By Jon Franklin
THERE’S GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY (PART II)
In this special edition of The Franklin Mint, I’m taking a brief holiday break from high school sports to talk about the upcoming bowl games and the College Football Playoff. Throughout the years, the NCAA Division I-A/Football Bowl Subdivision National Champion has held years of meaningless bowl games, heard opinions of sportswriters who cast poll ballots, and the debated banter among sports fans. With the advent of the Bowl Championship Series and now, the College Football Playoff (CFP) – we can finally end the debates and determine who the real national champion is on the field.
That is, if the CFP Committee and the NCAA would agree to expand.
So here’s how I would expand it, and even tinker with the bowl system.
I. Selection of Teams
All conference champions will automatically qualify for the College Football Playoff. In addition, six (6) teams will be chosen to the CFP as at-large teams. The method of selection will originate from the final College Football Playoff standings. Each of the teams will be seeded in order from 1-16.
For conference champions that do not appear in the standings, they will be seeded in order on overall records minus their conference’s championship games, if they have played a 12-game regular season. Should any CFP participant have a regular season game canceled for reasons beyond the school’s control, the conference championship game will be added to total a 12-game season, if applicable.
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Should there be a tie among conference champions not appearing in the final CFP standings, the following methods will be used to break the tie.
Tie-Breaking Criteria among Conference Champions not appearing in the final CFP Poll and provisional bowl eligible teams awaiting placement:
1. Head-to-Head matchup, if applicable.
2. Results among common season opponents, if applicable.
3. Season records.
4. Conference records.
5. Points Forced (or Scored).
6. Points Against.
7. Most Touchdowns Scored.
8. Coin Toss.
All FBS Independents (Army, BYU, Liberty, Massachusetts, New Mexico State, & Notre Dame) can only qualify for the CFP as an at-large qualifier.
Any team under NCAA-mandated or self-imposed postseason sanctions, regardless of conference finish, is ineligible for participation the College Football Playoff.
Any school undergoing the FCS to FBS transition, regardless of conference finish, is ineligible for participation in the College Football Playoff. They can provisionally qualify for a bowl game, but only after all qualified FBS members have been placed in a bowl.
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II. Venues
All CFP games will take place at neutral venues that host current bowl games. Venues that host multiple bowl games (Ex. – Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans) will only be allowed to host only one CFP game.
In the Round of 16, teams seeded 1-8 will be designated as the home team and can choose the bowl game venue nearest to their campus. The top seed will have first preference, second seed with next preference, and so forth. Bowl sites that also serve as the home stadium of any CFP participant may not be used by that participant. However, the venue may serve as the host site for another CFP participant, if they so choose.
The bowl games & stadiums that make up the “New Year’s 6” (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose, Sugar) will rotate each year to host the highest seeds remaining in the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the national championship game. If a “New Year’s 6” bowl is the host of the current national championship game (Example: 2020 – Sugar Bowl), another venue approved by the CPF Committee for a future national championship game, can be used in the CFP venue rotation to host the quarterfinal game of the fourth highest seed available (Example: 2022 – Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis; 2023 – SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles; 2024 – Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium, Houston, TX).
The 2019-2020 order of venues is as follows:
Round of 16: Bowl sites nearest to campus of the schools seeded 1-8, in order of preference.
Quarterfinals (In order of highest seeds available): Rose, Cotton, Orange, Indianapolis
Semifinals (In order of highest seeds available): Peach, Fiesta
National Championship Game: Sugar
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III. Payouts
With the current bowl game format, each game delegates a certain amount of monies designated to participating schools. In the College Football Playoff, the national champion makes the most money, while those who are eliminated in the Round of 16 make the least. The farther a team advances, the more money they make.
The minimum payout for a CFP Round of 16 game is $1 Million. The maximum payout is $20 Million. The projected payout for the CPF “New Year’s Six” bowls and the National Championship Game are anywhere from $18 million – $23 million, so I went in the middle. Here is the following breakdown of payouts per level of the College Football Playoff.
