A Jersey Guy: A CFB Playoff With No Guaranteed Slots Works
It was doomed--and unfair--from the start.
Five Power 5 conference champions--the Pac 12,. the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference--competing for four spots in a new playoff system.
And while the 7-year old CFP system has yet to have an Armageddon moment of deciding between 5-unbeaten conference champions for the four playoff slots, it has and continues to be a flawed system.
Conference champions have been excluded, while 2 and sometimes three teams from one conference have been invited, creating a very, very small circle of participants.
But the playoffs, they are a changing.
A new plan has been proposed, which could presumably start as soon as the 2023 season.
It has 12 slots and guarantees for the six highest ranked conference champions.
""I can't see any down side to this,''' said American Athletic Commissioner Mike Aresco, who has waged a campaign to eliminate college football being branded asPower 5 and Group of 5 conferences. "The idea of eliminating the guaranteed spots and having it based on rankings borders on brilliance. It brings us closer to just having a playoff consisting of FBS teams.
Aresco has argued that the AAC and the other non Power 5 conferences should not be discriminated upon and should be able to compete without guarantees given.
Aresco should like the plan, which will be discussed, perhaps fine tuned and then approved by a gathering of the 10 conference commissioners as well as Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick in Chicago later this week.
"It's a good plan and I don't see it being upended,'' said Aresco.
Aresco's main argument against the present system is that it provided a slot for teams from major conferences even if they were not ranked among the top 20 teams in the country.
The new system changes that somewhat, although he concedes the final outcome could still be top heavy with traditionally elite programs such as Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State.
""This gives us an opening to do away with the branding,'' he says "There's still a lot of work to do. But there are so many positives about this plan.''
Aresco also says that the concept of reclaiming New Year's Day--the plan calls for four quarterfinal games to be played on January 1- will become college football's showcase event.
All of that with the possibility of having some possible Cinderella match ups--Coastal Carolina vs Alabama--will regenerate enthusiasm in a system which had become predictable with its participants, if not its outcome.