Some less known Alabama Football Playoff considerations

Anyone thinking the new CFB Playoff format is just about adding eight more teams is mistaken. There are many new wrinkles in the Playoff selection process and not even the Playoff Selection Committee knows how those wrinkles will revolve.

One tip about understanding the new format is to avoid the misinformed. Anyone who claims the 12-team format is about selecting the 12 best teams should be immediately and forever ignored. In any season, if a 12-team (or more) format selects the 12 'best' teams it will be an accident.

One way to understand the expanded Playoffs is to realize it is more than anything an entertainment event. As such, there is every reason to expect it to be spectacular. Concurrent with the super-sizzle is the Selection Committee will strive to achieve a credible National Champion.

The committee's job is hard and mostly thankless. The past committees deserve acknowledgment that every Playoff Champion has been accepted as college football's best team. That will be harder to accomplish in the expanded format.

The five automatic bids will create dissension. So will the first-round byes. Making matters worse for the Selection Committee is the process of choosing host sites for the First Round games is murky.

During the recent Big 12 Media Days, new College Football Playoff Executive Director, Rich Clark tried to explain. "There’s a lot of factors that are going to go into this. Weather is going to be a factor… because this game later in the year in the winter than they normally would. Hotels are a factor. Do they have the level of hotels that would be expected for a Playoff game and the availability when we need it….Everything from ticket sales to managing how we distribute the tickets… "

Even the capacity of the host site venue could be a factor. Some schools don't have 75,000-plus seat stadium. Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR seats less than 55,000.

Will a team whose record warrants a 5,6,7 or 8-seed lose out on a Playoff home game because the stadium is too small; or the market does not have enough hotel rooms, or just because the weather might be too cold? For example, suppose Penn State is a one-loss, not Big Ten Champion. Do the Nittany Lions get a 9-seed because a December game in State College has too much risk for a winter storm?

Is a home game more important than a bye to Alabama football fans?

Alabama Crimson Tide fans have mixed opinions about the Playoffs. Hosting a home game in Bryant-Denny would be great. Perhaps better is getting a bye in the first round, even though it would mean no home game.