Paul Johnson prefers 16-team playoff
GREENSBORO, N.C. - To Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, the adoption of a four-team playoff to determine a national football champion is merely a step in the right direction.
Johnson, who won two FCS (then Division I-AA) national championships at Georgia Southern by outlasting 16-team fields, said he would prefer a similar format for FBS.
“You take 11 [conference champions] and then you add five at-large [teams], give ’em a chance,” Johnson said this week at ACC Media Days. “If your conference hasn’t done well, you become the 16th seed. You have to go play against No. 1, but at least you had a chance.”
Of eight ACC coaches who were surveyed, three agreed with Johnson in expanding the format, although they favored an eight-team playoff instead of Johnson’s 16. Two professed a wait-and-see stance and two would like to stay at four.
Besides Johnson, those favoring expansion liked the idea of giving champions of the five “power” conferences – ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC – access into the field along with three at-large teams.
“If you win a conference with 10 wins, then you ought to be able to play for a national championship,” N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien said. “If you go to eight teams, you can probably accommodate something like that. At four, that might not be good.”
Miami coach Al Golden and Virginia coach Mike London also supported expanding to eight teams.
“You’re talking to a guy that won the national championship [at Richmond] among 16 teams,” London said.
While an argument against a larger playoff holds that the regular season’s importance would be diminished, Golden contended that the automatic bids for conference champions and the chase for an at-large bid would retain the regular season’s importance.
With a four-team field, “one loss and you’re out for the most part,” he said. “But now you’re saying you’ve got to win your conference or apply this formula to be one of those next three [at-large teams]? I think that would be incredible.”
Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney like a four-team playoff. Fisher allowed that an eight-team playoff could give a team more leeway to overcome an injury-plagued stretch of the season, but pointed to the NFL for a reason against it.
“Does the best team during the regular season win the Super Bowl?” he asked. “Most of the time, not.”
Both Fisher and Swinney minimized the need for an additional playoff round by contending that conference championship games are de facto playoff games.
“I think what we have really protects that regular season and it also adds a little bit of flavor to the end of the postseason and maybe solves a little of the debate,” Swinney said. “I personally don’t think we’ve spent a lot of time arguing about the fifth and sixth team. I’m sure that’ll happen, but it’s been more the second, third, fourth team.”
Neither Boston College’s Frank Spaziani nor Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe were sure. Grobe cautioned that an eight-team playoff would create a considerable physical burden for players.
“I think if we went to eight, we’d have to cut back to 11 games [in the regular season], get one of those games off the table maybe,” Grobe said.
Spaziani said he didn’t know why playoffs were necessary in the first place.
“The [BCS] system was [considered] so bad, yet college football was going like this in attendance, excitement,” he said, raising his hand in an upward arc. “TV exposure went up and up, [but critics said], ‘It stinks! It stinks!’ … I don’t know. What’s wrong with that?”
Starting in 2014, the college football world will find out. And if Johnson wants to lead the Yellow Jackets into a 16-team playoff, he’ll have to wait until his 19th season to do so. The four-team format is contracted to run through the 2025 season.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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192 comments Add your comment
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
11:53 am
Master posted: “They need to widdle it down to about 64 teams and 4 conferences and then you can have a real playoff.”
hmmm, maybe Master should educate his “widdle” brain first and learn the English language. It’s WHITTLE, dummy, not WIDDLE. Ignorance like that gives you no credibility at all
gbal
July 25th, 2012
11:55 am
8 teams … Big 6 confrence winners IF they finish in top 10-12 ranking by a BCS system (no…Hell No to the committee). Other at large filled based on BCS ranking.
BULLDOG STEVE
July 25th, 2012
12:07 pm
Fish Fry will have his wishes in the next couple years when he is back in 1-AA or whatever they call it now.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
12:13 pm
UGA will stand a remote chance of winning a NC when they leave the SEC, and only then
ARdawg
July 25th, 2012
12:45 pm
I can agree with Moobs with just about everything except, the ACC being a “power” conference doesn’t really gel
ARdawg
July 25th, 2012
12:47 pm
Unless of course Conference USA and the Mountain West are power conferences too?
GTBob
July 25th, 2012
12:58 pm
Unless of course Conference USA and the Mountain West are power conferences too?
Well UGA lost to a Mountain West team last year and a Conference USA team the year before that so they must not be too bad, right?
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
1:00 pm
@ GTBob…..certainly more power there than in Athens, right?
GTBob
July 25th, 2012
1:14 pm
It appears that way Supersize. Either those conferences aren’t too bad or UGA is not a good representative of the SEC. I’m not sure which.
