I don't think they did.
I haven't looked at the polls this week, but last week, there was no G5 team in the top 25. But Memphis was put into the 12 spot.
I'm saying that that the rule should be that if you aren't in the top X teams (whatever X is), you aren't in the playoffs, no matter which other criteria you meet.
If no G5 team (*conference winner) makes it into the top 25, then no G5 team should be in the playoff.
Same goes for ACC, SEC, Big Ten, whatever. I mean, I can't really imagine a situation where a P4 conference winner isn't in the top 25, but if you aren't in the top 25, I don't care how many conferences you won, you aren't in the playoff.
That's my vote.
Oh, I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you meant they should pick a number for polls to count as "ranked", and didn't equate that to the playoffs. I don't really care what the playoff committee does as far as selecting the 12 "best teams", meeting automatic bid requirements, there are always going to be arguments about who was in and left out. I would like to see the ranking system taken down to like a top 10, and solely for talk points. Everyone knows that the rankings are made up and arbitrary and hold no actual weight, especially the further back you get. Just do a classic "top 10" list, which is A) more clear in narrowing down some of the "best" teams from "the rest" and B) more defined and honest. I feel like right now the polls are just writers and coaches (let's be honest though, more likely aides to those folks) probably putting effort into the first 10 or so, and then just filling out the rest based on their prior rating, or pulling names from a hat, etc. Nothing after 15 matters in the grand scheme anyway, other than for the SEC to thump their chest. Keep it simple. Pick your 10 best teams, find the cumulative 10 best teams, and occasionally there's a top 10 game on the schedule to pimp.
My real fix action would never happen, but I'd love to see 12 conferences of 10 teams each. 9 Conference games determine a champion, who makes the 12 team playoff (which is seeded by a committee, no selection process, just seeds). 3 Non-conference games at the beginning of the season to serve both as a chance to warm-up/get to know your team, and a chance to "look good" against other conferences when trying to earn a 1st round bye or host the 1st round, should you make the tournament. Otherwise, these games don't matter in terms of making the playoffs, much like an NFL pre-season. Here, you could get those marquee games out of conference without it hurting either team in the long run. These games allow you to test some things (can your kicker make that 60 yard FG? Still uncertain of your QB battle, test them both out these 3 games, etc.)
