What's your best argument against expanding the CFP to eight teams? (Poll!)

G. Gordon Gator · Dec 19, 2019

soflagator said:
Well, the lion's share of my career has consisted of obsessing over math, predictability and in essence, "gambling". So you pretty well nailed me there.

To your second point about a team going on a magical run, that can be beautiful. And we get to watch it all day on Sundays, and almost the entire month of March. Leave that mentality to those sports. The greatness and uniqueness of college football is that it damn near requires perfection. And when it's achieved, that is beautiful. It's what makes early October Saturdays against a rival such a wild scene, why we're too nervous to eat before the game in Jax, and why we take that one loss so much harder. No other sport can boast that and what makes it the best sport out on the planet. So leave it alone.

I understand your point of view about the need for perfection being unique to college football. We will just have to agree to disagree on whether that's a good thing or not. Frankly, I have the opposite viewpoint.

I've never liked the way that one loss all but ends your season, and two losses definitely finishes it. It's too stressful leading up to that point when we fall out of contention, and too depressing afterward. I prefer a little more room for error so I can relax and enjoy the regular season more. Different strokes for different folks.

soflagator · Dec 19, 2019

SeabeeGator said:
There’s a reason guys like Saban oppose these types of changes - they have it made right now and any of these changes eat away at their advantage. HUNH offenses, transfer portal, etc. all change the calculus enough that these guys have adapt from something that is currently dominating. Throw the 8 team playoff hand grenade in there and watch the chaos.

They oppose it for the same reason we would've opposed it in the 90s or mid-to-late 2000s. I remember Meyer was asked about whether or not we should have to play undefeated Boise after the 2006 NC game, and his response was a very quick "we're good". I'd imagine he wanted nothing to do with having to play yet another game against Texas, Usc or a rematch with Saban in 2008 either. Let's say this year we managed to narrowly win our 2 losses and then the SEC title game against Lsu. We could then possibly have to play uga again and Lsu a 3rd time. Fine if absolutely necessary. But why? So Ucf can get a chance, or so that Oregon can get a 3rd chance? No.

I'll throw another scenario out there. It was well documented that even at 4, Lsu and OhSt didn't even need to win their final regular season games to be in(or the Conf Championship for that matter). So you're a Tigers fan and your kid loves Joe Burrow. They're great this year so you can't get tickets until the final game against A&M. You drop 200 for the pair, and your kid couldn't be more excited to see his idol and the high flying Lsu offense. And then you show up, and watch 60 minutes of Jimmy McSecondstring running a base offense with the other walk-ons. Or you've always dreamed of seeing Ohst Mich and you basically see a walk-through by one or both teams as they prepare for the playoff.

Because....why again?

G. Gordon Gator · Dec 19, 2019

SeabeeGator said:
I’m With @G. Gordon Gator here. Switch to an 8 team playoff and the talent will disperse. Plus, the more competitive football the better. I’d add:

Max 1 FCS team. All 9 game conference schedules. Remove all divisions and require top 2 teams in conference by some standard system play for P5 conference championships. Those 5 get auto-bids. Other three spots are at-large, top ranked teams. And cap staff sizes for each team.

There’s a reason guys like Saban oppose these types of changes - they have it made right now and any of these changes eat away at their advantage. HUNH offenses, transfer portal, etc. all change the calculus enough that these guys have adapt from something that is currently dominating. Throw the 8 team playoff hand grenade in there and watch the chaos.

That bolded part is an interesting suggestion, but can't you foresee a lot of strength-of-schedule complaints if you eliminate divisional play and just go by the two teams with the best records? Because in that scenario the top two teams could've had very divergent schedules.

With divisions, it's more objective. The winner of each division is fairly decided because everybody played everybody.

Swamp Donkey · Dec 19, 2019

G. Gordon Gator said:
What happened was, we went to a 4-team playoff, and the situation only marginally changed. It's what I keep saying: As long as the perception is that there are only a handful of teams with a shot at winning, then that handful of teams will keep hoarding all the top talent, and the cycle repeats.

the reason there's a perception that we don't have a shot of winning is because we can't beat Georgia Alabama LSU or Clemson on a football field this decade.

