Alternative Playoff: NFL-Style
Tonight, I offer a different possibility for the College Football Playoffs. This one would only expand the field by two teams, but would mimic the NFL's setup, which qualifies 6 teams, consisting of each division's winner and 2 Wild Cards, from the league's two conferences.
First, a refresher on the current playoff system:
-4 teams who play in two Semifinals
-The Semifinals are 2 bowl games out of the “New Year’s Six,” meaning the sites will be Pasadena (Rose), Glendale (Fiesta), or Arlington (Cotton) and New Orleans (Sugar), Atlanta (Peach), or Miami (Orange)
-A playoff committee ranks all teams and seeds the 4 playoff teams
-Which teams play in which bowl is defined geographically; the higher seed will ideally have a better crowd advantage at the game
Now, an alternative proposition:
NFL Style
The Format: Like the NFL, this would automatically qualify "division" champions; in this case, the "divisions" are the 5 Power Conference Champions. One at-large team, the highest ranked non-champion (or Non-Power Conference Champion) would also qualify, bringing the total to 6 teams. The Top 2 teams would receive a first-round bye, while #3 hosted #6, and #4 hosted #5. In the semifinals, the #1 team would host the lowest-ranked team left, while the #2 team would host the second-lowest-ranked team. The Championship would, as in past years, be played at a neutral site.
Case Study: There are many seasons, such as the most recent, that would have lent themselves nicely to a 6-team model. Perhaps none more so, however, than 2014-15. In that year, Baylor and TCU (both 11-1) found themselves at the center of controversy first when the Big 12 Conference decided to name them Co-Champions, instead of awarding Baylor the outright title, and then again when the Conference's ill-advised decision left both of them out of the 4-team playoff. Baylor would go on to choke away an epic Cotton Bowl, but TCU took out their anger properly, by destroying a Top 10 Ole Miss team in the Peach Bowl. If 2014-15 had the NFL Style Playoffs, the first round would have opened with #6 TCU at #3 Florida State, and #5 Baylor at #4 Ohio State. In the latter, the eventual champion Buckeyes likely would have held court at home. In the 3v6 matchup, however, it's hard to look at the two teams' bowl results (TCU won 40-6, while Florida State lost 20-59) and not imagine TCU winning that game. Thus, the semis would have featured a red-hot TCU side at #1 Alabama, with #2 Oregon hosting an even-hotter Ohio State team (these two were the 2015 Championship contenders).
Pros:
Rewards all Power Conference champions while still allotting one space for an at-large team
Further reward the best (highest-ranked) teams by letting them play on their home fields
Slightly expands the current format, while still maintaining a stratified sample of quality teams
Ensures geographical variety by representing every Power Conference
Cons:
Might leave out more worthy/higher-ranked contenders in favor of conference champions
Creates a conundrum if the Wild Card team is higher-ranked (such as 2016 Ohio State); should the higher-ranked team or the conference champion get home-field advantage?
Likely lessens the quality and importance of major/traditional bowl games with the use of home fields