And Then There Was One – All The Top Seeds are Done

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Interesting fact that dropped late on Twix:

This warrants a few points that we already knew:

  • The seeding protocol in the CFP12 is remarkably screwed up. It resulted in mismatches and horribly skewed games, which also resulted in the argument that the expansion was useless and the games were duds.
  • Additionally, Oregon got screwed by being the top seed and getting potential matchups with Ohio State or Texas. Compare this to Penn State’s path, which got the questionable addition of SMU and then a vastly over seeded Boise State.
  • Contrast this with a potential set of first round games that would have been #5 Notre Dame versus #12 Clemson, #6 Ohio State versus #11 Arizona State, #7 Tennessee versus #10 SMU, and #8 Indiana versus #9 Boise State. Guarantee you each of those games would’ve been better than the original quarterfinal games.
  • If this had been the case, Oregon draws the Indiana-Boise winner instead of Ohio State. Georgia would draw the Tennessee-SMU winner, Texas would get Ohio State- AZ State winner (more deserved than the draw they got), and Penn State gets the ND-Clemson winner. Again, in all cases, better matchups in the semis and Oregon as a top seed actually gets an opponent that’s more like the 1 and 16 seed first round matchups in the NCAA Tournament.

So far, the expansion has fallen short of giving more teams a chance to compete for the title, and we’re being left with traditional blue blood programs, anyway. What’s worse, it’s made the Birmingham Bowl look like peak sports entertainment in comparison to the lopsided (save for the Peach Bowl) and uninspiring games we’ve seen so far. And what’s even worse than that, it’s costing fans more money and players more opportunities for injuries to prove absolutely nothing we didn’t already know.

The fact that James Franklin is in the final four of anything is proof that this thing is an abysmal failure.

8 thoughts on “And Then There Was One – All The Top Seeds are Done”

  2. Given this is about money rather than football, this format was the only one that could bring all of the factions of the sport together to get the money. Therefore, this is a success in their eyes.

    The SEC and B1G didn’t want 8 with auto bids.
    The other conferences didn’t want 8 without auto bids
    The ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12 wanted their conference champions to get some level of advantage in seeding
    Notre Dame didn’t want any format that would require them to join a conference (and, yes, I think the ACC has the right of first refusal under the GoR to take them)
    The Group of 5 was going to sue the CFP and Power 4/5 if they were not guaranteed a spot in an expanded field
    ESPN wanted to protect their investment in the NY6 bowl contracts and didn’t want to lose the subjectivity of the committee

    All this year has proven is that 12 teams is too many, but of course, we’ve known that for years.

    • Your first phrase is what we all need to realize.
      It’s the money.
      No one should be surprised at how it has played out..and no one should be surprised if it doesn’t change or if it even gets (expansion) worse.

      • We’re getting expansion to 14 or 16 in 2026 if Disney, Fox, Paramount, Discovery Warner Brothers, Comcast, or some mix of those make it worth it to the CFP to do so.

        Yippee!

  3. Shhhhh, but I’m glad we didn’t get Ohio State yesterday. That receiver was on fire.

  4. Autobids don’t have to get byes. That was stupid. They’ll fix that for next year or they’ll scrap it and start over the year after that.

  5. I still like 12 or more playoff games because it allows the cream to rise to the top by proof of showing it on the field in a decently tough matchup versus the playoff committee using their dumbass conventional wisdom to tell us who the best teams are. Plus, it helps the teams that actually play tough schedules (or the toughest) have a chance to prove their worthiness, even with 2 losses, should there be some doubt because of the losses they endured on the road in hostile environments throughout the season. I also like more football games that matter, even if they do end up being one sided. I’ve had fun watching so far.

  6. Go5 will cave-in on the reseeding concept when they see a chance for winning the first round and a home game plus getting $$$$ for a second round bowl game is better than a bye plus blowout in a bowl. They’ll probably demand and get a bigger share for giving up the bye too. The CFP won’t, however, fix the committee with the most simple change…allowing a pool reporter in the room to shine light on the deliberations. Hiding the process is wrong, un-American and against all that is good and Holy. I’m a little surprised a media outlet hasn’t sued on this point given the money and involvement of public universities. Maybe we should get Derek as a GTPR editor on this.

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