College Football Playoff
The playoff should be decided by a formula, not by a committee. What is the objection to this? As long as you have a straightforward formula that is fair, it's every bit as good as the collective opinions of the committee.
There are two issues in putting a playoff together: (1) how is the playoff structured; and (2) how are the teams selected.
The problem with college football is that the best teams don't play each other or even have many common opponents, and only play 12-13 games. It's very difficult to compare the best teams with each other. So you either have a system like the BCS that leaves out deserving teams or one like the NCAA Tournament that includes too many teams and dilutes the importance of the regular season.
The goals in structuring a playoff should be to make sure all deserving teams get in without having so many teams that the regular season doesn't matter anymore.
I propose an 8 team playoff: the champions of the Power 5 conferences, the best team from the non-Power 5 conferences and 2 at-large teams. You have to have at-large teams if conference champions get automatic berths, because otherwise, a lesser team might upset a better team in a conference championship game, or there might be a conference in which all the best teams are in one division. Because there is an automatic spot for a conference champion, this encourages teams to play tough non-conference schedules. If you lose the non-conference games, you can still win the conference and make the playoff. If you schedule tough non-conference games, you have a better chance of making it as an at-large team if you don't win the conference. Also, this system is fair to non-Power 5 teams who routinely got shut out of the BCS Championship despite going undefeated (Boise State, TCU, Utah, et. al.).
Under this system and under the current system, you still need to determine how to rank teams. I propose that you get more points for beating better teams, and bonuses for winning on the road and winning "decisively." So here's the system:
5 points: beat a team that finishes in the Top 15 in the rankings
4 points: beat a team that finishes 15-25 in the rankings
3 points: beat a Power-5 team that finishes the regular season with a winning record
2.5 points: beat a non-Power-5 team that finishes the regular season with a winning record
2 points: beat a Power-5 team that finishes the regular season with a non-winning record or a non-Power 5 team with a winning record
1 point: beat a non-Power 5 team with a losing record
0 points: beat an FCS team
0 points: lose to a team that finishes in the Top 15 in the rankings
-1 points: lose to a team that finishes 15-25 in the rankings
-2 points: lose to a Power-5 team that finishes with a winning record
-3 points: lose to a Power-5 team that finishes with a non-winning record or a non-Power 5 team with a winning record
-4 points: lose to a non-Power 5 team with a losing record
-5 points: lose to an FCS team
Bonus points:
0.5 points: win a road game
0.5 points: win a game by 9+ points - margin of victory matters, but you don't want to encourage running up the score. Winning by more than one score counts as "decisive."
So what would the current season look like?
Florida State: 2.0+0.5+4.0+4.0+2.5+2.5+3.0+5.0+2.5+2.5+3.0+3.0+5.0=39.5
Oregon: 0.5+5.5+1.5+2.5-1.0+5.0+3.5+2.5+3.5+5.0+2.5+3.0+5.5=39.5
Alabama: 3.5+1.5+1.5+3.5+0.0+2.5+3.5+2.5+4.5+5.0+0.5+4.5+4.5=37.5
Ohio State: 3.5-3.0+1.5+3.0+4.0+3.5+2.5+2.5+6.0+3.5+2.5+2.5+5.5=37.5
TCU: 0.5+3.5+2.0+4.0+0.0+2.5+2.5+3.5+5.5+2.5+3.0+2.5=32.0 (12 games)
Baylor: 1.5+0.5+2.0+3.0+3.0+5.0-2.0+2.5+5.0+2.5+2.0+5.5=25.5 (12 games)
Easy call: FSU, Oregon, Alabama and Ohio State get the playoff spots this year.
There are two issues in putting a playoff together: (1) how is the playoff structured; and (2) how are the teams selected.
The problem with college football is that the best teams don't play each other or even have many common opponents, and only play 12-13 games. It's very difficult to compare the best teams with each other. So you either have a system like the BCS that leaves out deserving teams or one like the NCAA Tournament that includes too many teams and dilutes the importance of the regular season.
The goals in structuring a playoff should be to make sure all deserving teams get in without having so many teams that the regular season doesn't matter anymore.
I propose an 8 team playoff: the champions of the Power 5 conferences, the best team from the non-Power 5 conferences and 2 at-large teams. You have to have at-large teams if conference champions get automatic berths, because otherwise, a lesser team might upset a better team in a conference championship game, or there might be a conference in which all the best teams are in one division. Because there is an automatic spot for a conference champion, this encourages teams to play tough non-conference schedules. If you lose the non-conference games, you can still win the conference and make the playoff. If you schedule tough non-conference games, you have a better chance of making it as an at-large team if you don't win the conference. Also, this system is fair to non-Power 5 teams who routinely got shut out of the BCS Championship despite going undefeated (Boise State, TCU, Utah, et. al.).
Under this system and under the current system, you still need to determine how to rank teams. I propose that you get more points for beating better teams, and bonuses for winning on the road and winning "decisively." So here's the system:
5 points: beat a team that finishes in the Top 15 in the rankings
4 points: beat a team that finishes 15-25 in the rankings
3 points: beat a Power-5 team that finishes the regular season with a winning record
2.5 points: beat a non-Power-5 team that finishes the regular season with a winning record
2 points: beat a Power-5 team that finishes the regular season with a non-winning record or a non-Power 5 team with a winning record
1 point: beat a non-Power 5 team with a losing record
0 points: beat an FCS team
0 points: lose to a team that finishes in the Top 15 in the rankings
-1 points: lose to a team that finishes 15-25 in the rankings
-2 points: lose to a Power-5 team that finishes with a winning record
-3 points: lose to a Power-5 team that finishes with a non-winning record or a non-Power 5 team with a winning record
-4 points: lose to a non-Power 5 team with a losing record
-5 points: lose to an FCS team
Bonus points:
0.5 points: win a road game
0.5 points: win a game by 9+ points - margin of victory matters, but you don't want to encourage running up the score. Winning by more than one score counts as "decisive."
So what would the current season look like?
Florida State: 2.0+0.5+4.0+4.0+2.5+2.5+3.0+5.0+2.5+2.5+3.0+3.0+5.0=39.5
Oregon: 0.5+5.5+1.5+2.5-1.0+5.0+3.5+2.5+3.5+5.0+2.5+3.0+5.5=39.5
Alabama: 3.5+1.5+1.5+3.5+0.0+2.5+3.5+2.5+4.5+5.0+0.5+4.5+4.5=37.5
Ohio State: 3.5-3.0+1.5+3.0+4.0+3.5+2.5+2.5+6.0+3.5+2.5+2.5+5.5=37.5
TCU: 0.5+3.5+2.0+4.0+0.0+2.5+2.5+3.5+5.5+2.5+3.0+2.5=32.0 (12 games)
Baylor: 1.5+0.5+2.0+3.0+3.0+5.0-2.0+2.5+5.0+2.5+2.0+5.5=25.5 (12 games)
Easy call: FSU, Oregon, Alabama and Ohio State get the playoff spots this year.