2025 College Football Season

[Max Rockatansky]

Pushing an undefeated Power 5 team out due to injuries for a "name brand/one loss SEC team" is a bad precedent to set.  I guess none of it will matter next year though when the playoffs expand. 

[Roadgeekteen]

Pushing an undefeated Power 5 team out due to injuries for a "name brand/one loss SEC team" is a bad precedent to set.  I guess none of it will matter next year though when the playoffs expand.

In fact, many years, some 9-3 15 rank Big 12 team will get a bye while an 11-1 SEC/BIG team has to play first round, but such is the ways of mega conferences.

[hobsini2]

The 2023 Bowls are now set.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U3mORtXKEYShaC8R43SKd3R0WnL2vc2QI_AD9_jPZfs/edit?usp=sharing

[thspfc]

Pushing an undefeated Power 5 team out due to injuries for a "name brand/one loss SEC team" is a bad precedent to set.  I guess none of it will matter next year though when the playoffs expand.

In fact, many years, some 9-3 15 rank Big 12 team will get a bye while an 11-1 SEC/BIG team has to play first round, but such is the ways of mega conferences.

That won't happen. There's no chance that conference champions get preferantial treatment in seeding. Only perhaps in getting into the bracket in the first place.

[SSOWorld]

Drop the bowls and go to an NCAA sanctioned tournament - full stop!

[tchafe1978]

Drop the bowls and go to an NCAA sanctioned tournament - full stop!

Right. Every other level of college football can manage to have a real playoff, but FBS can't. There's too much invested in the current bowl system. Simply solution would be to make the bowl games the sites of the playoff games. But then somebody will whine that early round playoff games should be on campus. Whatever. Either way there should be a real playoff.

[Big John]

The 2023 Bowls are now set.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U3mORtXKEYShaC8R43SKd3R0WnL2vc2QI_AD9_jPZfs/edit?usp=sharing

How did Wisconsin gat a January 1 game?  They are nowhere good enough to merit that.

[NWI_Irish96]

The 2023 Bowls are now set.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U3mORtXKEYShaC8R43SKd3R0WnL2vc2QI_AD9_jPZfs/edit?usp=sharing

How did Wisconsin gat a January 1 game?  They are nowhere good enough to merit that.

Big Ten got three teams into the NY6 games, so that's why.

[wanderer2575]

The 2023 Bowls are now set.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U3mORtXKEYShaC8R43SKd3R0WnL2vc2QI_AD9_jPZfs/edit?usp=sharing

The "Duke's Mayo" Bowl?  The "Pop Tarts" Bowl?  This has gotten out of hand.

[mgk920]

I've been saying for many years now that the winner of every Division 1A (I will NEVER refer to it as being anything else!) conference, the top independent (treat all of the independents as being in a single 'conference' for this purpose) and enough wild cards to make an even seeded single-elimination bracket should be the tournament.  Schedule it so that the (for lack of a better term) 'College Super Bowl'. is the weekend before the NFL Super Bowl.  IMHO, that would be interesting.  And YES, the traditional bowl games could be bracket games in this tournament.

Mike

[mgk920]

The 2023 Bowls are now set.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U3mORtXKEYShaC8R43SKd3R0WnL2vc2QI_AD9_jPZfs/edit?usp=sharing

The "Duke's Mayo" Bowl?  The "Pop Tarts" Bowl?  This has gotten out of hand.

Not the Tidy Bowl?

Sheesh!

Mike

[bugo]

FSU got fucked hard. I agree that somebody should sue the NCAA, the SEC, the CFP selection committee and ESPN. Tim Brando pretty much accused them of collusion, and I am inclined to agree. Wins and losses are supposed to matter. Alabama has always gotten preferential treatment, and this is an example of their privilege. I have been watching college football since 1981, but with the coaching drama at Arkansas when they kept a mediocre head coach then hired a guy who set the program back 15 years as the offensive coordinator, and combined with FSU getting screwed, I'm considering not watching any of the remaining games. Not as a boycott, but because it is a sport with zero integrity or fairness. Some heads need to roll for this, but you know they won't. Alabama has a long, rich tradition of cheating (they forfeited all their regular season games in 1993 and they vacated all their wins in 2005 and 2006 and the first 5 wins of the 2007 season) so this doesn't shock me. I am a fan of a team that happens to be in the SEC, but I hate the SEC, if that makes any sense. It's basketball season.

[triplemultiplex]

How did Wisconsin gat a January 1 game?  They are nowhere good enough to merit that.
[/quote]

Because the fans travel well and buy a lot of beer?

