Michael Bryan

🏈 Thoughts: A lot of college sports leaders are up in their feelings this morning. None of this is “bad” or broken. The committee's job was always to sort out the final spot or two in a sport where that is impossible due to disparate schedules. They’ll take two from ND, Bama, Miami. Is what it is. Will always be a debate. If you don’t win your conference (or aren’t in one) then you risk losing the at-large street fight. Having two teams outside the top 12 (Tulane, JMU) is an ACC tie-breaker screw-up (as would the league being left out altogether). It’s not a playoff format problem. The leagues are too big, but don’t let the mistake of 18 and 17 team leagues lead to the mistake of a 24 or 28 team playoff that all but end the value of regular season results. Improvements(?): End weekly rankings that undermine credibility and box in the committee. Go back to divisions inside conferences and/or fix tie breakers. End conference championship weekend, possibly with expansion to 16, and start the playoff earlier so it doesn’t end in late January. Home games first two rounds (prioritize seeding, the fans experience and local economies over bowl directors). College football chases its tail in panic which is what has led to so many short-sighted mistakes. You can see them doing it again today. The sport is in terrific shape. Remember, this is the same leadership that said NIL would kill competitive balance (opposite has happened), decrease fan interest (opposite has happened) and Congress would save them (not happening). Be wary of their cries and solutions this time. A fun/wide open playoff is about to begin. Everyone exhale.