College Football Playoff leaders reportedly looking to shift format after seeding complaints
The 12-team College Football Playoff format that debuted this past season was, generally speaking, well-received by fans. There are some obvious long-term issues that come with such a shift, but overall it seemed like it was what fans indeed wanted.
Aside from those long-term issues, too, there are a few smaller kinks that were nearly unanimously acknowledged by those watching the games. Maybe the foremost issue that appeared over the course of the season was the seeding format that the CFP decided to roll with in this inaugural season of the 12-team field.
In what seemed to be an attempt to preserve the importance of conference championship games, the CFP guaranteed the top four spots to the highest-ranked conference champions— regardless of where they ranked in the actual top 25— and five spots to conference champions overall. So if the fifth-highest ranked conference champion came in at 25th in the rankings, they would still make the playoff.
This is not what happened, obviously, but that former piece of things— the top four seeds being guaranteed to go to the top four conference champions— really threw a monkey wrench into things. Because of the way things fell in the Big 10 and SEC this year, many fans were disgruntled that, for example, Oregon had such a difficult path as the number one seed (playing Ohio State in their first game and losing decisively) and Texas had such a comparatively easy path to the final four.
It looks like the CFP is moving to remedy that situation sooner rather than later. According to ESPN's Heather Dinich, decision makers are meeting today to decide whether or not to implement a straight-seeding model, while still guaranteeing berths in general to conference champions, as soon as this season.
Some apparently want to kick the can down the road, but this was such a universally panned seeding format that I think we see this get pushed through sooner rather than later. We'll know soon enough, but I have a feeling the CFP looks a little bit different this season than in 2024.
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