[ran4sh]

This is why I've proposed switching to a Swiss tournament system. Teams play teams with the same record. Top however many by win/loss record make it; no human judgment. I'd make just one minor modification: within those with the same record, prioritize minimum total flight distance.

If you're 6-0, you're going to be playing the other 6-0 team in Week 7.

I think that system would be interesting, but there would be a couple adjustments I would make. With 128 FBS teams it only takes 7 rounds of Swiss System competition to determine a champion, which leaves a few weeks before that (about 6-8 depending on exact schedule) to play scheduled games such as rivalries. (And yes, there are currently more than 128 FBS teams. Teams that are newer to FBS can be assigned play-in games so that the original teams don't need to add an 8th Swiss System game just to accommodate them.)

Also the system would have to ensure that each team had a fair amount of home games. It does so automatically by default (teams generally alternating home/away with no team ever having to be away 3 games in a row) but in some edge cases there may be issues.

[Buck87]

Drop the bowls and go to an NCAA sanctioned tournament - full stop!

Right. Every other level of college football can manage to have a real playoff, but FBS can't. There's too much invested in the current bowl system. Simply solution would be to make the bowl games the sites of the playoff games. But then somebody will whine that early round playoff games should be on campus. Whatever. Either way there should be a real playoff.

How's this for an idea:

12 team playoff
Possibly best 6 conference champions plus 6 at large, but likely best 5 conference champions and 7 at large
1-4 get a bye to the quarterfinals, 5-8 host 9-12 on campus.

Then four of the New Year's Six bowls host the quarterfinals and the other two host the semifinals, on a rotating basis.

The schedule for the next two years could even be....

2024 Season

First Round (On-Campus)
Friday, December 20, 2024: One Game (evening)
Saturday, December 21, 2024: Three Games (early afternoon, late afternoon and evening)

Quarterfinals
Tuesday, December 31, 2024: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (evening)
Wednesday, January 1, 2025: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (early afternoon), Rose Bowl Game (late afternoon) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (evening)

Semifinals
Thursday, January 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (evening)
Friday, January 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening)

CFP National Championship
Monday, January 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

2025 Season

First Round (On-Campus)
Friday, December 19, 2025: One Game (evening)
Saturday, December 20, 2025: Three Games (early afternoon, late afternoon and evening)

Quarterfinals
Wednesday, December 31, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening)
Thursday, January 1, 2026: Capital One Orange Bowl (early afternoon), Rose Bowl Game (late afternoon) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (evening)

Semifinals
Thursday, January 8, 2026: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (evening)
Friday, January 9, 2026: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (evening)

CFP National Championship
Monday, January 19, 2026: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida



NOTE, this is literally what is happening.....it appears some of you haven't been paying attention
https://collegefootballplayoff.com/news/2023/5/2/24-25-dates.aspx

[Alps]

Drop the bowls and go to an NCAA sanctioned tournament - full stop!

Right. Every other level of college football can manage to have a real playoff, but FBS can't. There's too much invested in the current bowl system. Simply solution would be to make the bowl games the sites of the playoff games. But then somebody will whine that early round playoff games should be on campus. Whatever. Either way there should be a real playoff.

How's this for an idea:

12 team playoff
Possibly best 6 conference champions plus 6 at large, but likely best 5 conference champions and 7 at large

It's a shitty idea because they are going to narrow this down to prevent Group of Five from ever having a chance.

[DTComposer]

Drop the bowls and go to an NCAA sanctioned tournament - full stop!

Right. Every other level of college football can manage to have a real playoff, but FBS can't. There's too much invested in the current bowl system. Simply solution would be to make the bowl games the sites of the playoff games. But then somebody will whine that early round playoff games should be on campus. Whatever. Either way there should be a real playoff.

How's this for an idea:

12 team playoff
Possibly best 6 conference champions plus 6 at large, but likely best 5 conference champions and 7 at large

It's a shitty idea because they are going to narrow this down to prevent Group of Five from ever having a chance.

I agree. The new system will find justifications to let the third-place SEC or Big 10 team in over the C-USA or MAC champions.

[Buck87]

It's a shitty idea because they are going to narrow this down to prevent Group of Five from ever having a chance.

6+6 was done to leave at least one spot for a group of 5 champion to get in (presumably it would always be the 5 Power conference champs plus the best group of 5 champ, but there were no automatic bids so theoretically there could be something like four P5 and two G5 if one of the P5 champs was really weak)

Then the Pac-12 fell apart, so discussions started that it should change to a 5+7 setup to reflect the new P4/G5 setup, still giving the G5 at least one spot. The question of 6+6 vs 5+7 hasn't been decided yet, but should be sometime this month:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10096907-report-college-football-playoff-committee-to-present-57-model-for-12-team-format

[Alps]

It's a shitty idea because they are going to narrow this down to prevent Group of Five from ever having a chance.

