With the Big Ten and Pac 12 delaying until the spring and the MAC and Mountain West following that plan, there are 6 remaining conferences that are planning to play college football this fall(SEC, ACC, Big XII, AAC, C-USA and Sun Belt).
Most believe as long as three P5s can play, the College Football Playoff will proceed. Clemson's Dabo Swinney says there would be no devaluing the team that won the event despite the absence of the Big Ten and Pac 12(insert joke on the fact schools from those leagues haven't won a title in years).
Will we debate if a true champion was crowned if 40% of your biggest leagues didn't play in the same season? Of course. But then again, nothing is normal with 2020.
But if the six conferences do proceed and are able to get a season in, it's the time to adjust the playoff to 8 teams now. Adding four more games will create television revenue that all can use. And be creative.
This year's schedule calls for the national semifinals to be played at the Rose and Sugar Bowls and the title game in Miami. No one is sure what the bowls will do but perhaps you create four bubble cities to host games.
First, the format for an expanded playoff. There are six conferences playing and all play a conference title game. All six winners make the playoffs and then take two wild cards. Barring something really odd, we all know those two wild cards would come from the P5s so getting a second team in means more money.
Pick two cities, two weeks after your conference title games, and send four teams to each city and play a pair of doubleheaders. Your third site would host your two semifinals and then play your title game the following week.
Seven games. More games on TV means more money. The Rose Bowl likely bows out because they would still keep their Big Ten and Pac 12 matchup in a spring game. But Atlanta, Dallas and Glendale, Arizona all have domes and turf to have multiple games(Arizona stadium actually has a pair of grass fields).
The plan gives every team playing in the fall a shot at the title. Whether we reach a point to have fans at these games, time will tell. Will the entire college football world view the winner as a true champion? Who cares? Nothing is normal in 2020 and that's okay.,,
Ohio State Coach Ryan Day says he wants to start a "spring" season in early January and play eight games. He says it will give players a chance to finish early enough that would allow a longer off-season before starting the fall 2021 season. All good so far. Then he added he'd hope for early enrollees to play a two-for-one. Meaning, early enrollees could play starting in January and then come back in the fall and count as one year of eligibility. Let me get this straight, critics of a spring season say it is ridiculous to ask players to play a season that could end in March or April and come back again in September but Day sees no problem with someone playing 10-12 high school games, then maybe a month later playing 8-10 games at the college level and then come back and do 12-14 in the fall(possibly 36 games in a calendar year)?
One silly assumption going around is are the medical people advising the Big Ten and Pac 12 smarter than the group advising the SEC, ACC and Big XII? And then certainly the people advising the AAC can't be as smart or as good because they are not a P5 league. This is ridiculous. Greg Stewart heads up the AAC's medical advisory board. Dr. Stewart is the co-director of the Sports Medicine Program at one of the most respected schools in the country in his profession. A doctor who works at a G5 school is every bit P5 quality. The issue of resources for G5 schools may be a very valid point, but the advice from doctors is as good as anywhere.
Final thought: Popcorn dates back to 3600 BC in Mexico