I want to preface this by saying that having a bye shouldn't be an excuse for the loss yesterday. Did it help us any? No, probably not, but there are a lot of other reasons as to why we lost the game aside from having nearly a month off. I may make a post with my thoughts about the game later, as I have a lot of things I'd like to say about it, but for right now I want to give my thoughts on the CFP format and how to fix it.

Like I said, I won't blame the bye for Ohio State losing, but the simple fact is that teams with byes are currently 0-6 at the time of writing this, after Texas Tech just got blasted by Oregon. And 4 of those games weren't even close. Ohio State this season and Arizona State last season are the only teams with byes to keep the game within 10 points. Texas Tech just got shutout, and Oregon, Georgia, and Boise State all suffered losses by 20, 13, and 17 points, respectively. The narrative could change if Indiana and/or Georgia win later today, but the point stands that the current format favors the teams who play a First Round game. Dan Lanning had some really good ideas about fixing the CFP in his press conference earlier, but I wanted to refine some of those and give my take on a new format.

First of all, I think we should expand to 16 teams. Whether that entails giving a bid to every single conference champion (9 Conference Champions, 7 At-large), or just simply adding 4 more at-large bids, having a 16-team field eliminates the bye and gives more teams a shot at the national championship. Personally, I'm on board with giving each conference champ a bid and a shot at the championship. On one hand, this can give the top teams a sort of "bye without a bye", where they get to play a Group of 5 team round 1 in an essentially guaranteed victory while still playing a game and keeping their players in game form. And on the other hand, every team that was good enough to win their conference is given their chance to win the national championship, no matter how long of a shot it is. Sure, with 4 more at-large bids, you eliminate the controversy of Notre Dame or BYU being left out, but that just moves your controversy to stuff like Texas being in over Utah or Vanderbilt. No matter the format, there will be controversy around the bubble teams. I'll expand on this more later, but I think this is the way to go.

Secondly, I think that every game up to the Semifinals should be a home game (the first two rounds). Will this upset the suits in charge of the bowl games? Yes, for sure. But, look at it from the perspective of a team like Ohio State or Georgia, who is almost always going to be in the top 8 and a lot of times in the top 4. Wouldn't you rather have the likelihood of playing 1 or even 2 extra home games in December than have to go play a bowl game in a neutral site stadium (especially Big Ten schools, when most of the bowls are in the backyards of SEC, ACC, and Big 12 schools)? Home Playoff games get fans way more pumped up too, as evidenced by the 8 we've already witnessed. As for the "New Year's Six" Bowls, they would still exist, just rotate around between the two Semifinals games, the National Championship, and just being regular bowl games between the top 6 teams outside of the Playoffs. I'm a fan of the National Championship being at the Rose Bowl every year for historical reasons, but in reality its not really feasible.

Next, let's look at the Conference Championship. In this age of College Football, it's useless. Let's take a look at this season's Power 4 Conference Championships and see how each participant benefitted or suffered from playing in the game.

• ACC: Virginia vs. Duke: For the ACC crown, Virginia was in a win-and-your-in matchup with 7-5 Duke, who stood to gain nothing from the contest. Sure enough, Duke won and eliminated Virginia from the CFP on their way to a Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl appearance. Some of this matchup can be blamed on the asinine tiebreaker rules in the ACC, as this definitely should have been Virginia vs. Miami, but still. Had the game not been played, Virginia would have stood at the top of the ACC and made a trip to the College Football Playoff, but their loss kept them out.
• Big Ten: Ohio State vs. Indiana: The Big Ten Championship was a matchup between the Top 2 teams in the country, and it was known from the second the matchup was locked in that it mattered for nothing but a trophy and bragging rights. The winner would get the Number 1 seed in the CFP, but the loser was pretty much assured the 2 seed as long as it wasn't a blowout. Neither team really stood much to gain. Neither team really suffered any drawbacks from playing in the game, though, aside from wear and tear on their players. This hit Indiana harder, as starting Defensive End Stephen Daley was injured and is out for the year, though it did happen in a freak accident while celebrating postgame. Star Wide Receiver Omar Cooper Jr. was also banged up, though he's back for the Rose Bowl.
• Big 12: Texas Tech vs. BYU: At 11-1 and Number 4 in the country, Texas Tech was pretty much assuredly in the CFP, only competing to guarantee a bye (which you could argue hurt them anyways). BYU was really the only Power 4 team competing for anything in a Conference Championship, as a win guaranteed them a CFP spot, while a loss ended up putting them out. However, these two teams had already met before with Texas Tech winning that game as well. Here's a thought for BYU: win that game and you're in the Playoffs anyways. 
• SEC: Georgia vs. Alabama: Georgia was also pretty much guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs, and Alabama was in prime position to do so, especially if they didn't even have to play in this game. Georgia won and remained the 3 seed, while Alabama was flat out embarrassed. The Crimson Tide still made the CFP, but they were sweating it out a lot more on Selection Sunday and deemed undeserving by a lot of people.

