Souhan: Expanding College Football Playoff would limit guesswork

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Souhan:

The Big Ten is the nation’s best conference right now. A full season of play has revealed little separation between its top teams. We could guess that Alabama is unbeatable, but if we were going to rely on supposition we could have handed Alabama the trophy in August. An eight-team playoff would solve the problems that arose this year. A 16-team playoff would solve any problems that might arise in the future, and allow college football to include surprising teams such as, this year, undefeated Western Michigan.

Every other sport tweaks its rules to maximize meaningful games. College football offers a silly season of mismatches in September and a month of byes when the games are most important.

An expanded playoff would cure all ills. And if you worry about the Alabama linebacker who might miss a few classes while playing extra games, ask the kids from St. Thomas who play football and take advanced physics how they handle it every winter.

http://www.startribune.com/expandin...-would-limit-committee-s-guesswork/404675006/

Go Gophers!!
 

Not a Souhan fan but he hit the nail on the head. 16 team tournament, 10 conference champs, 6 at large, let's play...
 

MNfootballfan said:
Not a Souhan fan but he hit the nail on the head. 16 team tournament, 10 conference champs, 6 at large, let's play...
Click to expand...

Really...

So the champ would play 17 games? Are bowls part of it? Would that mean no break after the conference championship games? Why wouldn't you take the top 16 ranked teams, or would there be a selection committee? How long until there would be clamoring for expansion again...maybe starting with play-in games.
 

The playoff is a cash grab. There was nothing wrong with the BCS except that an undefeated Boise State could never make the national championship, which they never will anyway. The bigger the playoff gets, the more the it favors the helmet dynasties as they are the only ones with the depth to make it through. Now it's just going to be Alabama, OSU, Auburn, LSU taking turns forever and ever.
 

No matter how many teams are in the playoff - 2, 4, 8, 16, there will always be controversy about those left out. The more teams in the playoff, the more the playoff becomes a mini-season, degrading the actual season. An 8-3 team, eighth in the rankings, could win it all by playing lights out for a few weeks. Four is the perfect number for a playoff - but greed will change that.
 


BleedGopher said:
per Souhan:

The Big Ten is the nation’s best conference right now. A full season of play has revealed little separation between its top teams. We could guess that Alabama is unbeatable, but if we were going to rely on supposition we could have handed Alabama the trophy in August. An eight-team playoff would solve the problems that arose this year. A 16-team playoff would solve any problems that might arise in the future, and allow college football to include surprising teams such as, this year, undefeated Western Michigan.

Every other sport tweaks its rules to maximize meaningful games. College football offers a silly season of mismatches in September and a month of byes when the games are most important.

An expanded playoff would cure all ills. And if you worry about the Alabama linebacker who might miss a few classes while playing extra games, ask the kids from St. Thomas who play football and take advanced physics how they handle it every winter.

http://www.startribune.com/expandin...-would-limit-committee-s-guesswork/404675006/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

<iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/26FxCOdhlvEQXbeH6" width="480" height="269" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/thisisgiphy-reaction-audience-26FxCOdhlvEQXbeH6">via GIPHY</a></p>
 

BleedGopher said:
per Souhan:

An expanded playoff would cure all ills. And if you worry about the Alabama linebacker who might miss a few classes while playing extra games, ask the kids from St. Thomas who play football and take advanced physics how they handle it every winter.

http://www.startribune.com/expandin...-would-limit-committee-s-guesswork/404675006/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Sick and tired of the local sports "scribes" comparing DIII St. Thomas to local and other FBS programs. There is virtually no commonality in the level of the sport. They are different animals altogether and do not compare (with VERY, very rare exceptions) on the level of talent. The average, or very above average DIII player is not harboring illusion of grandeur in the NFL.

Soup Can, leave this crud to Reusse. Next you will be telling us how MLB can take a lesson from the Miesville Mudhens.
 

the bell curve would suggest otherwise. there will be a lot more teams who think they should be #16 than #4
 

First Souhan article I ever liked or agreed with. This would enable the highest seeds to have another home game as well. It would be fun to watch southern teams come north for those. I can only hope.
 



So we want to make the college football regular season even less meaningful now? The college football season is a playoff it always has been we don't need to expand anything at this point.
 

Maybe he should watch some college football before championship weekend and before writing trash like this.
 

Souhan continues his streak. Always wrong about everything pertaining to college football 100% of the time.

Comparing D3 (or even FCS) football to FBS football is totally absurd.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Souhan:

The Big Ten is the nation’s best conference right now.

An expanded playoff would cure all ills. And if you worry about the Alabama linebacker who might miss a few classes while playing extra games, ask the kids from St. Thomas who play football and take advanced physics how they handle it every winter.

http://www.startribune.com/expandin...-would-limit-committee-s-guesswork/404675006/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Four teams are plenty and this year maybe there is only one team worthy of being in the playoff.

St Thomas football players taking Physics? Maybe a couple but let's be real here.
 




If it ever gets expanded beyond 4, 6 is the most it should be with the top 2 getting a bye. Look at the #7 and #8 teams each year. By that point those teams have proven they can't compete with the best. This year it would be Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Oklahoma plays in a weak conference and was destroyed by Ohio St. at home. Wisconsin has already lost to the top 3 teams in the B1G.
 

beatles said:
So we want to make the college football regular season even less meaningful now? The college football season is a playoff it always has been we don't need to expand anything at this point.
Click to expand...

How is it a playoff already? Ohio State lost and was not in a conference championship game, but was invited to the playoffs. By your take, they lost in the playoffs and then got a second chance while not earning it. I'm not saying the committee got it wrong, I'm saying the system is flawed. Look at D3, D2, FCS. You can't get in without winning your conference unless you're a top team. That is why expansion works. Take the FBS conference champions and then some top teams that earned it. Yes there is still controversy likely, but limited.

