New playoff model

[Root4GT]

2nd round at a neutral site. Too big an advantage otherwise. Homefield advantage is a good reward for finishing in the Top 8. Beyond that, it's too much of an advantage. But, no committee to determine Top 8. Base it on record only, not ranking.

That makes sense

 

[GT1990CHAMPS]

But basketball is OK with 68 or whatever it is now?

Three Point Line!

 

[Richard7125]

That makes sense

Neutral sites are very expensive to attend for the local fans (travel, lodging, time-off work, booze, etc). It's somewhat justifiable when it's a once in a lifetime scenario (ie Indiana this year). My UGA friends went to everything the first year not so much the second year. At 16 teams, there is a high probability that half the teams in the playoffs will make it every year. At some point those people will stop going to the games.

You could give the higher seed the home field advantage in the first round. In the second round, put the remaining 8 teams in a hat and draw for home field. Do neutral sites for the semis and finals.

 

[UgaBlows]

Man, i am excited about a 16 and eventually a 24 team playoff, i enjoyed the hell out of this season’s playoff games and want more! Plus more chances for ACC and Big12 teams to get in and wreck SEC hope’s and dreams

 

[GT1990CHAMPS]

Man, i am excited about a 16 and eventually a 24 team playoff, i enjoyed the hell out of this season’s playoff games and want more! Plus more chances for ACC and Big12 teams to get in and wreck SEC hope’s and dreams

So at 16 it would have added Notre Dame, BYU, Texas and Vanderbilt.

 

[CEB]

FCS has moved to 12 regular season games starting this year and they have a 24 team playoff. Here is what the NCAA approved:

FCS football 12-game regular season schedule approved by NCAA beginning in 2026

The NCAA has approved a recommendation from the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Oversight Committee for a 12-game schedule for FCS.

www.usatoday.com

Montana State clinches the 2025 FCS championship in overtime

Montana State edged Illinois State 35-34 in an overtime thriller to clinch the 2025 FCS championship. The Bobcats earned their second-ever national title and the program's first since 1984 with the win in Nashville, Tenn.

www.ncaa.com

It definitely CAN work.
Note… they are getting in all 12 games BEFORE Thanksgiving.
I think to really get this playoff expanded and right, we’ll need to give up on some “traditional” dates…but whatta I know?

 

[TampaBuzz]

So at 16 it would have added Notre Dame, BYU, Texas and Vanderbilt.

Nah...you would have had to include Duke in there somewhere as the ACC Conference Champ.

 

[awbuzz]

Div II (10-11 games) and Div III (9-10 games) have shorter regular seasons thus can complete their championships by early January. Who thinks that Div I would be willing to shorten the regular season to accommodate a longer playoff?

The an$wer is $$$$$$$ floats the boats, so we would need the football season to start a week or two earlier. Just make everybody starting week zero, why in the heck does that even make to call it week zero? It's really week one and everybody else just has the week off.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

The main reasons.

1. Its foolish to pretend that the 24th best team has any chance against the #1 team.
2. We are going to see the same teams playing each other over and over again. We had four rematches in the playoffs this year.
3. We will end up with 8+ SEC teams and 6+ B1G teams every year. Which is pointless and boring as hell.

This is such an old school take. Every sport has rematches. Heck we see rematches in golf and tennis every weekend. We see NBA and MLB rematches every month. The entire NFL playoffs are rematches. And everyone loves them.

And I’m sorry but I haven’t seen Miami in a national title games in decades and I have NEVER seen Indiana EVER play a meaningful game until this year.

And to point #1, how do you you even know who the 24th team is yet alone the #1 team? This year has completely proved the polls are wrong every week. Ohio St was ranked #1 all year and where are they? The #1 ranking was bogus. A&M was ranked highly all year? Where are they now? The polls are wrong which means you need a bigger playoff to actually see who wins the games and not just in your opinion who is better.

But I understand it’s much easier to just let the AP or ESPN tell you which teams are better than others. Why play the actual games if you truly believe the polls. Next year we all know Ohio St and Texas will be ranked preseason #1 and #2. We should just let them play on Labor Day and then cancel the rest of the season.

 

[RamblinCharger]

More teams in the playoffs is better. It cuts out on some of the BIG10 and SEC BS. It gives more teams and fans things to talk about. When your team is 6-2 your season would normally be over, but finsihing 9-3 you could be in an expanded playoff. FCS playoffs are awesome and you get all kinds of upsets. It will have to be capped at some point, but I think 16 or 24 would be great. Teams that have "no shot to win" does not matter. It gets those fan bases excited and they throw money at their program and then those programs improve more over the long haul. If we get some kind of handle on the portal, CFB will be a better product in the long run with more parity.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Neutral sites are very expensive to attend for the local fans (travel, lodging, time-off work, booze, etc). It's somewhat justifiable when it's a once in a lifetime scenario (ie Indiana this year). My UGA friends went to everything the first year not so much the second year. At 16 teams, there is a high probability that half the teams in the playoffs will make it every year. At some point those people will stop going to the games.

