re: Why Do People Think A Bye In the CFP is a Good Idea?

Well that's why I said it would depend on the circumstances. It would certainly be a stretch, but picture a team who goes to their conference championship at 8-4 (unlikely but possible) and wins against a highly ranked 1 loss team to finish 9-4; maybe on top of that they have 1-2 more quality wins, and the rest of the field in this particular year is weak (much like this year). A 9-4 conference champ could possibly make an 8 team playoff, they would just need the right circumstances. I'm not saying this would happen every year merely that it could happen. I think there would definitely be 3-loss teams, there is already a 3 loss team in Auburn ranked at 7 this year. I think that is where Auburn should be ranked though given how they finished the year, and that they are a very good 10-3 team.

I'm also assuming in my hypothetical that conference champ games have not been scrapped in an 8-team playoff, which is probably not the safest assumption if the playoff ever expands to 8.

Didn’t Bama get a bye his year?