Round of 16: Both Teams – $1 Million
Quarterfinals: Loser – $2 Million / Winner: $4 Million
Semifinals: Loser – $2.5 Million / Winner: $5 Million
National Championship Game: Runner Up – $5 Million / National Champion: $10 Million
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IV. Competition Dates
The College Football Playoff would begin the second week in December and finish on the Saturday, eight days prior to the Super Bowl. The design is to play the first two rounds on traditional college football game days of Thursday and Saturday, the semifinals on New Years’ Eve & Day (or the first available day not in direct competition with the NFL), and the National Championship Game on the Saturday, eight days prior to the Super Bowl. The Pro Bowl would return to its’ normal place the week following the Super Bowl.
An idea of Competition Dates for the 2019-2020 College Football Playoff would look like this:
Round of 16: December 12 & 14, 2019
Quarterfinals: December 19 & 21, 2019
Semifinals: January 1, 2020
National Championship Game: January 25, 2020
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V. Brackets
This is what the College Football Playoff would look like with the 2019 Final CFP Rankings. I simulated the tournament with a best guess.
Winners highlighted in BOLD.
(#) – Seeds
Conference Champions (Automatic Berth) At-Large Berths
American: Memphis (12) Georgia (5)
Atlantic Coast: Clemson (3) Baylor (7)
Big XII: Oklahoma (4) Wisconsin (8)
Big Ten: Ohio State (2) Florida (9)
Conference USA: Florida Atlantic (15) Penn State (10)
Mid-American: Miami, OH (16) Utah (11)
Mountain West: Boise State (13)
PAC-12: Oregon (6)
Southeastern: LSU (1)
Sun Belt: Appalachian State (14)
ROUND OF 16
at NRG Stadium at Levi’s Stadium
Houston, TX Santa Clara, CA
Host: AS&O Texas Bowl Host: RedBox Bowl
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(16) Miami, Ohio (11) Utah
(1) LSU (6) Oregon
at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium at Bank of America Stadium
Memphis, TN Charlotte, NC
Host: AutoZone Liberty Bowl Host: Belk Bowl
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(9) Florida (14) Appalachian State
(8) Wisconsin (3) Clemson
at Legion Field at Amon G. Carter Stadium
Birmingham, AL Fort Worth, TX
Host: Jared Birmingham Bowl Host: Armed Forces Bowl
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(12) Memphis (10) Penn State
(5) Georgia (7) Baylor
at Cotton Bowl Stadium at Ford Field
Dallas, TX Detroit, MI
Host: First Responders’ Bowl Host: Ford Quick Lane Bowl
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(13) Boise State (15) Florida Atlantic
(4) Oklahoma (2) Ohio State
QUARTERFINALS
at The Rose Bowl
Pasadena, CA
Host: The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual
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(8) Wisconsin
(1) LSU
at Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis, IN
Host: Big Ten Conference
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(5) Georgia
(4) Oklahoma
at Hard Rock Stadium
Miami Gardens, FL
Host: FedEx Orange Bowl
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(11) Utah
(3) Clemson
at AT&T Stadium
Arlington, TX
Host: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
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(10) Penn State
(2) Ohio State
SEMIFINALS
at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta, GA
Host: Chik-Fil-A Peach Bowl
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(5) Georgia
(1) LSU
at State Farm Stadium
Glendale, AZ
Host: PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
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(3) Clemson
(2) Ohio State
2019 College Football Playoff – National Championship Game
(3) Clemson
(1) LSU
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VI. Restructuring of the Bowl System
With the College Football Playoff now into existence, now is the time to restructure the bowl system. Currently, there are 39 scheduled bowl games on the 2018-2019 schedule. Due to the current qualification level of six wins, many times these games feature teams who are mediocre with 6-6 records, or worse, if given a waiver by the NCAA. Also, many of these bowl games NEVER fill the capacity of the venue. Therefore, the bowl games need to be scaled down to place the best teams in the best matchups that will draw a tremendous crowd. The NCAA needs to stop rewarding teams for being mediocre.
Under this new proposal, teams that do not qualify for the CFP and have the minimum of 7 wins (a winning record) can fully qualify for a bowl game. Teams that only have 6 wins can qualify only on three conditions:
1) A regular-season game was canceled due to inclement weather or other unforeseen circumstance, due to no fault of their own.
2) The team must have fewer losses than wins (I.e.: 6-5 record).
