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It's Official! College Football Playoff to begin in 2014


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#21 DJ MC

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 12:51 AM

My problem with March Madness is even though I love the event, I don't think the champion is exactly reflective(or close to it) on who had the best season or is the most deserving.

I'm not sure why that matters, though. The best teams--or very close to it--win far more often than not. The last time a top-three seed didn't win the tournament was Arizona in 1997: a four seed. An eighth seed has won (Villanova) along with a couple of sixth seeds, but about 90 percent of the time a number-one seed wins.

If you did what I want to see and run a 16-team playoff with all eleven conference winners and five at-larges, you might get the Sun Belt winner beating the SEC champion once in a while, but the championship will still likely be Texas versus USC. The point is that each team has a real honest chance to win every year by controlling their own destiny. New Mexico State or Bowling Green probably would never actually win, but they could. That should be the goal of the competition.

Right now the goal of the competition is the exact same as the goal of the business: more money, for as few schools as possible.

#22 Nuclear Dish

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 04:13 AM

Here's a concern you almost never hear:

Once you expand to the 16-team model, how long until you start getting Division I-A (aka FBS) flooded with smaller programs, all wanting a piece of the playoff pie? That's what's happened in basketball.

Up until about 2000 there were about 300 NCAA D-I basketball teams. Now there are 350. So in a decade, we've seen a 17% increase in the number of teams.

There is so much to gain from having a shot a making the show. If you can win your conference, crappy though it may be, even though you'll only get to the play-in game, you gain TV money and serious brand recognition and exposure for your school.

It will likely be the same in football. 11 conference champs? There are currently 124 teams in FBS. If there's a 17% increase, that's about an additional 21 teams. I can name you 15-20 teams that are borderline ready to move up right now.

That's 2 more conferences. So now it's 13 conference champs and only 3 at-large bids. How long until that's not enough and they decide to go to 32 teams?

Where does it end? In basketball, they recently considered expansion of the tournament to 96 teams. Fortunately, they decided against it, only expanding to 68. I still remember when it was 48 (and I'm young compared to those who remember it as a 16-team tournament).

I'm really in favor of the biggest programs breaking away from the NCAA and creating their own association of 80 or so teams in 5-8 reasonable (both size-wise, competition-wise, and geographically) divisions/conferences for all competition. Keep your championships to a reasonable size too and watch the TV dollars roll in.

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#23 Oriole85

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 10:49 AM

I'm not sure why that matters, though. The best teams--or very close to it--win far more often than not. The last time a top-three seed didn't win the tournament was Arizona in 1997: a four seed. An eighth seed has won (Villanova) along with a couple of sixth seeds, but about 90 percent of the time a number-one seed wins.

If you did what I want to see and run a 16-team playoff with all eleven conference winners and five at-larges, you might get the Sun Belt winner beating the SEC champion once in a while, but the championship will still likely be Texas versus USC. The point is that each team has a real honest chance to win every year by controlling their own destiny. New Mexico State or Bowling Green probably would never actually win, but they could. That should be the goal of the competition.

Right now the goal of the competition is the exact same as the goal of the business: more money, for as few schools as possible.

And I feel unless a Boise State really earned it, basically winning all their games and having a difficult schedule(schedule the toughest possible out-of-conference games) in the process, they have no right to be in this tournament. If they do what I stated above, they should get a top four seed. In a 16-team tournament though, they could probably schedule cupcakes for their out-of-conference portion and still be in it.
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#24 Oriole85

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 10:59 AM

Here's a concern you almost never hear:

Once you expand to the 16-team model, how long until you start getting Division I-A (aka FBS) flooded with smaller programs, all wanting a piece of the playoff pie? That's what's happened in basketball.

Up until about 2000 there were about 300 NCAA D-I basketball teams. Now there are 350. So in a decade, we've seen a 17% increase in the number of teams.

There is so much to gain from having a shot a making the show. If you can win your conference, crappy though it may be, even though you'll only get to the play-in game, you gain TV money and serious brand recognition and exposure for your school.

It will likely be the same in football. 11 conference champs? There are currently 124 teams in FBS. If there's a 17% increase, that's about an additional 21 teams. I can name you 15-20 teams that are borderline ready to move up right now.

