Thamel: The lean towards a 12-team playoff
- Thread starter ChrisMWilliams
- Start date
Wonder if this would finally make Notre Dame join a conference? If I'm reading this right they could never be higher than a 5 seed and thus never get a bye if they stay an independent.
I like pretty much all of this, but I think quarterfinal round should be at campus sites.
I realize it's set up as bowl sites because with 12 teams instead of 4, the "off-year" major bowls would have watered-down appeal.
Just seems like (as mentioned earlier in the thread), if teams advance that's a lot of bowl-site hopping for fans. Travel + expense.
Excellent question.
If I were to design it, I wouldn't guarantee the top 4 slots to the "auto bid" -- seed the tournament in exact order of the standings. You're still guaranteed a slot if you're a top 6 definitive league champion (which makes winning your league "matter") but it also values overall body of work (so "the regular season matters").
Many years, the top 4 auto-bids WOULD be 1-2-3-4, but "my plan" allows for outlier seasons.
I'm shocked they decided to go with 1st games at on school sites. SHOCKED. That is also the most awesome part of this expansion.
Nothing was going to be perfect but on campus games are just a home run IMO.
Nothing was going to be perfect but on campus games are just a home run IMO.
I'm almost as shocked there's a proposal to go straight to 12 this soon -- instead of incremental 6 or 8 -- I assumed it'd go to 6, stay that way for like a decade, then increase, or such.
Not saying this plan will get approved, or how many years it'll be to launch it, but that's for another day ...
Our guys will now have the opportunity to play a top ranked team in Jack Trice under similar conditions to the KU ice bowl. Bring on anybody south of Iowa. 
Leave it ip to the CFP committee cone up with the worst of both worlds. The top 4 teams don't need to be protected. Either do 8 or 16 with auto bids for conference champions.
Giving the top 4 a month of rest before they play their first game just guarantees they will advance.
Of course it would have to work out for ND. They've only had preferential treatment for the BCS and playoffs the entire time.
Good roundup.
Now that you've done the legwork
... Only change I would make, as I proposed in a previous post, I’d prefer seeding based strictly on ranking. Also, in my scenario, quarterfinal round is at campus sites, too, instead of bowls (I know that won’t happen, but what the heck).If so, 2019 would be this - auto bids in parentheses - others at-large:
First round
Madison, Wis.
8. Wisconsin
9. Florida
Athens, Ga.
5. Georgia
12. Memphis (American)
Eugene, Ore.
6. Oregon (Pac-12)
11. Utah
Waco, Texas
7. Baylor
10. Penn State
Quarterfinal round
Baton Rouge, La.
1. LSU (SEC)
(8 vs 9 winner)
Norman, Okla.
4. Oklahoma (Big 12)
(5 vs 12 winner)
Clemson, S.C.
3. Clemson (ACC)
(6 vs 11 winner)
Columbus, Ohio
2. Ohio State (Big Ten)
(7 vs 10 winner)
We already have 12 teams, between the CFP and NY6 games. This just consolidates it, and effectively gets rid of the contingency agreements for a league's #2 team.
How would the previous CFP/NY6 participants have changed under the proposed setup?
2014: #11 Kansas State in; #12 Georgia Tech out
2015: #10 North Carolina and #11 TCU in; #12 Ole Miss and #16 Oklahoma State out
2016: #10 Colorado in; #14 Auburn out
2017: No change, top 12 all made it
2018: #12 Penn State in; #15 Texas out
2019: #11 Utah in; #24 Virginia out
All of the above teams that got bumped out only got in to an NY6 game in the first place from a contingency agreement.
I positively hate the idea of a four team bye. If the argument is that they don't want bad matchups, maybe 12 teams are just too many to argue to play in the thing.
There are going to be some interesting, hardcore winter weather games played if this all pans out. Can only imagine the SEC starting to complain when they have to come north of the mason dixon line to play outdoors in late December.
It could help level the playing field when considering all the bowls are always in the south for them too. I think this effectively saves the Big 12 as well, because it would guarantee the champ in the playoff and they do not want to give that up.
