Thoughts on 12-Team Playoff?

[Sheffielder]

As I've mentioned around here in the past, college football is the only sport that interests me. With escalating coaching salaries that are ultimately just severance packages, NIL impact, the Portal, and players sitting out of bowl games, I could realistically see myself losing interest in the sport over the next 10-15 years.

I'm very torn and in a "wait and see" mindset for the 12-team playoff. I think the sport needs to evolve even if it's not always to my liking, but I will be anxious to see if this yields more excitement for college football, or if it straight-up kills bowl games almost altogether and narrows the landscape and coverage even more. On one hand I think it won't because if an unranked 7-5 Northwestern was heading back to Nashville or NYC then my flight would already be booked, but I'm wondering if sponsoring organizations/venues and networks (even with the emergence of Fox Sports as a legit competitor to ESPN) will no longer see any financial viability in presenting what are really just glorified exhibition games with marginal interest (especially as players opt out, head into the Portal, etc.).

The other thing I think CFB overlords are forgetting - this whole sport generates media and money on debating the who's and the how's. The absence of controversy might be deafening, because if the 12-team playoff were happening now, no one is tuning in to debate whether Florida State or Washington deserved to make the cut.

As far as how this impacts Northwestern...I don't really think it does. The path is different but equally difficult. Anything short of winning the conference championship will leave us out.

Just curious what the feelings are around here about the shift.

 

[SmellyCat]

My quick and dirty opinion: the regular season is awesome. The conference championships are usually pretty good. The postseason is fun if you're in a pool or Northwestern is playing, but otherwise, I don't really care about those games, even the CFP. They're so far after the regular season that it almost feels like a different season anyway, and when you add the people sitting out and coaches no longer there, it feels even more like a new season.

 

[Alvious]

Just put the Big Ten champ vs the Pac 12 champ in the Rose Bowl and screw everything else.

 

[loyolacat]

There is really no way to clearly define a true champion. I guess every team playing a round robin against every team, home and away. This is just about money and leaves everyone but 1 or 2 teams feeling good about their season. Loved it when we got to a bowl game. Now minimally you will need to get to the 12...more coach firings, more players transferring. Heck we used to have 2 national champs some years....make it 4...print media, tv media, coaches and Elon Musk....then let the arguing begin....but the new system is blatantly about the money ...uuugghhh. and may I say with NO regard for players academics or players health.

 

[phatcat]

12 will lead to 16, and then 24. Because more is always better. More games, more reviews, more overtimes. Always more. Always

 

[NUCat320]

12 will lead to 16, and then 24. Because more is always better. More games, more reviews, more overtimes. Always more. Always

We’ve got fewer and shorter overtimes now! Mandatory two-pointers! Then trade two-point plays! They got it right! (Ties after 3 OT would be better.)

In the same way talking heads debate all-star game snubs, and in the same way talking heads spend one month previewing and then four days dissecting who *really* are the 64th-72nd best teams in college hoops, we’ll get the same in college football.

I am happy to see the G5 get a real chance, even if they’ll inevitably play on the road and have the toughest route to a title.

There is no way to determine the ‘best’, and I have no desire to know the ‘best’, but if the games are fun, I’ll be happy.

I’m pessimistic as to whether home crowds will be good when students are home in the days surrounding Christmas when campuses are closed, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed. People who care enough tend to learn how to prioritize sports and tailgating if that’s what they do the rest of the time.

The system has been about the money from the time we started creating fake end of season games to draw tourism dollars. The games have been about the money from the time programs started selling sponsorships and tickets and negotiating TV deals. If someone is decrying “it’s about the money” now, in 2022, someone has been burying their head in the sand while covering their ears and screaming ‘Santa is real’ their entire speaking life.

 

[Catslash]

should have went to 16 right off the bat

 

[dillonpgp]

If you haven’t seen it, the playoff bracket that would have been used this season had the 12 team format started is eye opening.

While the Big Ten has been fiddling with the Rose Bowl protections (failed) and ensuring the conference champion received a bye, I see one side of the proposed bracket with incredibly uninspiring matchups.

