30 team CFP

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Proposed by Drinkwktz.

8 is more than enough. Anything over 8 is football affirmative action.
You are probably right. However, I like 16 because it gives us a chance whenever we have a good season. We will rarely be Top 10 material. But, Top 20? Absolutely. 16 gives us a reasonable and reachable goal every season. But, I'm biased.

Drinkwitz is a good coach who is making a ridiculous proposal.
 

Piscis

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You are probably right. However, I like 16 because it gives us a chance whenever we have a good season. We will rarely be Top 10 material. But, Top 20? Absolutely. 16 gives us a reasonable and reachable goal every season. But, I'm biased.

Drinkwitz is a good coach who is making a ridiculous proposal.
Getting in by being in the top 20 is pure "throwing a bone" to the also rans. Playoff should be for teams that actually deserve to play for the NC, not some sort of treat for fans of good not great teams.
 

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Getting in by being in the top 20 is pure "throwing a bone" to the also rans. Playoff should be for teams that actually deserve to play for the NC, not some sort of treat for fans of good not great teams.
I understand your point and, as I said above, you are probably right. But, as I also said above, I'm admittingly biased. It's like pulling for your child to get in the game. He may not deserve more playing time. But you still want him in the game.
 

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I just can't stand the stupid logic behind "Hey, open it up to 30 teams. That gives 30 fanbases the excitement of playing for a title."

Are these people morons?

You get 12 games in the regular season to "play for a title".
I don't disagree with you. There should probably be fewer teams playing for mens and womens basketball and for baseball championships that are deserving, as well. 30 for football? That's crazy talk.
 

18IsTheMan

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I don't disagree with you. There should probably be fewer teams playing for mens and womens basketball and for baseball championships that are deserving, as well. 30 for football? That's crazy talk.

In our best years from 2011-2013, it never even occurred to me to think after the regular season that we deserved a shot to play for the title. Just accepted fate and moved on.
 

Cobie

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I just can't stand the stupid logic behind "Hey, open it up to 30 teams. That gives 30 fanbases the excitement of playing for a title."

Are these people morons?

You get 12 games in the regular season to "play for a title".

Expansion would fully support the stupid logic of the NIL and portal as it stands today.

Based on reporting over the past 2-3 years, you probably have at least 10-15 teams with a $10mil-30mil+ NIL and that figure is only going to increase now that Universities can get directly involved (2025).

Opening the playoffs up even wider simply allows a few teams who don't have those budgets the opportunity to try to slay Goliath ater having a standout season.

If Golliath and their highly paid squad isn't up to the challenge with that much on the line, then they should sit down.

Amend the NIL/Portal to promote more equity on the field, this might be a different discussion.

But until then, why not try to create a morsel of fair competition by expanding the playoffs and keeping the game a little more interesting? It certainly wouldn't hurt our cause.

The idea of finding the best team in the country is an exercise in futility with today's NIL/Portal.
 
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adcoop

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16 Teams should be the limit. Teams shouldn't be playing more than 4 games to determine a champion after a 12-13 game season. I see too many injuries determining the outcome in extending a playoff any further than 16.
 

18IsTheMan

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When it was 4, you had people saying it should be 8. That would be enough for sure. That evolved into 12. Twelve would be plenty. That lasted one year until the same people said 12 made no sense and it needs to be 16.
 

Cobie

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When it was 4, you had people saying it should be 8. That would be enough for sure. That evolved into 12. Twelve would be plenty. That lasted one year until the same people said 12 made no sense and it needs to be 16.

This all started happening once they fully rigged the game. Expand the circus tent until something changes.
 
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gamecock stock

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When it was 4, you had people saying it should be 8. That would be enough for sure. That evolved into 12. Twelve would be plenty. That lasted one year until the same people said 12 made no sense and it needs to be 16.
I can only speak for myself. I have been in the 16 camp from the get-go, no less, no more. That's why you see me labeling the Drinkwitz proposal as "crazy".
 
