Playoff coming to college football? Matt Hayes says so.

To me, there's a HUGE difference between complaining that Michigan should have been allowed in to a 16-team field and arguing whether Oregon deserves to be in over Stanford in a four-team field.

To start with, anybody in a BCS auto-bid league who complains in your scenario can get this retort: Win your damn conference next time (it comes with an auto-bid).

 

In college basketball that used to be the rule.

Probably the most famous case was USC in 1970-71. The Trojans were 24-2, ranked in the top three most of the season and did not make the tournament because they lost twice to the dynasty that was UCLA and settled for second in the conference.

They finished No. 5 in the polls. That team had five NBA players, including Paul Westphal.

 

See, this is where a playoff gets ruined for me.

This is not like the NCAA Tournament. I don't want to see LSU open against a tiny school that most of the big schools kick the crap out of during non-conference play.

Sorry, small schools, you want a shot at the national title, be ranked in the top eight (or 16).

 

There is a difference but I was just pointing out that even with 16 teams it is not without much debate to determine who gets in.

So, Alabama wouldn't be allowed in the four-team playoff because it did not win its conference, but by almost any measure was certainly one of the top four teams before the bowls?

Yeah that is forward thinking. See my example above about the 1970-71 USC basketball team.

Dunderheads in control are not limited to just the BCS and FBS.

 

You do not need 16 teams.

Virginia Tech, Clemson, West Virginia, Michigan, Kansas State, Oklahoma - they all had nice seasons and were nice teams - not one of them has a claim to be in the discussion for a national title.

The only relevant teams are:

LSU
Alabama
Ok State
Stanford
Oregon

That's it - and Oregon beat Stanford and won the conference Stanford is in -- so they should get the nod.

 

That would be fine, but it is not a true playoff and is not much better than what we have now.

A team from the WAC, Sun Belt, even C-USA and Mountain West is at a huge disadvantage to break into the elite and be considered better than the SEC's or Big 12's third or fourth-best team.

It's taken Boise State several years and many still wouldn't have wanted them in an 8-team playoff this season even though they also lost their only game because of a bad kick.

The BCS conferences are determined to own huge slices of the pie and until everyone (meaning people like Jim Delany) is willing to admit this you will never have much change and not much chance for an expanded playoff.

 

I will play devil's advocate. So, Boise State couldn't possibly beat any of those four teams, correct? Even though the 12-1 Broncos lost their only game by one point to TCU on a missed field goal as time expired. That one-point loss was marginally better than Oklahoma State's loss at unranked Iowa State.

 

West Virginia, Clemson, Virginia Tech or Michigan - or in the case of Oklahoma State, Iowa State - could beat any of those four teams on a given day. That's not relevant and not what is being decided.

Those four teams are in the top four because of their body of work over an entire season.

If Boise wants to be taken seriously - don't schedule one "super bowl" game against Georgia then beat up the rest of your horse shit schedule.

Play three real non-conference games and then you will have a claim.

 

I don't think anybody is arguing that in a four-team playoff, Alabama would NOT be in. Conference championships would not a requirement in a four-team field. Don't confuse this with the Oregon argument. Two different things.

But I am saying that in a playoff where every major conference champion gets an automatic bid, teams from the major conferences would have far less of a complaint about not being in the field.

 

I'd say reserve one of the five at-large spots for the team the committe deems to be the best from a non-AQ conference. A second mid-major could get in based on RPI. That would make it a "sort of" autobid in that you know one spot will go to a TCU, Boise, Southern Miss, or some such team.

And Notre Dame just called and said they should have an autobid because they are bigger than college football.

 

Create four superconferences and have each of them have a four-team playoff internally to decide who is represented in the main four-team playoff.

For example...

In the ACC/BigEast/ConfUSA bracket you would have
West Virginia, Virginia Tech (winner), Houston, Clemson

In the SEC/half of the Big 12 conf
LSU, Alabama (winner), Arkansas, OK State

In the Big 10/half of the Big 12
Wisconsin (winner), Michigan State, K State, Baylor

In the Pac12/TCU/BoiseSt. group
Oregon (winner), Boise St., Stanford, TCU

So that leaves for the national title...
Virginia Tech vs Alabama
Oregon vs. Wisconsin (Rose Bowl)

Then Oregon vs. Alabama for it all.

Base everything on a 10-game schedule. The most a team would play is 14 games, and only two teams would play that many. Get these superconference playoffs done the two weeks after Thanksgiving, and then everyone starts taking Bowl invitations.

 

Sure, put VaTech and Wisconsin in ahead of LSU -- they have to be better because they're in a different conference!