After one year of the new model, the committee is making a tweak
It took all of one year for the College Football Playoff Committee to decide their model needed fixing. In its first year of existence, first-round byes were given to the four highest ranked conference champions. In the inaugural 12-team playoff, that resulted in Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, and Arizona State getting the byes. Boise was ranked ninth by the committee and ASU was 12th, but by virtue of being the 3rd and 4th highest conference champs, respectively, they ended up seeded higher than teams the committee actually thought higher of.
That will change in the second edition of the new expanded playoff. No longer does a conference championship matter. The committee is still guaranteeing a spot to the top 5 conference champs, but that won’t assure the top 4 of a bye next season. Had this been in effect last season, the four byes would have gone to two Big Ten teams and two SEC teams, with Texas and Penn State taking Boise and Arizona State’s spots.
What do you think of this change? Is it better this way? Or is this just another example of the B1G and SEC flexing their muscle to get more advantages? I know in Year 1, the four teams who had the byes all lost their first game, but that seems like more of a coincidence than causation. Let’s hear your thoughts.