Reorganization of FBS for playoff system

Bama&GatorFan

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Organize the 128 teams into two tiers. Only the upper tier gets to compete for the national championship.

Within the upper tier, organize the 64 teams into 4 conferences of 16 teams each. Let each conference crown a champion like the SEC does today (with two divisions in each conference, which play mandatory games among each other). Each conference champion gets an invitation to a 4-team playoff system like we have now. All games are played within the team's tier, even the non-conference ones. Tie breakers will have to be defined in case they are needed to determine who plays in each conference championship game. The lower tiers can crown their own conference champions also. See below.

Each year, the lower tier conference champions will move up to the upper tier. Similarly, the worst 4 teams from the upper tier move down to the lower tier (decided by some type of poll or by computer). It would be a source of pride to say that your team is in the top tier.

Teams from each tier can play their own bowl games within teams from their tier. So the lower tier would have a few bowl games, and the upper tier will have (perhaps more) bowl games (the ones that do not make the playoff).

This would mean that all games will be more competitive than they are now, and also allow for a fair way to determine a national champion (and keep the bowl games, which make a lot of money).

Discuss...
 

EyeDocGator

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I think it is bad for football. This plan will eliminate rivalries when teams are forced to change tier. Any team can fall apart. UF once had a season with 0 wins. Should our games with GA and UF have been cancelled for the following season? It's not easy to change the next season and reschedule games on such short notice. In this hypothetical scenario, it may take a bunch of seasons for any team that has been tossed into the bottom tier to win its conference to get back to the top tier. Recruiting would automatically become difficult to impossible for a lower tier team trying to get top recruits. We'd be settling for 2* instead of 3*.

This idiotic reorganization is designed with TV revenue in mind. Fans aren't even a consideration.
 

Bama&GatorFan

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...
This idiotic reorganization is designed with TV revenue in mind. Fans aren't even a consideration.

Thank you for your wise comments to my idiotic proposal.

Isn't recruiting already difficult if a team loses most of their games?

Is it really much of a rivalry if one team is great and the other one stinks? I'm just thinking it would be best to avoid the blowout games with a score like 70 - 0. If you want to play your rival, win enough games to stay in their tier. Perform or get out.

And actually, teams would have something like 7 or 8 months' notice after the schedule was set. That would not seem to be such a problem. They are able to play the conference championship games with just a few weeks of notice.
 

TLB

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Organize the 128 teams into two tiers. Only the upper tier gets to compete for the national championship.

...

Each year, the lower tier conference champions will move up to the upper tier. Similarly, the worst 4 teams from the upper tier move down to the lower tier (decided by some type of poll or by computer). It would be a source of pride to say that your team is in the top tier.


You've been watching European 'football' again, haven't you?


Yes, games would be more competitive, but as others point out it would tear apart the fabric of conferences, traditions, and rivalries. Note, the rivalries could be maintained, or new ones made, if teams remain within their 16 team groupings when they don't move up or down. American fans aren't ready for this kind of thinking, even if it is a step in the right direction to have the 'best' teams in the playoffs.
 

Bama&GatorFan

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You've been watching European 'football' again, haven't you?


Yes, games would be more competitive, but as others point out it would tear apart the fabric of conferences, traditions, and rivalries. Note, the rivalries could be maintained, or new ones made, if teams remain within their 16 team groupings when they don't move up or down. American fans aren't ready for this kind of thinking, even if it is a step in the right direction to have the 'best' teams in the playoffs.
I just want to point out that teams could still play some non-conference games to play rivals as long as they are in the same tier.
 

MertzJay26

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After 2013 we would be in the bottom tier :fear:

I vote no.
 

Bama&GatorFan

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One more thing: conference games played outside a team's division would not count toward determination of the conference division championship.

For example, Tennessee's losses to Alabama and Texas A&M would not count because they are out of the SEC east.

Actually, I guess it wouldn't hurt to play some rivalry games outside of tier as long add they don't count toward the conference championship...
 

NVGator

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We will eventually move to 4 Power Conferences. More than likely it will be 16+ teams. Hate to break it to the old timers here but "rivalries" will be all but gone in 10 years. Millennials don't care about rivalries and only care about the "now". Schedules will look drastically different in the very near future.
 

NCOGator

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One more thing: conference games played outside a team's division would not count toward determination of the conference division championship.

For example, Tennessee's losses to Alabama and Texas A&M would not count because they are out of the SEC east.

Actually, I guess it wouldn't hurt to play some rivalry games outside of tier as long add they don't count toward the conference championship...
Points dont matter.jpg
 

EyeDocGator

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Thank you for your wise comments to my idiotic proposal.

You're welcome. I'm more than happy to help.

Isn't recruiting already difficult if a team loses most of their games?

You bet. And, your proposal would make it impossible for teams to improve. How would a lower-tier team go about hiring a top-notch coach when that coach knows he would first have to win a conference championship in order even to be allowed to compete with the big boys?

Is it really much of a rivalry if one team is great and the other one stinks? I'm just thinking it would be best to avoid the blowout games with a score like 70 - 0. If you want to play your rival, win enough games to stay in their tier. Perform or get out.

Interesting take. So you believe that even though we were destroyed by FSU last year, we no longer have a rivalry.

And actually, teams would have something like 7 or 8 months' notice after the schedule was set. That would not seem to be such a problem. They are able to play the conference championship games with just a few weeks of notice.

Schedules for non-conference games are usually set up several years in advance. Conference games follow a template, so they are easier to schedule on shorter notice. The league championship game is planned well in advance. There are only a few teams who have a chance to go. They make plans well before the end of the season.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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We will eventually move to 4 Power Conferences. More than likely it will be 16+ teams. Hate to break it to the old timers here but "rivalries" will be all but gone in 10 years. Millennials don't care about rivalries and only care about the "now". Schedules will look drastically different in the very near future.
As long as the old timers are running things, rivalries will remain, especially in the SEC.
 

NVGator

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As long as the old timers are running things, rivalries will remain, especially in the SEC.
There isn't much time left for all these old timers. College football will not be anything like it even currently is, much less what it used to be, in the near future.
 

gingerlover

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How about we just keep things the way they are, but force the power 5 teams to play at least two out of conference power 5 teams a year. Can either be set traditional games or can be rotated if no OOC rivals and ND would count as well. For instance we could have FSU and Miami or rotate the second choice. UGA could have clemson and GT, South carolina would have clemson UNC, etc. Also need to force Texas to play A&M yearly and to get over the fact that they broke out of the shadow and can live without them.
 

Bama&GatorFan

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You bet. And, your proposal would make it impossible for teams to improve. How would a lower-tier team go about hiring a top-notch coach when that coach knows he would first have to win a conference championship in order even to be allowed to compete with the big boys?

I do not see how that is any different now. How do bad teams recruit good players now? How do they improve? I don't know, but they do it somehow.

Interesting take. So you believe that even though we were destroyed by FSU last year, we no longer have a rivalry.

I'm saying that it is not worth much if one team always blows the other one out. You can still beat someone if you are in the same tier. Besides, you could still play a rivalry out of your tier if you want a one-sided game.

Schedules for non-conference games are usually set up several years in advance. Conference games follow a template, so they are easier to schedule on shorter notice. The league championship game is planned well in advance. There are only a few teams who have a chance to go. They make plans well before the end of the season.

Agreed, they are set up years in advance now. It doesn't have to be that way.
 

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