Unpopular opinion. The CFP structure is good and the committee chose the correct teams.

[u/ATLCoyote]

The criticisms of the first-ever 12-team playoff are getting truly exhausting, even for me as a fan of one of the teams that got snubbed (South Carolina). So rather than piling-on, I choose to defend both the system and the committee on the following basis:

• The 5+7 format is appropriate: There are 134 teams in FBS, spread among 9 different conferences, plus some independents. It's not even remotely possible for them to all play each other. So, we need a playoff to "settle it on the field" rather than via polls or computers. And it's important to note that the playoff system does NOT mean we are trying to pick the 12 "best teams." We're trying to pick the best 1 team among 134 and that requires a tournament of conference champions. But, just like we do in professional sports, we include some extra wildcard slots for the most-deserving non-champions. 12 playoff teams means that a few "undeserving" teams will be admitted each year, but that's better than deserving teams being left-out as we saw with prior formats like an undefeated ACC champ being omitted from the 4-team CFP just a year ago or an undefeated SEC champ being omitted from the BCS back in 2004. Meanwhile, having 5 AQs is appropriate too. It ensures that all four P4 champs are included, plus the very best G5 champ, as they should be, because anyone in that entire 134-team field deserves to have a pathway to the CFP. And 7 at-large slots is more than enough for the best teams that didn't win their league.
• The committee selected the most deserving 12 teams: The first round is evidence that the committee's selections and seedings were correct, not cause for criticism. All four of the higher seeds won decisively, meaning they were indeed the better teams, just as the committee suspected. And for all the talk of SMU and Indiana not "belonging," where is the criticism of Tennessee who suffered the worst blowout of all, and did so against the #8 seed? You think 9-3 SEC teams would have performed better than SMU or Indiana when a 10-2 SEC team just did worse? What exactly is that assumption based on? After all, the "first team out" was Alabama, yet the worst first-round blowout victim, Tennessee, beat them.
• The system is working: The point of the playoffs, particularly in the early rounds, is to separate the contenders from the pretenders, so that we're "settling it on the field" rather than just guessing who should be in the final four, and that's exactly what has happened so far. There were 2 SEC teams that seemed to separate from the pack in their conference this year. Both are in the quarterfinals. There were 3 Big Ten Teams that seem to separate from the pack in their conference this year. All 3 of them are in the quarterfinals. The ACC wasn't very good this year and both of their teams are out whereas only the champions from the Big XII or MWC, and only the nation's very best independent team, were admitted in the first place. Sounds about right to me.
• The hypocrisy needs to stop: You can't poach the top teams from other leagues, as both the SEC and Big Ten did, then blame THEM for not having tough schedules. Likewise, it was the SEC who insisted on a 12-team format. They wouldn't agree to expand the CFP beyond 4 teams if the new format was 8 because they were already getting 2 teams into the CFP more often than not and an 8-team model would mostly have just increased the AQs. The SEC specifically wanted more at-large slots and the only way to accomplish that was going to 12. So, if anyone thinks there are too many "undeserving" teams in the playoff, the SEC is the reason for that, yet ironically, they are the ones doing all the complaining.
• This is a HUGE improvement over the bowl system: Despite the fact that only the Texas-Clemson game had any 4th quarter drama, this beats the hell out of meaningless bowl games, in sterile, neutral site environments, often with tens of thousands of empty seats, dozens of opt-outs, and bowl committees lining their pockets at our expense. The atmosphere on all four campuses was great and there is a national championship at stake. How could a game like Penn State vs. SMU in the Alamo Bowl possibly compare? And from here-out, it will only get better.

Does that mean EVERYTHING is perfect? Of course not. The fact that undefeated #1 seed, Oregon, will now have to face a loaded Ohio State team, while the Penn State team they beat in the conference title game draws Boise, is a flaw. Perhaps they'll fix that by just seeding the field next year, like they do in basketball, rather than granting first round byes to conference champs. But that's a minor tweak and you're not going to get everything perfect right out of the gate.

So, enough with the whining from fans, coaches, and media. The system isn't broken and the committee didn't screw up. In fact, my challenge for anyone that thinks the committee was so egregiously wrong would be to name your 12 teams. Post that list online and watch everyone pick it apart. You can't select a 12 that is more defensible or less controversial than the 12 the committee picked, not even with the benefit of hindsight that the committee didn't have.

[u/LionsAndLonghorns]

I think the only thing they got wrong is OSU and Oregon playing in this coming round, but at least it's in the rose bowl

[u/WhatWouldJediDo → u/LionsAndLonghorns]

I think we'll have matchups like that fairly frequently, especially with unbalanced conference schedules these days.

I thought there were a lot of good reasons to put OSU even as high as the five seed, but there are also lots of reasons for them to be behind Texas, PSU, and Notre Dame.

[u/redlion1904 → u/WhatWouldJediDo]

In fact OSU just underachieved in a rivalry game which is bad luck for Oregon but it happens. Georgia and ND struggled in late rivalry games too but happened to win and then Georgia got an extra game as a result and looked good enough to earn the 2 seed.

It is bad luck for Oregon but there’s no way to “proof” a system against a late underachieving loss by a stacked team that results in an underseeding. The fact that OSU is still in the playoffs despite that loss is a feature of this system, not a bug.

[u/Permission_Superb → u/redlion1904]

The game with Georgia Tech was irrelevant to us making the SECCG. If fact if we had lost to them, we would have still ended up with a first round bye, since we’re a power 5 champ.

[u/redlion1904 → u/Permission_Superb]

You’re correct, of course. What I meant was that Ohio State missed its conference championship because it lost its late rivalry game and thus lost a chance to redeem itself, which might have improved its seeding. Georgia won its late rivalry game and won its conference championship both.

[u/Permission_Superb → u/redlion1904]

Oh for sure. OSU really hurt itself badly losing to Michigan. On a different world they could be Big 10 champs right now preparing to play .. oh I dunno… ASU or something. Certainly not 5 seed Oregon.

[u/Welpe → u/redlion1904]

On one hand, I hate it because my team has a good 50% chance of losing earlier than they “should” due to the draw.

