[winflop]

Yeah a lot of knee-jerk reaction to a one-off situation.  The reality is that there is a one-off situation fairly often, but if you try to engineer your way out of one you often create another.  The Law of Unintended Consequences.

I was in favor of the 8-game playoff in December, but thinking about it more I now oppose it.  Sure, it guarantees that all five FBS major conference champions get in and it allows a spot for the highest-ranked conference champion outside the Power 5 as well.  But it also makes the race for a conference championship and the actual championship game less interesting because there may not be much at stake.  If you are undefeated in the regular season you are a lock in an 8-team playoff whether you win your championship game or not.  So do you go all out to win and risk further injury to your players, all of whom are already nicked up at that point of the season?  Or do you give your non-starters more snaps?

Personally, I'd rather have it be a REQUIREMENT that you win your conference championship in order to get in (allowing the BigXII to substitute their regular season champion and including the independents) and then the committee picks the best four from that.

[winflop]

Yeah a lot of knee-jerk reaction to a one-off situation.  The reality is that there is a one-off situation fairly often, but if you try to engineer your way out of one you often create another.  The Law of Unintended Consequences.

I was in favor of the 8-game playoff in December, but thinking about it more I now oppose it.  Sure, it guarantees that all five FBS major conference champions get in and it allows a spot for the highest-ranked conference champion outside the Power 5 as well.  But it also makes the race for a conference championship and the actual championship game less interesting because there may not be much at stake.  If you are undefeated in the regular season you are a lock in an 8-team playoff whether you win your championship game or not.  So do you go all out to win and risk further injury to your players, all of whom are already nicked up at that point of the season?  Or do you give your non-starters more snaps?

Personally, I'd rather have it be a REQUIREMENT that you win your conference championship in order to get in (allowing the BigXII to substitute their regular season champion and including the independents) and then the committee picks the best four from that.