HighTech
July 25th, 2012
1:24 pm
UGA is a football “Superpower.” I read about it in the AJC so it must be true.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
1:26 pm
LOL @ HT
dawgfan
July 25th, 2012
1:26 pm
Might want to go check UGA’s record against the ACC within the past 10 years or so there fellas. It ain’t pretty. We pretty much have blank check to say whatever the hell we want to about the ACC.
But have fun living vicariously through Conference USA and Moutain West teams. Georgia Tech football isn’t a total joke at all. Where would anyone get that idea?
Hilarious.
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
1:29 pm
I heard UGa dWags will win the National Championship this year. I heard that for years and many years it was true, but S. Yoculan don’t coach the gymnastics team anymore.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
1:31 pm
dwagfan……how’s CMR’s poo looking today?
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
1:36 pm
dWagfan……. living vicariously through the GOOD SEC teams that WIN championships must be fun for you.
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
1:45 pm
I’m that guy that recognizes beauty when I see it.
The guy that isn’t afraid to wipe a tear from your face.
The guy that isn’t so self-fish that he wouldn’t share his shoulder with you.
The guy that knows that Christ is the only way to true peace and happiness.
The guy that makes you feel like you’ve known him for years… yet today’s our first encounter.
The guy that loves to laugh and knows when and how to make you smile.
The guy that people love to hate and make a big deal out of every little thing he does.
The guy that is focusing on his future more than ever now.. because he fell off not so long ago and he needed it… but is back!
That guy named ~ Francis G. Kallon ~
I really like this young man
Mike.Duke
July 25th, 2012
1:56 pm
I swear. All you uga people on here need to get back to work–greeters, everybody. I give you a job so you can make your TV payments and you do this. I want to know who translated for you on the computer anyway. Must have been the fry-cooks at the deli.
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
2:08 pm
Francis G. Kallon
6 hours ago near Atlanta
Great last day of summer training… we bonded as a team today, and ain’t nothing gon’ stop us come 9/3 !! GEORGIA TECH vs. VIRGINIA TECH
Mike.Duke
July 25th, 2012
2:09 pm
Hey, 5150, is Dierks Bentley paying you a commission?
CFB Fan
July 25th, 2012
2:11 pm
Master @11:31…..Your post had not yet refreshed on my screen when I submitted my post.
Big Al
July 25th, 2012
2:15 pm
I don’t know why Paul Johnson is worried about making the playoffs. He has not come anywhere close yet and is not likely to any time soon.
Joker
July 25th, 2012
2:18 pm
5150 UOAD- I won’t even think of quoting your remarks. What a jerk-off you are. NO CLASS. Don’t give a rip of you a re DAWG or TECH fan. Uncalled for numb nuts!
Joker
July 25th, 2012
2:23 pm
I hope all of you here, DAWG and TECH haters, take a good look at 5150 UOAD’s comments and blast him for it. We can all have a little fun jabbing at one another, but 5150 crossed the line. Hope you have a better outlook on life than you seem to write.
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
2:25 pm
OUCH….the Joker called me out after he mad a CLASSLESS post.. I am hurt.
You are as much of a TOOL as I am but you don’t even realize it.
Mike.Duke
July 25th, 2012
2:26 pm
ARdawg–by your handle I assume you live in Arkansas. Let me guess: Dumas?
Honestly
July 25th, 2012
2:29 pm
crackbaby
July 25th, 2012
8:34 am
One of the biggest problems with playoffs is the polls, specifically pre-season polls. Remember two years ago, after Alabama lost 8 or 9 starters on D, they were No. 1 in the pre-season polls. Even Tony Barnhart wrote ‘em up as the preseason fave.
Tide lost at least 3 games that year, but didn’t fall out of the top 10 in the polls until their 3rd loss.
Pollsters are the biggest flaw in the system.
Alabama lost a total of three games in 2010 and finished the season at #10 in the AP Poll. When’s the last time GT finished that well?
Rick James
July 25th, 2012
2:39 pm
@HighTech
I can understand why some would think this. Also, it is not likely that a C-USA team would ever beat a SEC “Superpower” in a playoff scenario. It’s never happened in a bowl game, has it?
—————————————————————————————————————————–
It did happen in a bowl game.In fact Georgia loss in the Liberty Bowl to Conference-USA champion Central Florida.But as I’m sure you also remember it was Georgia’s worst season in 10 years but they still managed to beat the ACC champion who shall remain nameless.Again the weaker conferences and their fans want 16 teams because its the only way they will get in.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
2:40 pm
@ Joker…..I would rather have UOAD as a friend that most of the dwags who post on these blogs
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
2:41 pm
@ Rick James……I ask this in all sincerity, since I haven’t heard an opinion. What are CMR’s thoughts on the playoffs?
