The flawed current college football postseason and the 2020 college fair college football playoff

 2014 intro

Flaws on current system 2014
Take on Autobids and Conf Champs Games
Preferred 16 team playoff plan        Alternate 8 team playoff plan

Hello, handful of people who read this every year! I do this every year even though I know the truth that the powers to be in college football would never have a fair college football playoff.(And that I don't put enough effort to promote this blog.) The system is designed to benefit the powerhouse teams and make sure they dominate the profits. That is why the FBS is the only major sports competition that doesn't give every team a path at the championship. It's ridiculous but it is what it is. It all comes down to greed.

But some hope remains, more mainstream voices are publicly pointing out flaws of the current system. Andrea Adelson of ESPN wrote and article that criticized the current system. The AAC commissioner criticized the playoff committee's decisions and called for changes to the system. However, I haven't heard too many loud voices ask for what I believe is the true solution. Automatic bids for the conference tournament.

There are many flaws to this current system but now I believe the 2 biggest core flaws of this system are: (1)Too much subjectivity in deciding who gets a chance and (2) too many teams are not given a chance to win it all.

Automatic bids for conference winners solve both. Teams earn their spot based on their play(winning a conference championship) and since nearly every team is in a conference, there is a fair chance now for the majority of teams(an improvement over the majority of teams having no chance no matter what).

This year there were 3 teams (Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina and San Jose State)  that did all they could but were denied a chance at it all. Had USC beat Oregon it could have been 4 (and the first P5 to be denied a shot). And a few P5 teams that deserved consideration over the last team in the current fake invitational (Notre Dame). It's a shame.

I've been thinking about adding another alternate plan(10 conference champs, no at large bids but play in games to round the bracket to 8.) but I'll stick to my original two for now.

here we go:

16 team playoff plan(this one):
Based on 2020 season.

Automatic bids: Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Oregon(P12), Cincinnati(AAC), Coastal Carolina(Sun Belt), San Jose State(Mtn West), UAB(C-USA), Ball State(MAC)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, Iowa State, Indiana

Snubs: BYU. Louisiana. USC. I'd put Louisiana in myself with their Iowa State win but I'd understand a committee will choose the big conference team

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Alabama vs. 16. UAB
2. Clemson vs. 15. Ball State
3. Ohio State vs. 14. San Jose State
4. Notre Dame vs. 13. Oregon
5. Texas A&M vs. 12. Coastal Carolina
6. Oklahoma vs. 11. Indiana
7. Florida vs 10. Iowa State
8. Cincinnati vs 9. Georgia

Comments:
I say this every year but this would be so much more fun than what's actually going to happen. Cincinnati-Georgia would mean so much more than it does now(If Cincy loses, morons will act like it justifies them never getting a chance at winning it all. If Cincy wins, then Georgia "didn't care" or some other excuse.). I think A&M is a little overrated and Coastal may be able to surprise them.

8 team playoff plan(this one):

Based on 2020 season.

Automatic bids:
Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Oregon(P12), Cincinnati(best of group of 5)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Notre Dame, Texas A&M

Snubs: Coastal Carolina, Indiana. BYU. USC. I would have an unbeaten conference champ Coastal in over A&M for fairness sake but I'd understand a committee would never do that. But that is why I prefer my 16 team plan(or even the 10 team no at large all auto bid plan I referenced earlier)

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Alabama vs. 8. Oregon
2. Clemson vs. 7. Cincinnati
3. Ohio State vs. 6. Oklahoma
4. Notre Dame vs. 5. Texas A&M



Comments:

I'd be interested in seeing how some people react to seeing the P12's best get blown out by Alabama. Probably a little differently than if Clemson were to hammer Cincinnati. This would be decent I guess, better than what we have. But I prefer the 16 team plan like I said before.

2019 Potential College Football Playoff(based on my proposals)

2014 intro
Flaws on current system 2014
Take on Autobids and Conf Champs Games
Preferred 16 team playoff plan        Alternate 8 team playoff plan

This is a yearly tradition for this pretty much dead blog. After the 4 college football playoff(really an invitational) teams are announced and the final rankings are released, I make two hypothetical brackets based on "my"(I'm far from alone from making these kinds of proposals) college football playoff plans, links are above.

