For some reason, the Coaches Poll makes its 2015 appearance next week.
And just a reminder about the one unquestioned achievement of the CFP:
The Coaches Poll used to count for one-third of the formula that was used to determine the BCS standings and national championship participants, but is not part of the determination of the College Football Playoff, which uses a selection committee to determine participating teams.
That’s almost enough by itself to make me stomach a sixteen-team playoff field. Almost.
Get The Picture 
Once we have an extended playoff (let’s say 8 with wildcards), the next most useless thing we’ll have in college football is conference champions. The nationalization of the sport is going to be its downfall with its biggest fans.
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I must not understand your comment, the biggest advantage of expanding to eight IS a guaranteed slot for a conference champion. Currently, it isn’t even worth a ticket to the dance. And the BCS demeaned the value of a conference champion in 2011 when Bama got a spot over all other conference champions as a team that didn’t even make the title game of it’s own conference. I agree that conference titles are not held in as high esteem ever since the BCS made many believe there was a legit NC winner every year. Expanding to eight teams insures a conference winner will not be excluded and an entire league shut out of representation.
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I didn’t like Bama making it either, but I really don’t like that 3 teams who didn’t win their conference will have a chance to be national champions every year. The only way I would want to see 8 is a champions only playoff, but that requires such realignment to make it balanced competitively that it will never happen. Therefore, the march toward a meaningless regular season begins.
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I disagree. The move to 8 ensuring that conference champions are in… and then weigh the 3 wildcards heavily on SOS and more teams will go out and schedule big power 5 programs for out of conference reg season games. Sure you might still be able to get in with a 9-4 record. But meaningless regular season games to me are the Louisiana Monroe and Charleston Southerns on the schedule.
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Brandon, you are making my point. If you can’t win your conference in today’s college football, you don’t deserve a chance to be national champions.
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It’s a playoff, not to determine who is best…that is impossible to ever know. Most likely the best team will be that mix but may not win out, best team doesn’t always win any given game. But the main thing is to get the 5 champions in, then add the best non-power 5 team in the country, finally add the remaining two that are the highest rated that did not make the first six. It is a heckuva mix and every deserving team has a chance to make it. Should they stumble once, they still have a shot to win a title if they are that impressive the rest of the way, or play in a loaded conference. Fair as we can make it with the time constraints.
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If all conferences had equal quality of teams I could agree with that statement. As it stands the top 3 teams of some conferences are better than the Champions of others. This disparity also leads to strength of schedule issues. It is harder to win the SEC than the bIG, though Ohio State would do well in the SEC they would not be as clear cut.
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That’s exactly why any champions only format requires realignment. I hate the idea of wildcards or at-large teams because it cheapens the value of the regular season.
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What if a team chose to play 3 big time OOC teams and beat them all, and then finished 2nd in their conference…I think that team is probably deserving. This is how some teams would approach it. Better regular season scheduling by some.
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Excuse me, it ENHANCES the regular season. Now there is something to play for with all top teams, and to keep playing for if you stumble once. I have never seen more excitement and conversation that I did in 2014. And that is with a half ass system. Now if you go too far, then I am on your side (16, 32, etc.) Eight of 127 is damned elite, particularly if the first round is held at the home stadiums of the top four seeds.
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You are correct. Top eight by poll consensus or Committee picks last two after top six if consensus doesn’t reach to eight.
Keep on driving, Mac. And ignore the 16-teamer pundits. It’s only for scare tactics or to make a slope “slippery”.
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Mac, we’ll just agree to disagree on this. I don’t like what the inclusion of at-large teams in an 8-team playoff does to the value of the regular season and the value of a conference championship. I also understand your point. With 5 power conferences, at least 1 (or 2 if ND makes the 4) gets left out. It’s a poorly designed system and always has been. I hated how 2011 turned out. Alabama’s win over LSU in New Orleans completely invalidated LSU’s road win over the Tide and the SEC championship they won. It’s like the regular season didn’t count. The problem is with at-large teams you have a much higher likelihood of that happening regularly. At large #4 has just as much to wail about as #5 does today. That and the money will send this to a 16-team playoff before the ink is even dry on 8. Once at 16, the regular season is meaningless as teams sit star players on the last weekend of the season or for a conference championship game to rest for the playoffs when the season really begins.
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I would prefer all at large teams. The bcs had a hard time selecting the top 2 teams, but I think it would work well to choose 8 or sixteen and then let a committee seed them.
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I’ve said all along – the BcS wasn’t a bad system. I would have used it to select the 4 over the disaster that is the selection committee with its built-in bias. No one in a powerful role with a stake in the outcome really complained about the BCS until 2011. When the move was made to 4, one Jim Delany was the guy to throw out the committee specifically to protect the B1G champion and reduce the opportunity for the SEC to get 2 teams in.
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If all of the conference champs got to be in the playoff, there would be an increase in quality across the board. If the Big East knew it had a spot in the playoff, it’s teams could recruit on the basis of “come to us and we can win the conference and you can play in the playoff”. The top players wouldn’t have to go to one of the P5 conferences if they wanted to be in the playoff.
There will always be stronger and weaker conferences top to bottom. Which conferences were stronger top to bottom would change over time. Having a champions playoff is still the best way to decide a true national champion.
There needs to be a system with no “selection committee” or at large spots in the playoffs. There would be, and will be with any system, years where teams get shut out that are better than teams that get in. There is no way to prevent that.
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I’ve said for years, have 8 14 team conferences and let the 8 champions play in a three week playoff to have a legit national champion. The realignment wouldn’t be that difficult, it sure doesn’t seem to be too hard for teams to jump conferences now if they think they can make an extra dollar. Notre Dame would just have to get over itself and pick a conference to join or they could stand on principle and not be eligible for the playoff and championship.
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I’m sure Bama will find a way to use the coaches poll to claim another national championship.
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Always have.
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The guys on that committee look at these polls, anyone who thinks otherwise is in LaLa land.
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‘The most useless thing in college football’…Sounds like a Cole Porter song describing the NCAA’s Infraction Committee’s Annual visit to Auburn.
Kinda like what happens when a dog humps a stuffed teddy bear. Useless waste of energy for showtime with no substantial results.
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Despite it being useless, I’d say that is the most parity we’ve seen in the Top 10 in a long time.
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#9
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