You could give the higher seed the home field advantage in the first round. In the second round, put the remaining 8 teams in a hat and draw for home field. Do neutral sites for the semis and finals.

Make the playoffs regional. Doh!

 

[WreckinGT]

This is such an old school take. Every sport has rematches. Heck we see rematches in golf and tennis every weekend. We see NBA and MLB rematches every month. The entire NFL playoffs are rematches. And everyone loves them.

And I’m sorry but I haven’t seen Miami in a national title games in decades and I have NEVER seen Indiana EVER play a meaningful game until this year.

And to point #1, how do you you even know who the 24th team is yet alone the #1 team? This year has completely proved the polls are wrong every week. Ohio St was ranked #1 all year and where are they? The #1 ranking was bogus. A&M was ranked highly all year? Where are they now? The polls are wrong which means you need a bigger playoff to actually see who wins the games and not just in your opinion who is better.

But I understand it’s much easier to just let the AP or ESPN tell you which teams are better than others. Why play the actual games if you truly believe the polls. Next year we all know Ohio St and Texas will be ranked preseason #1 and #2. We should just let them play on Labor Day and then cancel the rest of the season.

You want College Football to be the NFL, just with far less games, no salary cap, no draft, no attempts at all of parity, and no real conferences or divisions that make any sense at all. That isn't going to work. Trying to figure out the best team by having Texas with its 40 million dollar roster next year play Kennesaw St in the first round is a stupid system. I don't really need to watch G5 teams and mediocre P4 teams get their brains smashed in opening round games.

 

[Richard7125]

Make the playoffs regional. Doh!

I would imagine Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans would be potential sites for a Southeast regional. Those could all be expensive unless you already live there.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I would imagine Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans would be potential sites for a Southeast regional. Those could all be expensive unless you already live there.

Suck it up or watch on TV. I bet the fans go to the games.

Edit: not telling you to suck it up, but those fans that don’t want to travel to watch their team play in the CFP.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

You want College Football to be the NFL, just with far less games, no salary cap, no draft, no attempts at all of parity, and no real conferences or divisions that make any sense at all. That isn't going to work. Trying to figure out the best team by having Texas with its 40 million dollar roster next year play Kennesaw St in the first round is a stupid system. I don't really need to watch G5 teams and mediocre P4 teams get their brains smashed in opening round games.

I don’t know what sport you’ve been watching the past 50 years but this is the closest to parity this sport has ever been. Unless you think watching an Alabama win 6 titles over a decade is parity. Or watching UGA buy player after player under the table to win back to back is parity.

What you are really saying is that you would rather watch a Texas team filled with bought for players under the table play Kennesaw who would immediately be put on probation and stripped of scholarships if the NCAA found out they took 5 recruits to Ruth’s Chris.

You are the fan who had his head stuck in the sand and believe this sport was ever legit. You watched decades of paid rosters beating non-paid rosters but now that the little guy can buy a player you don’t like it? Just weird.

And conferences and divisions are nonstarters. Play the games your AD schedules and win enough to get invited. We could have done it except for an egg against Pitt which was totally a GT problem.

 

[bobongo]

Man, i am excited about a 16 and eventually a 24 team playoff, i enjoyed the hell out of this season’s playoff games and want more! Plus more chances for ACC and Big12 teams to get in and wreck SEC hope’s and dreams

Heh, this year the old Atlantic Coast Conference only needed one team to do that.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Get rid of conference championship games. Have two 16-team national championship playoff brackets - one for P4 and one for G6. Seems too simple, but I would watch both tournaments, because I love college football (even with my love being dampened by all of this NIL and portal nonsense).

 

[stinger78]

Get rid of conference championship games. Have two 16-team national championship playoff brackets - one for P4 and one for G6. Seems too simple, but I would watch both tournaments, because I love college football (even with my love being dampened by all of this NIL and portal nonsense).

If your going to have 16 teams, them there will be multiple teams in the same conferences. Why not let CCG’s be the first round or two? It’s basically what we had a couple times this year with OU-Bama, UGA-Ole Miss, and IU-Oregon.

 

[forensicbuzz]

If your going to have 16 teams, them there will be multiple teams in the same conferences. Why not let CCG’s be the first round or two? It’s basically what we had a couple times this year with OU-Bama, UGA-Ole Miss, and IU-Oregon.

So, you're going to knock out 1 of the top 2 programs in your conference the first week by playing them against each other? That doesn't really make sense. Easier to say each of the P4 conferences gets 4 slots and the conferences get to determine who the 4 are however they want to. That ain't ever going to happen.

 

[UgaBlows]

If your going to have 16 teams, them there will be multiple teams in the same conferences. Why not let CCG’s be the first round or two? It’s basically what we had a couple times this year with OU-Bama, UGA-Ole Miss, and IU-Oregon.

Nah, just get rid of the ccg’s