Commentary: New CFB playoff will be flawed until eight teams are in

We start with a college football playoff system that is flawed. Sound familiar?

But before we rip the new four-team playoff, we have to acknowledge some semblance of progress.

Based on a simulation, if the old BCS system was still in place, Alabama and Florida State would be number one and number two, and THEY would face each other in the BCS National Championship Game.

Regardless of your feelings toward the Oregon Ducks – it would have been yet one more major slight to the Pac-12 Conference – a conference that arguably fell victim to the antiquated BCS system more than any other.

That hardly means the new system works.

Talk about a circus. Between Baylor coach Art Briles getting in the face of Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby for declaring co-champions…. And the selection committee ranking TCU #3 last week, only to slide them down three spots after a blowout win…. The NEW playoff seems to have all the drama and issues that the BCS did.

Except it really doesn’t have to be like that. How many Power Conferences are there? Five. How many spots are there in the current playoff system? Four.

How did those involved not see it coming? That in the current system, at the very least, one power conference every year would be on the outside looking in, and pitching a fit?

I understand no system is perfect. But the expansion to eight teams seems like a no-brainer. You have five spots that immediately go to the Power 5 conference champions (the Big 12 will have to have a decisive champ, whether it includes a title game or not), and three spots up for debate by the selection committee. There will still be griping from the schools left out of the Top 8, but all those schools will have no one to blame but themselves.

Win your conference championship, and you’re in. It’s as simple as that.

Otherwise, you subject yourself to scrutiny from a selection committee that, in my opinion, is biased toward matchups, brands, and the all-mighty dollar – regardless of what they say.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m ecstatic about a playoff system. In an NCAA system in which change is slower than molasses, getting rid of the BCS was a step in the right direction.

The Pac-12 conference – and Oregon - especially thank them for the timing.

But it’s already far past time to take that one final step. An EIGHT-Team playoff that rewards all Power 5 Conference Champs – and let spots 6 thru 8 fuel the strongest debates.