This year the top 4 was pretty straightforward, so there's not much to say. Of course, the strength of schedule double standard with Clemson bulldozing through a very schedule is notable. No one really questioned whether Clemson should be automatically eliminated by virtue of their weak schedule. Some may say that 2019 Clemson should get the benefit of the doubt based on 2018 Clemson's success. But 2018 UCF didn't get the benefit of the doubt for 2017 UCF's success. It's just proof of unfair the whole thing is with changing qualifications. Change is definitely needed in this comically subjective and biased system.

It's hilarious when I saw the one of the headlines/talking for Memphis's Cotton Bowl consolation exhibition: "A chance for the American to earn respect". But is it really? If Memphis loses, the American will get mocked for being weak. People were clowning UCF for losing by 8 to LSU with their 2nd string QB last year. But if they win, the game will be dismissed, ignored or quickly forgotten. Strong small conference teams have been putting good showings and winning these kinds of games for  a while but nothing changes.

Whatever, here we go:

16 team playoff plan(this one):
Based on 2019 season.

Automatic bids:LSU(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Oregon(P12), Memphis(AAC), App State(Sun Belt), Boise State(Mtn West),FAU(C-USA), Miami(OH)(MAC)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Baylor, Georgia, Alabama, Utah, Wisconsin, Florida

At-large bids were messy this year compared to years past.

Snubs: Notre Dame, Penn State. SEC bias would probably push Penn St out, to fit in more SEC teams. Notre Dame's blowout loss to Michigan really hurts them.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. LSU vs. 16. Miami(OH)
2. Ohio State vs. 15. FAU
3. Clemson vs. 14. App State
4. Oklahoma vs. 13.Boise State
5. Georgia vs. 12. Memphis
6. Oregon vs. 11. Utah
7. Baylor vs 10. Alabama
8. Wisconsin vs 9. Florida

Comments:
This would look like a fun first round. It would be a strong field with only 2 unranked teams in it.Would be a fun tourney. Oklahoma Boise State would be the upset that I would anticipate.

8 team playoff plan(this one):

Based on 2019 season.

Automatic bids:
LSU(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Oregon(P12), Memphis(best of group of 5)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Baylor, Georgia

Snubs:
There's a bunch of 2 loss teams that have an argument. Baylor's only losses were to Oklahoma. But Georgia's loss to South Carolina could be the bad loss that could give a team like Penn State, Utah or Alabama an argument for being in instead of Georgia.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. LSU vs. 8. Memphis
2. Ohio State vs. 7. Baylor
3. Clemson vs. 6. Oregon
4. Oklahoma vs. 5. Georgia



Comments:
I actually don't like the 8 team this much this year because I feel for App St and Boise. Though maybe I shouldn't feel so bad for their losses to Georgia Southern and BYU. LSU vs Memphis feels a lot like how LSU vs Oklahoma. LSU's defense has been vulnerable at times, so it's going to either be a shootout or a blowout.

There's been more mainstream endorsements for plans very similar to my 8 team plan, most notably with the group of 5 autobid. Really hope that momentum continues as college football analysts, coaches, fans, administrators, sponsors and executives begin to realize for unfair and flawed the current system is and continue to push towards change.

2018 Potential College Football Playoff(based on my proposals)

2014 intro
Flaws on current system 2014
Take on Autobids and Conf Champs Games
Preferred 16 team playoff plan        Alternate 8 team playoff plan

This is a yearly tradition for this not so popular blog. After the 4 college football playoff(really an invitational) teams are announced and the final rankings are released, I make two hypothetical brackets based on "my"(I'm far from alone from making these kinds of proposals) college football playoff plans, links are above.

But before that, here are my thoughts on the committee's current selections for our current invitational system: They were pretty good. I would have put Notre Dame in front of Clemson as Notre Dame played a tougher schedule but that's no big deal. But those are definitely the top 4 teams. Ohio State shouldn't have gotten blown out by a 6-6 team. Oklahoma isn't a small name like TCU or Baylor, so the committee wasn't gonna pull a 2014 on them.

