Here's the latest
1 LSU
2 Oregon
3 Kansas
4 Oklahoma
5 Missouri
6 West Virginia
7 Ohio State
8 Arizona State
9 Georgia
10 Virginia Tech
11 Southern California
12 Florida
13 Texas
14 Virginia
15 Clemson
16 Hawaii
If you know me, you know how much I hate the BCS. The argument this week will come from Kansas. They'll say how are we 10-0 and not in the title game. The rest of the country will be happy because they know LSU and Oregon are the 2 best teams. How do they know? They don't. The system makes them decide on just 2 teams, so they justify it by talking about schedules and conference strength and crap like that. Bottom line, how do you tell Kansas congrats on going 10-0 in the Big 12, but you probably won't get in the big game. But wait, if they beat Mizz and OU in San Antonio, they have to be in right? Probably. Then you have to tell either Oregon or LSU they don't have shot at a title? Stupid. College football is the only sport on the planet where the 3rd best team has no shot. That's why no other sport on the planet would have a system that illogical. I put the top 16 up cause I think that's the ultimate playoff. Let's look at the match ups.
1-16 - LSU v Hawaii - I know Hawaii probably gets whacked, but at least they get a shot.
2-15 - Oregon v Clemson - Can a Pac 10 defense deal with those backs?
3-14 - Kansas v Virginia - Make Kansas actually play a non-conference game
4-13 - OU v UT - Do I really need to explain why this would be cool?
5-12 - Fl v Mizz - Mr. Teebo, meet Mr. Daniel
6-11 - WV v USC - Do you like to watch speed on a football field?
7-10 - Ohio St. v VT - Those 2 defenses cracking heads? I think I'd watch.
8-9 - Az St. v Ga - Both teams could be bad match ups for lots of teams.
I'd go into possible future round match ups, but I'd just start to cry. And of course the bowls are part of it. If you have a 4 team, it's 3 bowls. 8 team gets you 7 bowls involved. And a 16 team playoff would be 15 bowls. Quick, name 15 bowls you think are awesome.... Exactly. So you'd make smaller bowls more important, the bigger bowls even bigger, and you'd determine an actual national champion. Pretty cool, huh? Oh and there's a little money to be made. Keep dreaming and thinking cause we've got to fix this before I'm dead.
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4 comments:
It is absolutely ridiculous that College Football doesn't have some kind of playoff (at least give us a +1 game). I've heard all of the arguments against them and none of them make any sense to me.
Chad, why do you think there is so much resistance a playoff?
These things typically boil down to money but since it seems like a playoff would generate even more money, I'm stumped.
CD, I think you're right about the money. But it's about how much money and who gets it. The bowl folks and the conference folks still want their cut. Maybe they think TV will take too much money away. I don't know. One theory I've heard Erin Hogan talk about is maybe they know what they will create money wise and think it will get so big players will start asking for their share. Also don't forget about the role university presidents play in this. We need more guys like the pres. at Florida shaking things up. Thanks for the comment. Feel free to post your comments on this or any other post just like CD did. Thanks again to everybody for supporting the blog. I'm putting a web show together, so stay tuned.
Note: Please excuse the length of this comment.
While trying to come up with an angle from which to play devil's advocate, I came across a question that bothers me: Why do conferences have bowl affiliations? Is it to ensure that a conference, no matter how weak or strong their teams are in a given year, can always count on getting bowl money from X number of bowls regardless? Or is it a matter of ensuring that a conference gets exposure in a part of the country they normally wouldn't be seen for the purposes of recruiting out-of-state talent? Is it a combination of the two, or is it something else entirely? Think of an answer while I present my main point.
My sincere hope is that someone with the NCAA is working on a feasible playoff system, and that they don't want to say anything out of fear that they would be flooded with outside influences trying to tell them how to run their show. That is my hope, because surely even the oldest of old-schoolers would be willing to change when they realized how much money their is to be made. Yes, the very same old-schoolers who softened on their Big 10/Pac 10/Rose Bowl stance after the instant classics that were UT/UM and UT/USC. However, seeing it from their point of view, the only real problem is the possible problem of revenue imbalance where the rich would only get richer.
Case in point: according to your playoff seedings (which the nerd in me also loves to do for fun and frustration), here is how the conference representation breaks down:
Big 12 - 4
SEC, ACC, Pac 10 - 3 each
Big East, Big 10, WAC - 1 each
So far, not too much to complain about. In fact, four of the conferences would see more revenue than they would under the current BCS system (which caps conferences at the conference champ plus the possibility of an at-large), with 2 BCS conferences basically getting the same guaranteed revenue they normally would. Even a non-BCS school gets in on the money-making fun, and this is only the FIRST ROUND of playoffs.
But let's just say, for the sake of illustration, that UT beats OU, KU beats UVA, and Mizzou beats Florida. That means they all make it to the second round. Then UT beats Mizzou and KU beats WV. Third round - UT beats LSU, KU beats Oregon. This sets up a KU/UT championship which Texas would win. By the way, I should mention again that this is strictly for the point of illustration.
I present this scenario because, of the 30 possible purses for 15 possible bowls in the 16 team playoff system, a Big 12 team would have occupied 11 of the 30 spots, including the 2 purses for the title game. Not to say this would happen, but it could happen, in which case I'd say you'd have one hell of a disproportionate payday.
Frankly, I don't have an answer for how to remedy this, nor do I want to think about the recruiting violations that would take place among schools trying to get over the playoff hump. That said, I still like the idea of a playoff. It is insane to ignore that much fan excitement and, yes, that much money. Which brings me back to the initial question I posed.
I'm sure some critics would say, fine, a playoff system is great for those 15 bowls, but what about the other 17 that would get ignored? Well, don't ignore them. Bowls are exhibitions anyway, so make them better exhibitions. Seventeen remaining bowls means 34 slots. Award each conference champ not represented in the playoffs an automatic slot. Then allow the bowls to draft whoever they damn well please. Would Troy/Michigan be any less unwatchable than Fresno State/East Carolina? It might actually be, dare I say, exciting football.
I hope this makes at least some sense and, again, sorry for the length of the post.
David, I think you answered your own question. I think it is a combination of those elements. You could take all the money and evenly spread it among the BCS conferences, but what about the Hawaii and Boise St of that year? You could spread the cash across all conferences, but the Big 12 would gripe because they have 4 teams in, but get the same money as the WAC. To me, it would have to be like it is now. If you go, the university gets most of it, and the conference gets the rest. But which conferences get in would be a big question. If they sit down and use the hoops tournament as a model, I bet they could figure it out.
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