Per Radi's Post & Reading the Tea Leaves on the future of the playoff...

Coach sUGAr · Dec 11, 2024

Reading to Sankey's comments on Yahoo and listening to Ralph Russo this morning, there appears to be a groundswell of pretty significant changes coming in the 2026 season, and I think it could be beneficial to the sport. It's going to take some humility on the part of the ACC and Big 12, but they may not have a choice. It looks like the future could look something like this (and I don't hate it -- there are so many things to consider):

14 Team playoff with top 2 seeds getting byes (this would almost certainly be the B1G champ and SEC champ)
4 team guarantees for the SEC and B1G (in order of conference finish)
2 team guarantees for the ACC and Big 12 (in order of conference finish)
1 G5 champ
1 at-large (If ND is ranked in the top 14, it'd be them, but could also be anyone)

This would most likely move conferences to some pretty major changes that could be beneficial to the sport:

9 game schedules to get a clearer picture. You're not worried about accumulating losses because you're top 4 (or 2) in your standings are getting in no matter what.
The encouragement to play strong OOC games. In the end, they don't really hurt you, but just can help you. If you lose, finish in the top 4 (or 2) in your league and you're fine. If you win it, it can really enhance your seeding.
Conference championship games are replaced with Conference play-in games. You decided the Conference Champion the old fashioned way -- during the regular season. If you have a tie, who cares? Let 2 teams hang a banner. Dooley and Bryant have a bunch of shared SEC titles. So this year:
- SEC - Texas, Georgia, Tennessee - in; Bama vs. Ole Miss in the play in game
- B1G - Oregon, Penn St, Indiana - in; Ohio St. vs. Illinois in the play in game
- ACC - SMU in; Clemson vs. Miami in the play in game
- Big 12 - Arizona St in; BYU vs. Iowa St in the play in game
- Boise St in
- ND in
- There's your 14; Oregon and Texas would get the bye (but maybe not if we'd played 9 games and Texas had another more challenging game in there and lost -- then we'd have head to head)

I think the thing their going to have a hard time figuring out is bowls. They want their cake and eat it, too. I think the on-campus games this year are going to be bananas and the bowls are going to be sterile and perhaps a little empty. ASU would much rather host that game in Tempe then play Penn St. in Atlanta. Do we think 74K fans will get to the Benz for that game? I'm unconvinced. The bowls want the playoffs to decrease opt outs, but I don't know their future viability beyond the semis. The Rose wants to stay on Jan. 1, but I'm not sure how to make that all work. Someone is gonna have to give there.

hobokengeorgia · Dec 11, 2024