Of course, I have to address the elephant in the room: UCF. UCF has gone at least 25 straight games without a loss, yet they still will not get a chance at the championship. UCF's schedule justifiably kept them away from the top 4 in the rankings but this just further exposes the flaw in the system. Your schedule alone should not eliminate you from a chance at the championship. Teams have little control on how strong their schedule is. If you want to rank/seed a team lower because of their schedule, that's fine. But it shouldn't completely eliminate them like it does it this system. UCF could possibly be the best team in the country, but they are again not given a chance at championship despite not losing a single game. This is a broken system, that would be fixed (or at least significantly improved) by a shift to one of the playoff plans linked above(or below).

Well enough of that, here we go:

16 team playoff plan(this one):
Based on 2018 season.

Automatic bids:Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Washington(P12), UCF(AAC), App State(Sun Belt), Fresno State(Mtn West),UAB(C-USA), Northern Illinois(MAC)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Notre Dame, Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Washington State, LSU

At-large bids were messy this year compared to years past.

Snubs: A lot of 9-3 teams this year. There's a bunch of teams that could argue. Penn State, West Virginia, Kentucky, Syracuse, Utah and even Fresno have decent arguments. But those teams had their shot, they failed to win their conference.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Alabama vs. 16. Northern Illinois
2. Clemson vs. 15. UAB
3. Notre Dame vs. 14. App State
4. Oklahoma vs. 13. Fresno State
5. Georgia vs. 12. Washington State
6. Ohio State vs. 11. Washington
7. Michigan vs 10. LSU
8. UCF vs 9. Florida

Comments: Looks like an entertaining bracket to me. Alabama and Clemson should cruise, but UAB is a wonderful comeback story. Would be great to see them on a stage like that. Notre Dame has struggle against some mediocre opponents, they could be vulnerable against a good App State team(obligatory App St Michigan reference.). Oklahoma has a bad defense and went to overtime against Army, so they could be vulnerable against Fresno too. The rest of the bracket looks great. That Florida vs UCF matchup would be incredible, especially if they played in Orlando. Massive improvement from current system.


8 team playoff plan(this one):

Based on 2018 season.

Automatic bids:
Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State(B10), Oklahoma(B12), Washington(P12), UCF(best of group of 5)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Notre Dame, Georgia

Snubs:
Washington State(10-2): Perceived weaker schedule. Bad loss to USC. Sorry Wazzu.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Alabama vs. 8. Washington
2. Clemson vs. 7. UCF
3. Notre Dame vs. 6. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma vs. 5. Georgia


Comments: Looks great to me. Every matchup is very intriguing. The UCF-Clemson game would probably be more interesting with a healthy Milton but still a good matchup. This would still be really good and is a huge improvement over what we've settled for now.

Hopefully, some day greedy executives can realize that they can get even richer and improve the sport if they expand the playoff in a fair way. Maybe someone of importance can miraculously come across this obscure blog and be enlightened to the truth.(That sounded really arrogant). (I copy paste this every year but I really mean it.)

2017 Potential College Football Playoff(based on my proposals)

2014 intro
Flaws on current system 2014
Take on Autobids and Conf Champs Games
Preferred 16 team playoff plan        Alternate 8 team playoff plan

Personal yearly tradition of updating my seldom visited blog. I always enjoy filling out the match-ups for my playoff proposals using my proposals. So, I'll do this until there is a change to make college football fair.
Shout out to UCF for being the only undefeated team in the nation(going into bowl season). Of course, this unfair post season system eliminated UCF from the national title discussion before a single game was played. But I was told that in college football "every game matters" and that "every game is a playoff game". What a load of crap. I'm not saying UCF is a playoff caliber team(honestly not impressed with their defense), but an unbeaten team deserves a chance at a national championship and my playoff proposal would give UCF that chance. A fair system gives every team a chance at the title when the season begins. In this system, half of the FBS is eliminated regardless of how their season goes. (Jan 2018 update. UCF defeats Auburn, a team that beat UGA and Alabama, the two finalists. That plus their unbeaten season gives them a legitimate claim to the 2017-18 national championship. This flawed, unfair system fails again, as the possible best team in the country isn't given chance to win it all.)
Enough complaining, this year the committee actually did a good job selecting the top 4 teams. Clemson, Oklahoma and Georgia were shoo-ins. Alabama(11-1, only loss of the season was a road loss to a great team one week alone) was the logical second choice. Back to complaining, I am tired of hearing Ohio State (10-2, dominated at home against Oklahoma, 31 pt loss to 7-5 Iowa) fans (including OSU fans in the media) complain about their team not being ranked ahead of Alabama. Ohio St has undeservedly made the playoff twice already. But that was over TCU/Baylor(2014) and Penn St(2016) but Alabama is also a brand name school, so this time a fair decision was made. (TV ratings will be high for Clemson vs Ohio St or Clemson vs Bama so might as well actually make a fair decision).
Back to more complaining, I'm tired of people calling automatic bids "handouts". Handouts are what were are currently doing now(and what Ohio State got in 2014 and 2016). They are handing out playoff spots to who they think is best, often independent of on the field results. It's unreliable and subjective(and the criteria seems to change every year). Winning your conference isn't based on subjectivity but rather direct results on the field. Automatic bids are earned, no matter what conference you are in. However, at-large bids(used mainly to make the bracket 8 or 16 teams so that they tournament structure runs smoothly) are handouts to teams that didn't win a conference championship and are subjective.

