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
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
3:33 pm
1 4 GT……….Yes I was OVER the LINE but it was not to HURT the people of Colorado….It was to Slam a person that would use the JOKER as a name at this time.
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
3:35 pm
Supersize…. I am sending you a friend request from a name you might not know but you will know the photo.
Joker
July 25th, 2012
3:35 pm
Filters must have been engineered by a Tech grad!
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:37 pm
@ Rick James……did you think that I posted under the name “SMART”? Where did you get that idea? I ONLY post under the name you see here.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:38 pm
UOAD, I got an email telling me that, but I haven’t gone there yet. I will later. But why a separate one from the one you already sent?
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:39 pm
@ Joker…..and where did you ATTEND school? Notice I said ATTEND, because I doubt you graduated anywhere. If you did, then you are an embarrassment to that school
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
3:41 pm
I played games on FB so I could help me play games and get gifts. i could play 2 players in poker and other games to increase my odds. LOL
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:42 pm
Damn, UOAD. You’re a mess. lol
Humble- the poster formerly known as Joker
July 25th, 2012
3:44 pm
Point made, 5150. I didn’t look at it that way. Unlike you, though, my insensitivity was accidental, as opposed to your completely uncalled-for comments related to that horrible evening in Colorado. Hatchet dropped here. Now tell me how in the h3ll Tech is going to field a better team to face UGA than Parkview HS could?
Humble- the poster formerly known as Joker
July 25th, 2012
3:47 pm
Supersize- I did graduate, bet you can guess from where. Anyway, I’d rather be a graduated embarrassment to a school than a worthless drop-out like you.
Really?
July 25th, 2012
3:52 pm
Coach Ima Johnson better push for a 50 team playoff. At least then he could claim that the trade school just barely missed the cut for the playoffs. Did anyone listen to johnson on 680 the fan monday? That guy is very bitter and hate filled when it comes to the Bulldogs. No wonder so many of the trade schools “fans” slobber all over that idiot. He is just as petty and hate filled as they are. If any of you ga texties had even an iota of class you would be ashamed of the guy. He is a classless hypocrite that lives by the mantra “do as I say not as I do”
I wonder why cpj refused to answer the questions about that drug crazed trade school player that attacked those cops in Athens? Is it true his lawyers advised him not to comment? Why did the trade school bail that steroid junkie out if they were not somehow responsible for his addiction? Too bad the ajc refuses to ask those questions to cpj. Maybe the steroid junkie will provide some answers once he gets out of rehab.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:52 pm
@ Humble —- you certainly do not live up to your new name. You really like to hurl insults, don’t you? For what it’s worth, I have two degrees from Tech, and unless you’re a doctor, which I doubt, even one of them is worth more than what you got in Athens.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
3:56 pm
Talk about embarrassments…….there’s that ignorant POS Really? again. If I were you, bubba, I’d worry more about the mess you have in Athens over a non-playing walk-on on the Tech football team who’s arrest in Athens has been fully covered and documented and includes none of the FALSE ALLEGATIONS you have been spreading on these blogs for the past 2 months. You DO realize, don’t you, that if you weren’t hiding behind a blog name, that you could be sued for libel or slander, whichever is appropriate for a blog. You have ABSOLUTELY NO FACTS WHATSOEVER to base your allegations on. GET A LIFE !!!!
Cats hav fleas 2
July 25th, 2012
3:57 pm
What does it matter? He can’t win a Bowl game. What makes him think his luck would be any different in a playoff?
GTBob
July 25th, 2012
3:59 pm
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.
I am not hiding behind anybody. A UGA fan decided to make a comment bashing the Mountain West and Conference USA and I respectfully pointed out that UGA has lost to both of those conferences recently. I really couldn’t care less about their record against GT because it really isn’t all that relevant to what I said.
I Love Tech
July 25th, 2012
4:01 pm
5150 & Supersize
Awwwww you guys are so cute together. Is it possible wedding bells are in y’alls future? Don’t let society and close minded haters stop the path of true love. If you decide to adopt please name the first boy Paul.
Really?
