Would bowls (and CFB in general) be more fun if...

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

3 hours ago, aubaseball said:

I believe it was the current NCAA president that mentioned the idea of making different divisions.    I have believed for a very long time that there are too many FBS schools.    There should be around 40 - 50(4 conferences ) and then a 12 team playoff.    No playing teams outside of the division and you would get a better representation of who is the deserving 12.   
Teams like LA Monroe, Troy and the like can have their own division.    It’s no different than FcS, Division 2 and Division 3.   

just my 2 cents 

This … there are wayyyyy too many D-1 teams. Great take here. These teams listed above will never ever win a playoff. They need to compete in a more competitive division. 

[IronMan70 3,277]

If ESPN wants to pay for all these minor bowls, let them. As far as a playoff system, it's fairly simple really.

8 team playoff:

* Divide the top level of CFB into 4 conferences of 20 teams each, using geography, like the SEC has always done.

* Split each conference into 2 divisions, let the conferences decide who goes where, rotations, etc.

* 8 division winners in the regular season are the quarter final playoff teams, they play in the 4 conference championship games.

* 4 conference champions are the semi-final teams in the playoff.

* Oops, no committees needed, no polls needed, too simple.

Edited December 30, 2023 by IronMan70

[AUloggerhead 2,231]

20 hours ago, AUwent said:

...

So, my question is...would bowls and college football in general be better if we quit trying so hard to figure out a champion and basically went back to the 80s and early 90s system in which the conference champions just automatically go to the assigned by conference bowl? Some of you may claim I'm lobbying for "PaRtIcIpAtIoN tRoPhYs" but there is no sport that's logistically tougher for which to organize a championship system. CFB was better when people were actually excited about bowl games and attend them, and thinking about how many empty seats the NC, semis and possibly even quarters will have is just kind of depressing.

(I know this won't happen--too much TV network $ to be made, but I just wanted your thoughts.)

Quit trying so hard to figure out a champion? ... Wut the actual heck?  A better idea is how about we quit trying to prop up the outdated bowl system?  This isn't the only year that bowl game venues are largely vacant and it's been going on for decades.  The TV broadcasts do all they can to avoid showing empty seats.  Only some teams travel well & fill up stadiums no matter what -- AU is fortunate in that respect.  Speaking of AU, we've been shut out of the mythical NC in '83, '93 & '04, so no thank-you to going back to that way of choosing a champion.  Let the eventual winner of the playoff games decide the champion, not a group of pencil-necked sportswriters.  The trend of players opting out of playing (meaningless) bowl games should be another clue that the draw is just not there anymore.   

Instead, why not expand the playoff system and hold all the games on the campus stadiums like the Div II & III do?  Div III has a 32-team playoff.  If they can do it, there's no reason why Div I can too.  If the current bowl venues want to host the final, they can damn well bid on it -- highest bidder gets the game.  

[Mims44 1,869]

29 minutes ago, AUloggerhead said:

Quit trying so hard to figure out a champion? ... Wut the actual heck?  A better idea is how about we quit trying to prop up the outdated bowl system?  This isn't the only year that bowl game venues are largely vacant and it's been going on for decades.  The TV broadcasts do all they can to avoid showing empty seats.  Only some teams travel well & fill up stadiums no matter what -- AU is fortunate in that respect.  Speaking of AU, we've been shut out of the mythical NC in '83, '93 & '04, so no thank-you to going back to that way of choosing a champion.  Let the eventual winner of the playoff games decide the champion, not a group of pencil-necked sportswriters.  The trend of players opting out of playing (meaningless) bowl games should be another clue that the draw is just not there anymore.   

Instead, why not expand the playoff system and hold all the games on the campus stadiums like the Div II & III do?  Div III has a 32-team playoff.  If they can do it, there's no reason why Div I can too.  If the current bowl venues want to host the final, they can damn well bid on it -- highest bidder gets the game.  

I agree with a lot of what you said, but like keeping the bowl games. Gives me one last chance to watch Auburn even when we don't have an amazing year.

And that off season is loooooooooooooooooong  

[AUwent 3,749]

40 minutes ago, AUloggerhead said:

Quit trying so hard to figure out a champion? ... Wut the actual heck?  A better idea is how about we quit trying to prop up the outdated bowl system?  This isn't the only year that bowl game venues are largely vacant and it's been going on for decades.  The TV broadcasts do all they can to avoid showing empty seats.  Only some teams travel well & fill up stadiums no matter what -- AU is fortunate in that respect.  Speaking of AU, we've been shut out of the mythical NC in '83, '93 & '04, so no thank-you to going back to that way of choosing a champion.  Let the eventual winner of the playoff games decide the champion, not a group of pencil-necked sportswriters.  The trend of players opting out of playing (meaningless) bowl games should be another clue that the draw is just not there anymore.   