Anyways let's get to it:

16 team playoff plan(this one):
Based on 2017 season.Automatic bids:Georgia(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Southern Cal(P12), UCF(AAC), Troy(Sun Belt), Boise State(Mtn West),FAU(C-USA), Toledo(MAC)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee):Wisconsin, Alabama, Penn State, Miami, Auburn, Washington

That looks like a great field. Lots of great football teams that had great seasons.

Snubs: None this year, to be honest. I want to make one more real life complaint about the last team into this fictional tournament.
Washington(10-2): Why they are ranked ahead of UCF? UCF's two Memphis(No.20 10-2) wins are better than 1 Wazzu(No. 18 9-3)(Washington's only quality win). Regardless Washington doesn't have any competition for that last spot.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Clemson vs. 16.FAU
2. Oklahoma vs. 15.Toledo
3. Georgia vs. 14. Troy
4. Alabama vs. 13. Boise State
5. Ohio State vs. 12. UCF
6. Wisconsin vs. 11. Washington
7. Auburn vs 10. Miami
8. USC vs 9. Penn State

Comments: Seems like an interesting bracket. The Wisconsin/Washington matchup kind of sucks(seems really boring).  But Troy beat LSU which beat Auburn which beat Georgia, so you never know. UCF vs Ohio St could be a really good matchup(depending on which OSU team shows up, they've been so inconsistent). USC-Penn St was a great Rose Bowl matchup last year, would be fun to watch an encore that actually matters.

8 team playoff plan(this one):

Based on 2017 season.

Automatic bids:
Georgia(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Ohio State(B10), Oklahoma(B12), Southern Cal(P12), UCF(best of group of 5)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Alabama, Wisconsin

Snubs:
Penn St(10-2): Eye test shows that they are probably better than Wisconsin but the eye test is extremely subjective and biased. Wisconsin has similar caliber of wins and a better record.
Miami(10-2): Losing to Pitt and getting blasted by Clemson really sunk their postseason hopes.
Washington(10-2): Weak schedule, only quality win against No. 18 Wazzu. Even UCF has two wins against No. 20 Memphis.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Clemson vs. 8. UCF
2. Oklahoma vs. 7. USC
3. Georgia vs. 6. Wisconsin
4. Alabama vs. 5.Ohio State

Comments: Undefeated team vs No.1 is always intriguing. Oklahoma vs USC would be a crazy shootout. UGA- Wisconsin sounds boring but that's what you get during years when Wisconsin is good. The Alabama vs Ohio St debate would be settled on the field, not in some committee or in the media. I still prefer the 16 team plan from a conceptual/fairness standpoint but I can't lie: for the 2nd straight year, the 8 team plan produced a more intriguing bracket.

Hopefully, some day greedy executives can realize that they can get even richer and improve the sport if they expand the playoff in a fair way. Maybe someone of importance can miraculously come across this obscure blog and be enlightened to the truth.(That sounded really arrogant).

