I hope this doesn’t come as a complete shock to some of you, but as the BCS meetings get underway, the kids aren’t playing well with each other. Go figure.
… Sources told the Chicago Tribune three weeks ago that a plan favored by some Big Ten decision-makers would remove the top four teams from the bowl pool and have the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds host semifinal games.
Three benefits: An end to the sham of “neutral site” games in places such as New Orleans and Miami; both fan bases would not have to travel for consecutive games; and regular-season games would add meaning.
But sources are skeptical that leagues such as the Southeastern Conference would OK the potential for prime-time December games in places such as Columbus, Ann Arbor or Madison, Wis.
Don’t forget: Under the current format, SEC teams have won six consecutive national titles.
College football’s TV partners also appear to favor having bowls host the semifinal games. If the top four teams are removed from the bowl pool, it would break with tradition and devalue the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange.
Delany’s pissing off the SEC and ESPN? Yeah, this is gonna go smoothly.
Get The Picture 
Seriously, Big Ten, GFY. We’re not giving your teams home field advantage in a playoff just because you feel sorry for yourselves that you typically don’t beat an SEC team on a neutral field (certainly not in a big game).
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If the alternative is becoming the NFL with home games in the postseason and all of the other crap, I’m just fine with never having a “legitimate” national champion.
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+100. At least one other person feels the same way I do.
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Certainly not with eligible players.
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Get rid of the Orange Bowl since no one ever goes anyway. Replace it with a bowl game in Indy. Replace the Fiesta because of their corruption and replace it with the Cotton in Dallas. Then you have 4 major bowls in each region of the country…NOLA, Dallas, Pasadena and Indy.
I am adamantly opposed to home field advantage because it is patently unfair to the #3 and #4 teams.
On the other hand, if folks don’t believe LSU has a huge advantage playing in the Sugar Bowl, they believe in the tooth fairy. Ditto with USC in Pasadena.
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I think if they do go w/ the whole “throw CFB’s history out the window” approach for a playoff, the logical choice would be to make it more regional v true homefield advantage… think March Madness regionals.
That way the big bowls, Sugar and Rose, as well as Cotton, somewhat retain their traditional luster. The Midwest is the only gaping hole, as they have zero bowl history… if they could figure out how to effectively squeeze a real football game into Wrigley, maybe there could be something there. Good suggestion though
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What’s wrong with Soldier Field?
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Or Atlanta for that matter.
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If Chicago had a domed stadium the regional games could work. Nobody wants to travel to any of the other Midwest cities. Indianapolis? Detroit?
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Last I heard, no Big10 teams have a domed stadium and that’s where Delaney wants to play the games.
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I whole heartedly endorse having home fields for the opening rounds to ensure full, passionate stadiums on short notice and to make certain every game during the season is important to win. This, along with a cap at 8 teams will make CFB playoffs a successful concept.
What I don’t buy is the concern over playing anywhere in mid-December. Could you catch a cold day? Sure, but that can happen in Lexington and Athens in November, especially at night. The myth about southern teams being paralyzed by fear of temps in the 30s or 40s is much ado about nothing. I also think the northern teams whining about SEC teams having a “home field advantage” in bowls is another unfounded excuse.
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+1
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I was fishing in IL on Christmas Eve. And I do not mean ice fishing. Pretty sure the players could handle playing on a day in the 40’s-50’s.
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Having Bowl games in the region does benefit those closest when trying to fill the stands. How many UGA fans do you think would journey to Ann Arbor to fill a 100k plus stadium? Noise levels when the Dawgs score vs noise levels if a Big 10 team scores? There certainly is an advantage to the SEC when the game is in the South. So what? Traditionally they have been in the South and no one bitched if a Big 10 team won.
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I wouldn’t have a problem with home field rounds, except that it would be a ticket distribution nightmare unless there was some time between the last regular season game/CCG and the first round. Something like this on that large a scale has not been done before…the visiting team would not know until the Sunday night before the playoff game where they would be playing and pre-determining ticket distribution and then getting them out to the fans would be a Herculean task. That does not count getting airline tickets or hotel rooms. A fixed, pre-determined site eliminates that problem as it would be handled like the bowl games are right now.
The Big Ten and other conferences limit visiting fans to 3K. To me, that would be big time wrong and too much like the NFL. CFB is about traveling to road games and bands from both schools. Not sure I want some committee in a smoke filled room deciding that my team has to go to Corvallis or Madison or the Carrier Dome vice playing at a fixed, somewhat more neutral site.
Have a break between the end of the season and a liberal visiting ticket policy like the SEC has, then maybe I can buy into it. There is no doubt, two games at relatively distant locations is going to be a huge burden on fans who want to travel with their team.
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We are not an ignorant fan base when it comes to Delaney. You know full well, while he is putting this suggestion like he is going to pursue it, the other side of his mouth has something else in mind. Remember how many teams he let drop he wanted to get into the Big10 by suggesting a megaconference and its strength? Slive bit like a catfish on lye soap. Remember the shopping lists everyone was putting out on this blog? How many did Delaney finally add to his jock strap and padded shoulders divisions?
By including the SEC and ESPN interests together in his proposed changes he has screwed the pooch.
Don’t trust Delaney. He constantly has shit up his sleeve when he “shares” with the NCAA. He is a toothless lion, ruled so by the SEC Championship Teams. He has rigged the Rose Bowl and made it irrelevent competitively when the SEC beats the crap out of most Pac12 and Big10 teams. It’s time we tuned his bluffin’ ass out.
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Having teams host the opening round is really the only way to avoid having empty seats like the basketball tourney has. Between the opening week of December with championship Saturday and mid-December, the top seeded teams can easily handle ticket sales to their current fan base, and still offer 5-8K tickets to the visiting team. ( Plus they already know they are in contention weeks before that.)
Having both fan groups have to scramble for tickets, room reservations, and flights to a “neutral” site is where the train will jump the track. Give the top seeds an edge, and something to play for. I don’t see the whining about that. It would make it very special, and have it handled by an organization that is already in place. If not, prepare for scalpers in the host city to buy up all the tickets and we can read more about counterfeit scams.
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