The College Football Playoff needs to change, and it needs to change now.
After an unexpected early exit, Oregon Duck football fans are furious with the College Football Playoff Committee. Oregon, who was the number one seed in the tournament, had one of the toughest paths in the playoff. Had they won their game against number six ranked Ohio State they would have played number three Texas in the next round and then either number four Penn State or number five Notre Dame in the Championship. This would mean that Oregon would have to play three teams inside the top six, where teams like Texas and Penn State only have to play two.
However, some fans believe that it makes sense that the number one seed faces some bullets.
“I think if they are the number one seed then they should be able to beat anyone. The National champion should be the best team in college football which means realistically they should be able to beat every team,” said Summit Junior Hudson Green.
Additionally, many fans argue that the top four teams getting byes is not actually a reward. All four teams that received byes, including Oregon, lost their first matchup. With only Arizona State’s thrilling two overtime loss to Texas being close. Oregon and Boise State both lost by three scores and a banged up Georgia lost by two scores.
As an avid sports fan who watches and over analyzes way too much college football, here is a realistic plan to fix the College Football Playoff.
Expansion
College football needs to expand, and this time to 16 teams. Expansion is a win-win for everyone involved. There would be no more byes, more teams would get to compete for a National Championship, and most importantly, more Football for the fans. This change will also ensure that teams will still play a max of four games in the Playoff, keeping injury risk as low as possible.
Auto Bids
Even though we are eliminating byes, it’s still important to keep the automatic bid process. The top five ranked conference champions make the playoff and will be seeded where their final ranking is. If one of the auto bid teams is outside the top 16 then they will be seeded number 16.
Locations
All first-round games will remain on-campus games. Many people we spoke with said that the atmosphere of having a playoff game on a college campus was one of their favorite parts of the whole playoff. All conference champions/auto bid teams will get a home game in the first round unless the team they are playing is also an auto bid team and is ranked higher. If neither team in a matchup won their conference championship then the higher ranked team will get home field. Every game following the first round except for the championship game will be played at a New Year’s Six Bowl site: Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. The site for each game will be determined by the most neutral site between the two teams. The championship game will switch off between Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Rankings
College Football Playoff rankings have often been criticized for their inconsistency on a year-to-year and same-year basis. There needs to be clear-cut criteria on how to rank teams. The committee will prioritize strength of schedule over record or margin of victory over strength of victory. Another huge controversy in this year’s rankings was how to rank conference championship losers. I think the best thing we can do in that regard is to make the rule that a conference championship loser may not be jumped in the ranking by a team that didn’t play in a conference championship game. This gives some more meaning to teams that fall short of victory in their conference and also gives a clear ruling for all teams in this situation.
Committee
The current College Football Playoff Committee is made up of 13 members, four former coaches, two former players and six athletic directors. Each member serves a term of three years and then new members are chosen. It would be beneficial to have four Associated Press sports writers and four former college football players. Additionally, it would be advantageous to make it so each member serves a two-year term to give more people opportunities and keep the committee as equitable as possible.