2016 Potential College Football Playoff(based off my proposals)

2014 intro
Flaws on current system 2014
Take on Autobids and Conf Champs Games
Preferred 16 team playoff plan        Alternate 8 team playoff plan

I know that not many people will read or comment but I do this every year, mostly for my self. It's really fun to speculate on how things would be if we had a better playoff system in college football. College Football is one of my favorite sports and having a legitimate playoff would enhance it greatly.

As for the actual current playoff, the committee picked a safe top 4, because they did not want to anger Ohio State(11-1, B10), a large influential blue blood traditional powerhouse. Alabama(13-0, SEC champion), Washington(12-1, PAC-12 champion) and Clemson(12-1, ACC champion) deserved their spots. But Penn State(11-2, B10 champion) was more deserving of a spot than Ohio State, in my opinion. They beat Ohio State and won Ohio State's conference. Head to head and conference championships were two of the committee's criteria. Ohio State had a slightly better record and slightly more difficult schedule but I don't think that outweighs Penn State's accomplishments. Nevertheless, 3 out of 4 ain't bad, so I'll stop complaining. Besides, Ohio State is an excellent team. All this just shows that college football over-relies on opinion and subjectivity in determining who gets the national champion. In my plan, the committee's power is greatly reduced and subjectivity doesn't matter as much. The best teams get their chance at the title. No 2014 TCU or 2016 PSU to wonder about.

One last thing, I'm really tired of the bad arguments used against expanded playoff. The playoff does not diminish the regular season in any way. If anything, more teams will have something serious to play for throughout the season. And with automatic bids, conference championships will actually mean something. The regular season would be enhanced. Remember, there are 128 FBS teams and only 4 get a chance at the title. Expanding it to 8 or 16, does not mean making the playoff becomes easy. Winning a conference title in any FBS conference or being a top 15 team, is not easy at all. And for you logistics people, remember that the FCS, D-II and D-III all have 16+ team playoffs already. So it wouldn't be a particularly difficult transition for FBS. If you want to see more of my responses to critics, check out some of my other posts. Too many people are easily manipulated by ESPN and other media(who have an incentive to keep the status quo).

Enough of that, here we go:
16 team playoff plan(this one):
Based on 2016 season.Automatic bids:Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Penn State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Washington(P12), Temple(AAC), Appalachian State(Sun Belt, co champs with Arkansas State but tie breaker of overall record), San Diego State(Mtn West),Western Kentucky(C-USA), Western Michigan(MAC)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee):Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, USC, Colorado, Louisville

Before I talk snubs, I need to say this. Wouldn't it be great to see deserving teams like Penn State, USC and Michigan get a shot at it all? It would really would be awesome. Subjectivity has it's place and it's not for the very top playoff teams but the last team(s) in.

Snubs: Florida State(losing that decisively to Louisville really cost them), Oklahoma State(lack of quality wins other than maybe West Virginia), West Virginia(Nice record, no quality wins and got dominated by the two quality teams they played)

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Alabama vs. 16. San Diego State
2. Clemson vs. 15. Appalachian State
3. Ohio State vs. 14. Western Kentucky
4. Washington vs. 13. Temple
5. Penn State vs. 12. Western Michigan
6. Michigan vs. 11. Louisville
7. Oklahoma vs. 10. Colorado
8. Wisconsin vs. 9. USC

My comments: This would intriguing playoff. Sure, Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State would be heavily favored in their first round games. But you never know, that's what a real playoff brings; the possibility of the upset. Temple and WMU would be popular upset picks. And those last three games are just incredible matchups. Lamar Jackson(Louisville) vs. Michigan's great defense. The contrast of USC and Wisconsin. The Oklahoma-Colorado shootout. It would be incredible.

8 team playoff plan(this one):

Based on 2016 season.

Automatic bids:
Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Penn State(B10), Oklahoma(B12), Washington(P12), Western Michigan(best of group of 5)
At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Ohio State, Michigan

Snubs: None actually. Only 3 loss teams from here.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1. Alabama vs. 8. Western Michigan
2. Clemson vs. 7. Oklahoma
3. Ohio State vs. 6. Michigan (REMATCH!)
4. Washington vs. 5. Penn State

My comments: Generally speaking, I prefer the 16 team plan but for this year 8 works better. There's practically no bubble. The last two unbeaten teams match up right away. Western Michigan has gotten no respect all season long. What a better chance to get respect than against Alabama! Clemson Oklahoma is a rematch from last year's(real life) playoff. And even the biggest expansion haters can't deny how awesome it would be to have Michigan and Ohio State rematch after the previous controversial game. I hate both teams(loser Illinois fan) and think it's awesome. Washington- Penn State is a good game between dark horse contenders. I really like this one.

