Originally Posted by
johnb
If you're getting rid of the bowl system, there's no real reason not to have a bunch of games (I'd go with 8 opening round games, at least). You think that a 16 team playoff would take the steam out of Auburn/Alabama or Texas/Oklahoma or Michigan/Ohio State? Those teams could have losing records and still try to run through brick walls to win that game. Even Stanford/Oregon, which lacks the big-time history of those other rivalries, would mean a lot to the players involved, especially if there's a chance for a conference championship. Possibly a handful of teams (OU, UT, Bama, etc) might think it can lose a game or two and still make the playoff, but that doesn't lead teams like Duke bball to give away games at the end of the season. And, anyway, football isn't like basketball, where teams can phone it in--phone in playing football, and you'll get crushed. And football is VERY different from lacrosse since one sport has dozens and dozens of very well-funded programs that appeal to large segments of the population, while the other has, well, none.