We just witnessed the hype of the first-round home playoff games of the new 12-team CFP Playoff this past weekend. Each game fell far short of being a challenging, good game to watch, with all four home teams winning by ten or more points.
Notre Dame was up 24 on Indiana late, SMU had a poor showing at Penn State losing by 28, Clemson was down by 21 in the 2nd half at Texas, and Tennessee was out classed by Ohio State all night, being down by as many as 32.
One thing that is clear, is that seeding needs to be changed. The current highest-ranked four conference winners get automatic bids for first-round byes, creating a mixed-up uneven balance that was significantly evident in the despairing matchups.
If the field were seeded based on the rankings, like most all other sports do, the games could possibly be much better games. Here is what the first-round games would have been if the byes and seeding were based off of the rankings order.
Two or three of these potential CFP Playoff first-round matchups could have been much more entertaining games to watch. There are rumbles of reseeding after the first round; however, seeding them correctly to begin with is a much more common-sense solution. It is a better distribution of talent in the first round and gives the correct matchups earned for the top teams waiting with byes.
Currently the top overall seed, and only undefeated remaining team in college football, Oregon, now plays the sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes after the bye. In our scenario, Oregon would play the winner of Boise State versus Indiana. Plus, making two of the top four ranked teams in all of college football for the entire season play in the opening round just does not make good sense.
College Football has always been about the best of the best! Every game mattered, each and every week coming out on top of battles on the field had the ultimate meaning. Going undefeated or having only one loss meant you could potentially find your way to the pinnacle of the sport and have a chance at a national championship.
Having to select flawed teams with two or three losses to fill the 12-team field reduces the value of the regular season. Imagine a world where a possible four loss team gets in to play if they expand it even further. There has been talk of expanding the field even further to a 14 or 16 team field.
The current quarterfinal field is perfect. It’s the top eight teams with the four conference champion byes in the rankings for the complete college football season. It’s the best of the best. No third ranked team playing the 16th ranked team in an opening round. The balance of the bracket would be in order. Let the top eight ranked schools battle it out on the field for the CFP Playoff college football national championship trophy.
It would give meaning to the regular season. Who teams play and their strength of schedule would matter. Winning would make the difference, and not which flawed loss looks best to get into the CFP Playoff. College football has always been about the teams who could dominate the rest. Eight teams seem like the perfect medium for that to continue.
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