July 25th, 2012
4:15 pm
Just when you think 5150 could not sink any lower he resorts to making fun of the victims in colorado. Why does the ajc allow this lowlife piece of trash to keep posting? I admit I enjoy baiting the trade school whinebags but I have never and will never make jokes about a tragic incident or even worse make fun of those who died in such a horrible tragedy.
It’s obvious that 5150 and other texties are allowed to make evil comments here that would get others banned but for God’s sake where do you draw the line?!!!!! Come on Ken can you at least ask that sociopath to curb his hate filled anger a tiny bit?
I am so sickened by 5150 and his lapdogs that make excuses for him that I am leaving this blog.
ARdawg
July 25th, 2012
4:20 pm
“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?”
Yes GTBob, thanks for proving my point. GT seems to struggle where the others do not?
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
4:21 pm
@ Really?…….and why do you think the AJC continues to let LIARS like you post on here? You say you never make jokes about tragic incidents, and yet you continue to slander the name of a kid you have never even met or know anything about. Why don’t you just stay on the trashy UGA blogs where trash like you belong to begin with? I am going to remember your last statement in the above post and see how long it takes you to go back on that promise. Like I said before, GET A LIFE
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
4:23 pm
@ ARdwag……how did bringing up the fact that UGA lost to a couple of nobodies in the past couple of years prove any point you tried to make? Are you saying that UGA lost even without a struggle?
Rick James
July 25th, 2012
4:24 pm
@GTBob
I am not hiding behind anybody. A UGA fan decided to make a comment bashing the Mountain West and Conference USA and I respectfully pointed out that UGA has lost to both of those conferences recently. I really couldn’t care less about their record against GT because it really isn’t all that relevant to what I said.
——————————————————————————————————————————–
Actually he was bashing the ACC as well but I guess Georgia’s losses to Boise and UFC were the only ones you could come up with to validate your opinion.Why didnt you bring up Tech’s record against Georgia? Oh I know,it doesnt matter to you.Only other teams’s records against Georgia matter and I can understand that.
Rick James
July 25th, 2012
4:33 pm
@ARdawg
Yes GTBob, thanks for proving my point. GT seems to struggle where the others do not?
——————————————————————————————————————-
The year that Georgia lost to a Conference-USA team in the Liberty Bowl Tech won the ACC yet still got beaten by Georgia’s worst team in 10 years.Georgia did lose to a top 10 Boise St. team from the Moutain West but they still beat Tech so why do their fans keep bringing these games up?
ARdawg
July 25th, 2012
4:42 pm
mutt
I wasn’t bashing those conferences. If you couldn’t get the inference it must have went over your head. Those teams from those conferences can actually beat UGA…Tech cannot
I was just posting to rile you beeheads a bit. I knew GTBob has no sense of humor. I thought you did but, now I’ll know going forward
Humble
July 25th, 2012
4:45 pm
@ Humble —- you certainly do not live up to your new name. You really like to hurl insults, don’t you? For what it’s worth, I have two degrees from Tech, and unless you’re a doctor, which I doubt, even one of them is worth more than what you got in Athens.
Supersize, you can say your obligatory oops, now. I AM a doctor, moron. What else you got? But being a doctor isn’t going to mean much once Obamacare rips us all a new one. Sounds to me you should get your money back for those 2 degrees from Tech. Or maybe you should demand a third, you know, buy 2, get one free?
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
4:54 pm
@ Humble…….well, we DO agree on one thing….Obamacare will indeed rip us all. So let’s just leave it there and agree to disagree on everything else. After all, THAT is way more important than a football rivalry. We are BOTH in deep sh!t
GTBob
July 25th, 2012
4:54 pm
The year that Georgia lost to a Conference-USA team in the Liberty Bowl Tech won the ACC yet still got beaten by Georgia’s worst team in 10 years.
Tech was 6-7 that year which was their worst team in 14 years. Try to keep your years straight.
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
4:58 pm
Really?……………PLEASE post where I was making fun to the Colorado situation.
Anybody coming on the BLOGS using THE JOKER is the person making light of the Colorado Attack.
The Joker roll took heath Ledger to a Dark place he didn’t come back from. The Movie Shooter called himself the JOKER before he opened fire. BUT you think a person using THE JOKER as a blog handle is OK?
