4-team playoff field imperfect for College Football

[CDC84]

UCF still needs to win tomorrow, but to me it is disgraceful that an unbeaten team shouldn't be allowed to participate in the college football playoff. I don't care what league they're from. My view has always been that if you go unbeaten, you should automatically get in....regardless of your schedule strength. It is so rare for college football teams to go unbeaten that you just have to allow for it to happen. But the only way to make it happen (and not make the big boys gripe) is to expand to 8 teams. But no more than 8 teams. With the amount of injuries that are in football, as well as many other things, you can't really rig your schedule that much to make it more likely for you to go unbeaten. Sure, Alabama could choose to just play Western Michigan, San Jose State and UTEP instead of taking on a heavy hitter like Clemson. But the SEC is going to catch up to them. And once they get beat in the SEC, where's that quality non-league win to help offset the SEC loss?

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/news/ucf-undefeated-season-four-team-field-imperfect-college-football-playoff-central-florida-american-aac-scott-frost/o6uoql6t16xh1n7gcwtlvlnkh?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[seacatfan]

That's exactly what happened to 'Bama this year. Florida St. was SUPPOSED to be a big win, but the Noles weren't even mediocre this year. Best win...maybe LSU? A good team, but not really something to hang your hat on. What else do they got? Didn't play Georgia, lost to Auburn. Rest of the SEC is fairly down this year. They really got nothing. They can't make a very good case for getting into the playoff other than "but we're Alabama, we belong there every year." Will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Conference Championship Games have some big stakes.

The 4 team playoff has pretty much ruined football for the non P5 teams. Used to be if you ran the table you would get a slot in a BCS bowl and a shot at one of the big boys in a game that meant something. Now none of the bowls really mean anything if it's not part of the playoff. Most of the former BCS bowls have lost a lot of luster. What does UCF really have to play for?

[CDC84]

I am sitting here, watching a fraudulent college football playoff game between Clemson and Alabama. It is my sincere hope that UCF's completion of an unbeaten season w/ their 34-27 win over Auburn in the heart of SEC country will finally create a fair playoff. As I have continually said, it is so rare for a team to go unbeaten (case in point: no unbeaten teams in the playoff this year) that even if that team comes from a non-power conference, it still has the ability to compete in a playoff. UCF's win over Auburn in the Peach Bowl proved it. Auburn was ranked 7th in the final playoff standings.

UCF's non-participation in the college football playoff is one of the greatest injustices in the history of college sports. Something MUST change, and I believe it will when it's up for discussion next time.

[Birddog]

I am sitting here, watching a fraudulent college football playoff game between Clemson and Alabama. It is my sincere hope that UCF's completion of an unbeaten season w/ their 34-27 win over Auburn in the heart of SEC country will finally create a fair playoff. As I have continually said, it is so rare for a team to go unbeaten (case in point: no unbeaten teams in the playoff this year) that even if that team comes from a non-power conference, it still has the ability to compete in a playoff. UCF's win over Auburn in the Peach Bowl proved it. Auburn was ranked 7th in the final playoff standings.

UCF's non-participation in the college football playoff is one of the greatest injustices in the history of college sports. Something MUST change, and I believe it will when it's up for discussion next time.

At least UCF didn't lose a spot in the playoffs to the Pac 12.

[509er]

8 is a no brainer. The 5 Big 5 conference champions and 3 at large. Even at that, an undefeated UCF isn't going to automatically get in if there are multiple runners up from the Big5 Conferences with 1 loss. Would have you have really picked UCF over Alabama or Ohio St. (assuming they had 1 loss and not 2) this year?

[CDC84]

8 is a no brainer. The 5 Big 5 conference champions and 3 at large. Even at that, an undefeated UCF isn't going to automatically get in if there are multiple runners up from the Big5 Conferences with 1 loss. Would have you have really picked UCF over Alabama or Ohio St. (assuming they had 1 loss and not 2) this year?

That issue is solved easily. Anyone who goes unbeaten automatically gets in. They become automatic qualifiers like in college basketball. Going unbeaten in college football is so difficult and so rare that the accomplishment alone deserves a playoff spot, regardless of the ratings system. I have no issues with ranking Central Florida as the eight seed in an eight team playoff if their schedule brings them down, but they must be let into the thing. They must have a chance to compete for the national title. The people who make these decisions know that even an eight team playoff leaves open the chance for unblemished non-BCS teams to be left on the outside, so there is no excuse for not making it a rule to allow in all the unbeaten teams. If we had seven unbeaten non-BCS teams per year, I would be against the automatic qualifier idea for unbeaten teams, but we just don't see unbeaten teams that often.

[509er]

That issue is solved easily. Anyone who goes unbeaten automatically gets in. They become automatic qualifiers like in college basketball. Going unbeaten in college football is so difficult and so rare that the accomplishment alone deserves a playoff spot, regardless of the ratings system. I have no issues with ranking Central Florida as the eight seed in an eight team playoff if their schedule brings them down, but they must be let into the thing. They must have a chance to compete for the national title. The people who make these decisions know that even an eight team playoff leaves open the chance for unblemished non-BCS teams to be left on the outside, so there is no excuse for not making it a rule to allow in all the unbeaten teams. If we had seven unbeaten non-BCS teams per year, I would be against the automatic qualifier idea for unbeaten teams, but we just don't see unbeaten teams that often.

I looked up UCF’s schedule. They had a game cancelled with GTech and A game with Md so only 1 game with Power5 teams. They also played 2 FCS teams (Maine and Austin Peay). They need to schedule a lot tougher than that if they are going to be considered a playoff caliber team. I have a similar beef with the SEC and their 8 game league schedules. Half the PAC 12 plays 5 Conference road games every year.

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

If they go to an eight team field, I would give auto-bids to the Big 5 conferences and reserve one bid for a team outside of those leagues. UCF would have probably gotten that one.

Automatic admission for an undefeated season creates a huge incentive to water down your schedule.

[Birddog]

Don't hold your breath waiting for change.

Unlike the Bowl Championship Series, the College Football Playoff was built to withstand criticism instead of shifting to respond to yearly griping.

That structure is standing strong despite some blowback.

https://collegefootball.ap.org/article/legit-gripes-maybe-no-change-college-playoff-format

[CDC84]

I looked up UCF’s schedule. They had a game cancelled with GTech and A game with Md so only 1 game with Power5 teams. They also played 2 FCS teams (Maine and Austin Peay). They need to schedule a lot tougher than that if they are going to be considered a playoff caliber team. I have a similar beef with the SEC and their 8 game league schedules. Half the PAC 12 plays 5 Conference road games every year.

I disagree. Going unbeaten in college football is so rare that it deserves automatic qualification. I could care less about scheduling strength except when it comes to the eight team playoff seeding.

Until I see 5 or 6 unbeaten teams per year, I just think that all unblemished teams should get in. Even gutless Alabama who refuses to ever play true road non-league road games usually ends up losing a game at some point in the SEC.

[CDC84]

Don't hold your breath waiting for change.



https://collegefootball.ap.org/artic...playoff-format

The lead college football writer for USA Today was saying the same thing, although he feels there is going to be a massive backlash regarding coordinators getting paid two million buck contracts now and how this might lead to an expanded playoff. That the people who believe that the student-athletes are being ripped off and exploited are really going to be asking for more equality and more opportunity in the sport.

The writer also was "stunned" by the lack of backlash regarding the UCF thing. That it really shows how different college football and college basketball are as sports. College basketball fans would have zero tolerance for the UCF thing.