How I would fix the 12 team CFP

Here are some thoughts on how to fix this mess:

First of all, what I do like about the 12 team format is that all of the power conference winners and the top ranked “group of 5” conference winners get automatic berths. If the goal is to just get the “best” teams with no automatic berths, then there’s no need for 12 teams. I would keep the 6 automatic bids, but change the selection of at large teams as described further down.

My changes:
1. No official CFP rankings during the season. Why? One of the issues raised heading into this playoff was that SMU was ranked high enough to be in the playoff, but had to play in its conference championship game. The SMU coach complained that they could be punished for making their conference championship game and losing, and they stayed in the playoff when they probably shouldn’t have. The fact that they knew where they stood heading into their conference championship game was a problem for the ultimate selection process because the committee had to choose between putting them in or punishing them for losing their conference championship game, and to have that punishment be known and not just speculated. For the NCAA basketball tournament you don’t see anything official until the actual selection show. The in-season CFP rankings shows are good for TV ratings but lock the committee into making some bad selections because of where they had previously ranked teams IMO. Teams should know that they are only assured to be in with a conference championship.
2. Change at least 50% of the selection committee every year so that it’s hard to predict how the committee will rank and seed teams from year to year.
3. With 6 berths being automatic, the other 6 should be the best 6 remaining teams. In addition to judgement of the committee, use more computer algorithms that look at strength of schedule, strength of victory, records vs. Top 25, Top 50, etc. in at-large selections, and all games count, even conference championship losses.
4. No automatic seeding for conference champions. The fact that Arizona State and Boise State drew byes is silly.
5. No home games. All games should be at neutral sites. Rotate the 4 first round games between the Meineke Car Care Bowls of the world. How many bowl games between 6-6 teams do we need anyway?

There may be more changes that make sense, but I think these would really help.

 

Strength of schedule is in my #3. I think strength of victory is more important though.

 

By strength of victory, I mean who did you beat, not by how many points.

 

That’s my item #2