The College Football Playoff is officially moving to a new format. With the implosion of the Pac 12, the original 6+6 model wasn’t as attractive to many P4 teams who viewed two G5 champions getting in automatically as attractive as moving to a new model that would support more P4 programs getting in.
In a move that was honestly almost too obvious, the new format will follow a very similar style but be a 5+7, or the four champions from the P4 conferences and then one from a G5 conference plus seven at-large teams. Technically, if two G5 champions were both ranked higher than a P4 Conference Champion, they could have two spots, but that is very unlikely, especially with every P4 conference moving away from divisions.
Did the College Football Playoff Committee Make the Right Call?
I am probably in the minority here, but they should have stayed at the 6 + 6 model. The G5 consists of 66 teams, and under this format, in most years, only one team will get represented in the College Football Playoff. For those doing the math, that is about 1.5% of those teams. On the flip side, 11 P4 teams will be represented, equalling out to about 16% of the teams.
As it is, even with 12 teams, college football is already one of, if not the least represented sport when it comes to playing for a National Championship. Basketball has 68/351 (19.4%), baseball sits at 64/300 (21.3%), and women’s soccer is 64/341 (18.8%). For pro teams, most sports are pushing right around 50%.
The fact that only 8.9% of college teams will have a shot to compete for a National Championship every year in football is a joke, especially when you consider the G5 numbers again. Don’t get me wrong, 12 teams is eternally better than only four teams, but there needs to be better representation.
The right thing to do would be to keep the original format. Yes, a P5 conference is now gone, but now, if a G5 team loses two games, they know they are out of the running, even if they win their conference championship. Where is the fun in that?
How to Fix the College Football Postseason
There are really two ways to fix college football: either have two separate divisions or have relegation.
Splitting Divisions
Having two divisions is the easiest way and sort of a ‘cut off the head of the snake’ way to fix the issues. Each division (P4 and G5) can have a 12-team playoff, or whatever they decide to do in their own league. Look at the FCS, DII, and DIII. They all have great playoff formats, and they get tons of teams involved.
As it is, bowl games are dead. Every single bowl game out of the College Football Playoff was evidence of this. There were teams that had more than 20 players opt out. With an expanded playoff, don’t be shocked if teams opt out completely. I say this as someone who loves bowl games. But no matter how much I care or pretend it isn’t an issue, it’s just the fact of where the sport is.
Relegation
Relegation is a concept foreign to most American sports fans, but it is very common around the world. Relegation is the idea of having two conferences under the same umbrella. Every year, the bottom team or two drop from the top division, while the top two teams from the lower division are elevated.
An example of this could be the Big 12 and the Mountain West. Let’s say in 2024 that Houston and Kansas State finish in the bottom of the Big 12, and Utah State and Nevada are on the top of the Moutain West. In 2025, Houston and Kansas State would move to the Mountain West while USU and Nevada would be in the Big 12.
There would then be a 12-team playoff for the top leagues, as well as bowl games for everyone else, including matchups that would cross between the two levels of competition. This would keep interest in the sport for the entire year because each division would be playing for something. The top would be playing for a Playoff spot OR the chance to be in the top league, while the bottom of each P4 would be playing to avoid being relegated to the lower league.
This scenario seems very unlikely as no P4 team would ever sign off on the idea, but if the NCAA were to gain any control over all the teams (which they haven’t had for a long time), something like this could potentially be implemented.
BREAKING: The College Football Playoff has approved the move to a 5-7 format for the 12-team field starting next season‼️
"The 5 highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next 7 highest-ranked teams as determined by the CFP Selection Committee."https://t.co/08SqLIBprx pic.twitter.com/GRxXHoPpdA
— On3 (@On3sports) February 20, 2024
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