The top four have to be conference champions thing makes absolutely no sense with the now two super conferences. So if that's the format last year, you're automatically putting like Arizona and Florida State with their QB injured (and the ACC champ will probably be even worse this year) into the semis and giving a bye over all but two of these teams which deserve way more and bring better TV - Michigan, Washington, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Penn State, Mississippi, Missouri.
How does this make any sense? I legit remember the conversation being when if UW should or shouldn't be in the Big 10 being and if they should just stay in the Zombie Pac-12 and try and win it and go undefeated that they wouldn't even possibly make the Top 12?
Not that this is a good reason, but by making Georgia and Ohio State play in the first round, you are likely getting two guaranteed playoff TV games for both of them instead of one.
If Notre Dame goes 12-0 (and their schedule looks garbage so it’s possible), they will probably get the 5 seed and host a G5 team. Which will be after a week off since no conference champ game.
Then they will get either the ACC or B12 champ in a bowl. That’s a nice little path to the semis. May not have to even beat a top 10 ranked team to get there, unless USC gets to the top 10 at the end of the year.
it makes sense now because the PAC12 was murdered. They couldn't have pulled it off if there were still 5 "power" conferences. There's no chance one of the little power 5 conferences would have allowed an expanded playoff without a guaranteed bye, not after the decade of getting screwed out of CFP games so that they could squeak another SEC team in.
Next year is going to be 16 so the whole bye thing will be a lost memory. The bye for the 4 power conferences works in that it continues to value the conference championship game, you at least get something for winning that. Once the bye is gone it's hardly going to matter who is #3 vs #6. If you want the conference championships to matter, then they should do reseeding after each round to provide an actual advantage to being seeded higher.
It seems stupid to even have the conference championship games moving forward though.
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The top four have to be conference champions thing makes absolutely no sense with the now two super conferences. So if that's the format last year, you're automatically putting like Arizona and Florida State with their QB injured (and the ACC champ will probably be even worse this year) into the semis and giving a bye over all but two of these teams which deserve way more and bring better TV - Michigan, Washington, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Penn State, Mississippi, Missouri.
How does this make any sense? I legit remember the conversation being when if UW should or shouldn't be in the Big 10 being and if they should just stay in the Zombie Pac-12 and try and win it and go undefeated that they wouldn't even possibly make the Top 12?
Not that this is a good reason, but by making Georgia and Ohio State play in the first round, you are likely getting two guaranteed playoff TV games for both of them instead of one.
If Notre Dame goes 12-0 (and their schedule looks garbage so it’s possible), they will probably get the 5 seed and host a G5 team. Which will be after a week off since no conference champ game.
Then they will get either the ACC or B12 champ in a bowl. That’s a nice little path to the semis. May not have to even beat a top 10 ranked team to get there, unless USC gets to the top 10 at the end of the year.
it makes sense now because the PAC12 was murdered. They couldn't have pulled it off if there were still 5 "power" conferences. There's no chance one of the little power 5 conferences would have allowed an expanded playoff without a guaranteed bye, not after the decade of getting screwed out of CFP games so that they could squeak another SEC team in.
Next year is going to be 16 so the whole bye thing will be a lost memory. The bye for the 4 power conferences works in that it continues to value the conference championship game, you at least get something for winning that. Once the bye is gone it's hardly going to matter who is #3 vs #6. If you want the conference championships to matter, then they should do reseeding after each round to provide an actual advantage to being seeded higher.
It seems stupid to even have the conference championship games moving forward though.
Next year is the last of the 12-team playoffs. It goes to 14 teams in 2026, not 16
For now