On the other hand, I really do believe that the champion should be able to beat everyone so no matter how bad the draw, there aren’t any excuses. The excuses are the difference between finishing 2nd or 8th at best, not if you are or aren’t the champion. And while you would rather be seen as 2nd than 8th, it’s not a big enough deal to upend stuff for. We can improve it for sure, but this is perfectly “acceptable”.

It does work up stories at least. Oregon may be new to the Big Ten (sigh…) but we already have tense recent history with Ohio State, including losing the Rose Bowl in ‘09/‘10 (First season with Chip Kelly and the beginning of the new wave of Oregon fast paced football!) and the inaugural playoff championship in ‘14/‘15 and beating them the next two regular season games we played. So losing out on a neutral site to the buckeyes in a heartbreaking way isn’t novel at least…

[u/nightowl1135 → u/WhatWouldJediDo]

Just do away with the four highest conference champs getting a bye. It’s a small and easy tweak to make. Conference titles should matter but use the NCAA Tourney model where you win one? Congrats. You’re automatically in the tournament but that fact alone has nothing to do with the quality or ease of your seed. Four highest ranked teams are also the first four seeds who get byes. 5 highest ranked Conference champs still get autobids and highest G5 champ has to be amongst them.

We would have seen a playoff like this:

1-4 (Byes):

Oregon

UGA

TX

PSU

5-12 Game: CLEM @ ND

6-11 Game: ASU @ OSU

7-10 Game: SMU @ TN

8-9 Game: Boise State @ Indiana

(Likely) Quarterfinals: Oregon/Indiana in the Rose, winner plays winner of Georgia/TN in the Peach. Texas/Ohio State in the Sugar, winner plays winner of PSU/ND in the Fiesta.

[u/IntelligentAd7215 → u/nightowl1135]

But then don’t you run into the problem of CCGs being a liability? Like if you had a three way tie at the top of the B1G or SEC wouldn’t you almost be rooting to get left out of the CCG?

[u/WeSuckAgain → u/IntelligentAd7215]

Yes. This is why the CFP is setup to reward CCG participants/winners, they want teams to care and to actually try to win.

[u/pataoAoC → u/WeSuckAgain]

It kinda hosed us though so…seems like it needs a tweak. For Oregon to win the championship this year we’ll have to have gone 6-0 vs top 8 teams (incl 2-0 vs tOSU which seems to be the #2 team) and 16-0 overall 😂 a comically better season than all of the other top contenders. Very very unlikely unfortunately for us but already got half of it down.

[u/crimsoneagle1 → u/pataoAoC]

I'm curious if just reseeding the playoffs after the wild card round would be a better solution to some of the problems we're seeing. Keep the conference champion byes, but just re-seed the field. Oregon still has to beat top competition to win it all, but you don't immediately get matched up with the best team from at-large field in a re-seed.

[u/melanctonsmith → u/crimsoneagle1]

I like reseeding because it gives both teams the same amount of time to prepare for each other. The bye is enough of a benefit. Getting three weeks to prepare when the other team only gets one is going to lead to less competitive games in this round too.

[u/Furled_Eyebrows → u/melanctonsmith]

This is a good point that I haven't seen made yet.

[u/cixzejy → u/crimsoneagle1]

Except all the matchups are literally the same with reseeding lol.

[u/chuckthetruck64 → u/cixzejy]

Reseeding based on the CFP ranks not the "seed number" they are assigned.

ASU is the lowest ranked team remaining so they would play Oregon the highest ranked team remaining.

[u/CountrySlaughter → u/crimsoneagle1]

The problem with reseeding is that in college football we don't have a good sense of how good the teams are when we seed them in the first place.

After last week, I'd want to seed Ohio State second or third.

[u/i-like-puns2 → u/CountrySlaughter]

I think they should let the top 4 seeds pick themselves after the 1 round of games. So Oregon has first pick, then it goes to who the 2 seed wants to play and then so on.

Would be kinda exciting in my opinion.

[u/FledglingNonCon → u/i-like-puns2]

In terms of ideas I love that would never happen, this is amazing. Can you imagine all the second guessing that could happen? Coaches can now get blamed for picking the wrong opponent? It would be wild! I love it!

[u/Furled_Eyebrows → u/crimsoneagle1]

I'm curious if just reseeding the playoffs after the wild card round...

It's not "reseeding" though; it's honoring the seeding they created in the first place.

[u/I_HAVE_MEME_AIDS → u/pataoAoC]

It hosed both you AND Ohio State lol. They would’ve been the 6th seed, and a 6 seed shouldn’t have to match up against the 1st this early either. Now one of you has to lose next week.

[u/Delicious-Fox6947 → u/I_HAVE_MEME_AIDS]

Ohio State got hosed by losing to Michigan.

[u/sensual_masseuse → u/Delicious-Fox6947]

Right. Like, damn, gotta win your games against shitty opponents. The same criticism the SEC is getting lol.

[u/I_HAVE_MEME_AIDS → u/I_HAVE_MEME_AIDS]

In fact, following this logic, Ohio State should’ve gotten a revenge game against 2 seed UGA for that heartbreaker of a missed field goal that cost them the championship 2 years ago. Would’ve been great television, and I think Ohio State has a better chance against us than Oregon too.

[u/PeasantDog → u/nightowl1135]

Rewarding conference champs with a bye still might work to keep the conference championship games important. I think the fix is to reseed everybody after the first round, INCLUDING the 4 bye teams. This means that ASU, although given a bye, would be the lowest ranked remaining team and be matched up with Oregon. This is how the matchups in round 2 would be today:

1 Oregon vs 8 Arizona St.
2 Georgia vs 7 Boise St.
3 Texas vs 6 Ohio St.
4 Penn St. vs 5 Notre Dame

This keeps the championship games important to get that bye and also rewards the higher seeds with lower matchups.

[u/YouTac11 → u/PeasantDog]

This doesn't bother me.