The B10 biggest error has been in not working with a corporate partner and a facility in Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit or a possible domed stadium in Arlington Heights to create a Biwl that could displace the Fiesta, Cotton or Peach as permanent hosts of quarter/semi finals.

College Football Playoff bracket: Here's what a 12-team playoff would look like after final rankings | Sporting News

USC would visit Alabama and Ohio State would host Penn State as two of the first-round matchups if the 12-team format were in place for 2022.

www.sportingnews.com

 

[NUCat320]

If you haven’t seen it, the playoff bracket that would have been used this season had the 12 team format started is eye opening.

While the Big Ten has been fiddling with the Rose Bowl protections (failed) and ensuring the conference champion received a bye, I see one side of the proposed bracket with incredibly uninspiring matchups.

The B10 biggest error has been in not working with a corporate partner and a facility in Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit or a possible domed stadium in Arlington Heights to create a Biwl that could displace the Fiesta, Cotton or Peach as permanent hosts of quarter/semi finals.

College Football Playoff bracket: Here's what a 12-team playoff would look like after final rankings | Sporting News

USC would visit Alabama and Ohio State would host Penn State as two of the first-round matchups if the 12-team format were in place for 2022.

www.sportingnews.com

Are the NY6 bowls confirmed as the annual hosts of the quarters and semis?

It would seem that the Orange has the least inspired facility. It’s called ‘Hard Rock Stadium’, but turns out that that’s just Joe Robbie under it’s 11th name.

The Windy City bowl would be the obvious replacement.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Are the NY6 bowls confirmed as the annual hosts of the quarters and semis?

It would seem that the Orange has the least inspired facility. It’s called ‘Hard Rock Stadium’, but turns out that that’s just Joe Robbie under it’s 11th name.

The Windy City bowl would be the obvious replacement.

When is the last time you’ve been to “Hard Rock Stadium”?

 

[StreamCat]

The old system allowed multiple teams to go out winners. Lots of happy fans. Now every team but one goes out a loser. Lots of unhappy fans.

The playoff is to attract those who aren’t really fans. I got into a discussion with a pro fan who was really dismissive of my opposition to the idea of playoffs, rude even. It was only after I left the discussion that it occurred to me that this guy never even watches college ball. I remember his surprise when I told him college invented the game and had been playing it over 50 years before the NFL was formed. We’re listening to this guy?

A lot of the push for playoffs comes from people who believe college ball is an inferior product. Why are they even in the discussion?

 

[Sheffielder]

The old system allowed multiple teams to go out winners. Lots of happy fans. Now every team but one goes out a loser. Lots of unhappy fans.

The playoff is to attract those who aren’t really fans. I got into a discussion with a pro fan who was really dismissive of my opposition to the idea of playoffs, rude even. It was only after I left the discussion that it occurred to me that this guy never even watches college ball. I remember his surprise when I told him college invented the game and had been playing it over 50 years before the NFL was formed. We’re listening to this guy?

A lot of the push for playoffs comes from people who believe college ball is an inferior product. Why are they even in the discussion?

I've had similar experiences with pro-only fans.

I just worry that in the frenzy to expand the playoff, we forget there are thousands and thousands of fans who would like to watch a holiday exhibition game with their favorite team in a destination city, which still impacts final ranking, recruiting momentum, and many other things. A lot of this goes away, especially for G5 schools, if the likes of ESPN and FOX dump all their tv rights money into playoffs and skip this other content.

 

[NUCat320]

I've had similar experiences with pro-only fans.

I just worry that in the frenzy to expand the playoff, we forget there are thousands and thousands of fans who would like to watch a holiday exhibition game with their favorite team in a destination city, which still impacts final ranking, recruiting momentum, and many other things. A lot of this goes away, especially for G5 schools, if the likes of ESPN and FOX dump all their tv rights money into playoffs and skip this other content.

There’s no way lower-tier bowl games suffer from this. They’re cheap to produce and drive eyeballs. This is the reason that they’ve expanded so much in the past 15 years — a whole bunch of people will watch South Alabama and Western Kentucky on December 21, even though they never would’ve considered it in October.

