The creation of the Playoff was a big step in the right direction for college football. But it simply is not enough anymore. A four team playoff seem to play its role as a transition to final solution. An eight team playoff. I’ll go over the issues with the current format and how an eight team playoff fixes that, as well give the template that the NCAA can follow in order to get the best playoff possible.

What’s Wrong with Four Teams?

Well for starters, it puts the selection committee in a mighty pickle. The committee has to choose between picking the teams with the best resumes or those that pass the eye test. Unfortunately for the selection process, those don’t always match up. For the selection process of 2018, the committee has seemingly favored the eye test as Alabama snuck into the Playoff without a conference championship. Those who make an argument for the schools with better resumes are presumably upset by the fact that Alabama’s was considerably weak compared to other schools that were barely left out.

The Crimson Tide have a historically great program and have continued to perform at an elite level as they proved on Monday night. When you are as notable and consistently strong as they are, there’ reason to give them the benefit of the doubt. Then you have teams who have great seasons, such as Wisconsin, who finished 13-1 with their only loss coming in the B1G Championship to an eleven win Ohio State. If you ask me, they performed like a playoff team and showed their dominance against Miami in an Orange Bowl played on Miami’s home turf.

Then there are teams like UCF. Teams from the Group of 5 who remain undefeated throughout the regular season, conference championship AND pull off their best victory of the year in the Peach Bowl against SEC powerhouse, Auburn. In 2016, it was a Western Michigan team led by PJ Fleck and in 2017 it was UCF, led by Scott Frost. Neither team could crack the top ten in the rankings, yet their opponents, Wisconsin for Western Michigan and Auburn for UCF, were three loss teams ranked higher and in the top ten. Without sounding like I’m whining, I don’t think it makes much sense and it’s not necessarily fair that these teams are seemingly eliminated before the season even begins. The chances are high that one team of the Group of 5 will have either a one-loss or an undefeated season. It seems only fair to give those teams a chance in a playoff format.

The Template for the 8 Team Playoff

There are two routes to go. The automatic bid or the non-automatic bid. Another nickname for the “non-automatic bid” is the Selection Committee, which is currently in place.

Automatic Bid

Essentially, you have each Power 5 conference conference champion will have a spot automatically in the playoff. But, unlike Dez Bryant in the NFC Championship game, there’s a catch.

You get rid of divisions. The Big 12 does this to ensure the best two teams get to play in their conference championship, but it’s time for the rest of the Power 5 to do this, too. The best example the flawed division system is the 2005 Florida State Seminoles. That year, Florida State went 7-4 and upset a 10-1 Virginia Tech team in the ACC championship.  Abolishing divisions will prevent the from happening in the future. Without divisions, the 2005 ACC Championship would’ve been between Virginia Tech (10-1) and Miami (9-2). If we allow conference titles to grant an automatic bid to a playoff, the college football world would be much more open to accepting a one loss Virginia Tech or a two loss Miami squad rather than a four loss Florida State team that lucked out and got hot at the right time.

As for the Group of 5 teams, it gets a wee bit confusing, but here’s a simple explanation. If the highest ranked Group of 5 school can win their conference championship, they’ll receive a automatic bid. If they lose, they are still alive for the Playoff, but will be categorized as an “at-large team” rather than an automatic qualifier like the conference champions.

Finally, as previously mentioned, you have the at-large bids. The committee will choose the teams they think are most qualified to be in the playoff. This potentially hurts the Group of 5 in the long run, but allows for multiples in one conference to make an appearance in the Playoff if they’re determined to be worthy.

To Quickly Summarize:

• Each Power 5 conference champion receives an automatic bid.
• Abolish divisions to get the best two teams in each conference championship.
• If the highest ranked Group of 5 team wins their conference, they receive an automatic bid.
• If the highest ranked Group of 5 teams does NOT win their conference, there will be a third at-large bid and their destiny will be decided by the committee.
• The committee will decide which teams receive the two or three at-large bids.

Under this system, conference championships truly make an impact and great teams like Alabama who slipped up late aren’t left out, either. Then Group of 5 teams like UCF also have a chance, as well. This is as close as it gets to a win-win. Is this system perfect? No, but it’s the easiest way to give everyone a fair shake.