Greg McElroy calls for end to College Football Playoff first round byes for conference champions

Toe has yet to hit leather in the expanded College Football Playoff. Despite that, there is already more than a little criticism about this new system, in particular, how seeding and the byes work.

Now, former Alabama quarterback and current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy has joined those critical of the Playoff, calling for an end to first round byes for conference championships in the 12-team College Football Playoff on Always College Football.

Get your team’s official College Football Playoff watch from AXIA by CLICKING HERE: “Watches that tell so much more than time”

“The committee, and this is not really on the committee,” Greg McElroy said. “But it’s a byproduct of the system that we have. This whole first round bye for conference championships needs to go away. It’s honestly ridiculous. I think we can see the writing on the wall. We saw it moving in this direction. It should not come as a huge surprise because many people have forecasted that may be the five-seed is actually easier than the one-seed. Maybe the sixth-seed in this scenario, given who got in, maybe the sixth-seed is a little more manageable than being the two-seed. How is that healthy when formatting this postseason?”

In the current College Football Playoff system, the top five ranked conference champions get into the field with the top four of those teams getting byes. So, the final rankings and seeding in the Playoff are not the same thing. That’s where McElroy takes issue with the system in place.

“Why is it that Oregon wins the Big Ten Championship Game and now might await the winner of Tennessee–Ohio State? Meanwhile, the team they beat in the Big Ten Championship Game gets a home Playoff game where they are a healthy favorite against an SMU team that made it in barely and then they’ll get to play in a game against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl where they’ll have a pretty significant talent advantage. So, to look at Penn State‘s path to a national championship, Penn State’s path in a lot of ways is maybe even a little bit more manageable than Oregon’s path. That’s not healthy when evaluating what you’re supposed to gain when you win a conference championship.”

There are benefits to the bye week, like getting an extra week off after playing in a conference championship game. On top of that, the bye week adds value to the conference championship. At the same time, as McElroy explained, the perception is that the lower seeded teams have an easier path forward thanks to this system.

There have been a few different ways to adjust this system that Greg McElroy suggested. The first is making it so that the teams are seeded based on their rankings. The other would potentially be re-seeding teams after the first round of the College Football Playoff.

“We need to just rate and seed teams one through 12. There is no automatic if you’re the nine-seed you automatically get the four seed…it shouldn’t be that way. It should really go, one is Oregon they are number one. Two is Georgia, they are number two. Three is Texas, they are number three. They get a first round bye. Four is Penn State. They are number four, they get a first round bye. Then, five plays 12, six plays 11, seven plays 10, and eight plays nine. I think that is more appropriate because there is no way, there is no way, we can look at this postseason and feel great about the number one ranked team having a more challenging path to a potential championship. It doesn’t make sense and it needs to be evaluated ASAP. Get rid of them,” McElroy said.

“Conference championships, you are guaranteed a spot but you are not guaranteed a first round bye. Just seed them one through 12 and let’s move on accordingly. If they don’t want to do that, then we need to strongly consider re-seeding teams after the first round. If that happens, I can live with that. I’d prefer it to be one through 12, but if they’re not willing to go that far because they want to value conference championships above all else. I get it, but you need to at least consider the possibility of re-seeding just to make things more manageable for the first overall seed…They deserve a more manageable path than some of their cohorts.”

This is still the first season of the 12-team College Football Playoff. So, it has not played out on the field yet, but it will be interesting to see how teams with a seemingly easier path.