hurricaneman
Recruit
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2017
- Messages
- 2,062
In an environment of players opting out and conferences arguing about who deserves playoffs spots more, I think the decision to move "bowl games" to the second week of the season is the only solution to keeping them around. I would force teams to play FCS schools in week 1. You get a preseason game and you avoid the absolute bulls*** of a team like Alabama scheduling a cupcake in week 11.
Instead of ranking teams in a pre-season top 25 I would do pre-season rankings of teams within conferences (i.e. 2025 season #1 Miami, #2 Clemson, #3 SMU). Then use those rankings and prior season conference rankings (2024 season results SEC #1, BIG10 #2, etc) to determine the bowl matrix. If the SEC is ranked the best conference the #1 SEC team gets the #3 ACC team. If the BIG10 is the 2nd best conference the #1 BIG10 team gets the #2 ACC team, and so on. After that point you can release the first top 25, basically the start of the real season, that will inevitably seed the playoff picture and feel much more confident about the standings that then set the pace for the rest of the year.
Instead of ranking teams in a pre-season top 25 I would do pre-season rankings of teams within conferences (i.e. 2025 season #1 Miami, #2 Clemson, #3 SMU). Then use those rankings and prior season conference rankings (2024 season results SEC #1, BIG10 #2, etc) to determine the bowl matrix. If the SEC is ranked the best conference the #1 SEC team gets the #3 ACC team. If the BIG10 is the 2nd best conference the #1 BIG10 team gets the #2 ACC team, and so on. After that point you can release the first top 25, basically the start of the real season, that will inevitably seed the playoff picture and feel much more confident about the standings that then set the pace for the rest of the year.