30Duck Moderator No. 1 Share Posted February 11 The common suggestion is a certain number of automatic bids for each respective Power 4 conference, with many under the impression that the SEC and Big Ten would get more bids than the ACC and Big 12. Another change that Finebaum, who most people view as biased towards the SEC, wasn't in support of. “I don’t care how good you are, I think you ought to prove it,” Finebaum said. “It just smells of a level of elitism that I’m not a big fan of. The SEC and the Big Ten are always going to get a pretty large number. Listen, not only do I understand this argument, I’ve made the argument before in terms of, ‘Hey, the SEC, they go through a different gauntlet than another conference.’ “But I also just don’t like starting the season knowing no matter how good or bad your teams are, you’re going to be grandfathered in. To me, there’s something wrong with that.” 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonDucks No. 2 Share Posted February 11 (edited) Finally, something out of his mouth that I agree with! Just get rid of the automatic qualifiers completely and seed the top x number of teams based on the committee’s rankings, in order from 1 to x (like they do for the NCAA basketball tournament). Stop trying to overthink it or get cute, it resulted in the mess we saw last season. Edited February 11 by OregonDucks 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 3 Share Posted February 12 OK, in 2026, let's keep a 12-team PO, but one that is based solely on merit. If you finish in the PO Ct's top 12, you're in! And you are seeded as ranked. Top 4 ranked = top 4 seeds with a 1st round bye. No automatic bid for a G5 team. Without an automatic bid in 2024-25, why would a 1-loss Boise with a batspit schedule get in instead of a 3-loss Bama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, or Illinois? A close loss at Oregon? Well, how about close wins over Wyoming and Nevada? Clemson made the field as the ACC champion. Should Clemson with a blowout loss vs. Georgia, and home losses to Louisville and South Carolina make the PO field? Would SMU with a home loss to 2 loss BYU be in the PO field? A PO of the top 12 teams based on CBB benchmarks including Quad 1 wins, SOS, etc.? Almost a certainty that the Power 2 would have at least 8 teams in the field, that no G5 team would be in the field, and that the ACC and B12 would be fortunate to have one team in the field. It is also a certainty that the Power 2 draws far more eyeballs than other conferences. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 4 Share Posted February 12 On 2/11/2025 at 4:53 PM, OregonDucks said: Finally, something out of his mouth that I agree with! Just get rid of the automatic qualifiers completely and seed the top x number of teams based on the committee’s rankings, in order from 1 to x (like they do for the NCAA basketball tournament). Stop trying to overthink it or get cute, it resulted in the mess we saw last season. The seeding and not the participants made it a mess. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan2785 No. 5 Share Posted February 12 I think personally one of the things that would help most would be to not have polls until about week 8 or so, and to do away with the stupid committee rankings show. Football is the only sport where you get these committee rankings through the season, you don't see it in basketball or baseball. I think it would be better to simply have something towards the end of the season after we've seen things already play out. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 6 Share Posted February 12 As in 2024-25 and every season since the beginning of the BCS, a team with a Blue Chip Roster will win the Championship in 2025-26. Blue-Chip Ratio 2024: These 16 college football teams can actually win the national championship - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Breaking down the programs that have done well enough on the recruiting trail to win the first 12-team CFP in the 2024 season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 7 Share Posted February 12 On 2/11/2025 at 5:16 PM, spartan2785 said: I think personally one of the things that would help most would be to not have polls until about week 8 or so, and to do away with the stupid committee rankings show. And you just revealed what is really wrong about college football now. The people in charge don't care about the game, they care about money. It's why the NCAA kept the story about "student athletes" so long that finally the "athletes" had had enough, and now we're in this mess. The Committee means well. All of them probably care about football like we do. But they're being used. ESPN cares more about the Rankings show than the teams and games. They want chaos, it's entertaining. No way will increasing the CFP to 14-16 teams be better for the sport, but it will bring more money 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatOrlando No. 8 Share Posted February 12 Paul is only taking off the crimson glasses because he's had to eat crow for the last two years and Alabama is number two in basketball while Auburn is one. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonDucks No. 9 Share Posted February 12 On 2/11/2025 at 7:09 PM, Jon Joseph said: The seeding and not the participants made it a mess. And the long layoff after the conference championship games… And the tie in to the traditional bowls (Why shouldn’t the top seeds get a home game in round 2 of the playoffs?)… 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
