Sources: SEC, Big Ten building momentum to further expand College Football Playoff to 14 or 16 teams

[LandoComando]

The teams that have a realistic shot like the top 25 or 30 it does matter. #48 in the country? Who cares. Yep as you get down to November there will be about 15-20 teams vying for 8 spots. It weeds out the weaker teams who never were going to win anything. The best teams playing games that matter. Not mediocre teams trying to get spot #23 in the playoff so they can get crushed on the road by a top 8 team in the first round of a playoff.

Because there's over 130 teams that play and you think only a dozen matter. No, there aren't 15-20 teams in November when only 8 get in. At max there's 12 in contention so 120 are playing for pride. You don't comprehend this isn't about the elite teams. It's about all of FBS. You're simply wrong because of who you root for. The more teams in the most season mean more game matter. There's no argument against that. You care more about a team trying to be undefeated which should have never been the goal.
The regular season of college football was always inflated by fans simply because they hate change. This post and others prove that.
In an 8 team playoff last year only the SEC Big Ten and ND were relevant. So, let's make that the league then BUT until that happens what you want will never work. It will and should continue to expand. 24 is the sweet spot. Just like FCS has proven.

 

[ryoder1]

Because there's over 130 teams that play and you think only a dozen matter. No, there aren't 15-20 teams in November when only 8 get in. At max there's 12 in contention so 120 are playing for pride. You don't comprehend this isn't about the elite teams. It's about all of FBS. You're simply wrong because of who you root for. The more teams in the most season mean more game matter. There's no argument against that. You care more about a team trying to be undefeated which should have never been the goal.
The regular season of college football was always inflated by fans simply because they hate change. This post and others prove that.
In an 8 team playoff last year only the SEC Big Ten and ND were relevant. So, let's make that the league then BUT until that happens what you want will never work. It will and should continue to expand. 24 is the sweet spot. Just like FCS has proven.

Nope. 8 is a great number. Gets down to who realistically can win it. Cfb should split into a top tier division of about 40 teams and the rest a second division.

 

[LandoComando]

Nope. 8 is a great number. Gets down to who realistically can win it. Cfb should split into a top tier division of about 40 teams and the rest a second division.

Okay--and until it's splits into tier (which we agree on) we have to discuss a viable playoff format for over 130 teams which is not 8
I also hate to tell you this but if the top level is 40 (or let's say 48 which is my guess) we'll still have more than 8.

 

[OzLion]

With 12 teams, virtually always, you will include the best team for that year. Because ascertaining how good the teams from the lesser conferences are cannot be done perfectly does not mean that it cannot be done well. We have enough data over the last 20 years or so to have a good idea of whether any of the lesser teams are deserving of being in the playoffs. Can you name any lesser team ranked outside of the top 12 that realistically had a shot of winning

Trick question, because some of the teams from lesser conferences have been ranked in the top 12 over the years (Boise State, Utah, UCF, TCU, Cincinnati, Louisville) and eventually those schools can get absorbed into the bigger conferences.

There is the separate argument that it is worth having "spoilers" in your playoff bracket - teams that as you say don't have a realistic shot at winning the whole thing but are capable of knocking off a top team or two, adding excitement to the whole thing.

 

[OzLion]

If that's all that matters then stop with the expanded playoff nonsense and just keep it at 4 teams which protects the regular season in college football.... If the goal is to have a playoff only of teams with an argument to be the best in the country then there's no need for more that 6-8 teams, max.....

I think the optimum number is between 8 and 12 (though I'm OK with 16 for logistic reasons) - both for maximizing the probability of including all the 'deserving' teams and for creating the most interest in the regular season. This is especially important because the "major bowls" as a consolation prize for teams 5-8+ has been ruined by player opt-outs, IMHO.

This year's playoff worked pretty well, it needs tweaking, not major revision and certainly not a return to the old ways.

 

[ryoder1]

I think the optimum number is between 8 and 12 (though I'm OK with 16 for logistic reasons) - both for maximizing the probability of including all the 'deserving' teams and for creating the most interest in the regular season. This is especially important because the "major bowls" as a consolation prize for teams 5-8+ has been ruined by player opt-outs, IMHO.

This year's playoff worked pretty well, it needs tweaking, not major revision and certainly not a return to the old ways.

I could live with 16 or even 24 because I love college football just like I love March Madness. As a PSU basketball fan I like having a lot of teams and the possibility of us getting in lthe Dance although I know we have no shot to win it.

Football is different. The game is violent and you simply cannot play an inordinate number of games. You don't need a huge number of teams just to see a random upset or two in the first or second round when all roads ultimately lead to the top 8-10 teams being left at the end.

Maybe 12 is fine but this year it felt like teams such ad Clemson, Indiana, Boise St, SMU had no realistic shot. They were the bottom 4 teams (I know not based on seeding).