Example is 12 Team Playoff. There are 10 Conferences in FBS and add 2 at-large. Conference Championships declared on Dec 3. Play the 4 play-in games on Dec. 10 and Quarterfinals on Dec. 17. Off for Christmas and Semi-finals are played on New Year's like currently done. Final as planned.

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Washington
4. Penn State

5. Oklahoma
6. Ohio State
7. Michigan
8. Western Michigan

9. Temple
10. San Diego State
11. Western Kentucky
12. Appalachian State

Dec. 10th
Temple at Western Michigan
San Diego St. at Michigan
Western Kentucky at Ohio State
Appalachian State at Oklahoma

Under this however, I would look to eliminate the Sun Belt from FBS and add a 3rd at-large.
 

I wouldn't throw a fit if they went to 8, provided the first round of games is at home campus sites, which would still reward being a top-4 team throughout the regular season. 15 games is A LOT though...

But I'm also perfectly fine with 4 and the current way it's done now....
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
If it ever gets expanded beyond 4, 6 is the most it should be with the top 2 getting a bye. Look at the #7 and #8 teams each year. By that point those teams have proven they can't compete with the best. This year it would be Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Oklahoma plays in a weak conference and was destroyed by Ohio St. at home. Wisconsin has already lost to the top 3 teams in the B1G.
Click to expand...

As much as I hate Wisconsin I don't think losing by 7, 7, and 7 in OT is proving they can't compete.
 


beatles said:
So we want to make the college football regular season even less meaningful now? The college football season is a playoff it always has been we don't need to expand anything at this point.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. You can already feel the regular season losing what makes it so special. A 16 team tourny would completely ruin it.
 

I've always been a proponent of an 8 team playoff, with one spot reserved for a W Mich/Boise type team. Conf champs for the 5 power conferences get an auto bid and you have 2 at large. You don't need any more. That's as fair as you can get. Quarter finals would be this weekend, and then you can still have the semis at new years, and title game a week later.
 

8 team playoff.

5 conference champs get in.

3 at large bids.

Done.
 

Conference champs only. Conferences can select their champion through a play-in championship game, purely by record and tiebreaker, or through a smoky room of uninformed athletic directors as we have now.

Top seed or seeds can have a bye determined by overall SOS of their non-con. Winning percentage or similar would just encourage scheduling patsies.

Most fans want a playoff, and we can eliminate the back room dealing that got OSU in over PSU.
 

whew, i was on pins and needles when we'd get the the groundbreaking and super not lazy column on expanding the playoff four from souhan
 

theTurning said:
Absolutely. You can already feel the regular season losing what makes it so special. A 16 team tourny would completely ruin it.
Click to expand...

I think four is just about right. Gives more teams a chance which means potentially more meaningful games. I might be okay with going to 6 teams as long as the first two games are played at the higher seeds home stadium.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Conference champs only. Conferences can select their champion through a play-in championship game, purely by record and tiebreaker, or through a smoky room of uninformed athletic directors as we have now.

Top seed or seeds can have a bye determined by overall SOS of their non-con. Winning percentage or similar would just encourage scheduling patsies.

Most fans want a playoff, and we can eliminate the back room dealing that got OSU in over PSU.
Click to expand...

That's not what happened in this case though. OSU beat Oklahoma on the road. So not only did they play a tougher opponent during the non conference, they also came out with no losses compared to Penn St's one loss.

Conference championships and head to head should mean something, but wins and losses should mean a lot too. An extra loss on your resume is a big deal when you only play 12 or 13 games overall.
 

I think six would be about right. 5 conference champions I non powered five voted in by coaches or something like that. Top two get a bye decided by W-L and sos. First round games played week after Army Navy game on campus. This will leave out any bias of a committee and winning a conference will mean something.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk
 

Section2 said:
I've always been a proponent of an 8 team playoff, with one spot reserved for a W Mich/Boise type team. Conf champs for the 5 power conferences get an auto bid and you have 2 at large. You don't need any more. That's as fair as you can get. Quarter finals would be this weekend, and then you can still have the semis at new years, and title game a week later.
Click to expand...

I always thought a can agree with S2 on something!!!!! And this is it.
 

theTurning said:
Absolutely. You can already feel the regular season losing what makes it so special. A 16 team tourny would completely ruin it.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Even if they went to 16 which is the biggest I think they possibly could do, give each conference 1 automatic bid... regular season would still be pretty special because that eats up 10 spots. I'd have the first round be on the high seeds campus. There would be just as much or more excitement in the regular season. I don't get why a playoff would lessen the importance of the regular season.

The current system is a joke. How can you have five major conferences, but only four playoff spots?
 

Vandy said:
Sick and tired of the local sports "scribes" comparing DIII St. Thomas to local and other FBS programs. There is virtually no commonality in the level of the sport. They are different animals altogether and do not compare (with VERY, very rare exceptions) on the level of talent. The average, or very above average DIII player is not harboring illusion of grandeur in the NFL.

Soup Can, leave this crud to Reusse. Next you will be telling us how MLB can take a lesson from the Miesville Mudhens.
Click to expand...

Souhan's point was about academic requirements. A kid playing at St. Thomas practices every day, lifts weights, etc, just like his D1 counterparts. And, it's fair to say that a D3 player who isn't going to the pros probably needs to devote more time to class and studies to keep his grades up. and yet, D3 teams have a bigger playoff structure and potentially play more games than a D1 team.

So, if a D3 player can handle the academic requirements while playing a full playoff schedule, it stands to reason that a D1 player - who gets more academic support, tutors, etc - would not be harmed by playing one more game as part of an expanded playoff system.
 

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