Alternative Playoff: 8 Team Plan
Tonight's proposal is pretty straightforward: doubling the size of the current playoff field.
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:
8-Team Playoff
The Format: Essentially, this could still use the current Playoff Semifinal format, and just add a round beforehand. Under this model, the playoffs would begin with a quarterfinal round played at the higher seed's home field. The 8 qualified teams would consist of the 5 Power Conference champions, plus 3 at-large teams.
Case Study: The 2013-14 season in particular would have lent itself very nicely to an 8-team playoff. All 5 Power Conference champions were ranked in the Top 6, and in addition, there were 3 clear at-large candidates: 11-1 Alabama (whose only loss was on a miracle), 12-1 Ohio State (whose only loss was in the Big Ten Championship), and 11-2 Missouri (division champions with 2 close losses to Top 10 teams). The Playoffs could have opened with:
(8) Missouri at (1) Florida State
(5) Stanford at (4) Michigan State
(6) Baylor at (3) Alabama
(7) Ohio State at (2) Auburn
Judging by bowl results, the New Year's Semifinals would have seen Florida State vs. Michigan State (the Spartans beat Stanford in a thrilling Rose Bowl that year), and Auburn vs. Baylor (both Alabama and Baylor lost their BCS Bowl games in 2014, but Bama showed they were no match for the spread offense, which Baylor ran to perfection). Who wouldn't want to watch all 7 of these postseason games?
Pros:
Rewards all Power Conference champions
Doesn't shut out quality one-loss teams
Could include a Non-Power Conference Champion
Rewards best teams with home-field advantage
Would include only minor change to current format
Cons:
Could lead to seeding controversies
Inevitable debate over the 3 at-large teams
Conference champion auto-bids could leave more deserving teams out