3) There are bowl vacancies and opponents after all 7 win teams have been placed in a bowl.
The aforementioned tie-breakers will be used to break ties in order to fill bowl spots. Also, bowl spots will be determined by Final CFP Poll placement & highest payout. The bowl games used in the CFP will still feature their traditional bowl games in addition to hosting CFP games, except for the CFP semifinals which will be both a bowl game and a playoff game. For the sake of time, the bowl games that have the largest payout will go to the highest ranked or seeded teams per conference tie-in, if applicable. Should a conference seat all qualified teams, bowl vacancies will go to the school with the best record closest to the bowl site.
The posted link is reference to the conference tie-ins for the 2018-2019 bowl schedule.
If an FBS Independent (Army, BYU, Liberty, Massachusetts, New Mexico State, and/or Notre Dame) does not qualify for the CFP, but qualifies for a bowl game, they will qualify only as an at-large contender. Due to Notre Dame’s current agreements with ACC bowls, they only will qualify for said bowls if there are no qualified ACC teams to fill in the ACC bowl spots. Otherwise, they qualify as an at-large contender. However, they will not be placed in a bowl game against a current ACC member school.
In regards to payouts, no bowl game will have a payout smaller than $1 million and no larger than $10 million. The design of the CFP is to reward the best teams with the most money. For teams that do not reach the CFP but qualifies for a New Year’s Day Six bowl game they will not make a sum larger than a CFP finalist ($10 million). _______________________________________________________________________________
List of Qualified Teams in Order of Conference Finish:
* – Conference Champion / BOLD – CFP Participants
American ACC Big XII Big Ten Conference USA
Memphis* Clemson* Oklahoma* Ohio State* Florida Atlantic*
Cincinnati Virginia Baylor Wisconsin UAB
Navy Virginia Tech Texas Penn State Louisiana Tech
SMU Louisville Oklahoma State Minnesota Marshall
Central Florida Wake Forest Kansas State Michigan Western Kentucky
Temple Pittsburgh Iowa State Iowa Charlotte
Indiana Southern Mississippi
MAC MWC PAC-12 SEC Sun Belt
Miami, OH* Boise State* Oregon* LSU* Appalachian State*
Central Michigan Hawai’i Utah Georgia Louisiana
Western Michigan Air Force USC Florida Arkansas State
Buffalo San Diego State Washington Alabama Georgia Southern
Utah State Arizona State Auburn Georgia State
Wyoming California Tennessee
Nevada Texas A&M
Kentucky
Independents
Notre Dame
BYU
Liberty
“New Year’s Day Six” Bowl Games
Capital One Orange Bowl
Hard Rock Stadium – Miami Gardens, FL
Conference Tie-Ins: ACC vs At-Large
Payout: $10 million
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Virginia vs Navy
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
AT&T Stadium – Arlington, TX
Conference Tie-Ins: At-Large vs At-Large
Payout: $10 million
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Notre Dame vs Auburn
The Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual
Rose Bowl – Pasadena, CA
Conference Tie-Ins: Big Ten vs PAC-12
Payout: $10 million
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Minnesota vs USC
AllState Sugar Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Superdome – New Orleans, LA
Conference Tie-Ins: SEC vs Big XII
Payout: $10 million
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Alabama vs Texas
The Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl games are in the College Football Playoff semifinals and will not feature a traditional game. The bowl games will coincide with the playoff games.