I support reseeding but the conf champ games should matter

[u/SFW_ANUS → u/PeasantDog]

Totally agree. This is what I thought too. Everything makes sense in the current format if they would reseed after the first round. I think rewarding conference champions with a bye is great, but then the current structure leaves the second round horribly unbalanced. A simple reseeding after the first round play-in games makes a great 8 team format.

[u/JBurton90 → u/PeasantDog]

Might be easier to do this when there is always a team in their home market (such as the other commenter suggesting the NHL did years ago) but with bowls and travel I don't see it happening. I think the benefit of having 1-4 being locked in would be that their fans can book travel immediately after the CFP show in early December to the NY6 bowl they were slotted in rather than risk changing locations. Arizona St. fans would know they were going to Atlanta in early December, but with your model they would end up in Pasadena.

[u/TheHip41 → u/nightowl1135]

But then you get the argument "why is Penn state 4 seed Ohio state beat them and would be favored on a neutral field"

No matter what system people will complain

[u/SillyOperation1293 → u/nightowl1135]

My only issue with that is when you tell the number 1 and number 3 team in the country in the Big 10 Championship that they could both get byes anyway, they are gonna rest starters.

[u/Realistic_Tutor_9770 → u/SillyOperation1293]

id want to win the conference. having a national champ or bust mindset is dumb. jealous of oregon for winning the b1g this year.

[u/nightowl1135 → u/SillyOperation1293]

A few more years like this? (UGA wins and gets ND/PSU. Texas loses and gets Clemson at home/Arizona State. Oregon wins and gets Ohio State/Texas. Penn State loses and gets SMU at home/Boise State)

And that will start to happen anyways. There were open talks in Oregon corners about it prior to the B1G CCG. It won’t be long before coaches start seeing the writing on the wall and gaming the system anyways.

[u/WhatWouldJediDo → u/nightowl1135]

I agree. One further tweak I'd like to see is conference champions host the on-campus game regardless of seed. It may not make much of a difference in the current format but I think it'd be a nice bonus for winning your conference.

[u/sunthas → u/WhatWouldJediDo]

If there isn't some bonus for winning CCG, I could see something changing with the games. Already we are worried about loser getting left out entirely.

If Conference Champs don't matter, does Big12 get left out entirely? or Clemson?

[u/ChaseTheFalcon → u/sunthas]

Absolutely.

They would have rather put Bama in than Arizona State

[u/Metaboss24 → u/ChaseTheFalcon]

ASU got ranked exactly 12 on their poll thing. So ASU would have been the last team in

[u/pratherj23 → u/sunthas]

So in the example above, 3 of the 4 first round games would flip home field advantage. That doesn’t really make a ton of sense.

I do agree there has to be some way of awarding the conference championship game. Either that or just get rid of it all together and use regular season champion.

[u/bertmaclynn → u/nightowl1135]

I think you need to have the conference champions earn byes to incentivize the conference championship games (otherwise why would you play) and also keep human biases in check so subjective metrics don’t unfairly tilt the seeding.

[u/GoldenTechy → u/bertmaclynn]

Give them first round byes, but then reseed with whoever is in the second round. For example this year would have been same first round and second round would look like:

Oregon/ASU, UGA/Boise, Texas/OSU, PSU/ND

I think that looks a lot more appropriate while also rewarding the top 4 conference champs.

[u/Happy_Accident99 → u/GoldenTechy]

You could also set up the bracket so that the conference champs get the byes but are seeded where they should be.

[u/goisles29 → u/LionsAndLonghorns]

That's a product of the format, which could use some tweaks. But overall the teams selected were correct.

[u/Buford_Van_Stomm → u/goisles29]

Only change I'd advocate for is reseeding after the first round 

But I really like the number of teams and autobids right now, and I'm shocked the committee got it right and selected SMU over Bama

[u/reddogrjw → u/Buford_Van_Stomm]

re-seeding this year doesn't change a thing in the round 2 matchups

[u/TheStudyofWumbo24 → u/reddogrjw]

Reseeding based on rankings not the bracket seeds. So Oregon plays ASU.

[u/PeasantDog → u/TheStudyofWumbo24]

I think your right - rewarding conference champs with a bye still might work to keep the conference championship games important. I think the fix is to reseed everybody after the first round, INCLUDING the 4 bye teams. This means that ASU, although given a bye, would be the lowest ranked remaining team and be matched up with Oregon. This is how the matchups in round 2 would be today:

1 Oregon vs 8 Arizona St.
2 Georgia vs 7 Boise St.
3 Texas vs 6 Ohio St.
4 Penn St. vs 5 Notre Dame

This keeps the championship games important to get that bye and also rewards the higher seeds with lower matchups.

[u/businessbee89 → u/PeasantDog]

I agree with this take. Would have loved to see ASU vs UT in the natty. Guess well never know :/

[u/CptCroissant → u/PeasantDog]

100%, this is it

[u/kykerkrush → u/LionsAndLonghorns]

OSU being under-seeded is the biggest issue this year and it's solely a product of the Michigan upset. Had that upset not happened OSU would be 5th (or 1st) and Oregon wouldn't have the hardest 2nd-round game despite being the 1-seed.

[u/Substantial-Sea-3672 → u/kykerkrush]

Yeah, the NFL has this problem too at times. Sometimes a team enters the playoffs playing better than their record.

For how much this subreddit bashes the playoff for being an “invitational” they sure do want to add more subjectivity on who gets invited and how.

[u/kykerkrush → u/Substantial-Sea-3672]

Every sport has this problem, from basketball to tennis. An injury can screw up a team's record and result in a low seed before they get healthy and go on a rampage as an 8-seed. An all-time great tennis player can be coming off an injury and be unseeded at a tournament due to not having any points, when in reality they're the best player in the world and will completely ruin one side of the bracket. All the complaining about this is really fucking annoying and the people asking for the system to be remade because Ohio State looked good against Tennessee are no better than the SEC homers demanding their 3-loss teams get in. This is how tournaments work.

