As the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets ready to debut, FOX analyst and former coach Urban Meyer is opening up on some of the flaws of the system. For one, conference championship games don’t mean much.
Another problem? Scheduling remains a huge question mark.
Are teams rewarded for scheduling quality opponents? Or does a less rigorous schedule give you the best chance to make the playoff field?
Meyer is clearly of the belief that the latter is true. And he offered some extreme advice for Ohio State to that effect recently on Outkick with Dan Dakich.
“If I’m Ryan Day, I don’t play that game next year at Texas,” Meyer said. “I’m the head coach, you just gave me an extension. I’m going to go to the AD and say, ‘I’m not playing that game.’ You figure it out, you’re the AD. But the Buckeyes will not be on a plane.”
The game certainly didn’t hurt Ohio State this year. However, that’s because the Buckeyes won. Where would they be if they had lost to the Longhorns?
Meanwhile, Texas can easily argue that had it not scheduled Ohio State it would be a playoff team. What’s the correct approach?
“Get me Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and what was the other one?” Meyer said. “(Indiana State). Yeah, get me that.”
Meyer, of course, was referencing Indiana‘s schedule. The Hoosiers have played one of the lighter slates in the country the last two years and will have almost certain back-to-back playoff appearances to show for it.
The former coach did outline his ideal model for the playoff, which includes doing away with the selection committee altogether. Meyer simply finds the committee to be too subjective.
Case in point: Many were arguing on Saturday about whether Alabama should be included. The Crimson Tide were in the theoretical field ahead of conference championship weekend, but were losing to Georgia in a blowout at the time of this writing (28-7 Georgia, late in the fourth quarter).
Meyer made the case that Alabama should be in, regardless of the title game loss. He explained.
“Yeah, they’ve got to be in,” Meyer said. “Because you can’t count that game.”
So what’s the alternate solution? It’s something outlined by the Big Ten, for Meyer.
“The committee’s got to go away. We’ve got to do a play-in,” Meyer said. “We’ve got to do, and Tony Pettiti, the commissioner of the Big Ten, came up with a 4-4-2-2-1-1 model, and that’s going to be the Big Ten gets four. One plays two, they’re both in. One gets a ring, one doesn’t. Three plays six, whoever wins that game is in. Four plays five, whoever wins that game is in. So you have six teams at the Big Ten at the end of the year, that way you can schedule who you want.”
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