Traditional Bowl Games (in order of bowl payout)
Citrus Bowl presented by VRBO
Camping World Stadium – Orlando, FL
Payout: $4.25 Million
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Virginia Tech vs Tennessee
Valero Alamo Bowl
Alamodome – San Antonio, TX
Payout: $3,887,500
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Oklahoma State vs Washington
Academy Sports & Outdoors Texas Bowl
NRG Stadium – Houston, TX
Payout: $3.1 Million
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Texas A&M vs Kansas State
Outback Bowl
Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, FL
Payout: $3,019,280
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Kentucky vs Indiana
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl
SDCCU Stadium – San Diego, CA
Payout: $2,965,000
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Michigan vs Arizona State
Camping World Bowl
Camping World Stadium – Orlando, FL
Payout: $2.9 Million
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Louisville vs Iowa State
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
Nissan Stadium – Nashville, TN
Payout: $2,893,750
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Wake Forest vs Cincinnati
AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Liberty Bowl Stadium – Memphis, TN
Payout: $2.4 Million
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Western Kentucky vs SMU
Belk Bowl
Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte, NC
Payout: $2,311,561
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Pittsburgh vs UAB
NewEra Pinstripe Bowl
Yankee Stadium – Bronx, NY
Payout: $2.1 Million
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Michigan vs Central Florida
RedBox Bowl
Levi’s Stadium – Santa Clara, CA
Payout: $1.8 Million
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Iowa vs California
Ford Quick Lane Bowl
Ford Field – Detroit, MI
Payout: $1.8 Million
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Central Michigan vs Temple
Cheez-It Bowl
Chase Field – Phoenix, AZ
Payout: $1.75 Million
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Hawai’i vs BYU
Hyundai Sun Bowl
Sun Bowl Stadium – El Paso, TX
Payout: $1,723,784
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Air Force vs Arkansas State
SERVPRO First Responders Bowl
Cotton Bowl Stadium – Dallas, TX
Payout: $1,667,000
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Louisiana vs Wyoming
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
TIAA Bank Field – Jacksonville, FL
Payout: $1,558,214
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Marshall vs Georgia Southern
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
Amon G. Carter Stadium – Fort Worth, TX
Payout: $1,557,500
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San Diego State vs Western Michigan
LendingTree Bowl
Ladd-Peebles Stadium – Mobile, AL
Payout: $1.5 Million
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Charlotte vs Utah State
Walk-On’s Independence Bowl
Independence Stadium – Shreveport, LA
Payout: $1,486,200
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Southern Mississippi vs Louisiana Tech
Las Vegas Bowl presented by Mitsubishi
Sam Boyd Stadium – Las Vegas, NV
Payout: $1.4 Million
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Nevada vs Buffalo
Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman
Navy/Marine Corps Memorial Stadium – Annapolis, MD
Payout: $1,033,495
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Liberty vs Georgia State
VII. Comments & Conclusion
Many people believe that if the teams in the “Group of Five” conferences, or the lower tier of the Football Bowl Subdivision, do not deserve to be in the College Football Playoff all because they come from small conferences that do not have the financial backing as the “Power Five” conferences do. It is my belief that if you are a team in the Group of Five and win your respective conference championship, you have a rightful claim to compete for the national championship.
Are they good matchups with teams from the Power Five conferences? Yes and No. As we saw in 2007 when Appalachian State knocked off #5 Michigan, any team can be beaten on any given day. Without the opportunity to compete, we will never know how good a team can be unless they are given the opportunity to showcase their abilities on the field. Presently, the Group of Five conferences play in bowl games that many times couldn’t fill up a high school stadium, let alone the lower bowl of a major venue.
If you do not allow the Group of Five conference champions the opportunity to compete for a national championship, then the Power Five should form its’ own division to compete for its’ own national championship while the Group of Five should follow suit or merge with the Football Championship Subdivision to create a national championship opportunity for these schools.
It’s also mentioned that a football tournament can be too long in that teams are playing too many games. With a 12 game regular season, plus a conference championship game (if applicable), playing four more games will seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the games already played. There is a sizeable break following the final week of the regular season game and/or the conference championship games (approximately 3-4 weeks) before the CFP begins to allow rest for team members, focus on pending final exams, recruiting, and press availabilities. This is no more different than in the NFL where teams can play up to 25 games in a season (5 preseason, 16 regular-season, and as many as 4 postseason games). Likewise, it’s not any different for the Division I-AA or FCS teams. Following a similar 12-game season, the FCS schools can play up to five additional weeks in their tournament to crown a national champion.
With the obscene amounts of revenue generated by ESPN and its’ major advertisers for the CFP, the $20 Million payout for the national champion is by far, an exceptional payout. Even for the runner-ups ($15 Million – 2nd, $7.5 Million – 3rd/4th, $3 Million – 5th to 8th), the payouts are much better than the majority of the current bowl games.
As mentioned before, the current bowl game schedule is a complete disgrace. It needs to be reformed to put the best teams in the best matchups – and to stop rewarding mediocrity.
Again, there’s got to be a better way, so let’s get to work.