Written by Guest Contributor – Abraham Frohman

In November 2012, the commissioners and presidents of NCAA Division 1 football announced they would be adopting a playoff model, much to the delight of college football fans everywhere. Less than two years later, in just its first actual season, one can already easily see the flaws in this new structure that equal those of its predecessors in its negative impact on the game.

If one were to read or listen to college football experts and pundits on a weekly basis, one would see the ever-growing list of teams that they have already dubbed as “eliminated from playoff contention”. Amazing given we are merely a month into competition, and prior to nearly all major conference play. Should these teams just pack up their balls and pads, and give up on the whole season at this point? I’m sure season ticket holders across the country will be thrilled to spend their time and money for a season with no hope for meaningful post-season opportunities.   The new playoff, and the bombardment of commercials from ESPN asking “Who’s In?” have given the indication and feeling to fans that any post-season births below this playoff are completely meaningless. The new process has also overtaken treasured traditional partnerships, such as the Big 10 and Pac-12 meeting in the Rose Bowl. It has diminished the importance of winning league championships, something that had stood as regional points of pride. Thanks to ESPN and the college football playoff, apparently all that matters is “Who’s In”. If that is going to be the way going forward, I think we can do it better….and bigger.

It is my strong belief that the true College Football playoff should advance to 8 teams as soon as possible, as only having 4 is a ridiculous notion. In this writer’s opinion, if there are 5 Power Conferences, then at minimum each league’s champion had earned it which automatically would give you 5 worthy teams.   So who all qualifies to the field of 8 you ask? The conference champion of each of the Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, SEC) will automatically qualify, along with 3 “wild card” selections made by the committee in order to reward the best teams who may have not won their conference, if they are a worthy independent not assigned to a major conference, or if one conference has more than one team that is deserving. This preserves both conference play as one of the most important aspects of the season, but the whole regular season as well. In college basketball we see great regular season matchups between powerhouse teams mainly because programs use the non-conference part of their season to test themselves in preparation for March Madness.

Imagine if a single loss wouldn’t immediately spell doom for any college football team not in the vaunted SEC…. Teams would be more open to scheduling better opponents to test themselves to prepare for conference play versus afraid to risk losing an opportunity to run the table and qualify for the playoff.  In a day in which the in-home experience is so good, and you can basically watch any football game across the country from any device, people no longer want to spend good money or waste their time watch power programs play cupcakes for an easy win. We all may be better off if these programs charge fans to watch a scrimmage between the offense and defense instead, cause there is no way any team actually gets better in games like these, and they are unwatchable for the rest of us. Giving every member of a Power-5 conference a opportunity to earn a chance to make the season ending playoff and represent their region in a fight for the national title no matter what the quality “perception” is of that conference keeps us all glued to our TV’s all year round, and gives hope where under the current setup none exists.

Now that we’ve covered the who, what about the where? In order to minimize too much change from what is currently established, I would propose that the new quarterfinal round would be hosted on the campus sites of the higher seed. There is nothing more energizing that college football than being on campus for game day, and I’m sure my fellow college football fans would agree.   What better way to reward the best teams than to give them and their loyal fan bases an opportunity to see them one more time at home, versus being forced to fly to neutral sites 3 weeks in a row. How great would it be to have to see a PAC 12 or SEC speed team have to play a playoff game in the snowy and cold East and Midwest, versus the perfect weather conditions found in the South or a Dome? I know I’m not the only Big 10 fan who has long believed the weather in bowl games historically favors speed teams from these conferences versus the style of play that long has reigned in the Big 10. As for the teams that are seeded lower and need to play on the road in the first round… don’t complain since at least this way you have a chance to go on the field and prove your worthiness.

About a month from now, the newly established College Football Playoff committee will release its initial rankings, and will continue to do so, on a weekly basis until the end of the season. This will give talking heads, and overzealous fans plenty to argue about all year round, and you can bet your bottom dollar that at least 1 deserving team will be shut out of the process entirely, purely based on the flaws of a new system that has the right idea, but suffers from poor execution. In the end, the question isn’t “Who’s In?, rather its “Who’s Left Out?”. For now, we wait and watch, and hope to avoid season-ending controversy that has plagued the sport for the majority of its history.