How would you fix it?

[Alan]

The playoffs. One one is over and a lot of garbage football played. Did #10 SMU belong in the 12? #8 11-1 Indiana got blown out, #7 Tennessee wasn’t competitive. Is there a way to make the first round more competitive? I ca,e away with not much excitement after round one and I can see teams like Bama and Mississippi St complaining all the more. Is 6 seed Penn St supposed to have the easiest path, IMO.

[frogsnouts]

Just remove the conference champions getting top 4 seeds for existing and have the top 4 in the rankings get the bye games. Notre Dame was one bad game away from being undefeated this year, they should have a chance at a bye and will absolutely ruin a bracket in the future if that doesn't get fixed (they can't get over a #5 seed, ever).

The games would've been:

Notre Dame - Clemson
Ohio State - Arizona State
Tennessee - SMU
Indiana - Boise State

I can see Clemson putting up at least a decent fight with Notre Dame, the Indiana - Boise State game is pretty intriguing, and maybe SMU has more for Tennessee than Tennessee had for Ohio State. Ohio State destroys ASU, but at least they are out in this round vs. getting into the second round and likely making one of those games an easy blowout (we'll see if Boise does the same).

And as funny as it was to see it happen, losing Alabama this year hurt the lineup. Put Alabama in there instead of SMU and that game is must-see TV, even if Penn State blows them out.

[duckpoint]

It just so happens that I have been giving a lot of thought to this exact question, "How would you fix it". My very short & direct answer is to actually have a NCAA hosted & sanctioned playoff instead of tweaking another variation of bowl coalitions & networks propping up cash cows for a 'invitational' tournament disguised as a 'National Championship'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_f ... sion_I_FBS

A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best college football team. Division I FBS football is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport for which the NCAA does not host a yearly championship event. As such, it is sometimes referred to as a "mythical national championship".[2][3][4][5][6]

Schematically fixing the 'National Championship' is actually a pretty easy exercise, but it's the politics and revenue hoarding that will ultimately keep putting lipstick on the pig of a 'mythical national championship'!

I could layout a few options of how CFB could be restructured to have an actual playoff for a championship, but the first step has to be for the University Presidents, Athletic Directors & Conference Commissioners to sit down and sort out the problems created by conference realignment, NIL, Transfer Portals, Revenue Sharing, etc..., and empower the NCAA to act as the national governing body again. Most of these problems are persisting due to the NCAA facing too many lawsuits and not creating more legal exposure for the organization by stepping up to create the rules and enforcement necessary to end the 'wild west' that CFB has become.

[StevensTechU]

The playoffs. One one is over and a lot of garbage football played. Did #10 SMU belong in the 12? #8 11-1 Indiana got blown out, #7 Tennessee wasn’t competitive. Is there a way to make the first round more competitive? I ca,e away with not much excitement after round one and I can see teams like Bama and Mississippi St complaining all the more. Is 6 seed Penn St supposed to have the easiest path, IMO.

I don't think there's much to fix, to tell you the truth. I saw someone mention that, in the 4-team playoff, 16 of 30 games were decided by more than two touchdowns. So even if you whittle it to the best of the best, blowouts happen. Then look at the NFL, NBA, etc. The first and second round are generally dominated by the highest seed (MLB might have the best track record for upsets because of the sport).

So the point is, if you're trying to engineer this for maximum playoff competitiveness, then you might want to go back to 2 teams from the BCS era. But, this is the most intrigue the regular season has had in a long time (2007, in my view) because of how many teams had a shot late in the year. So I think you keep it at 12 (or no less than 8 or no more than 16, which I personally favor 8 or 12).

As far as seeding, I could see an argument for changing the seeding. Because I want college football to be more than just a Big Ten vs. SEC exhibition, I don't hate seeding teams based on accomplishments more than perception, but you can fairly creatively make it where the Big Ten #1 gets a spot in the bracket, Big Ten #2 on the opposite side, same with the SEC, etc etc.

[Duck07]

Home games through the Semis.

[duckpoint]

I don't think poll voters or 'selection committees' can predict blowouts anymore than they can predict upsets. That's why games need to be played.

They will likely eliminate conference championships all together or make them a non determining factor for byes & seeding.

I expect this format will continue until the next anti-trust suit is filed or the Big Ten & SEC decide to break out into their own separate league.

[Alan]

The biggest problem I have with this years bracket is the 6 seed, Penn St. while I think they are the same caliber as the Ducks, tOSU, Georgia they have a much too easy path playing SMU then B.S. I don’t think Boise State should have got a bye. The bracket should be seeded better. Ducks seeded #1 should be playing the winner of the #12 vs #11 seed, #2 playing winner of 9 vs 10 etc.

[Merganzer]

If this Playoff Bracket had been a school project in 6th grade the teacher would have given the student who handed it in an F.
"The 6 seed can't have such an easier route the championship game than the 1 seed."

ESPN knew it was messed up. At the start of the show every week Davis told us that the rankings don't match the seeding. The 6-1 screw-up was right there to see. Take out the automatic byes & seeding for conference champions, rank the teams-1-12 and it works.

[UOducksTK1]

The biggest problem I have with this years bracket is the 6 seed, Penn St. while I think they are the same caliber as the Ducks, tOSU, Georgia they have a much too easy path playing SMU then B.S. I don’t think Boise State should have got a bye. The bracket should be seeded better. Ducks seeded #1 should be playing the winner of the #12 vs #11 seed, #2 playing winner of 9 vs 10 etc.

why would 11 play 12 seed?

I think first post is spot on, don’t give conference champs automatic bye. That alone would have fixed most the problems.

Also I’m not opposed to the idea that #1 seed playing the lowest seeded team to advanced, #2 seed playing second lowest team to advance, etc..

Or maybe an even more fine idea. Let the top 4 seeds pick which team they face starting with #1 seed choosing.

[Everythingsducky]

Home games through the Semis.

My thought exactly. That and seeding teams due to their rank/strength, instead of conference champ auto-seeds. Love ASU, love Boise, but they have no place in a top 4.