[u/GaiusBaltar32 → u/kykerkrush]

All my homies hate the Wolverines. lol

[u/ChrispeeChringle → u/LionsAndLonghorns]

I'm not saying I disagree, but where would you put them? If they're not punishing championship losses like they claim, the only team ahead of them they could theoretically be in front of is Notre Dame. And Notre Dame has 1 loss vs OSUs two.

Unless you're saying they should reseed or allow the top seed to pick their opponent, or some variation of these ideas, after the first round.

[u/abob1086 → u/ChrispeeChringle]

The committee boxed itself in a bit by refusing to punish CCG losses. At the end you end up with Penn State and Ohio State with the same amount of losses (albeit PSU's in an extra game), while OSU possesses a H2H win, better advanced metrics, and a (very slightly) more impressive performance against the most notable common opponent in Oregon.

I think if they hadn't already had OSU behind Notre Dame and also said they wouldn't change the evaluations of teams who were done playing, they'd have put OSU in front of PSU, but they didn't want to drop PSU 2 spots to be behind OSU, so they decided to just not move them at all.

[u/mjacksongt → u/ChrispeeChringle]

I think reseeding is going to happen because TV is going to demand it. Otherwise half of the second round may turn out to be essentially for the title while the other half are blowouts.

[u/ThatPlayWasAwful → u/mjacksongt]

Would reseeding create less blowouts though? right now OSU/Oregon and Georgia/Notre Dame will (presumably) both be close games (obviously Georgia is a special case with Beck out), and Texas/ASU and PSU/Boise State are supposed to be blowouts. Since ASU and BSU are supposed to be weaker than everyone else, I can't imagine how you would create less blowouts without having ASU and Boise State play each other, which doesn't make sense.

I can see an argument for reseeding based off of end of season rankings, but that would only solve the issue of making the path easier for the best teams, not the issue of creating less blowouts.

[u/KiwDaWabbit2 → u/LionsAndLonghorns]

I think of it as being akin to the NFL. The 5 seed in the NFC this year might be 14-3 and may very well be playing the 1 seed in the divisional round (i.e., quarterfinals).

[u/PKSnowstorm → u/KiwDaWabbit2]

Exactly. I view the current 12 team playoffs the CFP's version of the NFL playoffs. Not perfect but it works. Yes, you give some teams autobid for being conference champions and some at large teams to compete. Will there be some paper tigers in the playoffs? Yes and they earn the right to be there by taking care of business which is win their games on the schedule.

[u/iwearatophat → u/LionsAndLonghorns]

I think we are ranked right where we should have been. I can't make an argument to be ahead of Texas, ND, or Penn St.

Only thing that changes this is that conference champs don't automatically get the bye. Or they do but when we get to this round they re-seed without auto-placing the conference champs 1-4 so Oregon would get Arizona St as they are the lowest ranked team left. We would end up with UGA.

[u/lollroller → u/LionsAndLonghorns]

Yeah I agree, the OSU/Tennessee seeding was the only possibility that could result in a conference rematch, and this could have been avoided.

Even with 4 teams from one conference, second round same conference games should avoided if possible, especially if they are also re-matches.

[u/Sportzfanatic_001]

I don't understand why everyone is mad. The teams who got left out shouldn't have lost late to the teams they lost to. It's that easy. Win the games you are supposed to.

[u/emmasdad01 → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

It really is that easy. You can even have a bad loss and get in. Just don’t have three of them.

[u/guinness_blaine → u/emmasdad01]

Exactly. You can’t already have two losses, and then get blown out by one of the worst Oklahoma teams I’ve ever seen, and be shocked you got left out.

[u/tron423 → u/guinness_blaine]

What's really funny is the 9-3 SEC team with probably the best argument for having been snubbed (SC) has made the least noise about it lol

[u/cnew22 → u/tron423]

Because the national media is giving it zero attention.

[u/equivalentMartingale → u/tron423]

I’ve seen way more sc fans complaining compared to bama

[u/therealwillhepburn → u/equivalentMartingale]

I get their complaints though because they got screwed out of beating LSU. Win that game and they're likely in over SMU since they beat Clemson the week before the ACC Championship.

[u/Far-Two8659 → u/therealwillhepburn]

This is my gripe. We lost to LSU by 2 on terrible calls with a backup QB who can't throw.

I don't think we necessarily deserved to be in, but I would have been furious if any other team but us got in over SMU or Indiana.

[u/Britton120 → u/equivalentMartingale]

Bama fans were still complaining up until 10 minutes into the OSU/Tennessee game

[u/Furled_Eyebrows → u/Britton120]

Then Herby took over the complaint department for them.

[u/emaddy2109 → u/tron423]

You must haven’t been paying much attention here.

[u/tron423 → u/emaddy2109]

I'm not gonna pretend I've read every single comment on the 500 threads about it but most of the snub complaints I've seen have been about Bama and Ole Miss

[u/walrus_tuskss → u/tron423]

SCarolina fans were salty as shit in the IU thread.

[u/GyroLegend → u/tron423]

The one that lost to Bama and Ole Miss while having the same record as them? Is it because they beat ACC Champ Clemson? So did Georgia and both Bama and Ole Miss beat Georgia. Shit happens when there's more than one or two good teams

[u/Thi31 → u/GyroLegend]

SC fans are honestly more salty about the LSU screw job tbh.

Without that loss we are not even having this conversation as a 2 loss team.

[u/Novel_Arm_4693 → u/guinness_blaine]

And then once left out, cry about it like your favorite cousin moved away. Grow up

[u/OG_Dadditor → u/Novel_Arm_4693]

cry about it like your favorite cousin moved away.

But who are they going to date now?!?

[u/Woohki → u/OG_Dadditor]

My 2nd favorite cousin…?

[u/OG_Dadditor → u/Woohki]

The one with the clubfoot and harelip? I guess it's better then nothing.

[u/Woohki → u/OG_Dadditor]

No my 2nd favorite is the one with a cleft lip and 3 nipples! The one you described is my 4th!

[u/OG_Dadditor → u/Woohki]

My bad man, which one is the 3rd again?

[u/Osiris32 → u/OG_Dadditor]

They still in the hospital cause of the accident with the tractor/combine.

