College Football Top Heavy Problem.  We are at a point where there is a limited number of teams that can win the College Football Playoff.  The College Football Playoff was supposed to make it so that more teams would be in the mix to win the championship.

At first look you now have four teams in the playoff.  That does include more teams.  The BCS would only select two teams to decide the championship.  With the College Football Championship we get four teams.  This increases the number of teams that get it.  There are several problems with this set up.  Since there are five power conferences.  This set up automatically excludes one of the power conferences from the playoff.  This is a problem.  This is going to put a conference at a recruiting disadvantage right away.  Especially if the conference missed the playoff multiple years in a row.

What Happened

The problem is with the implementation.  The first year was a dream scenario for the Playoff and everyone thought it was going to be a fantastic thing every year.  It just happened to turn out to be a dream scenerio.  Really it was something that could not have been scripted to happen. Ohio State went on an improbable run with their third string quarterback to win the tournament.  People were thinking if this is the first year just think what we have coming in the years to follow.   Everyone was thinking – “Nailed It”.   Then reality set in and Lee Croso said Not So Fast my Friend.

During the five years of the Playoff there have been three winners.  Ohio State won the first one.  Alabama and Clemson have each won two.  With Alabama and Clemson playing each other three times out of the five playoff championship games.  Unless you are a fan of Alabama and Clemson.  This is not turning into a fun event for you.  Even if you are fan of the SEC and the ACC it is not turning into a  lot of fun.

The Rich Got Richer

With the current set up.  The only teams that are getting helped by the College Football Playoff are the teams that make the playoff.  That means the last two years the Big Ten and the Pack 12  got no boost at all.  Granted they need to get out there but if you don’t think it makes a difference then look at Clemson.  In 2017 they were considered to be the 11 best in terms of recruiting classes.  For 2019 they were third behind Alabama and Georgia.  This is not saying that being in the playoff alone will just lead to a top class.  It is going to make it much easier to get the good recruits to look at your program.

Need to Expand

With only four teams getting in there is automatically going to be a conference eliminated every single year.  If it is a year when a conference has two really good teams.  Or and Independent like Notre Dame is good then you are going to eliminate 2 of the 5 conferences.  In a nightmare scenario you could end up with 2 of the conferences getting a team in.  Think about what that would do for the conferences that do not get in and the boost those that get multiple teams in.

You could liken this to the NFL.  Say the teams were picked by a committee rather that who wins each division.  Say the NFC North has a down year and the committee decided to just cut out the NFC North like they did not exist.  That would be odd and bad for the whole league.  That is what we are doing with the College Football Playoff.

They never should have went with four teams when we have five conferences.  At a minimum it should have been six teams.  The five conference winners and a wild card team.  Better would be eight teams.  The five conference winners and three wild card teams.  Any more than that and you are adding teams that have no shot at winning.  Not sure it would hurt to have more but adding too many more would just make it unnecessarily long.

People will complain about the five conference champions saying at least one of them may not deserve to be in.  We are not always looking for who some one thinks deserves to be in but what makes it the best for choosing a champion.  One of the best tournaments out there the College Basketball Championship puts teams that have zero shot of winning the tournament.  It makes the tournament better not worse.

Make recruiting Even

This is probably one that will be the most difficult.  I am not sure when the last time the number changed but at this point FBS – used to be Division 1A colleges can give out 85 scholarships.  It looks like this limit was set sometime in the 1970’s.  The problem with a number this large is that the top teams are able to hord the top players.  If the number were to be dropped.  Even to 75 then that would help to spread around the talent.  The problem is that you don’t want to take away opportunities that are out there.  So the key here would be to figure out a way to help spread around some of the talent.  I am not saying that every team need to be competitive.  How ever the more teams that are the better the game is going to be.

I do think that the transfer portal is a step in the right direction.  It makes sense that if you see that you are not going to be able to play somewhere or the situation you are in changes that you can transfer to another team.  The NCAA said it was looking to close some of the loop holes that allow players to transfer and then play right away.  I say stop it to that.  A coach can leave any time they want.  A player should be able to as well.  At least once with no restrictions.  Yes this would lead to a form of college free agency.  I do not see a problem with that.  If you have three top quarterbacks but you know for sure which one is going to be your starter.  You really can not hold it against a player that is not going to play.  When they look for a place where they will be able to play.

Does it Matter

College football has a top heavy problem.  It has been that way for a long time. I do think that in the long run it will matter.  People will always support their college teams.  Most people did want some kind of playoff.  I am not sure they thought it was going to turn out the way it did.  It is still early in the playoff.  We are five years in.  But it this is an indicator then we are going to have a problem down the road.  If things stay the way they are there will be long stretches were certain teams dominate the playoff.  That wold be great for the fans of what ever team is dominating.  It would not be great for everyone else.

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