams perform in a neutral site game vs a top tier opponent.

On the first Saturday after a full week after New Years, you play the semifinals and the winners play a week a later.

The two playoff games and the title game would rotate locations as they currently do, mixing in the major bowls but also potentially using NFL Stadiums (Maybe Ford Field or Indy would finally get a look)

The biggest argument against this is lengthening the college football season. But we're talking about one extra game for two teams. We can live with that.

This isn't all that different from an 8 team playoff in a lot of ways, but it may be more realistic given the need to maintain the importance of the bowls. Additionally, after 13 games, the conference champs need a break. This provides that since teams would get almost a full month before the bowl games.

You all are welcome, I've fixed college football's postseason.

TConrad76 · Dec 3, 2018