Instead, why not expand the playoff system and hold all the games on the campus stadiums like the Div II & III do?  Div III has a 32-team playoff.  If they can do it, there's no reason why Div I can too.  If the current bowl venues want to host the final, they can damn well bid on it -- highest bidder gets the game.  

I just think the bowl system was a lot of fun in the pre-playoff era, and I know that it was even moreso pre-BCS. But, an 8-team playoff with every game but the last one on campus could work? I'm not kidding though, even for the playoff games you're going to have lots of empty seats towards the final two rounds.

Edited December 29, 2023 by AUwent

[AUloggerhead 2,231]

29 minutes ago, AUwent said:

I just think the bowl system was a lot of fun in the pre-playoff era, and I know that it was even moreso pre-BCS. But, an 8-team playoff with every game but the last one on campus could work? I'm not kidding though, even for the playoff games you're going to have lots of empty seats towards the final two rounds.

Trying to shoe horn the playoff into the old bowl system has ruined both the playoff & the bowl system, IMHO.  The two are just incompatible & if I had to choose ... I'd go with an expanded playoff.  Changing conference affiliations, NIL & early draft eligibility have put more daggers into the bowl system, not to mention 43 bowl games this year -- so many that teams without winning records are selected to fill them up.   

[AUGoo 2,664]

9 hours ago, aubaseball said:

I believe it was the current NCAA president that mentioned the idea of making different divisions.    I have believed for a very long time that there are too many FBS schools.    There should be around 40 - 50(4 conferences ) and then a 12 team playoff.    No playing teams outside of the division and you would get a better representation of who is the deserving 12.   
Teams like LA Monroe, Troy and the like can have their own division.    It’s no different than FcS, Division 2 and Division 3.   

just my 2 cents 

Add advancement and relegation like British soccer and would make it quite interesting

[AUwent 3,749]

6 hours ago, IronMan70 said:

If ESPN wants to pay for all these minor bowls, let them. As far as a playoff system, it's fairly simple really.

8 team playoff

* Split the top level of CFB into 4 conferences of 20 teams each, using geography, like the SEC has always done.

* Split each conference into 2 divisions, let the conferences decide who goes where.

* The 8 division winners in the regular season are your 8 playoff teams and meet in the 4 conference championship games.

* The 4 conference championship games are the quarter finals of the playoff.

* The 4 conference championship winners are the 4 semi-final teams in the playoff.

* Oops, no committees needed, no polls needed, too simple.

For me, conference alignment is the hardest part of all. Ideally, you want to have SOME semblance of competitive balance between conferences, so I don't think Clemson, FSU and Miami in the SEC would be a good idea. 

IDEA 1

Spoiler

-Five conferences.

-Everyone plays nine conference games with one OOC game (teams with "permanent" OOC games [Florida-FSU, Georgia-GT] may be deprived of opponent variety here but something had to give).

-No conference championship games--team that finishes top standing of each conference gets a spot in eight team playoff (in case of unbroken tie, sort by conference opponents' record combined), plus realistically highest ranked G5 champion and two at-large teams.

ACC (six permanents, three rotating pairs of three [visit and host everyone in six years])
UCF
Cincinnati
Clemson
Duke
FSU
GT
Louisville
Maryland
Miami FL
UNC
NCSU
Rutgers
USCe
Virginia
VT
WF

Big Ten (six permanents, three rotating pairs of three [visit and host everyone in six years])
BC
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Mich State
Minnesota
NW
ND
Oh State
PSU
Pitt
Purdue
Syracuse
WVU
Wisconsin

Big 16 (seven permanents, four pairs of two [visit and host everyone in eight years] [on six of the eight years in which Oklahoma and Texas are NOT on the rotation, it will be an OOC game])
Arkansas
Baylor
Colorado
Houston
ISU
Kansas
KSU
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Ok State
SMU
Texas
TAMU
TCU
TTU

Pac-12 (three opponents, four pairs of rotating off)
The OG 10 + the Utah schools

SEC (round robin)
The OG 10

 

4 hours ago, AUloggerhead said:

Trying to shoe horn the playoff into the old bowl system has ruined both the playoff & the bowl system, IMHO.  The two are just incompatible & if I had to choose ... I'd go with an expanded playoff.  Changing conference affiliations, NIL & early draft eligibility have put more daggers into the bowl system, not to mention 43 bowl games this year -- so many that teams without winning records are selected to fill them up.   

You're still going to have as many as FIVE postseason games. Who's going to be able to afford that?

Edited December 30, 2023 by AUwent