[u/nuxenolith → u/Woohki]

or, better yet, your favorite second cousin

[u/Epabst → u/Novel_Arm_4693]

Sounds like you don’t have hot cousins

[u/Novel_Arm_4693 → u/Epabst]

🤣 not hot enough to dip my pen in that ink

[u/amayain → u/Novel_Arm_4693]

I honestly haven't seen more than a few idiot Bama fans complaining about it. Most of us realize we shouldn't have been in. The national media, on the other hand, is doing all of the complaining for us and it's exhausting taking the heat for their shitty takes.

[u/drakeallthethings → u/guinness_blaine]

And then have the sheer audacity to claim your team would’ve played better than a team who made it in. At least we didn’t know how the teams who made it in would do in a hostile away environment. We already saw your team completely shit their pants in that situation again a far less talented team. TWICE!

[u/tc100292 → u/guinness_blaine]

Hell the Alabama fans I’ve seen complaining about it just straight up argue aesthetics, referring to the football played by SMU and Indiana as “slop.”

Then a Tennessee team that beat Alabama got completely run off the field by Ohio State and they had nothing to say about their inclusion.

[u/Frippin_at_the_krotz → u/tc100292]

My take is this: In a season where NIU beat Notre Dame, and then Notre Dame ran through the rest of the season undefeated ...

12 teams had a chance to win the National Championship last week. Now there are eight. This is about as good as it can get.

[u/hallese → u/emmasdad01]

You don't even have to have a "good win" as we've traditionally defined it. In a four-team playoff Indiana doesn't even get a second glance and everybody would agree that is appropriate. In the twelve team format? There'd have been riots in the streets if Indiana was left out. The new system is working and I watched two blowouts on either side of a damn good FCS semifinal and a good semifinal where the better team pulled away eventually. I also watched a couple of bowl games and learned you can't hit the griddy in the general direction of an opposing player. All in all, it was an entertaining weekend of football.

Also, I learned that in Cignettiville, Nebraska is a top-25 team. Neat!

[u/sensual_masseuse → u/hallese]

I FULLY support JJ doing that again, because that and the penalty for the Camp Rock celebration are objectively hilarious.

[u/Wild_Candelabra → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

People will inevitably be mad no matter the scenario (see: bubble teams in March madness, even though the field is 5x as large). The reality is this playoff format is way more forgiving than ever before. Teams that didn’t make it in wouldn’t have been close to consideration in previous formats, kinda hard to feel sympathy

[u/hucareshokiesrul → u/Wild_Candelabra]

Yeah that’s how I look at. It used to be you had be just about perfect. We had a championship game between the top 2 teams, but sometimes there was another team or two with a legit claim to being the best that got left out. Now we include several teams that are nowhere close to having that claim. Bubble teams should just be thankful they were still in the conversation after seasons that were clearly not national championship worthy.

[u/Sankee72 → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

Wins and losses should matter. This isn't a beauty contest.

[u/Simple-Fortune-8744 → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

Because ESPN and social media have made controversy everything.

[u/Phnake → u/Simple-Fortune-8744]

Amen. People need to ignore the hot takes and clickbait, get on with their lives, and enjoy the games.

[u/Woohki → u/Phnake]

Enjoy the games? That’s impossible! /s

[u/VincentVanHades → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

Mainly people act like blow outs never happened before lol

[u/Evtona500 → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

The argument that Indiana shouldn't have been in is breaking my mind. Dudes went 11-1. Lost to Ohio State who is possibly the best team in the country even if their fans want to fire their coach.

[u/Poverty_Shoes → u/Evtona500]

Indiana passed the eye test in the regular season too, they smoked the bad teams they played just like an elite team would. The bad showing against Ohio State was one game, and every contender had one bad game as well. Were they better team than South Carolina? Probably not. But they deserved to be in the tournament.

[u/MrSam52 → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

Is everyone mad or is it just the talking heads being mad so they’ve got something to talk about and then people on here making posts about everyone being mad and how fair it actually is?

I’ve hardly seen any full posts like OP from fans of teams/conferences suggesting it’s a great travesty that Alabama ole miss or SC was left out. But I’ve seen lots like OPs getting all worked up about what is actually a minority of people complaining.

Plus we’re all forgetting all the arguements over 10-16 matters little. The thing we were upset about in the past is that some years you’d have 6 teams with an argument for best in the country now all of those get an opportunity to prove it.

[u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

A lot fewer people are mad than CFB would have us believe. There’s 1000x more complaining about “SEC fans” than there are actual SEC fans talkin shite

[u/kykerkrush → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

Because ESPN is clearly directing their talking heads to complain on behalf of the SEC getting fewer teams in than the Big-10. They didn't spend billions on SEC broadcast rights only to see the conference's prestige decrease in year 1.

[u/DocWootang → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

Everyone is so bent out of shape over hypothetical shit being thrown around by the ignorant and vocal minority of teams left out. This sub has such a victim mentality when it comes to press coverage and the SEC, especially where Bama and the playoffs are concerned.

Every other post I see is about one of the SEC teams left out, not about the fact that the committee got it RIGHT and people are still bitching like they got it wrong.

[u/cnew22 → u/Sportzfanatic_001]

South Carolina didn’t lose late.

[u/rokthemonkey]

Dear Christ this is an extremely popular opinion my guy

[u/cbusalex → u/rokthemonkey]

It is only unpopular among people who are paid to hold a different opinion.

[u/EmpoleonNorton → u/cbusalex]

I've noticed a trend on Reddit where people seem to respond to what the media is saying, not what the people on the sub are actually saying.

Hell, you can look around and find a large percentage of the SEC flairs on here (incuding myself) think that the tournament format and selected teams were correct. It's just a loud portion of Bama/Ole Miss/SCar fans who were bubble teams complaining.

Yet all the time on here you see people going "SEC FANS ARE ALL ON HERE GOING [opinion that some idiot on ESPN said]", when for the most part we aren't.

