Enjoy your work. I believe the expanded football playoff is a definite positive. There is a reason we play the games... to see how one team actually matches up against the other. Better to have the players settle the issue in a playoff - rather than have a few blue-blood talking heads discuss "body of work" when it comes to playoff time. "Body of Work" and a "tournament" are not the same thing, and obviously produce different results. "Body of Work" resulted in the top four seeds: a tournament resulted in UConn V SDSU. Give me the tournament...
But Brett, you're only getting a "matchup" for one game. Anything can happen in a single game. Beating a team over a series of games certainly gives you a chance at a truer champion, right?
...then it's not a "playoff." My view, that is the excitement of a true playoff or tournament. You have to bring your best on that day. Otherwise, just go back to "rankings," "polls," and crown a "champion" that way. Then we would preserve the traditional bowl matchups. Let's do one or the other. Mixing "body of work" and so-called "playoff" is not very satisfying to me.
Ahhh, we totally agree on that! It's not very satisfying to me, either. The more people and teams you get involved in it, the more muddled and confusing it becomes. Ever heard the joke "A camel is a horse designed by a committee"? Well, here you have it!
The 12 team playoff should certainly provide more entertainment, and more meaning to more teams in November. I doubt we'll see the level of upsets that the BB tournament produces as CFB requires so much more infrastructure, depth and quantity of players. But the 4 team playoff has turned out to be the worst possible post season, so expansion can't hurt.
Especially the way the seeding works with the 4 highest ranked conference champions having a 1st round bye. Utah would have had a bye last season and not a 2nd SEC team. Accordingly, as far as seeding goes we will see a lot of 2nd game 'upsets.'
But I also expect a number of teams without a bye will be the point spread favorite come game 2.
SDSU. What a great group of competitive warriors. Guys who play hard no matter the score. Not a spoiled 1-and-done guy in the mix.
LSU plays FSU in the opening game for both teams in 2023. IMO, FSU is overrated in the preseason polls and I think in Brian Kelly's 2nd season he again will win the SEC West with a very good chance to go to the Final 4. Last season FSU did upset LSU in New Orleans by 1 point.
Football playoff. After two seasons with 12 teams, I think the field will go to 16 once the ESPN exclusive broadcast deal ends.
Come 2024/25 the top-ranked 6 conference champions will automatically be invited with the top 4 ranked champions receiving a 1st round bye. There will be 6 at-large teams chosen by the playoff committee.
Many a team getting a bye will not be ranked as highly as a number of teams. Georgia would have been ranked #1 last year but no other SEC team would receive a 1st round bye. Utah would have received a 1st round-bye
I expect the playoff will go to 16 teams in 2026 and to obtain the maximum broadcast deals the preferential seeding of conference champions will disappear but a 'G5' team will have to be in the field..
One side of me thinks the whole 12 team playoff will be rigged for the ESPN/Fox teams so that of the 12 teams 7 or 8 will be from the SEC and Big 10, plus they will always rate the west coast team so low that if say Oregon has to play Alabama it will always be in the South at 10:00 AM. I mean who are we kidding, this is only about two things....money and a sop to the rest of teams, like the Pac-10 so they will not challenge the dominance of the rich minor league teams.
The only good thing I can see coming out of this is that the 4 team playoff has always discounted late season wins, so that if a team loses the first 2 games and then gets it together and wins the next 9-10 games are always never invited. Since the Pac-10/12 has always been stronger from top to bottom this is the usual scenario and that might help teams like UW, Oregon or Utah at the end of the season
However, conferences that make geographic and rivalry sense, plus bowl games have been blown up and nothing can put Humpty-dumpty back together again.
ESPN has the exclusive playoff broadcast rights for the next 3 seasons.
Last season, the Pac-12 champion, Utah, would have received a 1st round bye and be seeded ahead of every SEC team not named Georgia. Seeded ahead of every B1G team not named Michigan. Seeding the 4 highest ranked conference champions 1 through 4 is an attempt to limit the Power 2 from getting more than 1 top 4 seed.
I expect this will change come 2026 when I believe the playoff will go to 16 teams.
I did not know that but you can bet they would have sent Utah to Atlanta to play Georgia. The SEC never leaves town and always plays 4 cupcakes, one of which is always the 2nd to the last game so they get a nice bye. If they want to make it fair, get rid of the million dollar creampuff payouts and make every game a Power 5 team...