We can't beat them in October or December or January. The month of the game doesn't change anything.

Dunder · Dec 19, 2019

I would prefer a 6 team playoff. I think the intrigue coming down the stretch of the season would be off the charts.

Which two team will get the coveted byes of the 1 & 2 seed?
Which two teams will get the home games of the 3rd & 4th seed?
Which teams will be the last 2 in (5th & 6th seed) and first 2 out (7th & 8th).

G. Gordon Gator · Dec 19, 2019

Swamp Donkey said:
the reason there's a perception that we don't have a shot of winning is because we can't beat Georgia Alabama LSU or Clemson.

we can't beat them in October or December or January. the month of the game doesn't change anything.

I feel like this has been addressed already. It's almost like you're being deliberately obtuse. But just to recap, the reason that neither Florida nor hardly any other NCAA team can beat the ones you mentioned is that those teams have all the best players. The reason they have all the best players is that we have a 4-team playoff, and those teams are perceived as having a stranglehold on the four playoff berths, so that's where all the best HS players go.

However...

SeabeeGator said:
Switch to an 8 team playoff and the talent will disperse. Plus, the more competitive football the better.

Swamp Donkey · Dec 19, 2019

G. Gordon Gator said:
I feel like this has been addressed already. It's almost like you're being deliberately obtuse. But just to recap, the reason that neither Florida nor hardly any other NCAA team can beat the ones you mentioned is that those teams have all the best players. The reason they have all the best players is that we have a 4-team playoff, and those teams are perceived as having a stranglehold on the four playoff berths, so that's where all the best HS players go

Your premise is fvkktarded. I can feel IQ points being sucked away by anyone silly enough to read this

LSU had good players and good recruiting, but no "strangle hold on the playoff". They figured out that scoring points was better than ball control, that throwing the ball down field is how you scores, switched their offense and now they are undefeated #1.

We could do the same thing if we didnt throw and run sideways instead of scoring points.

Woodroe · Dec 19, 2019

soflagator said:
It will be the 6th straight playoff(all of them) that will feature an absolute bloodbath.

Please tell me where the bloodbath was in 2017 season (2018 playoff)

TheDouglas78 · Dec 19, 2019

Woodroe said:
Please tell me where the bloodbath was in 2017 season (2018 playoff)

The Alabama Clemson game, it wasn't as close as the 24-6 score, game was over in third and everyone knew it.

G. Gordon Gator · Dec 19, 2019

Swamp Donkey said:
Your premise is fvkktarded.

No, what's fckktarded is your inability to articulate a cogent rebuttal to it. But I don't mind, since I tend to regard the words fvkktarded and entertaining as synonyms.

Meanwhile, don't look now but public opinion is strongly on my side. The poll proves I'm right. Disagree? I defy you to give an example in recorded history of the majority opinion ever being wrong about anything.

Don't say when everybody thought the world was flat. Number one, there's no proof of that being the majority opinion at the time, because we didn't have internet surveys. And number two, there's no proof it wasn't true at the time, because we didn't have Google Earth.

There is a consensus among knowledgeable historians that the little-known fourth ship in the Columbus armada never made it to the West Indies because it went over the edge of the Earth. You could look that up.

soflagator · Dec 19, 2019

Woodroe said:
Please tell me where the bloodbath was in 2017 season (2018 playoff)

Managing 2 FGs, spending 85% of the game being down double digits, and ultimately losing by 18 means you had no business being in the national championship discussion. Maybe it doesn't fit your description of "bloodbath", but in the context of a playoff, it does to me.

TheDouglas78 · Dec 19, 2019

G. Gordon Gator said:
No, what's fckktarded is your inability to articulate a cogent rebuttal to it. But I don't mind, since I tend to regard the words fvkktarded and entertaining as synonyms.

