Admittedly, I'm someone who ABSOLUTELY HATES the idea of a 24-team playoff. But, it's official that we'll be stuck with one starting in 2027.

But, at least one silver lining is the Big-10 will finally agree that all teams have to play at least one Power-4/ND opponent in the out-of-conference schedule. Notably, Oregon has no such opponent on their 2027 schedule as of today. There are currently three other Power-4 teams (outside of the Big-10) that are also missing a P4/ND opponent:

Texas Tech

TCU

Missouri

So which team would you like for the Ducks to add? I'll give three options:

1. Drop Western Kentucky on 9/18, which then becomes a bye week. Add TCU as the new opener on 8/28 (TCU would drop Sam Houston State on 9/18, which would also become a bye week for them).

2. Drop Coastal Carolina on 9/11 and add Texas Tech (Texas Tech currently doesn't have a game scheduled on 9/11)

3. Add Missouri as the new opener on 8/28 and then drop Western Kentucky on 9/18, which becomes a bye week. (Mizzou would also drop one of their current OOC games, which would become a bye week for them)

Any of those options would be ok with me. Personally I'd prefer matching up against Missouri to potentially get a win against a SEC team, but I'd settle for a Big-12 matchup as well.

But what would you guys prefer?

Play the best opponent available and learn the most about our team. Regular season losses don't matter any more. Take the upside for strength of schedule. If you lose, you can lose another couple times and still make the playoffs.

23 minutes ago, mikethehiker said:

Play the best opponent available and learn the most about our team. Regular season losses don't matter any more. Take the upside for strength of schedule. If you lose, you can lose another couple times and still make the playoffs.

What you say makes sense and sounds logical, except there is zero evidence that SOS has ever, or will ever matter.

It's all about wins and losses.

Play somebody weak, run up the score, play backups. That's the way.

1 minute ago, DanLduck said:

What you say makes sense and sounds logical, except there is zero evidence that SOS has ever, or will ever matter.

It's all about wins and losses.

Play somebody weak, run up the score, play backups. That's the way

Agree, let the first two games be non-Power 4 games, let the third game be the Power 4 game.

Teams with a 2027 scheduling problem include Oregon, Indiana, and USC.

A game against Oregon State and Washington State next season counts as a Power 4 contest.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-expansion-indiana-usc-2027-schedules/

For all those who hate a 24-team PO. It's a 16-team PO with eight on-campus play-in games featuring teams that would instead have played in crummy bowl games off-campus, with many of the best players sitting out the exhibition bowl game.

Better out-of-conference games will be scheduled. SOS will matter when sorting out the top 8 and the top 16 seeds. The fans of teams that have no blue blood will have a reason to support their team until the end of the season.

On the verge of 80 years of age, I can't count the number of times I've been told that postseason expansion will destroy the regular season. It hasn't happened, including in Major League Baseball, where Tony Petitti helped engineer postseason expansion.

Somewhat ironic that our 2026 that has been criticized by some meets the new requirement but 2027 doesn't.

Perfect opportunity for home/home series with Cal/Stanford and the Arizona schools. Maybe Utah and Colorado too.

I'm curious if they'll require the domers to play 10 A4 games to be eligible or treat them like a G6 team.

56 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

Teams with a 2027 scheduling problem include Oregon, Indiana, and USC.

A game against Oregon State and Washington State next season counts as a Power 4 contest.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-expansion-indiana-usc-2027-schedules/

For all those who hate a 24-team PO. It's a 16-team PO with eight on-campus play-in games featuring teams that would instead have played in crummy bowl games off-campus, with many of the best players sitting out the exhibition bowl game.

Better out-of-conference games will be scheduled. SOS will matter when sorting out the top 8 and the top 16 seeds. The fans of teams that have no blue blood will have a reason to support their team until the end of the season.

On the verge of 80 years of age, I can't count the number of times I've been told that postseason expansion will destroy the regular season. It hasn't happened, including in Major League Baseball, where Tony Petitti helped engineer postseason expansion.

Pac12 is G6. How would OSU and WSU count as P4?

"A handful of teams are currently saved by a unique carve out for Oregon State and Washington State under the new rules. For 2027, Oregon State and Washington State still count as P4 teams after the old Pac-12 abandoned them, the CFP confirmed to CBS Sports' Richard Johnson."

I guess this is their participation trophy.🤣

"Pac12 is G6. How would OSU and WSU count as P4?"

Washington had earlier received a Big Ten "waiver" for scheduling WSU as the B1G now requires 10 Power4 games. This happened before today's CFP announcement. So, the WSU matchup will now also satisfy the CFP for 2027.

Oregon has 3 non-Power4 non-conference games in 2027. OSU is not on their schedule. So, they will have to drop a non-con opponent, and find another Power4 opponent. OSU has 2027 games against BYU and Ole Miss, so those two opponents will not have to drop OSU due to today's announcement. Though, BYU also has Notre Dame in 2027 and would have been ok.

I suppose that is an additional option for Oregon? Get BYU to drop OSU (August 28) and help them find a replacement, which would make OSU available to Oregon.

On another note, UW is considering extending their WSU matchups to 2030. After 2027 WSU would not qualify as their 10th Power4.

Many schools such as Cal, Stanford, ASU, Utah, Arizona already have their 10th opponent. Though in Arizona's case it is WSU.

It appears the Ducks will have to look East to find the 10th.

4 hours ago, DanLduck said:

What you say makes sense and sounds logical, except there is zero evidence that SOS has ever, or will ever matter.

It's all about wins and losses.

Play somebody weak, run up the score, play backups. That's the way.

Wrong objective IMHO. Goal isn't a win. Goal is to roll the dice on a quality win and if you lose, you learn so much more about your team in preparation for conference play. Now that you can lose 3-4 games per year, what's the downside? If you can't make a 24 team playoff, you have no business competing for a championship that year.

1 hour ago, Solar said:

Pac12 is G6. How would OSU and WSU count as P4?

They were Power 5 members when scheduled. Thus, the one-year grace period.