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Piscis

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When it was 4, you had people saying it should be 8. That would be enough for sure. That evolved into 12. Twelve would be plenty. That lasted one year until the same people said 12 made no sense and it needs to be 16.
4 was enough as long as those 4 had to be conference champions. Having 5 "Power" conferences plus ND was asinine to begin with. There is no reason for ND to get special treatment these days. Their schedule is no harder, or as hard, than any B1G or SEC team. They created a scenario where every year there would be at least 6 teams who felt like they should be in the 4 team playoff.

My idea all along was for 8 12 team conferences with teams grouped geographically and with regard to traditional rivalries. The champions of those 8 conferences should play each other in a 3 round playoff to determine a national champion. ND would need to get over itself and join a conference or be left out of the playoff.

Teams would play a 12 game regular season with 10 conference games and 2 OOC games that could only be played against teams from one of the other 7 top tier conferences. There would be no FBS vs. FCS games allowed. Each conference could decide how it wanted to crown its champion, game, poll position, head to head regular season, whatever they wanted, each conference would send its champion to the playoff. For the first time in the history of the top level of college football, there would be an undisputed national champion that won the championship on the field in an objective playoff.
 

Cobie

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4 was enough as long as those 4 had to be conference champions. Having 5 "Power" conferences plus ND was asinine to begin with. There is no reason for ND to get special treatment these days. Their schedule is no harder, or as hard, than any B1G or SEC team. They created a scenario where every year there would be at least 6 teams who felt like they should be in the 4 team playoff.

My idea all along was for 8 12 team conferences with teams grouped geographically and with regard to traditional rivalries. The champions of those 8 conferences should play each other in a 3 round playoff to determine a national champion. ND would need to get over itself and join a conference or be left out of the playoff.

Teams would play a 12 game regular season with 10 conference games and 2 OOC games that could only be played against teams from one of the other 7 top tier conferences. There would be no FBS vs. FCS games allowed. Each conference could decide how it wanted to crown its champion, game, poll position, head to head regular season, whatever they wanted, each conference would send its champion to the playoff. For the first time in the history of the top level of college football, there would be an undisputed national champion that won the championship on the field in an objective playoff.

This was proposed pre-NIL madness but we're in a new era.

You can't find "an undisputed national champion that won the championship on the field in an objective playoff" until they level things up off of the field of play.

The purist argument is toast untiil there is change.

Also, no one cares about bowl games anymore.

Expand the playoffs (at least for now) and give people who don't live in Columbus, Athens, Tuscaloosa, etc. a reason to pay attention.
 

muscleknight

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The division I-A playoffs were 16 teams for years and it worked fine. I think that division is now 24. My opinion is a max of 24.
 
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gamecock stock

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I don't like that teams playing in wimpy conferences, can get automatic bids or byes. Whatever number playoff participants there are, select the "X" number best. If being the best in your conference means that much to you, fly a championship banner in your stadium proclaiming you were the best in your minor league conference in year "20.." until your sentimental heart beats wildly, just at the thought you were the best in that conference at that time. But a backdoor route into the playoffs should not be the reward.
 
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adcoop

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I can only speak for myself. I have been in the 16 camp from the get-go, no less, no more. That's why you see me labeling the Drinkwitz proposal as "crazy".
I have been more in the 8 camp, but always knew that it would go to at least 16. Any talk over 16 is crazy to me and harmful to the players. Heck, a wildcard team in the NFL only has to win four games to win a Super Bowl.
 

will110

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I have been more in the 8 camp, but always knew that it would go to at least 16. Any talk over 16 is crazy to me and harmful to the players. Heck, a wildcard team in the NFL only has to win four games to win a Super Bowl.
24 teams make the FCS playoffs.
32 teams make the Division II playoffs.
40 teams make the Division III playoffs.
20 teams make the NAIA playoffs.

I haven't heard of any outrage over increased injury rates or anything like that at these levels.
 

Harvard Gamecock

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24 teams make the FCS playoffs.
32 teams make the Division II playoffs.
40 teams make the Division III playoffs.
20 teams make the NAIA playoffs.

