[ADPinWDC]

This could have been an eight team playoff.  Indiana, SMU, Tennessee, and tOSU didn’t win their conferences (and in 3/4 cases, didn’t even make their conferences championships).

Oregon, Georgia, ASU, Clemson, and Boise State + 3 at large (Notre Dame, Texas, and Penn State) would have been enough.

BC

True, but those extra games bring in lots of money. I can see the 12 becoming 16 when the $ overwhelms the logic that being a conference champion deserves a bye as a "reward". Just think, Oregon could be playing Alabama in round 1.

The conference championships are basically pointless.  In 3/4 major conferences, the loser of the conference championship made it to the playoffs.  If you want to be charitable, Clemson made it in by virtue of winning the ACC championship, and I don't follow closely enough to know whether ASU would have made it had they not won the Big12. But it is kind of without point.  In fact, what is even the point of having conferences.  A radical proposal would be to let teams cobble together their own schedule each year, piecing together a schedule that produces a combination of marquee match-ups and winnable games, and let the committee arbitrarily sort it out at the end of the year based on record and strength of schedule.

BC

The Conf Championships DO matter for seeding in the bracket and first round byes.  That is significant.

[ADPinWDC]

This could have been an eight team playoff.  Indiana, SMU, Tennessee, and tOSU didn’t win their conferences (and in 3/4 cases, didn’t even make their conferences championships).

Oregon, Georgia, ASU, Clemson, and Boise State + 3 at large (Notre Dame, Texas, and Penn State) would have been enough.

BC

True, but those extra games bring in lots of money. I can see the 12 becoming 16 when the $ overwhelms the logic that being a conference champion deserves a bye as a "reward". Just think, Oregon could be playing Alabama in round 1.

The conference championships are basically pointless.  In 3/4 major conferences, the loser of the conference championship made it to the playoffs.  If you want to be charitable, Clemson made it in by virtue of winning the ACC championship, and I don't follow closely enough to know whether ASU would have made it had they not won the Big12. But it is kind of without point.  In fact, what is even the point of having conferences.  A radical proposal would be to let teams cobble together their own schedule each year, piecing together a schedule that produces a combination of marquee match-ups and winnable games, and let the committee arbitrarily sort it out at the end of the year based on record and strength of schedule.

BC

The Conf Championships DO matter for seeding in the bracket and first round byes.  That is significant.