Here’s a reminder from Barry Alvarez ($$) that when they say settling it on the field, it usually doesn’t mean what you think that means.
What is your opinion on potentially expanding the College Football Playoff?
I was vocal about that probably three or four months ago when I was asked. I was on the initial committee and I thought four teams in the playoff was good. It was great. It was much better than the two-team playoff decided by computers. Because I wanted to know who’s programming those computers and what are they putting in? I was never satisfied with that. I thought four really helped college football. I thought that would be it.
But when our league is left out of the playoff for three years in a row, I’m not happy with that. I don’t think that we have followed the criteria set by the commissioners in naming those four teams. There’s a way you can go to eight teams very easily, starting a week early with a bye with the top four seeds. You can go to eight teams easily. There are eight teams that really could have a chance to win. So I think that it will expand. I just don’t know when. [Emphasis added.]
It isn’t a real college football playoff if the Big Ten doesn’t participate.
By the way, Alvarez thinks there’s an opt-out clause in the current deal that kicks in next year. I have no idea if that’s true, but be prepared for some heavy duty lobbying if that’s the case and the SEC manages to put two teams in the semis again. The best of the best, bitchez!
Get The Picture 
Their heads will explode when SEC puts four in an 8 team field. We are heading to automatic qualifiers by conference unfortunately. Can’t wait to play at Wazzou in mid December round 1. Not.
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What the hell is he talking about with 8 with the top 4 getting a bye? That would mean he’s talking about a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 16. Am I reading something wrong or does Barry not understand basic math?
Delany wanted the committee to pick the 4. Now that the B1G hasn’t made it because their champion didn’t cut it 2 years in a row, it’s not enough.
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Strike the language about 16 … coffee hasn’t kicked in.
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IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE YOU MADE FUN OF HIS MATH –Ben Roethlisberger 😉
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8 Teams…top 3 get byes. DO THE MATH BARRY!!
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Any mention of a bye for playoff teams tells me that something is askew in the logic of the mentioner.
A bye, late in the season, is worth it’s weight in gold.
If Big Ten teams get in and get eliminated by teams that had the advantage of the first week bye, he’ll be bitching about that.
A better solution is for him to go home and figure out how to make his pet conference actually better.
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A bye won’t work for a lot of reasons, but the mathematics is the paramount reason. Four teams play to give two champions who then must pair up with the next four for a six-team playoff. Otherwise, why play over two weekends with a bye?
First pairings play on Sat and Sun first weekend and then use the schedule as it occurred last year.
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Well you could say the Big has not been in it for 5 straight years. I mean they have not scored any points in the playoffs in 5 years.
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The B1G got exposed by the playoff system IMHO. They went for years only playing each other and OOC games against MAC teams and an over hyped ND. That his how weak the conference really is. Now, it is on display for the world to see–can’t get into the playoff.
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I’m not against going to an eight-team playoff, but any system that incorporates bye weeks, where the lower seeds beat each other to hell and the favorites get an extra week of rest and strategizing, is bullshit.
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Or what Uglydawg said above.
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But what if you lose your division to your arch rival in the last week of the season and get rewarded with a “Bye” from your conference championship game ?
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I would be for a 6 team playoff with the Top 2 gets bye weeks.
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Unless we’re the number three team.
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Even then
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Crowded House. Nice.
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Hey now.
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“Don’t let them win”
~The Big10
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He is right, except for the stupidity of 8 requiring, or needing, any byes. I am the last person who will defend the Big 14, but every Power 5 conference should have their representative. That conference benefited for decades under the old system where they only sent their champ to the Rose Bowl and ducked more competitive teams. If anyone deserves to get shafted, it is them, but that doesn’t make it right. There simply isn’t enough interaction to declare any major conference irrelevant. Inclusive, yet exclusive, is what 8 teams provides us. Get this done, ASAP.
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Very compelling argument. But i just don’t like the extra mulligans it affords, and the bad effect it could have on certain regular season games. Every time Alabama and Auburn both have elite squads, it would quite literally be better to lose that game in an 8 team playoff scenario.
I mean, we already saw it with 4. Do we want that in college football ? Resting your starters to avoid the SECCG ?
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BTW, i wasn’t saying Bama rested players that year. But they absolutely got a Bye for losing the Iron Bowl.
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I agree but do you really think they did it on purpose? Auburn is the Tide’s biggest rival and there is a level of animosity in that series unmatched anywhere else.
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8 teams will further diminish the regular season.
You go Conference champs and 3 at large where out of conference scheduling is weakened due to the emphasis on the Conference championship.
or Top 8 teams where multiple losses hold less meaning.
The beauty of the BCS is a game like USC/UCLA mattered if USC was in the top 2 and UCLA could pull off the upset. I watched far more football before the playoff than after as the landscape could change in 1 game and the entire landscape could change in 1 Saturday. However now if a team wins the SEC with 1 loss or less, they’re in.
Top 6 with a bye for the top 2 adds drama as do you play a big resume game such as OU, ND, Texas or set out to run the table with an easier schedule? …..and if you’re at 1 loss, Pitt pulling the upset on a otherwise perfect Clemson could suddenly become big to placement in the playoff.
Mickey Mouse maybe liking the money now but blogs, forums, and social had more active groups and off season interest with the BCS further signing day shows seemed longer and received more attention.
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8 Team playoff will actually make the regular season more meaningful. 6% isn’t even in the same universe as March Madness, NBA, NHL, MLB, etc. etc. So many teams vying for so few spots, and the teams fighting for wins late into the season. The whole game is stepped up a notch, or four. And tell me when we have seen any team rest players ala NFL and MLB. Show me when UGA didn’t play their studs against GT, or Clemson against SC, or either FSU or FU. Eight teams out of 130, that is an elite club, how many times do ever finish in the Top 8? Sorry, but the narrative is contrived; getting in is an honor. Will there be some weak conference champs, but to the point of being ludicrous like everyone will have you believe with the exaggerated examples given to shoot this down. CFB will be better, if we don’t screw it up first.
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At least the “slippery slope” bs isn’t used in the negativism argument any more. Slowly the idea of 8 teams is approaching positive looks that are now about three years in arrears. Can’t wait to see if a 3-team SEC selection ever hits the books and all I want is the Dawgs getting a shot at other conference champs regularly.
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Like March Madness, the bigger goal is to get into the tournament. It will take a lot of luck for 5-8 to win it.
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Pingback: But his criteria… | Get The Picture
Little 10 always has been a bunch of whiny bitches.
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