That's 2 more conferences. So now it's 13 conference champs and only 3 at-large bids. How long until that's not enough and they decide to go to 32 teams?

Where does it end? In basketball, they recently considered expansion of the tournament to 96 teams. Fortunately, they decided against it, only expanding to 68. I still remember when it was 48 (and I'm young compared to those who remember it as a 16-team tournament).

I'm really in favor of the biggest programs breaking away from the NCAA and creating their own association of 80 or so teams in 5-8 reasonable (both size-wise, competition-wise, and geographically) divisions/conferences for all competition. Keep your championships to a reasonable size too and watch the TV dollars roll in.

I think you raise a great point with the 16-team playoff model. The more teams you let in, the greedier you see other schools get. And I said, you'll be seeing the #17, 18, etc, thinking they "deserved" it. Also, the rewards on fielding a competitive football team trump that of men's basketball, so I totally see where you are coming from.

The winning the crappy conferences doesn't just extend to the "small" conferences in basketball. As a Colorado alum, i'll be the first to admit in a "real" conference, we would have little chance at best being in the dance this past year. But because the Pac-12 was so weak and went on that run in the conference tournament, we got the program to heights thats have been seen in many years.

There is basically two *unofficial* classifications of 1-A/FBS schools, you got the "BCS" level ones and the "mid-majors."

I do think the current NCAA basketball works, although I do think they'll eventually expand to 96 and then fold the NIT like they've talked about before and making those first round loses play a consolation tournament (reminds me of youth tennis). I wouldn't mind if the NCAA went back to 48 teams, but that's not happening. Just keep it at 68 hopefully, makes the brackets fun.
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#25 DJ MC

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 11:39 AM

And I feel unless a Boise State really earned it, basically winning all their games and having a difficult schedule(schedule the toughest possible out-of-conference games) in the process, they have no right to be in this tournament. If they do what I stated above, they should get a top four seed. In a 16-team tournament though, they could probably schedule cupcakes for their out-of-conference portion and still be in it.

Maybe they should, but do you really think they WOULD?

#26 Oriole85

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 11:53 AM

Maybe they should, but do you really think they WOULD?

Yes I do. I do think that many teams don't want to schedule them though, it's not like Alabama wants to schedule them before Auburn instead of Samford. That being said, they still need to play their best possible schedule.
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#27 DJ MC

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 02:56 PM

Yes I do. I do think that many teams don't want to schedule them though, it's not like Alabama wants to schedule them before Auburn instead of Samford. That being said, they still need to play their best possible schedule.

So they need to play the best possible schedule...even though no one will schedule them ;)

#28 Oriole85

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Posted 31 July 2012 - 03:05 PM

So they need to play the best possible schedule...even though no one will schedule them ;)

Yep, life isn't fair. Sorry to sound cliche but either that or improve their academics and join the Pac-12.
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#29 Oriole85

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Posted 24 September 2012 - 01:09 PM

ESPN: Sources: BCS caps '15 final bid sites

http://espn.go.com/c...ies-sources-say

The four current BCS bowls -- the Fiesta in Glendale, Ariz., Orange in Miami, Sugar in New Orleans and Rose in Pasadena, Calif. -- along with the Cotton (Arlington, Texas) and Chick-fil-A (Atlanta) bowls will be the only sites that will have the opportunity to host the 2015 title game.


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#30 BSLMikeLowe

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Posted 24 September 2012 - 01:20 PM

ESPN: Sources: BCS caps '15 final bid sites

http://espn.go.com/c...ies-sources-say


I may have missed it, but have they determined where the semi-final games will be played? I'd be in favor of having the higher-seeded team host it, but thought I heard they were considering either neutral sites or existing bowl games.

Also wonder what happens to the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls if they are not involved in the playoff in any way? The Rose and Orange Bowls seem to have secured their "BCS-like" status for the long term, but with the SEC and Big XII champions (or more likely the runner-up) going to their newly-created bowl game, there don't appear to be many options for the Fiesta and Sugar, other than to lock in lower-tier teams.

#31 Oriole85

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Posted 25 September 2012 - 10:18 AM

I may have missed it, but have they determined where the semi-final games will be played? I'd be in favor of having the higher-seeded team host it, but thought I heard they were considering either neutral sites or existing bowl games.

