One thing I think we can be pretty sure of is the 4 team playoff is not staying. Most people expected an 8 team playoff model to win out, but it appears a 12 team model now leads in an article on sports.yahoo.com by Pete Thamel.
“The reason that you go to 12 is because you can develop the road of least resistance toward a good result,” said a high-ranking college official with knowledge of the process.
How would 12 teams work? The basic thought is automatic bids for the five major conferences — which also juices up their league title games as play-in games — and one for the highest ranked Group of Five champion. The other six spots would be at-large bids.
I will always prefer the format of a return to the old bowls system, and play a +1 championship. We know that won’t ever happen, but this format does address some serious current issues.
First off a Group of 5 team will have access to playoffs. I guarantee they won’t go winless either. We don’t have to go back the litany of previous Group of 5 teams like Boise State, Utah, TCU, and UCF among others that were legitimate top 10 teams. Now they will have their chance.
Automatic berths for conference champions suddenly opens the door for nearly every single team in the Power 5. Sure Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, and Oklahoma will still dominate their conferences for now, but in a 1 game winner to the playoff format each of those teams has a loss or result that can give their opponent hope. In the last 5 years – Alabama didn’t win the SEC in 2019. Ohio State lost to Purdue, Oklahoma has losses to Kansas State and Iowa State, and Clemson has been beat by Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
The cost of losing that game is a potential opening week BYE or missing the playoffs all together discussed in the article.
That’s huge.
How does this effect the ACC overall?
In 2015 FSU ranked 9th and UNC ranked 10th contend for the playoffs. In 2016 Florida State ranked 11th and Louisville ranked 13th enter the final weeks of the season with playoff hopes.
This would enhance the regular season, as teams would jockey for position to get into their championship game. That’s means during the playoff era – Duke, Georgia Tech, UNC, Virginia Tech, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Virginia could have been within one game of the playoffs. Florida State would have made it, and Louisville in 2016 would have been in the contention for an at large berth.
Even if the format is the ACC’s top 1 and 2, the opportunity is there. It’s not like it’s 1 Clemson and 2 Florida State each year since 2014.
Including Clemson – that’s 10 ACC teams that had realistic path in the final weeks of the season to make the playoffs.
That’s good for the sport.
If Notre Dame truly cares about their football program, this would enhance their playoff opportunities. With 5 spots going to conference champions and a group of 5 team, that leaves Notre Dame fighting for 1 of 6 at large bids rather than 1 of 11 spots as a potential conference champion or at large bid.
While it is fair to criticize the potential for a 3 loss playoff team, the increased interest in the auto-bids makes the regular season count deep into the season for a lot more teams. Being a top 4 seed is a substantial benefit as they get a BYE week.
If this is the final decision, I’m in favor of it and it benefits the ACC.
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2 pings
Terry says:
June 9, 2021 at 2:22 am (UTC -5)
ND fan here again.
What this does is shuts the door on any possibility of ND football joining a conference.
ND will take its chances with an 8 or a 12 team playoff.
It took its chances when it was 1 out of 4. What makes you think that it won’t when its 1 out of 6??
(You are looking at ND and the playoffs in a vacuum, as a single issue. You are ignoring the overwhelming preference of ND people to stay out of a conference. This enables that further, not detracts from it)
It is interesting to me that Jack Swarbrick is the chairman of the playoff committee.
Jack Swarbrick has repeatedly said that only a P4 champs only playoff structure would force ND football into a conference.
An expanded playoff kills those hopes of others that ND football will join a conference, maybe forever.
@TalkinACCSports says:
June 9, 2021 at 7:08 am (UTC -5)
The difference was that in the 1 of 4 model, there was no true preference for conference champs, and if it worked against Notre Dame it was slight.
THe difference here is you’ve truly eliminated yourself from available spots.
Does Notre Dame want a path to the playoffs or the most paths to the playoffs?
That said I don’t expect Notre Dame to join in the next 10 years. We’ll see after that if landscape changes.
The ACC should always ask, but clearly not expect it.
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