I think the players and fans will like this exponentially more than a bozo bowl where they all opt out.
Most teams play in bad bowls and always have. Most teams never had aspirations of national championships. Bowls for lower teams will be just as they’ve always been, meaningless to everyone but them
The assumption is that most years the final game will be between two of the top 4 teams, i.e. there will be very few instances of a team actually playing 4 playoff games. And that's good! It means the regular season still matters, a lot. We don't want college football to be like college basketball where the tournament is everything and the regular season is de-valued. Otherwise games like tOSU/Michigan last week mean nothing. This is progress. It's not perfect, my preference would be to host the quarterfinal games on campus as well instead of asking those fans to travel to neutral sites for up to 3 straight playoff games. But I'm good with this proposed model.
Still don’t like 4 teams getting a bye though, gives them a big advantage, a 2-3 loss conference champ could get one.
They could have a 2 loss get a bye, but this system is still functioning just as the 4 team playoff by guaranteeing the two best teams get in. Everything else is just revenue generation hype and window dressing. Odds are the top 2 seeds are going to win it the majority of the time, as it is now.
I like it. Bowl games outside of the CFP mean nothing to players now. Just ask Justin Shorter and everyone else that plans to take a squat.
Clemson, penn state, kansas state, and utah have no right to be in a post season playoff. If USC loses in the pac 12 championship they have no right either. Even FSU this year could sneak into the top 12.....
I agree this provides in even greater safety net for schools like OSU that play 2-3 decent teams all year and now can probably afford one or even two losses and still get in the playoffs.
Its a terrible methodology that just boggles that mind that the Power 5(4?) agreed to. What are the odds that one of the Non-Power conferences don't even have a ranked champion? I think some years that will happen. What do they do then...take their un-ranked champion who doesn't deserve a sniff at the playoffs? The Power 4 had all the power in these negotiations and ended up giving a lot of it away (along with potential cash earnings) to the little schools. The methodology certainly doesn't favor taking new competitive members. Getting in, at least, favors those who play a bunch of stiffs and have few if any losses so they get ranked highly.
Apparently Sankey doesn't understand the polls. Does he think an 9-3 FL team that was forged in the SEC fire all year but missed the conference championship game is gonna get in over a 10-1 Wisconsin team that lost their conference championship game and played exactly 1 tough game the whole year? Not likely.
If I read the tea leaves correctly, they are going to give enough time from the end of the regular season to the first round to allow conferences to play a "championship" game, if they want one. That means there is a distinct possibility that a team will play 12 games, their championship, and then 4 additional games. That is 17 games total. Not that they WILL keep the championship games in play, just that it appears as if no one cares how many games the, um, "amateur" players are going to play on any given season. If you ask me, I see a union coming in the future. Welcome to "progress"!
This sets up nice for us. CBN should have us hitting our stride in year three, with many of his recruits playing as sophomores and juniors, sprinkled in with some top flight transfers. Next year is a bridge year between the re-building year and the competing for championships year, so we probably weren't going to be making a 12 team playoff anyway. 6-6 this year, maybe 8-4 next year and 10-2 (or better) and in the playoffs in year 3 would be really nice to see.
I am one that is very pleased with the new system. While there may be teams that, in their final game, don't have to play for anything, there are several/many teams on the other end that everything to play for. Those truly meaningless games could now mean something. The advantage of first round byes or first round home games are things worth fighting for. Are there still only going to be a couple teams that have a legit chance of winning? Yes, but it will be fun to watch. The TV package for whoever wins the rights to air the games is going to be massive.