Tonight, Notre Dame and Ohio State will face off in the college football national championship. It marks the end of the first year of the new college football playoff (CFP) structure. The debut was surrounded by controversy and debate about whether the new model worked, and a pressing question was now presented: Does the college football playoff need to be restructured?
Before the 2014-15 season, college football operated under the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) model to determine a national champion. The two best teams played in the national championship, and others played in exhibition bowl games. This all changed in 2014 when the college shifted to the playoff format. A committee voted on the four best teams, and those four competed for a national championship at neutral sites.
This season, the playoffs tripled in size to include 12 teams. The top four seeds were given to the four highest-ranked conference champions, with the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion also granted an at-large bid.
The top four seeds received first-round byes, and the higher-ranked teams in the first round were given home-field advantage—something that had never happened before in college football. After the first round, the remaining playoff games would be played at neutral bowl game sites.
Much controversy surrounding this new playoff structure stems from how the first round unfolded. The debates began before the first game even kicked off, when many college football pundits, mostly from ESPN, argued that the 12 best teams weren’t selected for the playoffs. They claimed that teams like 11-2 Southern Methodist University (SMU) and 11-1 Indiana didn’t deserve spots over teams like 9-3 Alabama and 9-3 Ole Miss because those 9-3 teams played harder schedules.
The complaints shifted to that all the first-round games were blowouts won by the home teams once the playoff began. While the average margin of victory was around 19 points, this is nothing new for the college football playoffs. The 2021-22 season saw an average margin of victory of 22 points, and the year before that saw a 19-point average margin. The largest margin came in the second year of the four-team playoff format when the average margin of victory was 29 points. Compared to the previous 10 years, this season’s 19-point average margin of victory is tied for the sixth-highest.
The new structure will work—it just needs time and minor adjustments. Twelve teams is a large enough number, and rewarding teams for winning the games on their schedule instead of rendering the regular season meaningless by including three-loss teams will be the right method.
However, adjustments are needed regarding which teams receive byes. The byes should go to the four highest-ranked teams, not just the four highest-ranked conference champions. While giving champions auto bids is a good feature, it shouldn’t also guarantee them a bye. Additionally, teams should be reseeded after the first round, similar to the NFL. This year, the No. 1 team in the country, Oregon, had to play the No. 7-ranked team, Ohio State, in the second round. Their undefeated season was rewarded with the toughest matchup in round two, while teams like Penn State and Texas played lower-ranked opponents.
If the college football playoff implements small changes like reseeding and awarding byes to the four highest-ranked teams, this model will be much more effective and will prove to be a better alternative to the old four-team playoff structure.