Also wonder what happens to the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls if they are not involved in the playoff in any way? The Rose and Orange Bowls seem to have secured their "BCS-like" status for the long term, but with the SEC and Big XII champions (or more likely the runner-up) going to their newly-created bowl game, there don't appear to be many options for the Fiesta and Sugar, other than to lock in lower-tier teams.

I believe it was those six existing sites (BCS bowls + Dallas/Atlanta) for the semis.

The BCS bowls in non-playoff years will just be glorified exhibitions, involving higher-ranked teams, like every non-BCS national championship game Bowl currently is.
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#32 BSLMikeLowe

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Posted 26 September 2012 - 02:42 PM

Not sure I follow:

http://collegefootba...-face-best-rest

A tentative plan for the new college football postseason calls for a Pac-12 or Big 12 team to face the best team from a group of five conferences, including the Big East.

A person with direct knowledge of the plan for the four-team playoff in 2014 tells The Associated Press that either a Pac-12 or a Big 12 team likely will be the opponent for the top-rated champion from the Big East, Mountain West, Conference USA, Sun Belt and Mid-American Conference.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the conferences did not want to make the plan public.

The proposal has the Pac-12 sending either its champion or a replacement team to the game in years when the Rose Bowl hosts a national semifinal.


So is this part of the playoff, a new bowl game, or an existing bowl game? :?:
Either way, it's pretty much living proof of Big East football's decline in status.

EDIT: A revised article expands on this a bit. Looks like it will be a newly created game, and will be among the top-tier games in the new system. If this is accepted, it means there will be 7 top-tier bowl games (this game, the four current BCS Bowls plus the semi-final games), and that one team from the current non-AQ conferences (which will soon include the BE) will have guaranteed access.

http://collegefootba...-face-best-rest

#33 Oriole85

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Posted 24 October 2012 - 12:48 PM

ESPN: Sources: 7th access bowl unlikely

http://espn.go.com/c...ely-sources-say

However, this is becoming more unlikely because of a myriad of concerns and obstacles involved for a seventh access bowl. Among them: The bowl's lesser worth compared to the other access bowls, the difficulty of selling tickets for an annual bowl featuring a non-power conference team and finding a bowl that wants to host the game that also meets the stadium capacity requirements for an access bowl and the national semifinals, sources said.


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#34 Oriole85

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Posted 25 October 2012 - 03:21 PM

ESPN: Champions Bowl set to name site

http://espn.go.com/c...leans-arlington

The name of the "Champions Bowl" will be either the Sugar Bowl (if in New Orleans) or Cotton Bowl (if in Arlington). The "Champions Bowl" name was just a placeholder until a site was chosen.


I didn't realize this was going to be an existing bowl game. Color me confused by the whole process.
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#35 DJ MC

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Posted 25 October 2012 - 03:25 PM

ESPN: Champions Bowl set to name site

http://espn.go.com/c...leans-arlington



I didn't realize this was going to be an existing bowl game. Color me confused by the whole process.

Don't be confused. It wasn't supposed to be an existing game. I like that it is, though. Especially at the Cotton Bowl.

#36 Oriole85

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Posted 25 October 2012 - 03:39 PM

Don't be confused. It wasn't supposed to be an existing game. I like that it is, though. Especially at the Cotton Bowl.

I didn't realize that, I'm a bit confused with the whole "access" and "contract" thing to begin with. Good thing I'll have a few years to brush up on the changes! :D
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#37 Oriole85

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Posted 26 October 2012 - 02:56 PM

ESPN: Support high for marquee bowl

http://espn.go.com/c...-bowl-not-waned
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#38 Oriole85

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Posted 29 October 2012 - 10:37 AM

ESPN: Utah attorney general won't sue BCS

http://espn.go.com/c...tem-agreed-upon
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#39 DJ MC

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Posted 06 November 2012 - 07:14 PM

http://collegefootba... ... ions-bowl/

#40 Oriole85

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Posted 09 November 2012 - 05:57 PM

ESPN: Chiefs to urge group of 6-bowl semis

http://espn.go.com/c...on-sources-said
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