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
2:44 pm
Thanks SUPER but maybe you need to step away from me when you talk to the JOKER. he might go on a shooting spree…..or he could do like Heath ledger and OD on drugs.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
2:46 pm
UOAD……ordinarily I would laugh at that, but considering Colorado, I think we had both best leave that alone
Rick James
July 25th, 2012
2:49 pm
@Supersize that order, mutt
@ Rick James……I ask this in all sincerity, since I haven’t heard an opinion.What are CMR’s thoughts on the playoffs
————————————————————————————————————————–
I have no idea..I think his attitude on that is like everything else.Just control the things that you can and everthing else will take care of itself.The SEC had been pushing for the four team format so there’s not much for the coaches to say. Win or stay home.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
2:52 pm
@ Rick James……it would be funny as hell if he actually supported the idea of a 16-team playoff. I wonder what all the fools on here who have been posting ignorant trash all day would say then? And, BTW, despite OUR differences of opinion, I don’t consider you to be a fool or one who posts ignorant trash
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
3:04 pm
HOPE SOLO will you marry me? USA 4 v France 2
LOLO JONES if Hope say NO will you marry me. I have never had a virgin.
Rick James
July 25th, 2012
3:07 pm
@GTBob
Well UGA lost to a Mountain West team last year and a Conference USA team the year before that so they must not be too bad, right?
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Maybe the day will come when you can say that Georgia Tech beat Georgia last year and the year before instead of having to hide behind other schools to validate your low opinion of Georgia.
Joker
July 25th, 2012
3:08 pm
I won’t go as far as saying all tech fans are classless, but you sure set a great example for all of the sane tech fans here. BTW, HOW many games in a row have the dawgs won over the GT high school Jackets? I forget; it’s been too many. Tech-GA game getting boring, lately. You will get your butts handed to you again this year, too. I don’t care how UGA does as far as NC, as long as we whip y’all AGAIN. We can all hope that Tech will be able to play COLLEGE football this year but that may be a stretch. Keep talkin’ smack, Bees. It’s all you got!
clean up your ghetto area campus
July 25th, 2012
3:09 pm
Johnson better hope for 84 teams in playoff. Otherwise him and tech will never qualify.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:14 pm
I have to that I think 5150 was way over the line when he referenced theaters & bombs & 11:32 AM. It was, too say the least, a very insensitive comment to hint at such a sad, tragic event. Selah.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:19 pm
@ Joker…..obviously, you have never even watched a Tech – UGA game. UGA has won 3 in a row, but NONE of the games have been boring.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:20 pm
@ clean up……you had better nope that UGA never has a representative SEC schedule, or you’ll end up with a losing season. Talk about a cushy schedule. SHEESH
Rick James
July 25th, 2012
3:21 pm
@Supersize that order, mutt
@ Rick James……it would be funny as hell if he actually supported the idea of a 16-team playoff. I wonder what all the fools on here who have been posting ignorant trash all day would say then? And, BTW, despite OUR differences of opinion, I don’t consider you to be a fool or one who posts ignorant trash
—————————————————————————————————————————–
You cant be the real SMART he would have been calling me names by now..There’s way to disagree with him without being called an idiot.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:23 pm
I have tried twice. Filters won’t allow my posts for some stupid reason. Will try again.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:24 pm
Joker, you can talk trash all you like.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:25 pm
Joker, your team has given you that privilege.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:27 pm
Joker, don’t get too c0cky though.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:27 pm
Joker, we’re coming.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:28 pm
Joker, when we get there, it ain’t gonna be pretty.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:28 pm
Joker, you won’t like it.
egeagledawg
July 25th, 2012
3:30 pm
PJ knows what he is talking about, but the truest playoff system wouldn’t sit well with the ESPN nabobs. The 16 team playoff would determine a true champion. Such a system would also cure what ails Tech in bowls. The one month hiatus from football really hurts execution for all teams, but especially Tech. The option is built on reps and execution. Even the great teams of GS would nave suffered with a month’s layoff. We at GSC/U used to take our bye week late in the season for rest and healong, but were ready and tuned for the playoff drive.
As a final note for the geniuses on here, and I mean from all schools’ fanbases, there are a few tidbits for you. Every one of our titles was earned on the field of play. All 6. And while the AA designation was there, we were and still are Division 1. The division 1 football champion for 1985, ‘86,’89,’90, ‘99, and 2000 for the NCAA was Georgia Southern. Y’all may not care becasue ESPN didn’t anoint us, but we are a true championship program. True playoffs allow us to state facts, whether folks at other places care or not.
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
3:30 pm
Damn filters will NOT let the word c0cky through. Who the HELL sets the stupid parameters for these filters. What a dumb azz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!