I just watched a tremendous Women's Basketball Final. Very intense and hard fought win for LSU. It was sad to see the refs make so many bad calls....but at least they were bad on both sides. The tech call on Caitlin Clark at a crucial point in the game was absolutely horrible.....and also took the game out of the hands of the players.
However, the thing that upset me most was the totally classless display by Angel Reese when she taunted Caitlin Clark pointing to her ring finger and sticking it in her face. To Clark's credit she didn't engage. Reese's attitude really tainted the LSU victory for me. Thoughts?
It’s fantastic that in 2024 we’ll have twelve teams in the D1 playoffs. I thought for sure they’d just bump it to eight, wait another six or seven years and then go to twelve. I’m pumped for it. Here’s wishing SDSU takes down UConn. What a story line. Watch how fast the PAC12 sends an invite to join, win or lose.
the fact that UConn would win it's 5th , putting them in another level of elite, plus a team with 3 coaches winning titles for the same team is all the Story that is! GO HUSKIES
It’s less likely that we will see any Cinderella runs in football but I am curious how clock changes to shorten games will impact. Seems like those may potential create more upsets. Will be interesting to watch.
Different view: I think the more teams you include in a playoff, the less chance you have in finding the best team, which is your supposed goal. Does anyone really believe that SDSU or UConn are truly the best two teams in the country? No, they're actually just the last two to survive, and yes, I know that's how tournaments work. But let's not kid ourselves--we're crowning the best team for the last two weeks of the season, not necessarily the best CBB team for 2023. Adding more CFB teams to the playoffs won't give us any clearer champion than the voting sportswriters did. In fact, I thought the "mythical" National Champ was better for the game!
It’s a fair point. Crowning the best team of the postseason tournament. But same could be said of NFL too. MLB… lots of examples of the team w best record not winning it all.
The wildcard teams are interesting in MLB. Playing to get in the postseason… like the at large teams in the NCAA Tournament … a few have put it together and won it all.
Florida Marlins (1997 and 2003)… Anaheim Angels (2002), Boston Red Sox (2004), St. Louis Cardinals (2011), San Francisco Giants (2014) and the Washington Nationals in 2019.
The way UConn is playing, I do believe they are absolutely among the top 4, They were ranked 2 earlier in the season, but had a problem they solved , The Big East is a Beast
This season who do you like better? As of today, UConn is ranked #1 by KenPom.
Basketball has been strange this season with a lot of 25-year-old guys playing because of COVID.
Tournaments that are one-and-done will lead to crazy results but they also lead to a big trough of $. In basketball especially you could not schedule enough regular season games to find the 'best team.'
What we do find year after year is that B1G and more recently the SEC are both overrated in basketball. B1G has not won a title since 2000.
I also think a 12 team playoff will be good for FBS as a whole. It will give the rest of the P5 and some G5 schools a chance for exposure and (assuming the greedy jerks in the SEC don’t try anything stupid) distributed revenue sharing for some stability.
Agreed. The college basketball and baseball end of year tournaments are waaaaaay better than football. I basically only watch one or two bowl games per year (Ducks, Beav's and Utes if they are all in) because of this fact, but watch many of the basketball and baseball games.
The biggest issue in football is the recruiting. It's so predictable because the same programs year after year get a large majority of the top rated talent. There is very little mystery and therefore very little parity.
The networks fuel this recruiting bias (particularly eSECpn and B1GFOX) and ensure THEIR guys are in it and making them money.
To me college football is essentially a mob run sport. All in all it's dead to me, but I can't help from watching a few teams I have rooted for, for the past 40 years, but after that I am uninterested in the rest of BS.
My wife and I saw the movie, Air last night. It's a kick. I wonder what Phil Knight thinks about it. . Ben Affleck plays him and, although I have never met Phil and don't know what he's really like, he does a great job of acting. Matt Damon is superlative in the lead role of Sonny Vacarro. And John Falk is hilarious as John Falk, Jordan's agent. I think it's one of Affleck's best movies.
Enjoy your work. I believe the expanded football playoff is a definite positive. There is a reason we play the games... to see how one team actually matches up against the other. Better to have the players settle the issue in a playoff - rather than have a few blue-blood talking heads discuss "body of work" when it comes to playoff time. "Body of Work" and a "tournament" are not the same thing, and obviously produce different results. "Body of Work" resulted in the top four seeds: a tournament resulted in UConn V SDSU. Give me the tournament...
But Brett, you're only getting a "matchup" for one game. Anything can happen in a single game. Beating a team over a series of games certainly gives you a chance at a truer champion, right?