Humble
July 25th, 2012
4:59 pm
Supersize- now if I were a proctologist, that would be a great one. Hope we can fire Obama, get a new Senate, and kill the thing, right there. Looking forward to the next Tech-Ga football game. Seems we can’t beat Tech at any other sport, so I’ll take FB. Bye for now. You know, Doctor’s hours.
GTBob
July 25th, 2012
5:04 pm
Supersize, you can say your obligatory oops, now. I AM a doctor, moron.
We can add Humble to the list of amazingly accomplished UGA blog posters. The average salary for that school is 42k but every AJC UGA fan is making well into the 6-8 figures a year range. Pretty amazing that we attract such prestige. Or you are all full of crap.
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
5:09 pm
LOL @ Humble……Interesting that given enough time and enough opportunities, even the worst of “enemies” can find some common ground and move on from there. Enjoy the wins in football while you can. I think you know as well as I do that all good things eventually come to an end. Consider the 1957 game as an example…..the end of an 8 year long winning streak for Tech over UGA. Disparage the ACC all you want (I’m no big ACC fan either), but with the exception of 2002, every one of the recent Tech – UGA games have been at least competitive, and several of them could have gone either way at the end. I know, I know, that sounds like rationalization and some kind of “moral victory” claim, but you UGA fans do the same about games which you lose; it’s a way of life. Anyway, GO JACKETS !!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
5:10 pm
@ GTBob…..I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one, since we agree politically. LOL
Humble
July 25th, 2012
5:14 pm
Crap. I wanna go home, boys. 5150, You are so full of crap. What have you been smoking this afternoon? Can I get some of it? Check out your pathetic posts from 11:32 and 2:44 if you can;t remember your slight at the Colorado incident. Even Supersize and his 2 GT degrees found it over the top.
Humble
July 25th, 2012
5:15 pm
Supersize, I think I’m gonna cry, brother. Can I just get a hug?
Supersize that order, mutt
July 25th, 2012
5:18 pm
@ Humble — GIVE ME A BREAK !!! LOL
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
5:22 pm
HUMBLE…………..was my ANGER focused at Colorado Victims? NO it was focused at the JOKER….. READ and tell me that a person POSTING as the JOKER is OK.
Humble
July 25th, 2012
5:32 pm
Trying to worm your way out of it now, huh? Nice try. Go back and look at my first post and see if it had anything to do with Colorado. It was specifically football. My handle was an oversight on my part, not intentional. You are the only moron on the blog that made the sadistic connection, though. What does that tell you about your mindset as opposed to everyone else’s? Did anyone else make that connection? Now you’re trying to pawn your behavior off solely on my handle. Give me a break. I should be the one watching my back for you, but I don’t think you are really that evil. I think you are just dumb.
BLT
July 25th, 2012
5:34 pm
Really?
July 25th, 2012
3:52 pm
Did you read your own post? Talk about “hate filled”. WOW!
By the way, have you been “wineing and dineing” anyone lately? Genius.
BLT
July 25th, 2012
5:36 pm
Humble the Numble is a doctor? You need to let everyone know where you practice so we can avoid you at all cost! GTBob was right about UGA doctors. Scary to think about…really.
5150 UOAD
July 25th, 2012
5:45 pm
WORM my way out of NOTHING…..You are trying to make something out of nothing.
You are a MUTT and it is OK for MUTTS to talk crap but you don’t see it.
Hit me up and we can talk in person. I will even buy you a beer. I doubt you are SMART enought ot talk face to face but don’t say I didn’t offer.
p-dob
July 25th, 2012
6:46 pm
Hey Jimbo, I could care less if the best team won the National Championship, unless that team happens to be my team. The best team does not always win, that’s why you play the game. Duh….. This 4 team playoff sucks. Expand to 8 teams!
1 4 GT
July 25th, 2012
7:19 pm
5150–been gone a while. I saw your reply to my post. Sorry to step on your toes. I hadn’t looked at that way, as Humble admitted he had not either.. All is cool. OK!!
www
July 26th, 2012
11:14 am
humble/joker/supersize –
guys, it’s simple – YOU’RE BOTH MORONS if you think anyone the republicans put forward will do a better job than our current president.
is this a football blog or a place for senile old retards to complain about politics and kids on their lawn?
get a life, fools.