Playoff

[joseph mamah]

Im not a fan of the playoff but if its got to be done i think it should be 7 team. 5 BCS conference champs (big east doesnt deserve automatic bid) and 2 wild cards. #1 team gets first round bye. With a 4 team playoff theres no reward for being the # 1 team in the country which cheapens it somewhat and with only 4 teams the TCUs and Boise STs still arent going to get a shot so your still going to have your complainers out there. 7 teams allows a small conference school to slip in when deserved. otherwise i could see this eventually devolving into a 16 team debacle down the road.

[Kaelin]

7 is sort of an... odd playoff size. I mean, you do want there to be an incentive for teams to take a top seed instead of whatever seed, choosing this way leaves not very much difference between being #2 and #7. 3*2^n type group sizes (like 6, 12, or 24) sort of strike a balance here, since 1/3 of the teams get a bye (more or less the top tier of playoff teams), while the other 2/3 have to play the extra game. The NFL has had pretty good success with this formula (with 12, limiting byes to 4 teams), and I suspect baseball may head this way too the next time there is a division winner with 84 wins getting a bye while a wild card with 98 wins has to play in the opening round (adding a third wild card will at least motivate the winner of a weak division to not coast into the 3rd seed).