Quote:Five P5 conference champs, 1 G5 champ, 2 at-large. Simple and no one can have a legit complaint.
Problems with that. First, it won't fly to bring in an Auto-Bid to a G5 Champ with only 8 teams. Second, it's playoffs, not bowls -- ranking matters more. Not as bad as a 4-team playoff, where inarguably it goes by pure rank -- but a rank cut-off for even the P5 would have to be cumming into play when you factor in a G5.
So wait: Why would a G5 Champ auto-bid not fly? Because there's only 8 teams. Even when the BCS Bowls were only 10 teams, they wouldn't let a G5 Champ automatically come in. And these weren't even playoffs (where rank even among at-larges weren't the sole factor). The Top G4 had to not only be better than a P6 Champ, but they had to at least be ranked #16, where the Top P6 Champ did not have to. They then expanded the BCS/NY bowls to 12, and sending Big East/AAC to G5 -- they figured, well, better G-Conference teams, we'll take the Top G5 if there's 12 teams. OK.
But going from 12 -> 8 teams, they'll take the Top G5 no matter what ranking? Nope. #7 or #8 Notre Dame or 2nd-place-SEC Georgia may have to suck on it with a #9 Washington or #10 VA-Tech trumping them... but #20 Houston?! A G5 not even in the Top 16, for an 8-team playoff? "Whoah whoah dude! This isn't for a nice NY bowl to watch a notably lower ranked Cinderella vs a Big Boy -- this is for a National Championship where you're kicking out a very high ranked team!"
Then what if there's an upset (which occasionally does and Will happen) in Conference Championships, and 8-5 Pitt "jumps" from unranked to #21 because they upset Clemson (who's not Quite as good as the last few years presently)? Should a #21 P5 Upset Champ kick #8 ND or SEC team out -- while #19 Boise won the MW And Doesn't? Because #13 UCF already got in for "G5" winning the AAC?
See how this becomes an issue? Something like that WILL happen, given some time (and not multiple decades, either).
P5, if you ARE so dominant -- great. But we don't nor shouldn't base NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFFS based on popularity/tv-audience among teams in the same FBS. Money-making bowls? OK, that's one thing -- we have that. But not National Champ Playoffs in actuality. That's ludicrous.
That's why I have MY OWN PLAN to avoid this. If the P5 claims it's because they are through-and-through better, TV ratings be damned -- fine. And hey, I agree, a G5 Champ no-matter-what shouldn't be auto. In an 8-team playoff, there's Fewer slots than there are Conferences. That's the key. So here's what I have, not paying attention to P5 or G5. If P5 is superior, it should have Full Confidence their bases will be covered + the G5 cannot complain:
(1) Top 4 get the only auto-bids. You're in.
(2) Conference Champion Conditional Auto-Bids:
- UP TO 3 remaining Conference Champions get auto-bids, ordered by Rank. MUST be ranked within the Top 13*.
- If Any Conference Champ is within Top 8, it's unconditional -- it's an Auto-Bid
(3) Remaining At-large(s) selected purely by Rank, but conference-max may skip team(s).
- No more than 3 teams from the same conference, unless 4th team is ranked #4 (auto-bid trumps that).
- 3rd team from the same conference skipped if ranked #7 or #8, unless the team below them is from the same conference or if #9 would be the 3rd team from another conference anyway
So yes, a P5 Champ does risk in rare circumstances, not getting in. Aside from 2012 where undefeated Ohio State was banned from any post-season and 7-5 Wisconsin took their place to upset #12 Nebraska in the B1G Championship but still remained unranked, you have to go back to the 00s to find an ACC Champ a couple times to be below #13. Before Clemson established themselves well enough, and the ACC being what it is today (fully stripping the AAC).
Problem with this though is, a little over half the time, you won't have Cinderella making it to the ball. And P5 Conferences not FULLY FULLY guaranteed they'll have their Champ in there. But if their champ isn't #13, nor is any of their was-supposed-to-be-champ around the Top 5-8, well, yeah, get up on that.
*
I say Top 13 because it's slightly higher than 50% more than the 8 slots (12). This is based on the Top G4 Champ having to be ranked #16 or higher when there were 10 slots for the 5 BCS Bowls. One could UP this to 16 to appease both P5 & G5, as #15 WMU was undefeated in 2016 and wouldn't make it under this.