Hopefully, some day greedy executives can realize that they can get even richer and improve the sport if they expand the playoff. Maybe someone of importance can miraculously come across this obscure blog and be enlightened to the truth.(That sounded really arrogant).

2015 Sample College football playoff(based on my proposals)

2014 intro
Flaws on current system 2014
Take on Autobids and Conf Champs Games
Preferred 16 team playoff plan        Alternate 8 team playoff plan

Every year for the sake of my sanity,(I know probably not many will read) I plan on posting updated sample college football playoffs for both the 16 team plan and the 8 team plan based on the actual season of play.

Before I do that, i have to give the committee credit for correctly picking the true top 4 this year(2015), after last year's debacle. Sure I can make arguments on how Houston or Ohio State could possibly be the best team but those wouldn't be particularly strong. I look forward to watching the games. That being said, it could be even better:

16 team playoff plan(this one):

Based on 2015 season.

Automatic bids:
Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Michigan State (B10), Oklahoma(B12), Stanford(P12), Houston(AAC), Arkansas State(Sun Belt), San Diego State(Mtn West),Western Kentucky(C-USA), Bowling Green(MAC)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee):Ohio State, Notre Dame, Iowa, Florida State, North Carolina, TCU

Snubs(aka complainers with decent argument): Ole Miss(they have the Bama win but 3 losses to 3+ loss teams), Northwestern(I can't stand NW! Seriously, committee would prob snub them despite Stanford win due to lack of name-brand and getting completely destroyed by Mich/Iowa), Oklahoma State(I'd personally have them in but committee would punish them for ending season with 2 losses)

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1.Clemson vs 16. Arkansas State
2.Alabama vs 15.San Diego State
3.Michigan State vs 14.Bowling Green
4.Oklahoma vs 13.Western Kentucky
5.Iowa vs 12.Houston
6.Stanford vs 11.TCU
7.Ohio State vs 10.North Carolina
8.Notre Dame vs 9.Florida State

My comments: Again, this would be incredible. The top 2 would have what should be easy game, a reward for having a great season and being a top 2 ranked team. Mich St and Oklahoma would be heavily favored as well but they're up against 2 explosive offenses that at the very least would provide a very entertaining game. Iowa vs Houston would be a popular upset pick. The 3 other games would be 3 very good college football game, involving highly ranked teams with elite players. It'd be pretty interesting to see the kind of run TCU and Ohio State would make in this playoff. This playoff wouldn't be as good as last years fictitious playoff but it'd still be pretty good.

8 team playoff plan(this one)

Based on 2015 season.

Automatic bids:
Alabama(SEC), Clemson(ACC), Michigan State(B10), Oklahoma(B12), Stanford(P12), Houston(best of group of 5)

At-large bids(trying to think like committee): Iowa, Ohio State

Snubs: None really. It's all just 2 loss teams from there. Though, I'm not sure if a committee would put in 3 B10 teams especially with a brand name like Notre Dame left out.

Seedings/first round matchups(Trying to seed/rank them like a committee would):
1.Clemson vs 8.Houston
2.Alabama vs 7.Ohio State
3.Michigan State vs 6.Stanford
4.Oklahoma vs Iowa

My comments: I still prefer the 16 team plan but this isn't so bad and is still an improvement over the current playoff. Clemson Houston would be a very interesting game. Top AAC teams were pretty good against strong P5 opponents(Memphis beat Ole Miss with ease, Temple nearly beat Notre Dame) and Houston is the best of the bunch. Also both Clemson and Houston beat Louisville by the same margin(just 3 points). If Houston were to upset Clemson, it would be a huge shock to the college football world. Also interesting would be a rematch of Bama and Ohio State. The other two matchups are pretty good as well.

Guide Links

Introduction here
Flaws of current system
On Autobids and conference championship games

Playoff plans:
Main 16 team playoff plan
Alternate 8 team playoff plan