There is an old joke about Jewish folks of a certain generation and their ability to see the world solely through the single lens of “yes, but is it good for the Jews?”. No matter how insignificant or how secular any matter might be, its sole justification to exist for those folks was a positive response to that question.
I mention that only because I think I’ve discovered a similar mindset in the world of college football.
Get The Picture 
Alabama’s been great, but calling them an “ongoing dynasty” is a bit much, albeit unsurprising.
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Typical Alabama fans, always about them. Whether something is “right” or not doesn’t matter as long as it’s good for Alabama.
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I have to admit that, while I was pretty excited to think that all Georgia had to do was be in the top 4 and we’d have our chance, now I’m a little worried about whether or not the Dawgs will ever be allowed to be considered in the top 4.
I guess I’m guilty of looking at this new scenario in the same way, ‘yes, but is this good for the Dawgs?’. I hate to sound pessimistic, but I’m not so sure this is any better for us, really, than what we had before.
Is this selection committe going to put 2 SEC teams in the top 4? I really doubt it. I just think they’ll be able to point to too many things (strength of schedule) and argue that there are not TWO deserving teams from any conference (unless it’s the B1G TEN, of course).
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the linked article is too narrow. It really is an “SEC Dynasty” and yes, this new playoff model is all about breaking that up.
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Bama has more “MNCs” (2) in this century than SEC titles (1). IMO, they have a stronger claim for the “dynasty” adjective nationally than in the Southeast. I hope it is Bama we meet in Atlanta this December should we go 11-1.
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Or 12-0 (hopefully).
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A 12-0 Georgia team beating a preferably 12-0 Alabama team in 2012 would be poetic on so many levels. Mostly because it would be Georgia loudly announcing that it had returned to the vanguard of the SEC by defeating the team that ushered in our wanderings in the wilderness the last few years.
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I was allowing for that famous hiccup game. Give me the SEC title and I really don’t care what the record is, although I bleed single malt scotch after every loss. I know some will complain about the schedule if UGA finds a way to block this year, but every SEC title is precious. (As much as I hate the heat, it means we are getting close to summer practice. The excitement is beginning to build.)
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I’m OK with a hiccup game if it’s Missouri. Because then we’re still SEC champs, lost when our depth was depleted early, and still beat Florida, Auburn, and Tech.
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It delights me to see you write those words because the media hype was so high last year that they succeeded in placing Bama and LSU too high on the pedestal for all to reach, especially in a few UGA fans’s minds. They are the same teams year in and year out that we have faced and beaten and/or lost to. Nothing new. I too hope we face Bama for the simple reason to enforce in our younger fans that bought the hype that we can beat them as often as they beat us.
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UGA is 3-1 against Bama during the Richt era.
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I reminded a Bammer of that fact at a dinner party in Birmingham a few years ago. All I heard in response was “Mike Shula *rabblemumblerabble* when you gonna fire your coach *rabblerabble*.”
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You know, Saban is a successful coach and has won wherever he has been. He is at Bama right now and Bama is winning right now. But I remember in the not too distant past when Bama REALLY SUCKED and that lasted for about 20 years with only a few intermittent good teams (10 wins or more) sprinkled in every so often. Man do the Bammers have a selective memory–or is it really collective amnesia? I was with a group of them the other day when one commented that UGA was lucky the Dawgs didn’t have to play Bama last season. I retorted that Bama was lucky the Tide didn’t have to play UGA last season, too. Got a lot of icy stares with that one.
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Richt actually has a higher winning percentage than Saban and until ’09 Saban had never posted back to back double digit wins. But to paraphrase Aaron Murray, it’s all about and people only remember, championships.
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Will this new committee put two SEC teams in and leave a big 10 champ out if the situation presents itself? God I hope so.
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No way.
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If it comes down to TV ratings I have to wonder if regional balance and representation in major markets becomes a factor.
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While I cannot imagine any game at this stage that would not have strong ratings, there is a sizable group in the northeast who feel ND is the only college team that exists. ND is not my preference at all, but if rankings can be influenced to get the domers in you can bet all the networks (all based in the northeast) will do their best…and they will get significantly higher ratings.
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I’m a lot less worried about ND horning its way into undeserved bowl bids now than I was in, say, 2006. For one thing, the Irish just aren’t that good anymore — even taking the recent improvement under Brian Kelly into account — and I don’t think they’re as big a TV draw either. The ratings of their NBC games have been steadily declining over the past few years, and that can’t have gone unnoticed. Yeah, northeasterners might pay attention to Notre Dame more than they pay attention to other programs, but that’s only to the extent that they pay attention to college football at all — the NFL (and in some cases even the NBA) are going to be a bigger draw for them than even the likes of ND.
That’s not to say that a 10-win Irish team that’d feasted on a relatively light schedule won’t get thrown any token big-bowl bids under the new format, but it’s been a while since they won even that many games. Their recent average has been closer to seven or eight wins, and I don’t see many of the big networks pulling all that many strings for an 8-4 Irish squad anymore.
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A lot of people like to watch the Irish lose. That’s why they are such a bowl draw. They get a lot of eyeballs that way. “Q: What are your 2 favorite teams? A: My alma mater and whoever is playing Notre Dame.”
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Based on my experience while living in thr northeast, the population is so myopic about CFB that it is ND or no college football at all. Most would watch an NBA game over the BCS title game, or reruns of the Giants/Eagles/Jets/Patriots game. The passion in that geography is the NFL, but if ND is rated highly they suddenly become experts on CFB. With the population density of that area, don’t minimize the extra eyes that would watch. I wouldn’t sell out CFB for the ratings game, but the network execs live in those neighborhoods and attend cocktail parties with fair weather ND fans.
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If two SEC teams can play for the final game.. you can damn well be sure two SEC teams can/will be included in the Final 4 if warranted.
Now with a selection committee that can become somewhat muddled, but if you have two SEC teams in the Top 4 you’re gonna have to have a good reason to leave them out, knowing that the best football is in the SEC.
I’m naive.
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I don’t want to be redundant but the sole purpose of the committee is to not allow the SEC to have 2 teams in the 4 team playoff. If that were not the reason they would have just stuck to the old BCS/polls/computer formula system for determining the 4 teams. The other conferences (Big 10 in particular) are pissed off that the SEC got both ends of the BCSNCG money last season and they were going to fix things so that it never will happen again. Slive got out-negotiated IMHO. He got blinded by the $$.
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