...then it's not a "playoff." My view, that is the excitement of a true playoff or tournament. You have to bring your best on that day. Otherwise, just go back to "rankings," "polls," and crown a "champion" that way. Then we would preserve the traditional bowl matchups. Let's do one or the other. Mixing "body of work" and so-called "playoff" is not very satisfying to me.
I liked the AP and coaches polls just fine. The four-team playoff is usually just further validation.
Ahhh, we totally agree on that! It's not very satisfying to me, either. The more people and teams you get involved in it, the more muddled and confusing it becomes. Ever heard the joke "A camel is a horse designed by a committee"? Well, here you have it!
The 12 team playoff should certainly provide more entertainment, and more meaning to more teams in November. I doubt we'll see the level of upsets that the BB tournament produces as CFB requires so much more infrastructure, depth and quantity of players. But the 4 team playoff has turned out to be the worst possible post season, so expansion can't hurt.
Tend to agree… but think we’ll get some surprises.
Especially the way the seeding works with the 4 highest ranked conference champions having a 1st round bye. Utah would have had a bye last season and not a 2nd SEC team. Accordingly, as far as seeding goes we will see a lot of 2nd game 'upsets.'
But I also expect a number of teams without a bye will be the point spread favorite come game 2.
I’d sure take 2018 for a football title game. I have a funny feeling most in the PAC-12 would right now as well.
SDSU. What a great group of competitive warriors. Guys who play hard no matter the score. Not a spoiled 1-and-done guy in the mix.
LSU plays FSU in the opening game for both teams in 2023. IMO, FSU is overrated in the preseason polls and I think in Brian Kelly's 2nd season he again will win the SEC West with a very good chance to go to the Final 4. Last season FSU did upset LSU in New Orleans by 1 point.
Football playoff. After two seasons with 12 teams, I think the field will go to 16 once the ESPN exclusive broadcast deal ends.
Thanks for the great take and go Aztecs!
Do we know yet how these teams will be selected? Committee, AP ranking, automatic bids?
Come 2024/25 the top-ranked 6 conference champions will automatically be invited with the top 4 ranked champions receiving a 1st round bye. There will be 6 at-large teams chosen by the playoff committee.
Many a team getting a bye will not be ranked as highly as a number of teams. Georgia would have been ranked #1 last year but no other SEC team would receive a 1st round bye. Utah would have received a 1st round-bye
I expect the playoff will go to 16 teams in 2026 and to obtain the maximum broadcast deals the preferential seeding of conference champions will disappear but a 'G5' team will have to be in the field..
One side of me thinks the whole 12 team playoff will be rigged for the ESPN/Fox teams so that of the 12 teams 7 or 8 will be from the SEC and Big 10, plus they will always rate the west coast team so low that if say Oregon has to play Alabama it will always be in the South at 10:00 AM. I mean who are we kidding, this is only about two things....money and a sop to the rest of teams, like the Pac-10 so they will not challenge the dominance of the rich minor league teams.
The only good thing I can see coming out of this is that the 4 team playoff has always discounted late season wins, so that if a team loses the first 2 games and then gets it together and wins the next 9-10 games are always never invited. Since the Pac-10/12 has always been stronger from top to bottom this is the usual scenario and that might help teams like UW, Oregon or Utah at the end of the season
However, conferences that make geographic and rivalry sense, plus bowl games have been blown up and nothing can put Humpty-dumpty back together again.
ESPN has the exclusive playoff broadcast rights for the next 3 seasons.
Last season, the Pac-12 champion, Utah, would have received a 1st round bye and be seeded ahead of every SEC team not named Georgia. Seeded ahead of every B1G team not named Michigan. Seeding the 4 highest ranked conference champions 1 through 4 is an attempt to limit the Power 2 from getting more than 1 top 4 seed.
I expect this will change come 2026 when I believe the playoff will go to 16 teams.
I did not know that but you can bet they would have sent Utah to Atlanta to play Georgia. The SEC never leaves town and always plays 4 cupcakes, one of which is always the 2nd to the last game so they get a nice bye. If they want to make it fair, get rid of the million dollar creampuff payouts and make every game a Power 5 team...
Even though my bracket was garbage after the first 3 games it’s been fun.
What’s the word on Lillard going to Boston? Fake news? I heard Lillard wants out now!
I just watched a tremendous Women's Basketball Final. Very intense and hard fought win for LSU. It was sad to see the refs make so many bad calls....but at least they were bad on both sides. The tech call on Caitlin Clark at a crucial point in the game was absolutely horrible.....and also took the game out of the hands of the players.
