… let ACC commissioner John Swofford explain the way today’s world works to you.
ACC commissioner John Swofford said the NCAA board will consider in April legislation from the ACC and Big 12 to give conferences autonomy on how they stage conference championship games. The legislation would eliminate the requirement that in order to stage a conference championship game a league must have 12 teams, round-robin divisional play and pair two division champions for the championship.
There appears to be considerable support for allowing conferences, not the NCAA, to decide how to stage league championship games.
“I think it would be in keeping with the decentralization of a lot of things in the NCAA,” Swofford said. “We’re supportive of this mainly out of principle, not because we know what we would do if we had that autonomy.”
The ACC has had mixed reviews internally about changing its championship game format. A positive is scrapping divisions would allow teams to play each other more frequently during the regular season.
“From a pure business standpoint, it could be helpful,” Swofford said, referring to more attractive regular-season matchups for TV and attendance. “But you give up some things too. You give up divisional races, for one.”
Minor detail. What’s the need for a divisional race in a world of eight-team (or larger) national playoffs? Think I’m exaggerating?
Just like with men’s basketball, making the playoff field is slowly becoming the be all and end all for college football. And to get there, these guys are at a point where they’re willing to sell anything that isn’t nailed down. And they’ll consider an offer for that stuff, too.
In case you missed it, we’re just wallets. And the players are just amateurs.
“What’s the need for a divisional race in a world of eight-team (or larger) national playoffs?”
Oh Happy Day! We have an 8-team (or larger, that’s even better) playoff! This must’ve happened overnight or I’d have heard about it on yesterday’s 11-oclock news. Guess we dropped the ULM and Southern regular-season games, so we’ll have room on the calendar for a 14 or 15-game schedule! Fantastic news, thanx Senator!
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Sarcasm aside, Swofford hasn’t announced he’s ditching the current format yet, has he?
They’re just getting their ducks in a row for the inevitable.
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If the rules get changed and there is no longer a requirement that a conference has to have 12 or more members to stage a conference championship game I vote that we kick Arky, South Carolina, Mizzou and aTm out of the conference and go to a 9 game round robin conference schedule where every team plays every other team each year. Then have an SECCG in the Georgia Dome that matches up the 2 teams with the best won-loss record. All the teams and their fans see every other team every year (instead of some every 10 years) and we still get the $$ from the SECCG. Plus, now we are at 9 conference games and positioned well for the 4 team playoff. Everybody wins (except Arky, South Carolina, Mizzou and aTm).
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I don’t hate playoffs, but what comes from playoffs, the diminution of the season is fast occurring. If matching one vs two didn’t make people happy, then nothing short of a 64 team field will. Even then, in basketball, they spend an inordinate amount of time discussing the last teams in or out.
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Swofford is tired of all those empty seats at the World’s Smallest Outdoor Cocktail Party. He also knows that the minute he shifts teams between divisions to enhance the possible match ups, somebody’s program will go south and ruin the plans.
So, change the rules. Voila!
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What would be the ACC’s better match up this year?
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“We’re just wallets.”
Yes, exactly.
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I don’t know. I’m as big a traditionalist as anyone, but couldn’t this be good if it allows teams to play each other more often? It’s ridiculous that you’re in a conference with someone and play them once every six years, and only visit their campus one every twelve.
Give me this format right here:
theroommateswitch.WordPress.com
Of course that works even with divisions.
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You can also solve that problem by going to a 9-game conference schedule. But you’ll have to give a cupcake game for that to happen and nobody is in a hurry to ditch that payday just to satisfy fans’ desire for interesting matchups.
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“We’re just wallets and the players are just amateurs”. Are you just figuring this out? What’s shocking to me is how shocked you are. This has always been the case. The only opinions that have ever mattered are from those who stroke a big enough check to have a seat at the table. That’s the way it has always been. So what’s your problem?
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You think I’m shocked and just figuring this out? You must not read my posts very often.
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“We’re just wallets and the players are just amateurs.”
File that line in my jealousy and envy file.
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Shout is unaware of your “everything is driven by money” rants? He/she could not represent more than 2 or 3 clicks of your 22MM+. I am much more concerned about the idea of “flexible” division representatives, please don’t allow the conferences to decide who plays in the title game.
