This is going to be fun. I can hear the yelling going on right now. And anger. Disappointed. If you're a Miami or Alabama fan, watching a College Football Playoff game is painful. But for the vast majority of college football fans, the idea of the best 12 teams competing for a championship is a dream come true.
A trip to the national championship will include a two-day triple-header of games in the CFP. The semifinal round marks the beginning of five days of college football play leading up to the first round of the NFL Playoffs. All in all, it's going to be a crazy college football version of Winter March. An event of that level requires its own version of NCAA basketball brackets.
However, performing simple brackets is not so simple. There is a difference between the 68 teams in the men's and women's basketball tournament and the 12 teams competing in the CFP. Below are some ways fans can join in on the College Football Playoff excitement. Each option has some positives and negatives.
Before we get into the options, there's a warning. This can all get very complicated if there are dozens of people participating in the pool. Alternatively, you can splurge with pro-rata dividends. Overall, this article aims for brevity. These are CFP pools that anyone with light knowledge of Excel/Google Sheets can run. The central question we are trying to answer is: “How can I have fun?” And now go out and have some fun!
Traditional March Madness style brackets
How to play: Just go through the brackets and choose who you think will win. Whoever has the most accurate bracket (in terms of number of correct picks) wins the field.
analysis: This feels like it lacks excitement and surprise. The current discussion is all about “Was Alabama being snubbed? ” In the end, the CFP final will likely be Oregon vs. Georgia. College football is chalky as a sport. So the 12-team bracket will likely end up with few surprises. With this approach, you can make money by making the first round successfully, but if you don't get a sweep there, you can pretty much consider your bracket's buy-in cash gone.
team draft
How to play: Form groups of 2-6 people. Randomize draft order. snake draft. A team win is worth 1 point and a championship win is worth 2 points.
analysis: Things are getting more and more interesting. There's a lot of strategy here, and being able to secure the second team pick in the draft could be the difference between winning and losing. Also, a first-round bye for the top four seeds creates an incentive for No. 5 through No. 12 seeds to earn an extra point by playing one more game. Also, drafting is awesome, so being able to draft anything at any time is a win for the fun column.
What's a little worrying is that, in normal years, the player who gets the No. 1 pick becomes the favorite to win the pool. The “team draft” approach also limits the number of people who can participate in the pool. In other words, the “free money guaranteed to lose” slot (usually submitted by a friend with four children under the age of 7, but who still submits because they want to join the collective power of the group); What's in this pool?
Auction style drawings
How to play: Similar to a fantasy auction draft, each participant is given a fake money budget (say, $30). Each participant nominate a team for their group to bid on. The highest bidder wins the team. The draft ends when all 12 CFP teams have been drafted. A team win is worth 1 point and a championship win is worth 2 points.
analysis: It gets a little spicier as it progresses here. It further levels the playing field and gives everyone a chance to make it to the top teams in the playoffs. Value buyers can try to acquire mid-seed teams. The frugal participants will likely end up staying at SMU and Clemson. Overall, this approach allows participants to target the players they want and not be shut out of the pick due to being too low in the draft order. Again, the draft is crazy. Auction style drafts are doper. Additionally, successful auction drafts require the use of Zoom/video conferencing. That way you'll have a reason to yell at your friends through your computer.
blind bidding
How to play: Each CFP team has certain costs. The amount is the inverse of the seed, with No. 1 overall Oregon receiving $12 and No. 12 Clemson receiving $1. Participants can only bid for one team. In all but one scenario, any participant can select an $8 “bet on the field” to win all non-bid teams. Those teams will likely be Clemson and SMU in the bracket. These bids will be submitted individually to the commissioner. No matter which team wins, the participants who chose that team will split the prize money.
analysis: Are you confused? It's a bit wild, but essentially “blind bidding” allows all participants to choose the team they think will win. However, if you choose the favorite, there is a high possibility that the amount of increase in prize money will be smaller. Contrarians who choose the disadvantaged team are rewarded. There is an additional element called “betting on the field”, which increases the chances of a champion being crowned in some years and big payouts depending on the year. This approach also allows for a wide range of people to participate, even though the right number of participants is likely to reach the Goldilocks zone.
Negativity has everything to do with confusion. And to be honest, this whole idea is untested. Getting back to the whitewash of college football, if everyone bet on the No. 1 seed to win, and that actually happened, no one would actually make any money.
On the other hand, if there was an upset and there was a sole bidder who favored the sixth-seeded team, and that team won it all, that bidder would be pretty happy. I also like the mystery box element of this approach. There will be some excitement as everyone sees who bids. And if you happen to be the “sole bidder” for that No. 6 seed, the excitement level will be pretty high.
