12 Team CFP starts tonight! But lets fix the system!

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So the new CFP starts today. But i dont think ANYONE expects this to be permanent.

The playoff format is going to change. Seeding will change. And of course conferences are definitely going to change. But what way will it go? The way I see it, there are 3 likely scenarios that are going to play out.

Before i get to the scenarios, the other thing that needs to happen is a salary cap for NIL, and contracts for players in terms of term. How many years are they locked in for. As well as better guard rails in place for the transfer portal. Just better hard dates in the OFF SEASON. But thats all up to the NCAA and Conferences to decide and thats going to take a while. And multiple supreme court cases i imagine.

But as for the Conference realignment and playoff format. Here are the 3 scenarios.

Option 1 - B10 v SEC League.

Aside from ND, only 1 of the wild card teams is not from the SEC or B10. And i think thats how it is going to be most years. And by expanding it to 14 or 16 wont help. If it was 16 teams this year. 8 of the 11 WC teams would have been from the SEC or B10.

So clearly the SEC and B10 are above the rest. So why not add the best of the rest to those 2 conferences and they branch off into their own league? Each conference grows to 24, they split the conferences into east and west. !

Heres what that could look like

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Option 2 - Super League

A bunch of billionaires have been pushing for a super league for college football. Basically NFL lite. And they would hand select the top teams from D1 football to form the league and do their own thing. Now a bunch of different numbers have been suggested for a super league in terms of how many teams, everything from 20-64. After looking into it at length, i landed in 48. 4 divisions of 12.

So based on past football performance as well as revenue here is what the top 48 would look like

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Option 3 - Power 6 Only.

The last option is the least likely unless the NCAA grows a pair, but itā€™s the most ā€œtraditionalā€ and would appease the most people. But again would require a lot of legal action to do.

So basically take the 70 power 4 teams, (plus ND, OR ST, WA ST) and add two more group of 5 teams (Boise and Tulane). And take those 72 and re organize them into 6 conferences of 12.

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All 3 of the formats would be their own league. Meaning any team not in the league would not be eligible for the playoffs.
All 3 have been discussed by the NCAA as well as conference heads as well as networks.

The future of College football will be one of these outcomes. The question becomes which one do you want to see happen?

  • B10 vs SEC League
  • Top 48 Super League
  • Power 6 League
0 voters
2

I hate college football now

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I hate that teams like Alabama bitch that they should be in and the crybabies on ESPN about how the CFP was broken and that Alabama should of been in over SMU when Alabama didnt even play in their conference championship especially after getting molly whipped by Oklahoma

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I think Iā€™d like to see a layout more like the NFL.

2 Conferences
4 Divisions in each Conference laid out to minimize travels (Iā€™m sure thereā€™s a way to make it so that no team ever has to cross more than 1 timezone to play a game during the regular season).

At the end of the season the 4 division champs (within each conference) play each other, then the 2 winners of those games play for the conference championship, and then the 2 conference champions play each other for the NCAA championship.

This would take all the subjective decisions out of whoā€™s in and whoā€™s out.

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5

I donā€™t see any changes until the tv deal for the current format ends.

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The Pac-12 cannibalizing itself for 8 years is why weā€™re in this situation.

If they couldā€™ve just put forward a playoff team more than twice in the four team format (before realignment was announced), they likely wouldā€™ve gotten a much better TV deal.

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The current TV deals, CFP deal and most Conference Contracts all expire around 2030.

So there will be sweeping changes then

Absolutely. Well then it has to be 80 teams. 8 conferences of 10.

So American League and National League.

Each with a north south east west (B10, SEC, ACC, PAC)

Then easy scheduling of 7 conferences games.
3 vs other separate conferences in the league
2 vs the ā€œgroup of 5ā€
No conference champ game.
8 champions and 8 wild card. (No more than 3 teams per conference)

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I was thinking more along the lines of something like thisā€¦

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I did find it impossible to keep teams from only crossing 1 time zone. Just not enough teams in the Mountain Time Zone.

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9

I hate the transfer portalā€¦ But I love an actual final 12 tournament.

What do you hate so much? Honest question brotherā€¦ Not being a dick.

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I hate the 12 team format. I hate that a 3 loss team can get hot and win the Natty.

I would have much preferred an 8 team format. At the very least, it would have decreased the odds that a 3 loss team could get in.

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11

Interesting take budā€¦ So you hate the nfl playoffs too then? Wildcard teams have won the super bowl

Again not being a dickā€¦ I actually am curious of why you guys hate it.

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12

The NFL is a different beast. Besides the fact there are only 32 teams, the parity is undeniable.

In college, you are lucky to see a team play 3 ā€˜realā€™ games a year. If a team has 3 losses, itā€™s almost like having a losing record.

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This is very true of some teams. Although the SEC schedule teams is pretty stacked.

Even Ohio State, yes we love to make fun of themā€¦ But they did beat a couple of top 5 teams

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14

Sure, but OSU only lost 2 games. Of course, they only played 3 ranked teams, and Michigan. So .500 against ā€˜real teamsā€™, if you use my metric. A .500 team in the NFL isnā€™t anything to get excited about, if we are comparing the two as you suggested.

Have we ever seen a 3 loss team even be considered for a Natty?

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No but if they win 4 straight in the CFP? They earned it IMO.

I guess I just like the March Madness 64 team tournyā€¦ Itā€™s fun and entertaining.

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Thatā€™s probably where the disconnect is between us. I absolutely hate that march madness determines the national championship.

I realize Iā€™m probably the only one.

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Iā€™ve always been pro-tournament to end the year. They waited until it could be dominated by two conferences to implement it, but whatever. Thatā€™s not even a top ten beef for me.

I was responding to the super conference suggestions at the top.

I hate that you can be a fan/alum of Oklahoma State, Colorado, Virginia Tech, Oregon State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, West Virginia, etcā€¦ and have so little hope of ever seeing your football team be competitive at the highest level.

I hate that the Big 8/12 - which was the best football conference in the country in the 80s and 90s - has been systematically weakened due to their low population base until the remaining marquee teams were forced to leave.

I hate that Missouri, a joke of a Big 8/12 football program, has such a bright future due to a happenstance of geography and the plotting of others.

Could you imagine if they tried to pare down the NFL twenty years ago? What do you think would have happened to the Lions?

All thatā€™s left is for the Big 12 and ACC to sell out to venture capitalists and sheikhs. I hate it, but I also canā€™t blame them. Their collective hands have been forced.

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18

With all of the transfers and the weird nonconference games and realignments and NIL and fake academics etc etc etcā€¦ it has really lost my attention. I still love the on-field product but I feel the pageantry and traditions have been really eroded and it just doesnā€™t feel the same anymore.

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I follow it strictly for the draft. Well, and now fantasy. But neither of those requires caring about the outcomes (and honestly Iā€™ve always mostly watched it for the draft anyway).

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Canā€™t speak for @thats2 but an example of what I hate about it ā€¦

Rumor was Dylan Raiola was being offered around 12m over his final 3 years if he would transfer to some unnamed SEC school. Those overtures were made DURING the season.

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