Im confused, Yorost, would you rather have the BCS or a 4 team playoff?
Playoff. more exciting and gives more teams involved. I'm worried about extending seasons on students and athletes not used to that grind, but 8 or 16 would be even nicer. Preferred system does not mean I think it is smarter for naming a champion. I think alluded to it earlier, March Madness might be my favourite postseason, but it's bonkers for finding a 'legitimate' champion. Most teams in the field have no serious claim to deserving the championship. ...it's another story, but I hate CBB auto-bids going to conference tournament winners. It renders the regular season almost pointless for 1-bid conferences. I think the NCAA should get a choice between the regular season champ and tournament champ, then the one left out gets a auto NIT bid. If your season stunk, getting to the NIT on a nice little conference tourney run is still a big plus. The regular season champ still needs to be serious in the tournament of the 2nd or 3rd place team stealing their bid if one has a better resume.
I get what you say that the best format to choosing a champ would be whatever makes sense given the way the season ends. Thats good and all because you make valid points, but there is also the reality that it doesnt make sense to have a champ decided by rules that will be decided at seasons end.
Well, that's dead on as to why I said there were good reasons it shouldn't happen. It's a nice thought, but it's still a debatable topic, hard to plan for, and doesn't consider revenue. Naming a champion might make sense in some scenarios, but, shit, that's boring and stupid business.
yorost, bringing up a round robin is nonsense in football because football is only played one game a week. You can't have a national championship determined by round robin, you have have a single-elimination playoff or the old bowl system where you just pick two teams.
If college football used a round robin to determine a national championship, we would still be having the 2005 playoffs today.
The point had zero to do with football. I was just illustrating my point about why each year can have different formats that make more sense. The 10 team basketball round robin is nice because many view it as a 'proper' conference champion. It's not that it would be the same in football, it's just that we can't say 2,4, 8, or 16 is more legitimate than the other for every year. Any one of those could make the most subjective sense in different years.
By that logic, you're ignoring that I said that this would be "a big step", which means that while the new system won't be perfect, it's a step in the right direction.
Uh, no, again. It's a step in the right direction for some things, like money, but not a clear step forward in finding a legitimate champion. It will be in some years, others it will not. It's neither forwards or backwards in that regard, it's just different.