The games that currently pit 6-6 and 7-5 P5 teams might be lost, as those types of teams will bump up in the hierarchy

 

[Figrating]

should have went to 16 right off the bat

The secret committee that makes these decisions should be fed to sharks on TV. 12 teams means there's going to be a bye, but to preserve 4 more bowl fiefdoms for another couple years, these mofos will do anything.

The tournament is exciting because there are going to be upsets. And teams that needed the whole season to find their A team won't be immediately eliminated for one or two losses. The 12-team playoff is a step in the right direction, but it is an awkward step, dripping with the resistance the secret committee has shown all these many years.

 

[StreamCat]

Oh, come on! Do you guys ever stop complaining? You got your dang playoff. Some people are never ever happy.

It doesn’t matter how many teams there are; the top teams will destroy the bottom teams. DESTROY THEM! Football ain’t basketball. Flukey upsets at the end of the season are as rare as hen’s teeth. It will still be the same damn teams. Oh, unless there are key injuries which is a sick thing to wish for. Come to think of it, there may be plenty of career-ending injuries in a season of 16 or however many games.

Shit. I hate this, but I have to admit I was wrong. All those people who said we are taking advantage of college athletes were right. I had no idea how right you people were.

 

[NYPurpleFan]

As I've mentioned around here in the past, college football is the only sport that interests me. With escalating coaching salaries that are ultimately just severance packages, NIL impact, the Portal, and players sitting out of bowl games, I could realistically see myself losing interest in the sport over the next 10-15 years.

I'm very torn and in a "wait and see" mindset for the 12-team playoff. I think the sport needs to evolve even if it's not always to my liking, but I will be anxious to see if this yields more excitement for college football, or if it straight-up kills bowl games almost altogether and narrows the landscape and coverage even more. On one hand I think it won't because if an unranked 7-5 Northwestern was heading back to Nashville or NYC then my flight would already be booked, but I'm wondering if sponsoring organizations/venues and networks (even with the emergence of Fox Sports as a legit competitor to ESPN) will no longer see any financial viability in presenting what are really just glorified exhibition games with marginal interest (especially as players opt out, head into the Portal, etc.).

The other thing I think CFB overlords are forgetting - this whole sport generates media and money on debating the who's and the how's. The absence of controversy might be deafening, because if the 12-team playoff were happening now, no one is tuning in to debate whether Florida State or Washington deserved to make the cut.

As far as how this impacts Northwestern...I don't really think it does. The path is different but equally difficult. Anything short of winning the conference championship will leave us out.

Just curious what the feelings are around here about the shift.

Feels like expansion was inevitable. Personal preference would've been a field of 8: five P5 champs, two P5 at large and the highest ranked G5 school. Willing to take a wait and see approach on the 12 team field. As others have noted, the gap between the top 4-5 schools and everyone else sort of makes 8 vs. 12 vs. 16 irrelevant in terms of getting new blood in the championship game.

 

[Sheffielder]

I tend to disagree with the notion that "upsets" don't or won't happen - that's why the top four seeds are getting byes - to reduce the risk of an upset.

And based on "what the teams would be in if we were at 12 this year" - it's not really that difficult for me to imagine any of Tennessee, K State, Tulane, USC, or Alabama beating the tar out of #4 OSU way worse than Michigan did. Their one-loss record is a house of cards hidden behind the Big Ten's good name.

Regarding the actual expansion to 12, I think the idea is just to increase the excitement level/involvement of programs into the post-season. In scanning the past few years of CFP rankings (with rigidly looking at the criteria), schools like Mississippi State, UCLA, Iowa, Stanford, Washington, Colorado, Miami, UCF, Baylor, Utah, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State could have made the cut and kept their fans clicking on every article and tuning into every stupid analysis show for an extra month.

And I'm sure 12 is intended to just be an interlude before we hit 16.

 

[csh2088]

I like the playoffs but no more than 8 teams in.