Heather Dinich, of all people, speaks truth to power about CFP expansion.
Only when there is a major controversy will we see major change. If the Big 12’s spot on the bubble becomes permanent, then a conversation about expansion becomes valid. If the SEC is left out of the playoff? It expands faster than Alabama writes checks to Nick Saban.
Yup.
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UPDATE: This would really make certain heads explode.
Now, Urban Meyer’s team is clearly the overwhelming favorite to repeat — my colleague Stewart Mandel also picked them to win the conference. But it’s not far-fetched that the Big Ten could have two teams earn a playoff spot in 2015. That’s how talented Michigan State is. The Spartans are led by a talented senior QB in Connor Cook. They have both an experienced O-line and a fierce group of D-linemen. They can also win big points with the committee if they can knock off defending Pac-12 champ Oregon when the Ducks visit East Lansing in Week Two. The bad news for Mark Dantonio? MSU has to visit Columbus to face the Big Ten’s resident powerhouse, and Ohio State is loaded.
I can’t wait to hear Herbstreit’s take on that.
Get The Picture 
and all this time I thought Lord Saban was paid in small bills and child sacrifices. who knew?
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LOL!
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Four playoff spots and five power conferences ensure there will be controversy every year. Eight conferences with the champs playing in a three round playoff is the logical solution.
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If you’re suggesting a format where, say, the Sun Belt champ is in the CFP and the second best team in the SEC or Big 12 isn’t, you’re being overly optimistic calling that a solution. It’s more like an invitation for further expansion.
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I’m saying we have 8 14 team conferences, P5 plus 3 others like the Big East, Mountain West, etc. Each conference sends it’s champion to the playoff. Yes, there would be years where the second best SEC or B1G or Big 12 team would get left out, that’s just the way it would be. The people who complained could be told “well, your team should have won it’s conference”, end of discussion.
There has to be a system where there is no “committee” or poll or vote. It has to be completely decided on the field. The 8 conference/8 team playoff creates a legitimate champion.
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Again, your proposal isn’t a solution. Letting the Sun Belt play for the national title and preventing the SEC’s second best from having the same opportunity won’t be accepted by the P5. Period.
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The current way shouldn’t be accepted either then. The Big 12 got a royal screwing last year and the SEC’s second best didn’t get in either, why didn’t both of those conferences take their ball and go home? If the Sun Belt champ had a spot in the playoff, the Sun Belt would get much better pretty quickly and the second best SEC team might not be better than the Sun Belt champ after a few years.
High school football uses about the same system I want. The top three region teams get in the playoffs, the rest don’t, no matter how good they are. Some regions are much stronger than others, but no one locks out the third place team in a region because the fourth place team in another region is better.
If the NCAA told the D1 college football world; “this is the format for determining the national champion in football”, the P5 would have to accept it. They may not like it, but they would have to accept it.
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The NCAA has no jurisdiction over the CFP. And never will.
So if Mark Emmert ever tried to dictate format, he would get nothing more than a laugh in response. And if he made a serious attempt to enforce his edict, the P5 would leave the NCAA so fast it would make his head spin.
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That is not really settling it on the field. That is settling it by what conference you are in.
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How is it not? You have to win your conference to get in the playoff, that’s done on the field. Then, you have to win the games in the playoff to win the championship, that’s on the field too.
The current system simply says; this group of people are going to watch football games and pick which four they think are the best and those four get to play for the “championship”. It is possible, not likely, but possible, the committee could select four teams that none of which were conference champions to play for the national championship.
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I get it now. You are being sarcastic. Sorry I missed it.
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I’m more in line with an 8 team playoff with the Power 5 conference champs and 3 at-large bids. However, as long as a committee is in charge of hand-picking any contestants, there will be controversy
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6 team playoff…1 and 2 get a bye. P5 winners and the next best team. Simple solution.
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I like this idea. you are no big dummy
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He likes trucks
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I disagree with this, the SEC won their into their position who gave Florida a chance of tOSU? UGA would not have gone to the BCS CG in ’02 and Auburn didn’t in ’04. The SEC was pushing for a playoff a decade as their teams had a real possibility of being left out but now that the Big10 and PAC were looking at being left out in the cold, the playoff expands.
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Not just the possibility of the Big10 being left out…they really were left out when Alabama and LSU had their rematch for the BCS national championship. That’s when the playoff was born.
To that point the Big10 had been ‘all in’ on their Rose Bowl and getting into the BCS championship as a cherry on top. Their opinions turned an about face just as soon as the SEC had two teams in the BCS championship game. Suddenly the Rose Bowl alone was not good enough.
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Ahh, the Big Ten. Brings back memories of the glory days during the Eisenhower administration.
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Those were the days when Ike taught Slingblade how to fly fish
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Lord have mercy ! what a picture !
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It’s much better with the sounds of martial music
http://www.who2.com/blog/2013/02/eisenhower-and-nixon-fishing-whatta-photo
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Just wanting to win the SEC myself…all this other stuff is just icing.
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Well so much for valuing the schedule a team plays. The B1G is a four team league that conveniently has it’s cupcakes built in. OSU, MSU, UW and one from column A are the teams. The rest are like legacies. This is going to be the ESPN meme for 2015. They will make this happen so they can say they told everybody they weren’t SEC hacks. Might as well quit watching the WWL this year if it’s going to bother you.
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At least the B1G has four, the ACC only has 2 most years, 3 in the odd year where there is someone besides Clemson or FSU that fields a decent team. The whole “committee” thing is the problem. It’s the same as polls, computers, voters, etc. D1 college football’s “national champion” is no more a legitimate champion than figure skaters, gymnasts or cheerleading champions. Until the champion is determined by what teams who win their conferences and then win a playoff, the top division of college football really won’t have a legitimate champion.
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Due to the way injuries etc can effect a team, I think wild card or two is legitimate..I would like them determined by the old BCS Poll method….5 Champs in, 3 highest ranked non champs by the way they used to rank them. First round games at HOME at higher seeds….this would ensure 4 full houses.
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Well it worked last year as there were only four conference champs. Guess the committee was irrelevant under that standard.
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There were 5 conference champs. Baylor was Big 12 champ based on the Big 12 rules. FSU, Bama, Ohio State and Oregon were the other 4. The committee was quite relevant since they dropped their #3 team to #5 and jumped the #5 team to #4 in the last week even though no one lost.
The committee decided Ohio State would bring more television viewers than Baylor or TCU.
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Pretty the actual conference disagrees with you. They even have two trophies that disagree with you.
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Am I the only one who thinks we should go back to the way it was pre-BCS, pre-Bowl Alliance? Part of arguing about who was better was half the fun. You had a theoretically better chance at being able to claim a national championship since there were two polls, and the New Year’s Day bowl matchups were generally a lot more interesting…
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Nope. I would love that.
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