Three years ago, when a small group of college executives chose college football’s 12-team expanded playoff format, they left plenty of other proposals on the cutting-room floor. Those include an eight-team format awarding the five highest-ranked conference champions with automatic berths and the next three ranked teams at-large spots,

It was straight chalk for the favorites in the first round of the College Football Playoff, but that still led to drastic changes as we reseed the teams still remaining in the field. But first, a problem that needs to be solved.