Thamel: The lean towards a 12-team playoff

[jctisu]

So you want every game including the regular season to be neutral. Got it. Of course it's an advantage that's the ******* point of being a top seed

Haven’t even gotten to the expanded playoffs and people are complaining. All people have been doing is whining about more access to the playoffs (which I agree with btw) but now that they are going to get that access (12 teams) it’s not good enough because teams may get a bye and a home game. Guess what you are in the tournament and can host first round then at least get a shot at the big boys now. Put up or shut up.

I am in full agreement with you and your thoughts. Neutral-site games suck. I like the byes and having them also get home games because it definitely keeps the regular season just as important because only having the addition of conference champs getting an auto-bid doesn’t do it. Teams could take the last week or two off to rest key players and sandbag if they already have a spot in their conference title game sewed up. Now you have that big carrot of getting a bye and home game to keep these top teams competing until the very end.

 

[awd4cy]

It’s the journey that matters though, not the destination. Just like in March Madness. Yeah we got Baylor vs Gonzaga in the championship. No surprise there. But that didn’t diminish all the excitement of the previous rounds.

The parity is far greater in college basketball than college football though. I do get what you are saying though.

 

[RustShack]

Isn’t the point of being seeded higher to get home field and/or a bye week?

What are you new to sports or does the regular season mean nothing?

 

[ricochet]

And then you compound that with a committee that will make sure its favored teams are the ones getting those home slots.

As long as the top 4 spots go to conference champions I don't have a big problem with it. If they start giving Alabama or Ohio State teams that lose (or don't make) conference championship games top 4 seeds that is a different story.

 

[cyfanatic13]

The NFL does home games until the Super Bowl and they're playoffs work just fine. The atmosphere alone would make it way better than a neutral site

 

[DarkStar]

So you want every game including the regular season to be neutral. Got it. Of course it's an advantage that's the ******* point of being a top seed

The point is not to rig the system in favor of one preordained team over another team. The goal is to even the playing field as much as possible.

 

[SWCy13]

It’s incredible that so many people are opposed to more football and something that gives ISU a million times better chance of getting into the playoff.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Good enough for me.

 

[ISUKyro]

It’s incredible that so many people are opposed to more football and something that gives ISU a million times better chance of getting into the playoff.

Right?! The simple fact that with this system had it been in place, ISU could have been in the playoff last year.............. ISU football...... in the playoffs. Think too many on this board have gotten comfortable with 8 and 9 win seasons, forgetting we still have never even seen a 10 win season.

 

[helechopper]

The 12 team playoff is going to be so dope, can you imagine it. The ratings will be out the roof.

Moving The games from home field to antiquated bowl venues is a little dumb, but it’s still a hell of a lot better than what we had, fat sports writers and coaches choosing who’s the best in the land.

What I’m looking forward to the most is what we have all come to love during March Madness, upsets. It’s going to be a great day when a Bama topples to ISU.

 

[nwiacyclonefant]

This is going to absolutely kill bowl games. Also, the people acting like Coastal Carolina and other G5 teams “belong” is just stupid. Iowa State or even Oregon would have bodied them last year

Sooooo we are just going to go ahead and forget about how the season started last year?

 

[quasistellar]

Sooooo we are just going to go ahead and forget about how the season started last year?

I know, right?

Anyway, now we don't have to have make believe arguments about G5 teams being "worthy". They will have their shot and if they lose, they lose.

I'm all for this (except the weird neutral site games thing is pretty dumb). I've always thought the system was pretty silly where teams that play at the (presumably) same level as P5 conference teams have had literally zero chance to actually play for a championship in the sport.

This is only good for ISU -- I see zero downside for our school.

The only overall downside I see is that the SEC will still get too many teams due to bias.

 

[CyGuy5]

Sooooo we are just going to go ahead and forget about how the season started last year?

Liberty beat Coastal last year, so I’m pretty confident we would have took them behind the woodshed. Iowa State was a completely different team than they were against Louisiana and we also had covid issues going into that game.

