Bowl Games vs Playoffs -> Why Can't We all be Greedy Friends?

[Mike Jackson]

Today I heard debates about prominent NFL prospects sitting out their final Bowl Games and I got me to thinking.  There is a lot of interconnected greed hurting college football as a whole and the bowl games and playoffs are symptomatic of it.   There has always been an easy win vs win for all FBS level programs when it comes to the post season.  And I wish I knew the real reason (or rather the power player would admit what I suspect) why this simple solution has not been implemented.   First let me identify my 3 biggest gripes with college football. 

1. Non Power 5 programs have virtually no shot at ever proving themselves worthy to even compete for a national title.

2. Throughout the entire history of College Football Bowl games are mostly irrelevant.  (At best maybe 4 mattered before the implementation of the BCS)

3. P5 power teams almost never play G5 teams on the road

My simple solution (many have thought of it before) is a 4 team playoff after the bowl games.  There are some minor tweaks that would need to be implemented to make sure an undefeated G5 team like Western Michigan would get a shot in getting into the final 4 after winning their bowl game.  [That tweak is that an undefeated G5 team or maybe one ranked 12 or better with only 1 loss gets a top 6 ranked team in their bowl game].   First of all with all apologies to Ohio State fans who might run across this, but I believe it is utter bullshit that they are the 3rd rank team in the playoff and the other teams in the playoff won their conference.  Best case OSU should have been 4th if you they were determined to put them in over Penn State.  Conference champions deserve better bowl games than their conference mates that they beat head to head.  In post bowl playoff this would not be an issue because they would have to win their bowl game to get into the post-bowl game playoff.  The post bowl game 4 team playoff would ensure that almost any bowl featuring a top 10 team would be highly contested.  Also this post bowl playoff would make winning your conference critical so give your team the power to select the best bowl possible to give you a shot at the playoff.  The semi-finals of the playoff would be played at the home stadiums of the 1 and 2 seeded teams and that national championship game would rotate between the New Year's 6 bowl game sites.   My question to the my fellow GMG members is what are the road blocks to this?  And is this plan the best plan to balance the considerations for the bowl game committees, playoffs, and fair competition?

 

Edited December 23, 2016 by Mike Jackson

[brooks91]

I keep saying with the current conference setup, a 6 team playoff would be the best scenario. The top 2 teams get an automatic bye and the bottom four play first round. Every conference champ gets in and then there's a wild conference slot. This year it would have been Ohio state, but the wildcard would give a G5 team an honest shot at the playoffs.

[Mike Jackson]

2 hours ago, brooks91 said:

I keep saying with the current conference setup, a 6 team playoff would be the best scenario. The top 2 teams get an automatic bye and the bottom four play first round. Every conference champ gets in and then there's a wild conference slot. This year it would have been Ohio state, but the wildcard would give a G5 team an honest shot at the playoffs.

There are 10 conferences all together.  That does not give a G5 an honest shot at the playoff.  Look at this years rankings 8-4 Auburn is even ranked ahead of Western Michigan.  If you never get a chance to play the big boys at home or on a neutral field you virtually have no shot if your a G5 team ranked outside the preseason top 25.  Your preseason ranking G5 status should not exclude you from earning your way in through a bowl game as an undefeated conference champion.  If Houston plays Western Michigan's schedule this year and they go undefeated they are in the playoff based on preseason ranking and to me that is garbage.  No other major North American team sport operates this way. 

[NT93]

The first playoff rankings don't come out until October, so there  are  no preseason rankings as far as that goes. I agree that if Houston may have had gotten in had they stayed undefeated, but it had more to do with their schedule (as compared to a Western Michigan) than it did to preseason rankings.  That being said, no G5 has a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.  If you're being honest though, Auburn is undefeated if they play W.Mich. schedule and W. Mich. probably isn't 8-4 if they play Auburn's schedule.

I agree with you that it stinks and that no other major North American sport operates this way.

  

[Army of Dad]

tl;dr

[GMG24]

Best argument I've seen, that's fine seniors you can skip bowl games for draft prep but colleges should be able to play RS freshman in the bowl game without losing that redshirt year.  Give the kid something to work towards, get the fans excited about the future, everyone wins IMO.  

[Cerebus]

13 hours ago, GMG24 said:

Best argument I've seen, that's fine seniors you can skip bowl games for draft prep but colleges should be able to play RS freshman in the bowl game without losing that redshirt year.  Give the kid something to work towards, get the fans excited about the future, everyone wins IMO.  

I like that idea.  Heck of a reward for the kids, and it would give coaches a chance to see next years replacements in game action.

[GMG24]

Just now, Cerebus said:

I like that idea.  Heck of a reward for the kids, and it would give coaches a chance to see next years replacements in game action.

Yup. Probably cut down on the transferring epidemic as well. Which may or may not directly benefit us. 

[Mike Jackson]

On ‎12‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 1:15 PM, GMG24 said:

Yup. Probably cut down on the transferring epidemic as well. Which may or may not directly benefit us. 

Anything we can do to continue having legitimate national champions, with meaningful bowl games, and a pressure packed regular season the better.  And simplistically I just think that means selecting teams after the bowl games.