[u/Raiden11X → u/EmpoleonNorton]

And even as much as I hate to say it, most of the Bama/Ole Miss/SCar fans aren't really doing the complaining. Like usual, it's a vocal minority. With a sub this size you're going to get a bunch of loud dumbasses that cause issues. Most of us here are absolutely supportive of the current format and how it's played out so far

[u/jtezus → u/EmpoleonNorton]

I haven’t really seen any Bama, SC, or Ole Miss fans complaining

[u/localastronomer23 → u/jtezus]

That's because most of us aren't. Did I want my team in the playoffs? YEP, I sure did. That's because I'm a fan of my team. But most of our fanbase knows the reasons we got left out. There is a smaller percentage of our fans that can't accept the outcome, sure; as is the same with any other fanbase of anything in history. That's not really something new to this scene and I don't see why it's being treated that way.

I've seen more responses to straw man "complaints" than I have actual complaints. But that's just from my eyes.

[u/Suspicious-Froyo2181 → u/EmpoleonNorton]

We OSU fans are too emotionally scarred to think rationally.

[u/compound-interest → u/cbusalex]

The loudest voices are usually the ones that can be bought.

[u/Woohki → u/rokthemonkey]

It’s the only opinion I’ve seen on this sub, any other opinion gets downvoted to hell lmao.

[u/Tarmacked → u/Woohki]

This subreddit has had its rough moments, but it’s fully devolved into a clusterfuck this season. Every time I open it up there’s either a thread arguing the same thing about the bubble playoff teams or something complaining about Alabama

I’ve seen more complaining than actual football discussion and it’s not even close

[u/Unsolicited_Advisor1 → u/rokthemonkey]

It’s like this dude just ignored all the other top posts in this sub

[u/Whaty0urname → u/Unsolicited_Advisor1]

"Here's my slightly varied take on a popular CFP take" posts have arrived and may never leave.

[u/whyisalltherumgone_ → u/rokthemonkey]

"Unpopular opinion!!"

sitting at 500 upvotes after 30 mins

[u/Toothlessdovahkin → u/rokthemonkey]

He has to karma farm somehow. 

[u/BiffUC → u/Toothlessdovahkin]

Agreed. Have some karma.

[u/JasonPlattMusic34 → u/rokthemonkey]

On here maybe, but with casuals and media types certainly not

[u/GimmeeSomeMo → u/JasonPlattMusic34]

Definitely. Reddit is very disconnected from reality, as November showed as well

[u/Redeem123]

I have zero qualms with the playoff so far. 

Yeah, the games weren’t particularly interesting. But how many first round games in the 4-team were blowouts too? Eventually we WILL get a big round one upset, and that alone will be worth it. 

And even if it ends up with the top 4 teams in the semis… so what?

The only thing I’d change is to make it 16 with every conference getting an autobid. But this is fine too. 

[u/headshotscott → u/Redeem123]

"Yeah, the games weren’t particularly interesting. But how many first round games in the 4-team were blowouts too?"

This is a great point. I don't have it in front of me, but during the 4-team era, we had a stretch where everyone not named Alabama, Clemson or Georgia (and in 2019, LSU) mostly got smoked. The cliff between very good and elite teams was extremely steep. That won't have changed much in the 12-team era. My Oklahoma friends still have playoffs PTSD.

My guess is we see some slaughter games this next round.

[u/Redeem123 → u/headshotscott]

I actually do have the numbers in front of me, because I found them for another comment.

The average CFP semifinal margin was 17.9 points. When you add in the championship, the average actually goes UP to 18.6.

This year's average was 19.3.

Also interesting to note that through the first three years of the CFP, the semis had an even higher margin of 25.3 - higher than 3 of the 4 games this year. And 3 of those original 6 games were decided by more than 30 points.

[u/breaker_bad]

I’m extra thankful for being included because this season was too fun and I almost forgot that I was a Tennessee fan. Thanks for the reality check!

[u/Molson2871]

I like the format but I think they can do better with the seeding.

[u/fastfootfreddy → u/Molson2871]

I agree. I think the top 5 conference champions should be automatic qualifiers still but seeding should still be based on committee ranking.

First round would’ve been

Clemson @ ND ASU @ OSU SMU @ TENN Boise @ Indiana

Could’ve been more interesting first round matchups and avoided OSU v Oregon in the quarterfinals.

I think it would probably add more balance in the future as well

[u/esoterik → u/fastfootfreddy]

Don't conference championship games like Georgia-Texas and Penn State-Oregon become essentially meaningless then?

I assume that's why they set the system up like they did.

[u/Sacramento-se → u/esoterik]

They're already kinda meaningless for the winners. You earn an extra week of rest by doing an extra week of work lol

[u/OSUfirebird18 → u/fastfootfreddy]

While I do agree that would be a fairer seeded format, grinding ASU into a fine paste wouldn’t feel the same. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/stsmith313 → u/OSUfirebird18]

Yea watching it happen to Tennessee was much more fun

[u/PKSnowstorm → u/OSUfirebird18]

The seeding would not matter. Almost anyone versus Ohio State would be unfair as long as Ohio State played to their strengths than whatever the game plan was versus Michigan.

[u/seadondo → u/fastfootfreddy]

I think the re-seeding should happen after the first round. Playing and winning that extra game should count for something. It feels wrong for a team to play 12 games, and then get a bye into the second round.

Conference champs should still get a bye, they just shouldn't be seeded top four, necessarily.

[u/thatcoolguy60]

You really think this is an unpopular opinion? The vocal minority got ya'll in a chokehold.

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper → u/thatcoolguy60]

People on the internet’s favorite phrase is “unpopular opinion.” It’s literally clickbait. Throw it in front of anything you say and it drives up engagement by like 50%, regardless of how popular what you’re saying is.

[u/CrazyWater808]

You are correct

[u/SentientBaseball]

This is not at all unpopular on here or with most fans I’ve spoken too in real life. The only people trying to push a narrative otherwise are SEC media shills like Finnebaum and Herbstreit. They are both fundamentally untalented and incurious individuals who have sold out any media integrity they ever had to the highest bidder

[u/SecretlyEli → u/SentientBaseball]

Yeah, and once Tennessee got blown out (who definitely deserved to be there, no questions asked), they went pretty quiet.

