Let's fix the College Football Playoffs

So...the current system is a tad better than the previous. At least you get 4 teams with a shot at the national championship.

We can do better. This season, as much as any other, proved that. Granted, the pummeling that THE Ohio State took at Iowa was probably the key reason the Big Ten got shut-out of the playoff. Still, to not have the Big Ten Champion playing is silly. And don't give me the crap about Alabama and their strength of schedule. If that's the case, why are they (and Auburn and Clemson) scheduling the likes of Mercer, The Citadel and Louisiana-Monroe in November? Granted, most schedules are set years in advance, and often with the thought that a major team (think BYU, Wisconsin fans) is going to be relevant. But, seriously, does anyone, for a minute, think that Mercer, et. all, would be?

BUT we're not going to get crazy. Let's expand to 8 teams with a playoff that looks like this:

All Power 5 conference champions are automatic., from there 3 at-large teams are added based on record, strength of schedule, etc.

Now, let's take these 8 teams and seed them: 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 & 4 v 5.....1-5 would be Power 5 champions, with #5 being the worst record of the group -- this season, I would have slotted USC there.

Next, we'll schedule the 4 quarterfinal games 2 weeks after the conference championship games AND have them at sites on college campuses. Top 4 seeds get home games -- since SEC teams never seem to come north of the Mason-Dixon line to play, wouldn't it be interesting to see Alabama or Auburn playing in Columbus, South Bend, Ann Arbor or Madison in December? Ice, snow, frigid cold. Deal with those conditions, Nick Saban!

The semi-finals remain the major bowl games as currently set, on New Year's, with the national championship game 2 weeks after that. Same as the current system.

In between, the 4 teams from the quarterfinals that don't advance still slot into major bowl games. Two weeks to prepare, for both teams and fans, is more than sufficient. SO the significant change would be games on college campuses. This gives the top 4 finishers a bonus, an earned reward for them and their fans.

For those who argue that these are student-athletes and they shouldn't miss class time...well, that doesn't seem to impact the 60-some teams that play in March Madness. And since you are only impacting 8 teams, with semesters pretty much wrapping up, that argument doesn't seem to hold much water.

Is mine a perfect system? Admittedly not. But it would be better, and more interesting, than what we have going now.