[needle]

The question is what the playoff is trying to reward. Traditionally polls are supposed to be about identifying the "best team" (leave aside the fact that they way they work in practice doesn't come close to doing this), but playoffs are typically about rewarding the accomplishment of specific goals (winning a conference/division, having the best record of the remaining teams, etc). The CFP doesn't clearly set about to do either, and we haven't had any test of what they see as their goal until now.

I like how you've stated the question. I had thought it self-evident that, with weekly rankings, the goal is to evaluate good, better and best teams. But maybe it is more about "the accomplishment of specific goals."

[needle]

The question is what the playoff is trying to reward. Traditionally polls are supposed to be about identifying the "best team" (leave aside the fact that they way they work in practice doesn't come close to doing this), but playoffs are typically about rewarding the accomplishment of specific goals (winning a conference/division, having the best record of the remaining teams, etc). The CFP doesn't clearly set about to do either, and we haven't had any test of what they see as their goal until now.

I like how you've stated the question. I had thought it self-evident that, with weekly rankings, the goal is to evaluate good, better and best teams. But maybe it is more about "the accomplishment of specific goals."