Should Independents and non champions be considered or should ONLY conference champions be in the CFP?

Question

"The criteria to be provided to the selection committee must be aligned with the ideals of the commissioners, Presidents, athletic directors and coaches to honor regular season success while at the same time providing enough flexibility and discretion to select a non-champion or independent under circumstances where that particular non-champion or independent is unequivocally one of the four best teams in the country.
When circumstances at the margins indicate that teams are comparable, then the following criteria must be considered:
 Championships won 
 Strength of schedule
 Head-to-head competition (if it occurred)
 Comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory)."
-- Official College Football Playoff Protocol

A lot of people are angry over this year's playoff selection. But many don't know that because of the existence of schools independent of conferences, they must treat all schools the same way in ranking them by their complete season accomplishments including non conference competition.

So this introduces a question: Should independents be allowed to participate or should only conferences participate in the CFP?

Digital Princess · Answer

Honestly since the same schools are gonna be in the CFP no matter what I say, the Group of Five and the Independents should just form their own tournament separate from the CFP.  Schools like Western Michigan and Boise State even when they go undefeated they will never get anywhere near the top 10 let alone the top 4 and they will just get into some pointless day after christmas bowl game. So whats the point for these group of 5 schools to even go undefeated when they will just wind up playing a 6 or 7 win bottom tier SEC or Big 10 team when they can form their own tournament and play against better competition.

Boise Brett · Answer

As long as the CFP is a 4 team playoff, it should only be conference champions.  EVERY playoff in sports has some kind of criteria, except college football which is just whomever a group of 12 people think are the 4 best teams.  If that's the case, then there's no point in even playing a conference championship if you won't get in.  If Ohio State was really the best team in the Big 10 they would have won their conference.

Blocking Back · Answer

I want to see four super conferences.  Keep the B1G, PAC, SEC, and one other.  Have between 16 and 20 teams in each.  Play everyone in your division and maybe one or two nonceonference games.  The four conference champions, no matter what their record is, play off.

Bob · Answer

It should be conference champions, independents and teams that don't win their conference should be excluded

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Should Independents and non champions be considered or should ONLY conference champions be in the CFP?

4 Answers