I am currently the head coach of the Buffalo Bulls in an online dynasty in the virtual world of EA Sports College Football 26 and a week before the first College Football Playoff rankings release, Buffalo is currently ranked No. 13. Thanks to getting whooped by a conference, user opponent and good fortune, my Bulls don’t have to worry about playing in the Mid-American Conference championship game to get into the CFP, assuming we continue to terrorize the rest of the computer-controlled MAC teams.
Why bring that up? It’s a fictional narrative that could intertwine itself with reality. The College Football Playoff selection committee in the real world is quickly devaluing conference championship games and making it less attractive to reach the conference title game as a resume booster.
If you win it, congratulations! You could still get left out. If you lose it, it supposedly won’t punish you, but it could still be a ding against you in a close seeding race. That’s why the SEC and Big Ten, the controlling powers over the CFP, will have a long offseason, figuring out if eliminating the conference title games, one of the largest weekends in college football, is on the table.
Conference championship give College Football Playoff selection committee out from doing any real work
We can all agree the CFP selection committee is subjective in their own way and no matter how they try to justify their rankings each week, continue to prove they really don’t know what they’re doing. They seldom answer direct questions and often leave fans more confused rather than provide more clarity.
That’s why Sunday’s selection show ultimately left two-loss BYU outside of the CFP field despite its second loss coming in the Big 12 title game. It's also why teams like Notre Dame can win 10-straight seasons but be left out because they don't have a conference affiliation. It's also why Alabama can be saved by simply playing in the game, despite being blown out by Georgia.
Before the madness of the CFP selection committee, the conference championships actually had value; winning it meant more than just making it. The committee’s confusion on how important the conference title games really are could force conference commissioners to simply do away with them.
If BYU’s only hope to get in over a two-loss Notre Dame team that will never play for a conference championship and an ACC team that lost to two miserable teams, is to win the conference, what’s the point in ranking them just high enough to tease them?
It’s why Vanderbilt entertained the idea of playing a 13th game despite not being in the SEC title game, to give the committee one more chance to evaluate them. Is that the new reality of college football in the CFP era, just eliminating the conference title game altogether for one more regular season game?
Should conference commissioners truly abolish conference championship games?
It’s an intriguing idea and it’s all because the CFP selection committee’s criteria are all over the place. Each year, the committee’s priorities change and that’s largely due to the committee changing every few years and the chairman basically changing every year. Without strict rules, different criteria matter more than others, which causes things to be far more convoluted than necessary.
The argument of the conference championship games this year has taken center stage. Teams like BYU and Alabama were supposed to benefit from reaching their respective conference championship games and it essentially hurt them -- though Alabama was fortunate enough to not get bumped out. For teams like Virginia, it kept them out of the CFP altogether.
Then there’s the Group of 5 controversy where they get punished just because they’re smaller schools with less resources and easier schedules. James Madison and Tulane each earned their spot in the field and should be rewarded for a strong season. The G5 model is what conference championships should be.
You should be rewarded for winning it. If not, then do away with them altogether. It’s an unfortunate reality that just might solve the CFP’s glaring problem and the biggest debates about who gets in and who gets let out.