Where are you in NW Iowa? I go to school up there

 

[JRE1975]

I wonder how excited people will be if Iowa State plays Alabama in a quarter final game at Alabama's home field and ISU only gets the 3-4,000 tickets for the game and they are in the upper corners of the end zone. A neutral site game gives both teams access to tickets to have more of a bowl site type excitement from the crowd for the game and more control over playability with respect to weather.

Play in neutral sites in the quarters and beyond.

 

[Clonefan32]

Give me anything that isn't Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard arguing for 2 months straight before we get the inevitable same 4 teams in.

 

[TopCy]

So, arguments about the best format aside, I can't help but wonder how ISU would have done in this scenario last year.

Do we take down Florida on the road? Do we make our patented comeback against Clemson in the quarterfinals only to fall short at the end? I would have loved to at least have the chance to see.

Whether they win a game or not, making the playoff would undoubtedly be the high point of Cyclone football history. I hope it happens in my lifetime.

 

[Rural]

So, arguments about the best format aside, I can't help but wonder how ISU would have done in this scenario last year.

Do we take down Florida on the road? Do we make our patented comeback against Clemson in the quarterfinals only to fall short at the end? I would have loved to at least have the chance to see.

Whether they win a game or not, making the playoff would undoubtedly be the high point of Cyclone football history. I hope it happens in my lifetime.

Chances are Florida's good players don't drop out of this format.

 

[cymonw1980]

Here are a few of the numbers I thought were interesting based on who would have made a 12 team playoff the last 7 years based on the current proposal:

- 48% of P5 teams would have made at least one playoff (31 of 64)

- 12% of G5 teams would have mad at least one playoff (8 of 59)

- ND is still the only Independent to make it (got to think BYU, Army, UConn, etc. try to get into a G5 conference to give their football teams a shot at a playoff)
- B12 would have had 5 of 10 teams in the playoff; texas would still not have made it.

- While the SEC has been dominant lately, through the first 3 years (2014 - 2016) the B12 would have had more bids (6) from a 10 team league than the SEC (5 bids) had from a 14 team league

- Overall, the b10 and PAC12 saw biggest boosts, going from 5 bids to 20 bids and 2 bids to 11 bids respectively;

- b10's 20 bids would have been 1 more than the SEC's 19 in the 12 team playoff.

- G5 would have had 8 teams with Coastal Carolina beating out the PAC12 champ for the final spot last season

- Current format no G5 team has ever made it, 4 teams (OU, Clemson, Alabama, OSU) have secured 71% (20 of 28) of the playoff bids the first 7 years

Overall, can't wait for this to happen. I think it adds a lot more value to the regular season since every game is much more likely to impact the playoff race and every team has a legitimate path. Sure, every OU, OSU, Alabama, Clemson, game impacts the playoff today. But what about the others? With this system, many games will have an impact on who will participate, who will get byes, and who will get home games - all very valuable and worth playing for. There is value to be gained at every tier in the playoff, so even more to play for through out the regular season. Lastly, how many players will choose to sit out if they are in a playoff game vs. a bowl game?

What every CFB Playoff would have looked like under the 12-team format

Change is likely coming soon to the CFB Playoff.

247sports.com

(NOTE: Notre Dame was technically an ACC member in 2020)

 

[Diggame]

I haven't seen anyone mention this but how are we adding more games but not talking about a real effort to pay the players or letting them have a decision about their rights?

I love the idea of expanding the playoff on paper but are these students going to be compensated for more games?

 

[Bestaluckcy]

Like the playoff idea, but this may reduce the need to play meaningful non-conference games. The power five will just concentrate on conference games and schedule three easy noncon wins. If it goes that route I would be in favor of eliminating one or two of these meaningless annual games, then scheduling more by weekends, like last year. Probably little need for Iowa and ISU to continue playing and hurting one teams chances for playoffs every year.