However, the thing that upset me most was the totally classless display by Angel Reese when she taunted Caitlin Clark pointing to her ring finger and sticking it in her face. To Clark's credit she didn't engage. Reese's attitude really tainted the LSU victory for me. Thoughts?
Skip Rochefort
Welcome to the Pac-12, San Diego State...whether you win ot all or are the runner-up...you are deserving...
There will be upsets. The more games they play the more likely some key player(s) will get hurt.
It’s fantastic that in 2024 we’ll have twelve teams in the D1 playoffs. I thought for sure they’d just bump it to eight, wait another six or seven years and then go to twelve. I’m pumped for it. Here’s wishing SDSU takes down UConn. What a story line. Watch how fast the PAC12 sends an invite to join, win or lose.
the fact that UConn would win it's 5th , putting them in another level of elite, plus a team with 3 coaches winning titles for the same team is all the Story that is! GO HUSKIES
We’ll it’s not a fact yet but they should beat SDSU. I hope not. Go Ducks!
It’s less likely that we will see any Cinderella runs in football but I am curious how clock changes to shorten games will impact. Seems like those may potential create more upsets. Will be interesting to watch.
I’m riveted.
Different view: I think the more teams you include in a playoff, the less chance you have in finding the best team, which is your supposed goal. Does anyone really believe that SDSU or UConn are truly the best two teams in the country? No, they're actually just the last two to survive, and yes, I know that's how tournaments work. But let's not kid ourselves--we're crowning the best team for the last two weeks of the season, not necessarily the best CBB team for 2023. Adding more CFB teams to the playoffs won't give us any clearer champion than the voting sportswriters did. In fact, I thought the "mythical" National Champ was better for the game!
It’s a fair point. Crowning the best team of the postseason tournament. But same could be said of NFL too. MLB… lots of examples of the team w best record not winning it all.
MLB is a shadow of itself, the best 2 teams hardly ever survive
More like a giant of itself? When I grew up there was not an MLB team west of Saint Louis.
Yeah, I get the "it's why you play the game" mantra, but I think MLB does it best. Their's is "it's why you play the series."
The wildcard teams are interesting in MLB. Playing to get in the postseason… like the at large teams in the NCAA Tournament … a few have put it together and won it all.
Florida Marlins (1997 and 2003)… Anaheim Angels (2002), Boston Red Sox (2004), St. Louis Cardinals (2011), San Francisco Giants (2014) and the Washington Nationals in 2019.
Way too many teams in playoffs , same NBA
Thom. Follow the money. The broadcast entities want a large number of playoff games and for the most part, arenas always sell out for playoff games.
The way UConn is playing, I do believe they are absolutely among the top 4, They were ranked 2 earlier in the season, but had a problem they solved , The Big East is a Beast
This season who do you like better? As of today, UConn is ranked #1 by KenPom.
Basketball has been strange this season with a lot of 25-year-old guys playing because of COVID.
Tournaments that are one-and-done will lead to crazy results but they also lead to a big trough of $. In basketball especially you could not schedule enough regular season games to find the 'best team.'
What we do find year after year is that B1G and more recently the SEC are both overrated in basketball. B1G has not won a title since 2000.
I also think a 12 team playoff will be good for FBS as a whole. It will give the rest of the P5 and some G5 schools a chance for exposure and (assuming the greedy jerks in the SEC don’t try anything stupid) distributed revenue sharing for some stability.
Agreed. The college basketball and baseball end of year tournaments are waaaaaay better than football. I basically only watch one or two bowl games per year (Ducks, Beav's and Utes if they are all in) because of this fact, but watch many of the basketball and baseball games.
The biggest issue in football is the recruiting. It's so predictable because the same programs year after year get a large majority of the top rated talent. There is very little mystery and therefore very little parity.
The networks fuel this recruiting bias (particularly eSECpn and B1GFOX) and ensure THEIR guys are in it and making them money.
To me college football is essentially a mob run sport. All in all it's dead to me, but I can't help from watching a few teams I have rooted for, for the past 40 years, but after that I am uninterested in the rest of BS.
My wife and I saw the movie, Air last night. It's a kick. I wonder what Phil Knight thinks about it. . Ben Affleck plays him and, although I have never met Phil and don't know what he's really like, he does a great job of acting. Matt Damon is superlative in the lead role of Sonny Vacarro. And John Falk is hilarious as John Falk, Jordan's agent. I think it's one of Affleck's best movies.
Typos, dang.