DALLAS -- Straight up: Considering the delightful uncertainty of college football these days, what with the likes of Vanderbilt kicking sand in the faces of any and all bullies, the need for inclusivity practically demands the new 12-team playoff. The architects did a bang-up job, too. First-round home games? Genius. Giving priority to conference champs was a nod to those worried about the sanctity of the regular season. All good.
Unless, of course, some no-good freeloader takes your place in the playoffs.
Like, say, Boise State cutting in front of a two-loss Texas or Texas A&M.
The potential for just such a development became clear Wednesday even to an addled geezer like yours truly during a College Football Playoff webinar in anticipation of next week's initial rankings.
Rich Clark, who succeeded the venerable Bill Hancock as executive director of the CFP in November, demonstrated how the expanded playoffs would work using last year's final rankings.
Before going there, a refresher: The five highest-ranked league champs and seven at-large schools get bids. The four highest-ranked champs receive a first-round bye. The five through eight seeds host games against nine through 12.
Still with me? Keep up, will you?
This is where it gets tricky.
If the five conference champs finish in the top 12, they'll be seeded at the same position in the playoffs. If they finish lower than 12th, they'll fill in the bottom of the bracket.
For instance, in a hypothetical 12-team playoff using last year's final rankings, the top four seeds (with their rankings and conferences in parentheses) would be Michigan (1, Big Ten), Texas (3, SEC), Florida State (5, ACC) and Arizona (14, Big 12). Arizona would get not only a bid, in fact. It'd get a bye.
Meanwhile, the fifth league champ, 23rd-ranked Liberty of Conference USA, would jump all the way to 12th.
Because both Arizona and Liberty would move up, the teams that actually finished 11th and 12th, Ole Miss and Oklahoma, would be out on their keisters.
"I will say this," said Clark, describing the above scenario.
"They weren't bumped out; they just weren't in it."
Look, I don't relish taking exception with Clark, a four-year letterman for the Air Force team that beat Texas in the '85 Bluebonnet Bowl. His academic record reads like a think tank. Retired in June as a lieutenant general after stops at the Pentagon and as superintendent of the Air Force Academy. Served three combat tours, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. He's more monument than man.
Me? I couldn't beat out Evan Grant for Employee of the Month.
But one thing I do know is that your average crazed college football fan could read a slight into his portion at a communion service.
Can you imagine how that scenario would have gone over in Oxford and Norman if we'd had a 12-team playoff last year? Bad enough to lose out to Arizona. Which is exactly what happened to the Sooners, by the way. Got beat by the Wildcats in the Alamo Bowl. But getting bumped by the likes of Liberty? Maybe you remember that, after blowing through their regular season undefeated, the Flames were doused, 45-6, in the Fiesta Bowl by Oregon, the first ranked team they'd played all year.
The strength-of-schedule topic took precedence with sportswriters on the Zoom call Wednesday. Some questioned the transparency of the data supplied by SportSource Analytics. Just how forthcoming the committee will be with this information apparently is still up for discussion.
Frankly, I'm not too worried about how well the committee members rank the final field. The coaches on the committee know talent, for sure. And, as Clark reiterated Wednesday, they're not out to reward the most deserving team, e.g., the ones with the best records. They're out to find the best teams.
But, in an effort to reward conference champs, is that what we'll get?
Let's update our playoff field using the current AP rankings. For the purposes of this exercise, let's say the top seeds are also the conference champs. Oregon (1, Big Ten), Georgia (2, SEC), Miami (5, ACC) and BYU (9, Big 12) would draw first-round byes.
The rest of the field, in order, would be Penn State, Ohio State, Texas, Tennessee, Notre Dame, A&M, Iowa State and Boise State, the Mountain West champ, which would jump from 15th to knock out Clemson.
Compared with the scenario using last year's final rankings, this week's wouldn't be all that bad. Unless you're a Clemson fan, of course. Otherwise, only one league champ is outside the top 12.
But, for the sake of the argument, let's say either Texas or A&M loses two games and comes in at 11 or 12.
How much squawking do you think we'll hear if one-loss Boise leapfrogs either of those fanbases?
Once again, for the record, I like the design of this expanded format. Mostly. I like the notion that you don't have to belong to an exclusive club to get in. But not everyone is as inclusive as me. My suggestion is to make sure your team finishes no lower than 10th. Ninth, to avoid the margin of error.
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