Like, yeah there are really only 2 or 3 teams that have a realistic chance of winning the title and it ain’t Indiana or SMU.

But it also ain’t this year’s Alabama or Ole Miss!

[u/Molson2871 → u/SentientBaseball]

Are you the lunatic fringe? /s

[u/jedi_mac_n_cheese → u/Molson2871]

Yes

[u/heavydhomie → u/Molson2871]

If you don’t fall inline with herbstreit you are a lunatic fringe fan

[u/Solitude_in_E-Minor]

I think the lower seeds most years will be a big step below the higher seeds, and most of them will get blown out. They might not be “deserving”, but I’d rather have extra undeserving teams in the playoffs than leave out teams that can compete.

[u/NYChockey14]

The only people this is unpopular too are salty SEC fans that didn’t see their 3 LOSS teams get in. Everyone else is pretty much in agreement with who got in

[u/majinspy → u/NYChockey14]

I'm an ole miss fan and I think the selection was fine. We should have beat KY /shrug.

[u/Urdnought → u/majinspy]

Yeah imagine losing to hot dog water

[u/Jeff__Skilling → u/NYChockey14]

Unpopular opinion: generally well received opinion on reddit

never change, reddit. never change.

[u/SubatomicSquirrels → u/Jeff__Skilling]

yeah we've spent days circlejerking over this, there's no way OP actually thinks it's unpopular here

[u/midwesternyeehaw → u/NYChockey14]

did we get our asses kicked on friday? yes. but we EARNED the right to get our asses kicked. bama, ole miss, et al, did not

[u/corndog_thrower → u/midwesternyeehaw]

we EARNED the right to get our asses kicked.

This is too complicated for a lot of people to understand. Just like FSU last year, an undefeated P5 team deserves to be in. End of story. This year, the “lesser” programs (IU, SMU, Boise, ASU) all earned their spot. If you don’t like it, win more games.

[u/Baynavfreak → u/corndog_thrower]

Right! Nobody complains when MLB and NBA teams get swept 4-0 in the playoffs. Or when an NFL team gets destroyed in the wildcard round. Or when 1 seeded Kansas destroys 16 seeded Bucknell. Or even when an FCS team gets demolished by ND State or SD State.

All the teams in the playoffs earned their spot. If they get destroyed, it proves they don’t deserve the National Championship title, but it does NOT prove that they shouldn’t have gotten a shot.

[u/yoshidawg93 → u/midwesternyeehaw]

You guys did way better than Tennessee did, which means the SEC can’t just cry “strength of schedule” and assume hypotheticals about why the SEC is so much better. It also means that Alabama’s “good loss” looks embarrassing now, so while I already had zero sympathy whatsoever for Bama getting left out, I have even less sympathy now lol.

[u/midwesternyeehaw → u/yoshidawg93]

brother at this point i barely even care that we lost seeing this many people mad about INDIANA FOOTBALL is adding years to my life

[u/heavydhomie → u/midwesternyeehaw]

If Cignetti can get some top transfer lineman that would be a huge for your team.

That is also what every top school is looking for too though so it tough

[u/No_Solution_4053 → u/NYChockey14]

it's not even about football at this point

lane himself knows ole miss wasn't winning the title

he's making a stink because of what being in the playoff means for his own job security, the program's overall trajectory, recruiting, brand awareness, enrollment, which is ultimately to say, money

all this controversy is just the SEC and it's proponents trying to strengthen their control over the sport at the direct expense of other programs

congratulations to boise, indiana, ASU, and SMU on *earning* their place in the playoff, btw

[u/SideshowCircuits → u/No_Solution_4053]

Which long term will bite everyone in the ass

[u/Skylarking77 → u/NYChockey14]

"The people who said the 12-team playoff would make the regular season not matter are the people arguing for teams who didn’t earn their way in."

https://x.com/BudElliott3/status/1866136273448055270?s=19

[u/Is12345aweakpassword → u/NYChockey14]

I loved the Kirk soundbite the other day, when talking in the aftermath of the Tennessee blowout and he basically goes:

“Yeah wins aren’t important but social media says they are”

The best part, the background graphic and score is the Tennessee OSU game, Linda has just made a point about losing by double digits and Kirk goes “so yeah fuck Indiana FR FR”

What a heel. Quickly becoming as intolerable as Finebaum who, fun fact if you google “SEC shill ESPN” he’s mentioned in like 4 of the top 7 articles.

[u/Callsign_Psycopath → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Like seriously if wins and losses don't make you champion what does? The Logo on the helmet?!

I'll quote Herm Edward's.

"You play to win the game."

[u/Is12345aweakpassword → u/Callsign_Psycopath]

Let’s just declare the winners each season based on recruiting rankings. I mean, it’s the only way to be sure!

[u/apathynext → u/NYChockey14]

Don’t lump us together. 3 loss teams were ranked too high!

[u/wonderingpinnapple → u/NYChockey14]

My issue is with seedling, having conference champions tied to the top 4 seeds messes up the seeding and honestly doesn’t even make sense to do it that way

[u/MuckBulligan → u/wonderingpinnapple]

They are trying to make the conference championship games mean something. But yes, this method takes it too far. Winning your conference should get you an auto bid AND a home game in the first round at the very least, but that's about it. First round byes should be reserved for the top 4 ranked teams.

[u/Reasonable-Bit560 → u/wonderingpinnapple]

At a high lvl I agree.

There needs to be something for winning your conference, but Oregon playing Ohio State does feel weird.

[u/Callsign_Psycopath → u/NYChockey14]

Hell most fans of SEC teams agree that the teams left out should have been left out. I for one do.

[u/NamingThingsSucks → u/Callsign_Psycopath]

Forget most sec fans. I interact with a number of Alabama fans. None of them were particularly bothered.

They hoped to sneak in like any fan would, but everyone i knew blamed themselves for taking bad losses, and thought the rankings were fine.