Meanwhile, don't look now but public opinion is strongly on my side. The poll proves I'm right. Disagree? I defy you to give an example in recorded history of the majority opinion ever being wrong about anything.

Don't say when everybody thought the world was flat. Number one, there's no proof of that being the majority opinion at the time, because we didn't have internet surveys. And number two, there's no proof it wasn't true at the time, because we didn't have Google Earth.

There is a consensus among knowledgeable historians that the little-known fourth ship in the Columbus armada never made it to the West Indies because it went over the edge of the Earth. You could look that up.

Have you read what most the people write on this board, I wouldn't brag about having these asshats on your side.

Zambo · Dec 19, 2019

Eliminating divisions within conferences and then seeding the four highest ranking conference champions would have the effect of more than doubling the number of potential contenders in December without adding a single extra game.

MJMGator · Dec 19, 2019

G. Gordon Gator said:
The trend of people saying there's no need to expand to eight teams because there aren't even four legit title contenders in the first place. First @Swamp Donkey said it, then you, and probably someone else has said it by the time I'm done typing this.

My question is, why is that the case? Do you think there's only enough top talent in America to put together three teams that deserve to be considered the best? Or it because all the top talent keeps being stockpiled by those teams?

The situation you're talking about (the limited number of truly elite teams) existed when we had no playoff, because everyone wanted to go to whoever were the top two schools at any given time. Now that four teams get a shot, the perception of who those top two schools are has changed a little bit, but it's still just a handful who are always in the mix right now.

So how do we change that? I'm saying we should consider something different that we haven't tried yet.

I’m not clamoring for parity. F*ck parity, f*ck “SEC, SEC” and any other reason to expand the playoffs and water down the regular season.

G. Gordon Gator · Dec 19, 2019

soflagator said:
Managing 2 FGs, spending 85% of the game being down double digits, and ultimately losing by 18 means you had no business being in the national championship discussion. Maybe it doesn't fit your description of "bloodbath", but in the context of a playoff, it does to me.

18 points? We beat FSU by 32 points to win the 1996 National Championship. Did FSU have no business being in the National Championship discussion that year? I recall people arguing that we were the ones who didn't deserve a shot at it.

TheDouglas78 · Dec 19, 2019

G. Gordon Gator said:
18 points? We beat FSU by 32 points to win the 1996 National Championship. Did FSU have no business being in the National Championship discussion that year? I recall people arguing that we were the ones who didn't deserve it.

One thing if for sure that didn't belong on that field that night....

G. Gordon Gator · Dec 19, 2019

TheDouglas78 said:
Have you read what most the people write on this board, I wouldn't brag about having these asshats on your side.

Well which choice did you vote for in the poll, Doug?

78 · Dec 19, 2019

I’ve argued for eight in the past based on the belief of increased season-ending excitement it would create. I’ve grown increasingly ambivalent since.

It works with basketball because there are more regular-season games. It wouldn’t work as well with football. The season is short as it is.

TheDouglas78 · Dec 19, 2019

G. Gordon Gator said:
Well which choice did you vote for in the poll, Doug?

Keep it the same,, but I'm just another asshat like the rest of us.

TheDouglas78 · Dec 19, 2019

The biggest issues with the premise, is that here might be roughly 30 5* players each year, so only a handful of teams are going to get those players. Top players tend to play with one another or have particular school they are in love with. It's incumbent on a good salesperson to sell them on the merits of coming to their organization and move to the next level. There are certain schools whom obviously are flooding the next level on an annual basis with talent. So if I'm one of those kids, I have to take that into consideration. Which is why those are the hand full of schools that keep getting the talent, it has less to do with playoff and more to do with the paycheck.

What's your best argument against expanding the CFP to eight teams? (Poll!)

What should happen with the College Football Playoff?

Leave it the $%@# alone, it's good enough like it is.

Keep it at four teams, but change the criteria for getting in.

Expand it to 8 teams.

Expand it to 16 teams.

Eliminate the CFP and go back to #1 vs. #2.

Something else, which I will explain it my response.

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