If College Football Playoff actually wants to reward top teams, it should ditch byes for conference champions

Nearly all the debate in the final hours of College Football Playoff deliberation centered around whether SMU or Alabama should claim the final spot. It was an argument between how harshly the committee should punish championship game losers in comparison to teams sitting at home, but also how much a team should be rewarded for its strength of schedule, even if it managed to lose a quarter of its games.

And it was the wrong debate.

The moment I saw the actual 12-team bracket, the hairs being split between two flawed teams no longer mattered to me. All I saw was that the No. 1 team in the country, Oregon, arguably has the most difficult path to the semifinals of any team that received a first-round bye, and it makes no sense. The easiest way to solve the “conference championship game vs. SOS” debate is to get rid of automatic byes for the top-four conference champions.

Boise State and Arizona State earned their right to play in the College Football Playoff, and both are excellent football teams who have accomplished the primary goal we ask of every team: win as many games as possible. But winning your conference should guarantee you nothing more than a spot in the field.

It shouldn’t come with a bye.

College football has already followed college basketball’s lead by expanding its postseason tournament, and it should take it one more step in basketball’s direction. Conference champions are guaranteed a berth in the NCAA Tournament, but there’s nothing that says they’re guaranteed a top-four seed. Some conference champions received 16-seeds. Why should football be any different?

Clemson is the 12-seed in the CFP because it’s the No. 16 team in the rankings, making it the lowest-ranked team in the field, but it also won its conference. Why…


Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/if-college-football-playoff-actually-wants-to-reward-top-teams-it-should-ditch-byes-for-conference-champions/

Author : Tom Fornelli

Publish date : 2024-12-08 19:57:00

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