Yep. If this 12-team format were around for Saban's entire tenure at Bama, he would have probably won 2-3 more championships. 2008, 2013, 2019, and 2022 teams could have definitely made a run in a 12-team playoff. 2010 had the talent to make a run, but with 3 losses still might have been left out. So Bama would have had 4 more shots at a title, maybe 5.
The JMUs and Tulanes are never going to win 5 straight against the top dogs of FBS to win a title. It's just not gonna happen. The "letting them in at least gives them a shot" crowd is misguided. It's a myth. It's the concept of a shot. It's not real.
Part of the problem is that the nitwits who cover this sport really do believe - I mean, they either do or PRETEND to believe - that football is like every other sport, and thus a team that is scrappy and can put together a good run can pull off the equivalent of "The Bad News Bears" or (and I've pointed out many times they have the fairytale wrong) 1985 Villanova.
And I will say it again - it's been damn near 40 years since we had anything resembling a "Cinderella" in basketball and 2 of the 3 (at least) they say that about, it isn't true. 1985 Villanova was about like if 2011 Arkansas won a 12-team playoff for the national title, especially if they managed to avoid a rematch with Alabama or LSU. It's just not THAT BIG of an upset. Same with 1983 NC State. Sure, they were 26-10 in a 52-team tournament, but look at who beat them: UNC (with Jordan), UVA twice (with Ralph Sampson), Louisville (a #1 regional seed), Maryland twice (a then raw and not refined Len Bias), and Missouri (a #2 regional seed). And MOST of those games were pretty close. It was sorta shocking, but it was more like 2019 Florida winning the championship than if UCF actually won it. The one case that can actually be made for a Cinderella in basketball is Kansas in 1988 - and then remember they DID have the college player of the year (Danny Manning) who won all the trophies like he was Jameis Winston or whoever.
An upstart can make it in PRO sports, that's not the comparison. The margin between the worst team in the NFL and the best can be covered by maybe 3-4 really good players and a solid coach. College BASKETBALL lends itself to such upsets because of how their tournament is set up - and you sometimes get, say, a Butler and players who are together for four years squaring off against a powerhouse with five one-and-dones (when that was a thing) that have talent but not great chemistry.
Despite all the chances for a Cinderella to win it, it hasn't happened, even though there are more Cinderellas every single year in CBB.
The problem is that a group of idiots REALLY DO THINK it can happen in college football. They REALLY DO THINK that "you know, if BYU or UCF or Boise was JUST GIVEN A CHANCE, they could win it!"
And literally nobody with a functioning brain actually believes this.
Football is so brutal, it does not lend itself to "hey, this team of Air Force Academy cadets can WIN FOUR GAMES IN A ROW against 4 of the 8 best teams in the country and be champions." Air Force CAN beat Notre Dame four times in a row (they've done it) across four years, but if they played four straight weeks, nobody pretends even the worst Irish teams against the best AFA teams would lose more than two at most. More often than not, they wouldn't lose any. And remember: a playoff is the BEST Irish (or whomever) team, not the lean Gerry Faust years.
It's just not going to happen.
