Why do athletic directors need to be on CFP committee? Answer: They don’t.
Alabama, Miami were fine playoff picks, but process became a farce.
Pick the 12 best teams for CFP bracket. Period.
Did the College Football Playoff committee get the bracket right? Well, that depends on your perspective and your rooting interests. The bubble got awfully crowded, so not everyone was going to come away happy.
Overall, Alabama and Miami seem like fair choices, but the course the committee charted to reach that destination became an exercise of the absurd.
On this edition of ‘SEC Football Unfiltered,’ a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams offer their biggest grievances with this bracket — and with this committee — and propose a different way to approach the playoff.
Here are four thoughts about how to improve the system:
∎ Is this season proof that playoff expansion is necessary? No. There’s an argument for 16 teams. It’s a worthy idea, but there’s also a case for staying at 12, with format alterations.
∎ Whether 12 or 16 teams, how should the bids be allocated? Get rid of automatic bids. Conferences have become so big that conference championships are no guarantee of pitting the league’s two best teams against one another. Also, with apology to the little guy, no conference should be guaranteed a bid. That includes the Group of Five. Pick the best teams, period. No automatic bids. All at-large selection.
∎ So, that means keeping the committee? Yes, but with changes to the construction of the committee. No sitting or former athletic director should be allowed on the committee. There’s nothing about being an AD that makes you an expert at ranking football teams. Also, athletic directors give off the appearance of bias, if not outright inserting bias. ADs have big jobs. CFP committee chairman Hunter Yurachek had to hire a football coach at Arkansas while being the front man of the selection process. That’s an inappropriate ask, and it’s unfair to fans to have someone juggle a coaching search and a selection process.
∎ So, who would be on the committee? Boot the ADs, and come up with a mix of former coaches and media members. Perhaps, include an analytics nerd, as well. If this sounds crazy, remember that for many, many years, the national championship was awarded based on AP (media) and coaches’ polls. So, removing ADs in favor of coaches and media to devise the CFP rankings aligns with the sport’s history.
Also in this episode
∎ The hosts discuss potential playoff upsets, and they predict the national champion, offering divergent choices.
Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered
Apple
Spotify
iHeart
Google
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.