6+6 was done to leave at least one spot for a group of 5 champion to get in (presumably it would always be the 5 Power conference champs plus the best group of 5 champ, but there were no automatic bids so theoretically there could be something like four P5 and two G5 if one of the P5 champs was really weak)

Then the Pac-12 fell apart, so discussions started that it should change to a 5+7 setup to reflect the new P4/G5 setup, still giving the G5 at least one spot. The question of 6+6 vs 5+7 hasn't been decided yet, but should be sometime this month:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10096907-report-college-football-playoff-committee-to-present-57-model-for-12-team-format

Yeah, but here's what'll happen: They will decide on 5+7, then magically the Pac-12 will merge with Mountain West and be considered a Power conference, resulting in 5+4 and making sure the playoffs are Power only.

[thspfc]

Drop the bowls and go to an NCAA sanctioned tournament - full stop!

Right. Every other level of college football can manage to have a real playoff, but FBS can't. There's too much invested in the current bowl system. Simply solution would be to make the bowl games the sites of the playoff games. But then somebody will whine that early round playoff games should be on campus. Whatever. Either way there should be a real playoff.

How's this for an idea:

12 team playoff
Possibly best 6 conference champions plus 6 at large, but likely best 5 conference champions and 7 at large

It's a shitty idea because they are going to narrow this down to prevent Group of Five from ever having a chance.

I agree. The new system will find justifications to let the third-place SEC or Big 10 team in over the C-USA or MAC champions.

And that's a bad thing?

The third-place SEC or Big Ten team will beat the brakes off just about any MAC or C-USA champion. The only exception to this I can think of was Western Michigan's 2016 team, the best MAC team I can remember, who still lost by 8 to the Big Ten's 4th best team (Wisconsin).

Creating a false sense of fairness in an inherently unfair sport is not worth making one or more of the first round games a 100% predicted whooping every single year. I don't want to see MAC teams in the playoff - I want to see competitive games.

[Buck87]

Yeah, but here's what'll happen: They will decide on 5+7, then magically the Pac-12 will merge with Mountain West and be considered a Power conference, resulting in 5+4 and making sure the playoffs are Power only.

The CFP Board of Managers has 11 members, one representing each of the 10 conferences plus 1 from Notre Dame.

Changing the model to 5+7 requires a unanimous vote.

It's very possible that the current Pac-12 uncertainty could lead to them not having the unanimity required to do the 5+7 change immediately and that the 2024 season would still be 6+6.

Either way, whether they decide on 5+7 now or in the future, because there are all 5 Group of 5 conferences represented on the board, I highly doubt the board will vote for something that would guarantee the G5 being left out entirely.   

[NWI_Irish96]

Yeah, but here's what'll happen: They will decide on 5+7, then magically the Pac-12 will merge with Mountain West and be considered a Power conference, resulting in 5+4 and making sure the playoffs are Power only.

The CFP Board of Managers has 11 members, one representing each of the 10 conferences plus 1 from Notre Dame.

Changing the model to 5+7 requires a unanimous vote.

It's very possible that the current Pac-12 uncertainty could lead to them not having the unanimity required to do the 5+7 change immediately and that the 2024 season would still be 6+6.

Either way, whether they decide on 5+7 now or in the future, because there are all 5 Group of 5 conferences represented on the board, I highly doubt the board will vote for something that would guarantee the G5 being left out entirely.   

They might vote to temporarily change it to 5+7 for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, since 2026 is the earliest that the PAC-12 might reconstitute. Even if they pulled the 10 best programs from across all the G5 conferences, would that make it strong enough to be considered a P5 conference though?

What really needs to happen is that football needs to have entirely separate conference structure from the other sports. The PAC-12 schools are never going to get back together in football, but for god's sake put it back together for the other sports so we don't have kids flying all over the country for weeknight contests in every single sport.

[Ted$8roadFan]

The Army-Navy Game is happening right now at Goethe Stadium in Foxboro, MA. Saw the game traffic and state police escort of the teams on I-95 earlier today, and the helicopters fly over in my town.

[epzik8]

Ugh, get it together, Navy.

[hobsini2]

The 2023 Bowls are now set.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U3mORtXKEYShaC8R43SKd3R0WnL2vc2QI_AD9_jPZfs/edit?usp=sharing

The "Duke's Mayo" Bowl?  The "Pop Tarts" Bowl?  This has gotten out of hand.

I agree. I prefer referring to the Bowls by their traditional names. Tangerine, Citrus, Cactus, etc.