(12-19-2017 12:44 PM)ken d Wrote:  The CFP structure is not really holding back the schools outside the P5 conferences when it comes to football national championships. The fact is that, since the first AP champions were announced in 1936, only 3 times has a team outside that group been voted #1.

Two of those came during WWII, when Army won twice. The third was in 1984, when BYU won by virtue of going undefeated against a schedule featuring only one ranked team. They clinched the title by defeating a Michigan team that finished the season with a 6-6 record.

What makes anybody think that a G5 team could win an expanded playoff if they had the chance? Would winning a playoff that excluded P5 teams bring more prestige than beating a P5 team in an NY6 bowl?

The fact that they have won the NYD bowl they play in far more often than not? Lets be honest, anything after 1990's was skewed by the effect of the BCS/CFP or its forerunners (like the Bowl Coalition). We honestly dont know. Everybody---and I mean EVERYBODY absolutely KNEW that UCF could not deal with Baylor (who some even felt like deserved a shot at the championship). Thats the problem--we really dont know how it would play out because there is so little interaction between the top of the P5 and the top of the G5 that we cant really tell how much (or how little) difference there really is. We have seen Navy play Notre Dame to within a TD this year. Last year Houston beat two P5 teams ranked in the top 5. My sense is there isnt really all that much difference between the top 10 of the P5 and the very best team in the G5.