I haven't heard of any outrage over increased injury rates or anything like that at these levels.
 

KingWard

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I understand your point and, as I said above, you are probably right. But, as I also said above, I'm admittingly biased. It's like pulling for your child to get in the game. He may not deserve more playing time. But you still want him in the game.
This ain't Pop Warner.
 

KingWard

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24 teams make the FCS playoffs.
32 teams make the Division II playoffs.
40 teams make the Division III playoffs.
20 teams make the NAIA playoffs.

I haven't heard of any outrage over increased injury rates or anything like that at these levels.
I don't care if they all kill each other. My outrage is over the designed inclusion of mediocrity AFTER they have had an entire season to winnow out the chaff. This is supposed to be CHAMPIONSHIP football.
 

TheRoo

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I don't like that teams playing in wimpy conferences, can get automatic bids or byes. Whatever number playoff participants there are, select the "X" number best. If being the best in your conference means that much to you, fly a championship banner in your stadium proclaiming you were the best in your minor league conference in year "20.." until your sentimental heart beats wildly, just at the thought you were the best in that conference at that time. But a backdoor route into the playoffs should not be the reward.
Why should the big money schools be frightened of playing a wimpy opponent? There's nothing fair about college football as it stands today. An argument could be that a wimpy school who is in the discussion at the end of the year did more with less during the season.
 

gamecock stock

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Why should the big money schools be frightened of playing a wimpy opponent? There's nothing fair about college football as it stands today. An argument could be that a wimpy school who is in the discussion at the end of the year did more with less during the season.
I'm saying just pick the BEST, regardless. No automatic qualifiers. If people don't like the increase in the number of participants because only a handful or so can realistically win the national championship, then they would prefer that only the best qualify to participate.
 

Lurker123

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24 teams make the FCS playoffs.
32 teams make the Division II playoffs.
40 teams make the Division III playoffs.
20 teams make the NAIA playoffs.

I haven't heard of any outrage over increased injury rates or anything like that at these levels.

The way to offset that is to shorten the season. I looked at the first division 3 team I could find, and they play 10 game regular seasons.

With those two extra games, their 40 team playoff can get down to 10 teams at the same number of games the fbs teams are just finishing their regular season.
 
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will110

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I don't care if they all kill each other. My outrage is over the designed inclusion of mediocrity AFTER they have had an entire season to winnow out the chaff. This is supposed to be CHAMPIONSHIP football.
Sure, it's a valid point. But the cat is out of the bag at this point, and there are more, and in some cases far more, teams in other playoff classifications.
 

will110

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The way to offset that is to shorten the season. I looked at the first division 3 team I could find, and they play 10 game regular seasons.

With those two extra games, their 40 team playoff can get down to 10 teams at the same number of games the fbs teams are just finishing their regular season.
Go back to 11 regular season games and eliminate the conference championship games seems like an obvious solution with playoff expansion.

Also ban FCS opponents with the schedule reduction.
 
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Tngamecock

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Great idea… We can start with 30 teams and get down to 15 on the first weekend. Then on the second weekend we can get down to 7…I mean 8…..crap, now what do we do?
 
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KingWard

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Sure, it's a valid point. But the cat is out of the bag at this point, and there are more, and in some cases far more, teams in other playoff classifications.
Which doesn't justify anything. Those classifications matter to a scant percentage of college football fans. All we are going to do with further expansion is to proliferate a fallacious approach.
 

gamecox4982

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Alabama, Ohio St, Oregon, Penn St, Georgia, USC, Michigan, ND, Texas and Clemson will always be in the CFP. All others are just living in their world.
 
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Piscis

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Alabama, Ohio St, Oregon, Penn St, Georgia, USC, Michigan, ND, Texas and Clemson will always be in the CFP. All others are just living in their world.
I would add that it is hard to make a valid argument for any other programs to be in the CFP at this point. The champion should be the best team and one of those is going to be the best team until there is fundamental change in how rosters are built.