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Sadly, Mac, that is the world the P5 conferences want to build. Autonomy, for the win!
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In which case UGA will have to get annexed by the West because the WWL is going to beat that superiority drum as long as Bama and LSU are in it.
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PR flacks aside, all the talk is irrelevant if a school like Georgia wins all its conference games, gets into the SECC and wins.
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You might wanna change that handle to Whisper. Just a thought.
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Something occurred to me a few weeks ago that probably occurred to you much earlier. Remember all those “strength of schedule”/”which win matters more?”/”bbbbut head-to-head!” conversations we were having throughout the BCS Era? Turns out we’re still having them in the Playoff Era, we’re just having them about four teams instead of two. I can’t imagine it will be long before we’re having them about eight. And from there it’s a hop, skip and a jump to 12 or 16, at which point a 17th-ranked, two-/three-loss Clemson or Arizona State or Minnesota or whoever will be raising holy hell about why THEY’RE not getting any playoff consideration.
Between the ominous implications for future seasons, the masturbatory weekly rankings and those fool-ass Dr Pepper ads, I’m actually getting less excited about the playoff the closer it gets.
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All true. But even more so when you consider that the next iteration when they expand will be a combination of guaranteed slots for conference winners and wild card teams. That’s a built-in recipe for schools passed over by others with worse records to gripe big time.
And there’s only one way to cure that fever.
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Like what, start watching futbol? Though in fairness and truth, I’ve already eased in and gotten a start with that!
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And like bb the talk of who gets in starts way too early distracting from the actual games. When the playoffs go to 8 teams we can expect to see 3rd stringers and walkons playing prominent roles in the semi-finals. Most teams will be beat to a frazzle by game 15. They are ready to punish Ohio State right now for the audacity of getting 2 QBs knocked out for the season. Imagine how we would feel if UGA had ended up 11-2, SEC champs and left out because committee said we didn’t have Gurley.
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Rubbish, with eight teams you will not see any “resting” of players. Add home field advantage for the Top 4 seeds and you are assured of that. I support nothing above eight teams.
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Jones, Blank and other NFL billionaires building tax-payer assisted super venues ain’t letting them sit empty in a CFB playoff. There will be no home fields, just regional venues. And if UGA is set for round 1 but sill has a game against the nats remaining, I’d go ballistic if we played any of our key starters and exposed them to injury. We nearly had that situation to confront last Saturday, and while this process is too new for coaches to react that way yet, how many more times will Urban Meyer need the lesson?
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You’re awfully confident about the result of a hypothetical, non-transparent, system. Got any stock tips for us?
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Yup. I’ve enjoyed college football for almost 40 years. If it is still worth watching in 20, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Sports in general has jumped the shark. I enjoy sports, but the money got too big and now sports commands far too much importance and power in society.
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coaches are going to be the biggest cheerleaders for a larger playoff.
fans are going to say playoffs or bust, coaches are going to say make the playoffs bigger.
that way when you got 9-3 and make the playoffs you can say you need a raise and an extension and fans will be happy because their team at least made the playoffs.
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Very true. Mike Smith is probably going 7-9 this year at best. But as long as he wins a 4-team division of teams of varying levels of suck, he’ll make the playoffs and keep his job.
Go 7-9 and miss the playoffs, though, and he probably gets fired.
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“From a pure business standpoint, it could be helpful,” Swofford said, referring to more attractive regular-season matchups for TV and attendance. “But you give up some things too. You give up divisional races, for one.”*
They will just keep going until they ruin it.
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“not because we know what we would do if we had that autonomy”
Truer words have not been uttered.
This is why they will push for autonomy, not for player compensation, health care, or any other vast array of true needs but for the potential extra $.
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In case anybody has missed it, the introduction of the “Good Loss” meme has already made a difference. MSU’s last TD in a lost cause at Alabama or Auburns last week. It’s either that or the coaches trying to kill the spread. I’m not sure which would be worst for CFB, Auburns was more for the spread, while MSU’s v Bama was more for the “Good Loss” and it worked since they did not drop out of the Top 4 after that loss. Just think of the crazy coaching decisions when there is an 8-12-16 team playoff.
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