College Football 19-20: Where We Kinda Want Clemson As Champion.

[LynahFan]

12 is a way to bridge to 16.

I wish they had just gone to 16.

My assumption is that they’re assuming that the top 4 will be power conferences, but some of the unwashed masses (UCF, Boise, etc) might sneak into slots 5-8. So they wanted to make it look like they were opening up while still favoring 1-4 to the greatest extent possible.

[French Rage]

My assumption is that they’re assuming that the top 4 will be power conferences, but some of the unwashed masses (UCF, Boise, etc) might sneak into slots 5-8. So they wanted to make it look like they were opening up while still favoring 1-4 to the greatest extent possible.

Exactly. 8 teams would give us the Power 5 champs and then they'd have to give 2 or 3 spots to the overlooked conferences to not totally seem like dicks, with 1 or 2 left for at-large. Bah, not enough good money there. Open up another 4 and now Texas or Auburn or Florida or FSU or Michigan can still bring in their fanbases even if they drop 3 or so games.

[Kepler]

Here are the top 16 in 2019 (2020 was so weird I'm ignoring it):

1	LSU	13-0
2	Ohio State	13-0
3	Clemson	13-0
4	Oklahoma	12-1
5	Georgia	11-2
6	Oregon	11-2
7	Baylor	11-2
8	Wisconsin	10-3
9	Florida	10-2
10	Penn State	10-2
11	Utah	11-2
12	Auburn	9-3
13	Alabama	10-2
14	Michigan	9-3
15	Notre Dame	10-2
16	Iowa	9-3

[Kepler]

I wonder if this will disincentivise conference title games. If you have say the 1-4 and the 9-12 play, you risk knocking out a team with no gain.

[dxmnkd316]

12 is a way to bridge to 16.

I wish they had just gone to 16.

Gross. 12 sucks. 16 sucks even more.

you don't get a claim to national title at 16. It's not how it should work.

[LynahFan]

Gross. 12 sucks. 16 sucks even more.

you don't get a claim to national title at 16. It's not how it should work.

Genuinely confused by this sentiment. What’s wrong with 16?

[bronconick]

The University Presidents that give zero farks about sportsball are really going to okay a 17 game season that extends into early February?

[First Time, Long Time]

Gross. 12 sucks. 16 sucks even more.

you don't get a claim to national title at 16. It's not how it should work.

Every other division has at least a 16 team playoff...why can't the FBS?

[Kepler]

The University Presidents that give zero farks about sportsball are really going to okay a 17 game season that extends into early February?

The University Presidents that give zero farks about sportsball are all in FCS and D-3.

[dxmnkd316]

Every other division has at least a 16 team playoff...why can't the FBS?

Let's just expand it to 128 then

[RaceBoarder]

That actually would be kind of cool. Every FBS team in a single elimination tournament. Hell, since it's only 6 rounds, do two each year.

Sure, no one outside of TV makes money, but who cares!

[LynahFan]

Let's just expand it to 128 then

I don’t get it. The only people who should be upset by expansion are teams who have a reasonable expectation of perennially being in the top 4 - Bama, Clemson, and maybe OSU? They would have to win 3 games instead of 2, so their chances at a national championship goes down a bit. For every other team, their chances of a national title go up astronomically - from basically zero to “so you’re saying there’s a chance!” Unless you’re a closet Tide or Tiger fan, expansion should be a good thing.

[dxmnkd316]

I don’t get it. The only people who should be upset by expansion are teams who have a reasonable expectation of perennially being in the top 4 - Bama, Clemson, and maybe OSU? They would have to win 3 games instead of 2, so their chances at a national championship goes down a bit. For every other team, their chances of a national title go up astronomically - from basically zero to “so you’re saying there’s a chance!” Unless you’re a closet Tide or Tiger fan, expansion should be a good thing.

I don't think the gophers will ever be eligible. And I don't think anything beyond the top four are necessary.

I'm not saying expanding is wrong. I just don't like it.

[French Rage]

I don’t get it. The only people who should be upset by expansion are teams who have a reasonable expectation of perennially being in the top 4 - Bama, Clemson, and maybe OSU? They would have to win 3 games instead of 2, so their chances at a national championship goes down a bit. For every other team, their chances of a national title go up astronomically - from basically zero to “so you’re saying there’s a chance!” Unless you’re a closet Tide or Tiger fan, expansion should be a good thing.

I don't think anyone has a problem with more teams, it's just 8 seemed so much more logical. Or 16. 12 with the byes just seems like a funny way to go but hey I'll take it over 4, don't get me wrong.

[bronconick]

When they went to 4, I don't think they thought it would immediately become the Tiger/Tide Invitational, made even easier by everyone having free transfers where the most talented players go to Clemson/Alabama/Ohio State. The 2011 SEC Championship, er BCS Title game accelerated the playoff because no one outside the SEC watched the game and 2020 OSU-Alabama was the lowest rated title game in 23 years, thus the talk about playoff expansion. I doubt there's an easy way to fix it, since they'll end up with the same few teams in the semis anyway.