I truly think the ESPN influence on the CFP is too great. I don't think they intend it to happen, so keep the tin foil hat gifs where they are, please. I think if you get a behemoth network with the same people talking to each other every day, you will get some group-think and it will leak into the public narrative. Whether they mean to or not, ESPN has a conflict of interest with the SEC Network (2 if you count the Longhorn Network) in addition to the corporate competition of Fox, which supplies the B1G Network. It's just too easy to create bias, even if it's not intended. This makes the the current CFP fraudulent.
It's clear that ESPN does not value the B1G in their public broadcasts and their influence on the CFP leaves the B1G in the cold more often that it should. It's also clear that ESPN does not value the PAC-12 as they never give them a decent time slot where anyone will watch them and they are left out. UCF, Houston, and Cincy and other AAC teams will never get a fair shake either. You can say it's because those 2 conferences aren't as good, but wouldn't you rather know that by actually playing the game instead of taking someone's word for it?
So what are we to do? I have another idea. Screw them!
If Jim Delaney (B1G), Larry Scott (P12) and Michael Aresco (AAC) got together and decided to leave the College Football Playoff system in lieu of another championship system, I'm pretty sure people would watch, and they could sell TV rights to Fox, NBC and/or show it on their own networks.
Here are some other benefits of having a different system that fix terrible ideas from the current one.
1. 4 Team playoff with the conference champion from each of the 3 involved conferences plus 1 at large. If the new group would expand, so would the playoff with an N+1 or 2 configuration to make a nice bracket. Each conference has it's own style and culture, which is interesting to see played out on the field. No conference gets left out.
2. The first round of playoff games could be played at college campuses instead of megastructures that don't mean anything to the institutions.
3. Out of conference games can come from either the Triumvirate conferences or one of the fraudulent playoff conferences, but at least 2 OOC games must come from the Triumvirate to give some context to the post-season.
4. Any at large bids would be decided strictly by computers (system to be decided by the commissioners). There would be no one to lobby. It's decided on the field and by objectivity (assuming they are good computer models).
5. No TV rights could be sold to any outside network having an ownership stake in a conference or team dedicated network (no SECNetwork/ESPN, No LonhornNetwork/ESPN, No NBC unless ND diversifies). No rights to College Gameday. No rights for Sportscenter. You can get it all from your team's conference network.
6. You could award a Most Dominate Player Award that awards lineman or cornerbacks in addition to skill players instead of the Best QB or maybe a really really really good RB. This year, it could go to Haskins because dude was insanely good and smashed records against people that actually play defense! Nick Bosa would have had a chance at it too had he not been injured, because, hey, he was dominant.
7. This would all be tantamount to leaving the NCAA, so why not go ahead and do that too? You could form a body that would not punish people selling their own possessions for a tattoo the same as supplying hookers to 17 year old kids they are recruiting.
Yeah I'm miffed. I could have lived with 5th place (29 point-loss to PU - I get it), but the egregious nature of ranking UGA at 5 over a 1 loss Conference Champ because they played Bama (who played no one this year) pretty well smells like rotten fish, and I'm frustrated. I don't believe this system can be trusted anymore.
* By Fox, I refer to the "New Fox" that will emerge from the Disney acquisition which includes FS1 and FS2 and I would assume the B1G Network.
** No I'm not serious, but this system is so biased it has to go. Why not alternate ideas? Because Screw Them!