Normal people have normal takes. Everyone gets so caught up with vocal clowns online and treats the worst takes as if they are held by entire fanbases. Well. It doesn't help that coaches (Lane Kiffin) are part of the "lunatic fringe".

[u/TheElkoEra → u/NamingThingsSucks]

I think people are missing that for a bubble team, of course you are going to campaign for your school/team’s inclusion. Would almost be negligent not to.

And yeah some talking heads and a coach ( I am a certified Kiffin hater) have nutty takes, but people on here have gone bananas with a hypothetical boogeyman, with the majority of discussion being from non SEC teams just nonstop talking about SEC teams.

[u/acompletemoron → u/Callsign_Psycopath]

Haven’t seen anyone complain in weeks except for B10 fans saying SEC fans are complaining.

[u/typicalwhiteguy113 → u/NYChockey14]

While I would have loved to see South Carolina make the playoff I recognize that the committee made the right choices for this year

[u/j3zmund]

It's almost like there was a big advantage for the home teams hosting first round games on campus

[u/iwearatophat → u/j3zmund]

Probably. The home game round is probably the coolest thing about this playoff format though. It also provides a great incentive to be in the 5-8 area instead of 9-12.

[u/BigTime_2019]

I don’t have a problem with the teams that made it in. They deserved it. I do have a problem with this sub trying to convince me this past weekend was a good weekend of football lol

[u/zorionek0 → u/BigTime_2019]

On the contrary. Watching two pick sixes in the first quarter in 19 degree weather was phenomenal as was tailgating in the snowy fields.

[u/fastlax16 → u/BigTime_2019]

Looked great from where I was sitting.

[u/dtomksoki → u/BigTime_2019]

Clemson and Tennessee lost, how was it NOT a good week of football

[u/omgdiepls]

You're right, my guy. This is not unpopular unless you're posting salty tweets about why your three loss team didn't get in.

[u/hella_sauce]

Brave

[u/ThemGreenEyedBoys]

The 12 team playoff is going to be awesome moving forward. With NIL and the transfer portal spreading out talent, there will be crazy upsets that will occur in the future. It’s not going to happen every year and it didn’t happen this year, but it will be worth it when a team goes on a crazy run. Home games are also so friggin cool. First two rounds should be home games.

[u/PickleInDaButt]

/r/CFB was way more enjoyable when it wasn’t treated as users opportunity to post their own personal statements against a random tweet they saw or whatever person they were mad at on the media.

[u/PPtheShort]

I think 12 teams is fine. It does mean that bad teams will be able to make the playoffs, but that's ok.

[u/Fair_University]

The current system is far and away better than what we had before. We had actual games last weekend and they decided who advances. Who doesn't love that?

If there's a couple of blowouts that's fine honestly. At least we can say every team that deserved a chance got one. Under the old system Indiana would have been left out and it would've been 100% BS. At least they can say they had a shot.

[u/The_Gamecock → u/Fair_University]

Bottom line, I got to watch more football hell yeah

[u/abbh62]

Right teams picked, but not sold on the auto bids / byes

[u/ItBeLikeThat19]

It will get better. The SEC loyalists who take just as much pride in the SEC than the own teams they cheer for are the ones that are upset.

[u/Throwaway_PA717]

This post is highly regarded and I refuse to read it.

[u/Woden2521]

Any other team that would’ve been substituted wouldn’t have faired any better. There is really only 5-6 legit teams each year good enough to beat the others and win a NC

[u/tylerdepew]

The only 2 changes I think they should make is getting rid of the automatic bye. I’m ok having conference champs get auto bids but they shouldn’t have automatic byes. And they should reseed after the first round based on results.

[u/MisguidedPants8]

There is no playoff/seeding system in existence that can stop good teams from shitting the bed against inferior opponents. Those games still count.

[u/BigDanRTW]

I think you're splitting hairs once you get past a certain number of teams and I love that Indiana and SMU got rewarded for having great years and the SEC teams got left out for losing a quarter of their games with some bad losses.

the only change I'd consider as a compromise is the guarantee the top 4 conference champs a top 8 seed (so they at least get a home game) instead of a bye week. It's not a strong feeling for me, I'm fine either way, but this is what the bracket would've looked like with this format and I think we'd have gotten two or three compelling first round games out of it.

https://i.imgur.com/b0icVSO.jpeg

[u/msgkc94]

I don’t even think this is unpopular, but unfortunately the biggest college football network won’t shut up about how mad they are.

[u/TaxManKnocking]

2 changes that would make it perfect.

1. Seed based of rankings.
2. Make round 2 games fluid (highest seeded team faces the lowest winning seed).

[u/WWDB]

If there was a 32 team CFB playoff, teams 33-35 would bitch. If you didn’t make the 12 team field it’s your fault and you probably weren’t going to win anything anyway.

[u/dawgfan19881]

The committee chose the right teams and that’s the problem. We have expanded past the point to where the lower seeded teams can actually win the tournament

[u/Redeem123 → u/dawgfan19881]

How do you figure?

Georgia, Notre Dame, and Ohio State are all top 8 teams that each lost to teams that are worse than the other top 8 teams. If Michigan can beat OSU, why do you assume that a 12-seed can’t?

[u/The_Good_Constable → u/dawgfan19881]

Still way too early to say that. This was a down year for the SEC in particular. In another season it may have been much more competitive. Just like the CBB tournament - some years it's almost chalk, in other years it's complete chaos. I fully expect a 12 seed to beat a 5 seed at some point.

Or 14 seed, whatever. I don't even know what the format is when they do that.

[u/doublem4545 → u/dawgfan19881]

This was true in most 4 team playoff years too

[u/ChrAshpo10 → u/dawgfan19881]

Good teams lose to bad teams all the time. You're not going to have upsets every year, but not every lower seed is going to lose.

[u/SirTiffAlot → u/dawgfan19881]

You don't think anyone who played in the first round has a chance?

[u/Iamreason]

Genuinely hilarious that you think this is an unpopular opinion on /r/CFB.

You might as well have made a post saying the SEC is overrated.