Playoff debate rages, with everyone trying to rig the game in their favor

Bear Bryant and Woody Hayes never used phrases like "strength of schedule metric," and no one should.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network reports from Dallas, where the College Football Playoff Committee has decided to "start over" in designing a new format for the playoff format as the tussle over automatic bids and qualifying has gotten too heated.

The SEC wants more automatic bids and credit for "strength of schedule" in determining who gets in. The ACC and Big 12 want more access to the playoff. TV execs want more money.

Here are ten iron-clad goals everyone should agree on:

1. The regular season should matter.

2. It's ridiculous to talk about strength of schedule when the ACC and SEC play eight conference games and the Big Ten and Big 12 play eight, and Notre Dame isn't in a conference.

3. "Strength of schedule" is a self-fulfilling prophecy based on preseason rankings, which have an inherent bias toward the SEC and recruiting rankings. Why play games at all? Just take the odds, put in 12 teams from SEC, Clemson and Notre Dame in the final 16.

4. Playoff expansion is inevitable, because with the House Settlement and revenue-sharing, everybody needs more money.

5. A committee and a canned weekly show about who's getting in is a dumb way to pick the teams. Have a smart computer guy create a new BCS formula that power ranks teams based on performance, and let the 16 or 24 best into the tournament.

6. Settle it on the field.

7. Play the first two rounds at conference sites.

8. Winning your conference should matter, granting a team home playoff games in the first two rounds.

9. Eliminate the byes, start the playoff the first week in December and conclude it on January 1, with the portal opening across college football when it's over, one portal window only.

10. No matter what the format is, the same six teams are the only schools with a legitimate chance to win it all. No one else really has the depth or talent to withstand the grind.

True college football fans don't want negotiating and power-brokering to rule their sport. They want a playoff format that respects the history, tradition and regional flavor of the game.

In an ideal world, the top 64 or 80 teams would break away from the NCAA and create their own league, divided into eight divisions by regions, conferences that resemble the original Big 8, Big Ten, SWC and PAC-8, and the teams would play everyone in their conference and the best would meet in the playoffs.

But this isn't an ideal world. It's a TV and big-money world. The squabbles and in-fighting will continue until the sport is less popular than baseball.

That's what happens when no one is in charge, the money is huge, and everybody wants a bigger piece of the pie.

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