Everybody (except Oregon) has warts and arguments against them, whether they are schedule strength or a bad loss or two. PSU maybe not so much having lost only to OSU and Oregon. The question is whose warts are the worst and whose warts are mitigated by big wins (the same question we argued about when it was a 4 team playoff. I would opine that Indiana absolutely deserved their slot...they won the games they had to win, and as Sid pointed out their schedule was weakened mostly through no fault of their own (though I think it would look better with at least one stronger non conference foe). When I called them overrated I wasn't trying to be like the snarky basketball fans who chant "overrated" when their team beats a highly ranked team. I was more referring to my own expectations...though I never completely bought into them, I thought they'd put up a much better effort against the Irish...so in my head I perhaps overrated them. They certainly had some dynamite games this year. Maybe the ND game was just one of those clunkers that are so hard to avoid. And ND??? They looked like men against boys. I feel that I had underrated them and probably had done so since their own clunker against NIU. The most interesting non-playoff bowl to me is gonna be Michigan-Alabama, assuming that the teams don't lose a bunch of players to the portal or to preparing for the NFL draft (does anybody know where that issue stands?)
They need to just go to 16 teams, this year that would have included Alabama,Ole Miss and South Carolina which would satisfy the SEC fans. Then dump the auto top bid deal for Conference Champions, if you are a conference champion and not in the top 16 tough noogies. Then no byes, just 8 first round games and 4 2nd round games, semifinals and finals...just like it is this year. Like in basketball #1 plays #16, and so on, play the first round on campus that part really was good this year. It sort of takes out the SOS and stuff, although not completely as people always find something to complain about.
Costal Carolina is playing their 3rd string QB due to injury and NIL problems. Game is pretty ragged with a lot of penalties. USTA is up 21-0 in the second quarter, This one could get ugly before its over!
I like your plan...but you know we'll still be arguing SOS and bad losses vs. good losses for the 13-16 slots. There will be even more candidates to argue over.
I have no problems with the conference champion getting an automatic bid. Winning a power 4 championship should deserve an award. What I think should be reconsidered is giving the CC a top 4 seed. Seeding ASU and BSU so high gave PSU and Texas an easier path than #1 seed Oregon who now has to deal with OSU. In March Madness, the conference champion gets an automatic bid bid but can be seeded low.
Bob would you just limit it to the Power 4 Conferences, so that Group of 5 conference Champs would have to be in the top 16? I certainly would.
Duke paid 8M over 2 years for this guy...talk about nuts. A three-star high school prospect two years ago out of California, Darian Mensah hit the transfer portal with an eye-popping asking price that perhaps best illustrated what name, image and likeness has turned into within college football. The Tulane redshirt freshman quarterback had a strong year, throwing for 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while leading the Green Wave to a 9-4 record. When he entered the transfer portal Dec. 8, amid rumors his coach, Jon Sumrall, could be on the move to another job, it was understandable to expect considerable interest in the young 6-foot-3, 200-pound quarterback. 247Sports ranked Mensah as the No. 7 quarterback and No. 72 overall prospect in the transfer portal. Highest-paid player in college football history? Transfer QB Darian Mensah's Duke deal is sign of times
Diego Pavia won his suit to be able to play next year and it appears that any seasons playing JUCO sports will not count in NCAA sports. Personally I don't like it.