The biggest problem with sending conference champions is that it somewhat takes away from the regular season. If an undefeated Oklahoma loses to a Kansas St team who had 3 or 4 losses, it places a huge level of importance on one game and takes away the level of importance of the regular season. The way I see it, a conference championship in college football should not be affiliated with determinging a national champion any more than any other single game during the season. Winning a conference championship is a boon itself and shouldn't be looked at as the preliminary round of a playoff. A national championship should be determined using the best teams in the nation. If two or three of the best teams are from the same conference, why should they be eliminated to include lesser teams? I could go for including the champion of each conference (major or minor) if they are within the top 16. Otherwise, that champion is not allowed in and the highest available team takes their place. Maybe instead of top 16, it should be top 12. And minor conferences deserve a little bit of extra consideration because their teams play a weaker schedule which is mostly no fault of the individual school. Those minor schools would prefer to be in a major conference.
Yes, it does... but it the sports world reality (excluding college football), the regular season is not the playoffs.
1) Fans wouldn't be able to travel to three bowl games in three weeks. 2) It's not likely those in power would cut guaranteed money, I mean conference championships. 3) There aren't enough teams to warrant the use of a selection committee. There would be sever controversy. Why not use a BCS-like rating system? There is no real controversy with the BCS ranking system, just the way a national champion is determined.
If you're excluding college football, why would using conference champions work in college football. Most people who love college football would say one of the best things about college football is that every game matters. You can't say that about... all of those other sports you mentioned.
Does an 8-8 wild card team in tyhe NFL deserve a shot? How about the 64th team in the NCAA basketball tourney that only gets in with a ply-in game? Or what about a MLB baseball team that wins their division with a losing record, do they deserve a playoff spot? The point is a true champion will beat the teams that should be beat. The 8 team playoff models and such will never pass because it is basically the same crap as we got that only includes a few teams and there is still a huge chance another deserving team misses out by votes or selections, or computers, or whatever else they have put up as possible ways to select the teams. The reason all other sports Pro and College are successful is because they give everyone a chance to get in, and they include many more teams. Or they have clear cut rules based on records or a point system (Hockey) to get in. None of this will work when it comes down to a group of individuals deciding who goes or not if it is only 8 or even twelve teams.
I motsly suggested conference champions tie-ins because after a couple of years on the forum, I have seen playoff thread after playoff thread after playoff thread after playoff thread..... It helped this particular thread focus on something different. Call it creative thread hijacking, if you will. With all of that being said, I do not like the fact that if your team gets that first loss during the regular season, your NC hopes are pretty much gone until everyone else does as well. Especially when teams get losses early. Many teams improve as the season progresses and are every bit as deserving to play in the playoffs as a team that has steadily coasted along against cupcakes all year.
If more than 8 teams are in the playoff it will take away from the importance of the regular season, something uniquely important in the world of sports. No other league can claim their regular season is as exciting as NCAA Div 1a football. If you want to make special provisions for minor conference teams, I am definitely not opposed to that. Otherwise, 8 teams is PLENTY.
I agree with this, though I don't think using conference champions is necessary. I could live with it, especially if you put a limit to using conference champions (must be in top 12 in rankings). What do you think of my playoff proposal?
