How the CFP SHOULD Look...and Why it Doesn't Look That Way

Well kids, another college football regular season (save Army vs. Navy) has come to an end.  Lots of things happened that NOBODY saw coming (anyone have Michigan State at 4-8?), and our Buckeyes are once again in the playoff with a shot at a national title.  We're already one for one, why not make it two for two?

The playoff is a very exclusive club.  Just four of the 128 FBS are invited to play for a national championship.  Seems like a paltry number, doesn't it?.  For comparison's sake, 68 teams make the March Madness tournament out of 347 teams, or 19.6%, give or take.  The FCS (sorry NCAA, but it's 1-AA, FCS just isn't catching on) has 24 of its 125 members in their football playoff, good for 19.2%.  But the FBS is just 4/128, a measly 3.125%.  So what gives?  I'll get to that in a bit.

So instead of just four teams, let's suppose the playoff were 16 teams.  Every conference champion gets in, six at-large teams fill in the field.  First-round games are played at the higher seed's stadium.  I will put the seeds next to the teams based on where I think they should/would be placed. Here's what that would look like:

AUTOMATIC BIDS (Conference Champions)
(1) Alabama- SEC
(7) Penn State- Big 10
(6) Oklahoma- Big 12
(4) Washington- PAC-12
(3) Clemson- ACC
(13) Temple- AAC
(15) Western Kentucky- Conference USA
(14) San Diego State- Mt. West
(16) Appalachian State- Sun Belt
(12) Western Michigan- MAC

AT-LARGE BIDS (six best non-conference champions- using current CFP rankings)
(2) Ohio State
(5) Michigan
(9) Wisconsin
(8) USC
(10) Colorado
(11) Florida State

So there's your field.  Now let's look at the first round, the FIRST ROUND, you get Florida State at Oklahoma, Colorado at Penn State, Wisconsin at USC (basically a Rose Bowl), and maybe the best matchup to watch is that Western Michigan gets a shot at UM.  Who wouldn't watch that?  Can Donnell Pumphrey run rampant and lead SDSU to an upset of Clemson?  Can Temple's staunch D shut down Washington?  Definitely chances for the "group of 5" teams to pull an upset.  After the first round, there are just seven playoff games left and we already have the "New Year's Six" plus the national title game anyways, so those bowl games all rotate through those rounds and then the final is still the national championship.  It works seamlessly!

WHY IT WORKS:

1.) No More Whining- Be honest, read that list of teams above.  Does ANYBODY think there is a team not in the field that would have even the slightest chance of winning four games against the rest of college football's elite?  No shot.  Everyone worthy now has their opportunity.  (Disclaimer:  The No More Whining, unfortunately, does not apply to post-game crying about officiating).

2.) You Can Have the Other Bowl Games Too!- On Friday, December 23rd, Ohio plays Troy in the Dollar General Bowl.  On a typical Saturday, nobody watches that game not directly affiliated with either of those schools.  But it's a bowl game, so you know we're watching, because after the bowls, college football is over!  We already watch TONS of bowl games that have absolutely no bearing on even the top 25, let alone the national championship.  All these cities/sponsors still get their influx of cash, the teams get their extra few weeks of practice for making a bowl game, so that portion of the system essentially remains unchanged.

3.)  Money Money.....money- The CFP has generated massive ratings in its first two years of existence.  Sure, a few first-round games won't be huge TV audiences (I'm looking at you, Bama vs. Appalachian State), but after the first round, all the matchups would be high-level clashes with everything still on the line.  Compare that to the current system where Michigan is playing Florida State- two highly talented, potential national title contending teams- with literally a 0.0% chance of winning a national title.  More eyeballs on the product=more money for everyone involved- and this is the key element nobody seems to comprehend given the ONLY reason the playoff doesn't look like this.  It would work, and it would be profitable, but the powers that be are too short-sighted to change.

WHY IT ISN'T DONE THIS WAY:

1.)  Money- More to come.

2.)  Money- See above.

3.)  Money-  This is the first, last, and only reason the playoff doesn't already exist in the fashion in which I have presented.  According to cliche, money makes the world go 'round.  In this case, however, money is actually preventing progress.  At present, the teams that make the national championship game play a grueling 15-game schedule: 12 regular season games, a conference title clash, and two playoff contests.  This year's Buckeyes are an exception to that as they did not have to play in a conference championship, but generally 15 is the number.  In the scenario laid out above, eight teams would have to play 15 games, another four would play 16, and two would play a whopping 17 games- and that will never happen for the NCAA to maintain its well-rehearsed facade of student-athletes, protecting the players, etc.

As a result, the regular season would have to be shortened by two games (or one game and remove conference championship games- dealer's choice) just like all other college football divisions with a 10-game regular season.  Every conference would play two non-conference tilts and eight conference games across the board.  Not a single athletic director would allow such a change, losing revenue from one or potentially even two regular season games.  I mean, who doesn't want to see EVERY Big Ten team play at least one MAC opponent annually?  Or how about the annual SEC vs. 1-AA weekend, doesn't that get your juices flowing?  Not so much- but it lines the home team's pockets.

But would all teams actually take such a crushing financial loss?  I'm not so certain.  I truly believe that in the 16-game playoff I have laid out, the only teams that would be adversely affected from a monetary standpoint would be Power 5 teams that consistently do not make the playoffs (think Arizona, Rutgers, Kansas, etc.).  The revenue generated by such a playoff would filter to all schools (just like it does at present), the top eight teams each year get an extra home game to make up that lost revenue, and group of 5 conference teams all get a piece of the pie from revenue sharing since every conference champion makes the playoff.  Group of five teams rarely play significant out-of-conference home games anyway, so it is likely many would profit more from this setup than the current system, particularly if a team like, say Western Michigan, advanced.  And let's be honest Buckeye Nation, watching the Broncos take down TTUN would likely be the best day of your life since former 1-AA Appalachian State went into the Big House and took them down nine years ago.

In short, the 16-game playoff benefits fans and smaller conference teams, maintains the status quo of the rest of the coveted bowl system, and may potentially generate even more cash for the "non-profit" NCAA, an organization that has had, at minimum, a $60 million surplus in each of the last four years.  Will it happen?  Absolutely not- the power five conferences are more likely to break away from the outmoded NCAA.  So for now let's sit back, enjoy another still-appealing bowl season, and daydream about what could be.

2016 Playoff Should Be / Will Be

The die is cast. At around 12:30 this afternoon, we'll learn the fate of our beloved Buckeyes and the other playoff contenders. While you wait, let your favorite predictors from Let's Go Bucks! tell you what what the final four should be, and will be.

SHOULD BE

Let's Go Bucks Index
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Washington

Draper
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Washington

Hoying
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Washington

Seeberg
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Washington


WILL BE

Let's Go Bucks Index
1. Alabama 
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Washington

Draper:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Washington

Hoying:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Washington

Seeberg
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Washington