In total, only 1 of 8 teams really stood to gain anything from playing in a Conference Championship, and that team didn't even win their conference in the end. The truth is that the Conference Championship game poses a greater risk than reward for its participants.

Now, let's look at the schedule. When a team doesn't play a game for a month, which happens often with the current format, it hurts them. Another issue with the current schedule is the transfer portal. Kids are being forced to choose between hitting the portal and leaving their team to have a better shot at making it elsewhere or stick with their team in the playoffs while potentially hurting their future. Here's my fix for the schedule:

• Move the season up a week, to what we call "Week 0". Dan Lanning had this idea and I am a fan of it. With this setup, while games do start earlier in August, most schools have still begun their fall semester by that point, and it sets up for the season to end the Saturday before Thanksgiving, as it used to. This allows for two bye weeks in the season while still playing 12 games.
• The Saturday after Thanksgiving will be dedicated to the Army-Navy game, and no other teams will play, making it a universal bye (for everyone except the Black Knights and Midshipmen).
• After that will be the First Round of the College Football Playoff, which would be spread across Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It would also be reseeded following each round to ensure that the lowest remaining seed plays the highest remaining seed and so on.
• The next weekend will be the Quarterfinals, with one game on Friday and the next three on Saturday.
• The following weekend would be the Semifinals, both being played on Saturday.
• After that would be another bye week. They could take a page out of the NFL's book here and have some sort of event, like the Senior Bowl (though it would keep players participating in the National Championship from competing) or the other NY6 bowls, or just have it be an off week, as it would be close to or potentially on Christmas.
• The National Championship would be played on the First Saturday in January, allowing for the Transfer Portal to formally open the following Monday and allow time for players to transfer before most schools begin their Spring Semester. (While we are on the topic of the Transfer Portal, I personally think that we should eliminate redshirts and just give every player 5 years of eligibility, and allow each player to only transfer once without penalty until their 5th (Graduate) season, where they would be allowed one more. Players could technically transfer before their 5th season in extreme circumstances, but would be forced to sit for a year. But that's a discussion for a different day.)

Here is an example of how this format would have worked this season, including eliminating conference championships, selecting champions based on conference standings, and using the CFP Rankings from before Conference Championship Week:

• First Round (December 4th, 5th, and 6th):
  • ​Jacksonville State Gamecocks (Conference-USA Champions) at Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten Champions), Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
  • Western Michigan Broncos (MAC Champions) at Indiana Hoosiers, Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana
  • Boise State Broncos (Mountain West Champions) at Georgia Bulldogs, Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia
  • James Madison Dukes (Sun Belt Champions) at Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12 Champions), Jones AT&T Stadium, Lubbock, Texas
  • Tulane Green Wave (AAC Champions) at Oregon Ducks, Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon
  • Virginia Cavaliers (ACC Champions) at Ole Miss Rebels, Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, Mississippi
  • Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Texas A&M Aggies, Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
  • Alabama Crimson Tide (SEC Champions) at Oklahoma Sooners, Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma
• Quarterfinals (December 12th and 13th):
  • ​Games would be reseeded following the first round to account for upsets.
  • Games would be played at the home stadiums of the 4 highest remaining seeds.
• Semifinals (December 20th):
  • ​Once again, the matchups would be reseeded to account for upsets.
  • The NY6 bowls would rotate for the Semifinals and Championship. Based on this season, they would be at the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia and the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
• Non-Playoff New Year's 6 Bowls (December 27th):
  • I have these set for December 27th, as it would be the open Saturday, but it could be moved to January 1st, or December 31st when the National Championship falls on January 1st. These matchups could be:
    • USC Trojans vs. BYU Cougars, Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
    • Utah Utes vs. Texas Longhorns, Sugar Bowl, Caesar's Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
    • Vanderbilt Commodores vs. Miami (FL) Hurricanes, Cotton Bowl, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
  • I just took the first 6 teams out and made some matchups that I thought would be interesting and wouldn't be rematches.
• National Championship (January 3rd):
  • ​The National Championship would again be played at a Bowl site as it was in the BCS era. With it being in Miami this year, it could be hosted at the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida in this scenario.

This is my idea on how to fix the College Football Playoff format. Ideally, we replace the CFP Committee with the BCS Computer Rankings as well, as it reduces bias. Nobody ever really had a problem with the BCS rankings (if I remember correctly), they just wanted a playoff format for college football, which we now have. That will likely never happen, but it would be beneficial in my opinion. Some of you may disagree with this format, but I think we can all agree it needs some drastic changes. I'd love to hear everyone else's ideas for a new format as well!