When the College Football Playoffs was switched from a 4-team playoff to a 12-team playoff, it felt like an obvious decision. And certainly, it was.
Just look back to the BCS era where there was only 2 teams that had a chance for the National Championship. Or even before then when the Champion was decided just from Caches and AP polls.
The 12-team playoff was much needed, but now that we’re here, it needs major fixing.
In theory, the top 5 conference champions automatically making the playoffs make sense. They even fixed the issue from last year where the top 4 conference champions were guaranteed a bye.
But look at the projected bracket this year, there’s a chance 5 loss Duke wins the ACC and makes the playoffs. Or better yet, we get two G5 teams that make it into the playoffs, and no team from the ACC gets included in the CFP at all.
Miami is sitting at 10-2, but is on the outside looking in, and without being in the ACC championship, their chances of making the playoffs are slim to none. Or look at 9-3 Texas, who scheduled a non-conference matchup against the top team in the country week 1, and is now likely to be out of the playoffs because of it.
Yes, Texas lost to Florida, and deserves to be penalized for it, but had Texas scheduled Temple Week 1, and were sitting at 10-2, would there be any doubt that they’d be in the playoffs? They have one of the best resumes in the country, including beating two teams handily that will be in the CFP.
So, what does this mean?
First off, there will be no incentive to schedule real non-conference games anymore. The committee’s decision to leave Texas out of the playoffs will be directly tied to this. It’s simple, schedule 3-4 cupcake non-conference games so that you can get free wins outside of conference play, boosting your chances of making the playoffs.
Secondly, conference realignment has completely changed the meaning of being a conference champion. Again, look at the ACC champ. Whether it’s Virginia or Duke, neither team is deserving of being the representative of the ACC. But Miami faced neither team this year, and with 5 teams tied at 6-2 in the conference, the team that has a chance for the playoffs comes down to a long list of tiebreakers. Not actual on the field play.
Lastly, the CFB schedule is out of sort. Ole Miss has had the best year anyone can remember, but with signing day coming up and the transfer portal opening, Lane Kiffin’s decision to leave for LSU came before the CFP even starts. Now, this was his decision to leave and certainly no one feels bad for him, but it is unfair for the players to have college coaches moving around while the season is still ongoing.
There is no easy fix to any of these issues, and I didn’t even bring up the issues around NIL. But, the NCAA must come up with solutions to directly solve these problems, for the good of the game and the fans.
