Excuses for playoff expansion, #4765

I hate to pick on my man here, but insisting that unpaid college athletes preparing for the NFL draft should take another one for the team so that we can be entertained by the possibility of an even more lopsided game than we already get with the CFP seems, I dunno, a little selfish on our part.

Want meaningful bowl games?  Then ditch the playoffs and go back to the time before the BCS.

If you don’t want to watch bowl games, don’t watch ’em.  But don’t use them as a springboard for something that’s going to come with its own set of unfortunate and unintended consequences.

121 Comments

Filed under BCS/Playoffs

121 responses to “Excuses for playoff expansion, #4765

  1. Derek

    I found it pretty entertaining. Best bowl since the Fiesta Bowl on January 2nd, 1996? Perhaps.

    Liked by 12 people

  2. originaluglydawg

    I saw one great offense, one good but depleted by sit-outs offense, and two defenses that looked like they were playing flag football.
    The most telling things about Florida were, 1.the talent falls of a cliff when the firsters sit (especially receivers) and 2. Mullens and Grantham were made for each other.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Tony BarnFart

    pay all draft eligible players 20 grand to play in the bowls. Problems solved for all but the very few who should actually be opting out, and filters a raw self assessment of draft projection instead of quasi-quitting to protect your 7th rd selection.

    Liked by 3 people

  4. chopdawg

    I dunno, but I keep thinking that somewhere there might be some football players who just like to play football.

    Liked by 6 people

  5. practicaldawg

    I’m confused why everyone is treating OU like some G5 team playing for their own NC in the cotton bowl. I promise you that OU started the season with the same championship aspirations as Florida. OU has made it to the CFP multiple times in the past. The difference is that OU decided to look like a football team last night, while Florida looked like a flaming pile of garbage.

    Liked by 12 people

  6. junkyardawg41

    Agreed —- especially the part “with its own set of unfortunate and unintended consequences.” Like a 16 team playoff where BYU plays Alabama. Because that would be entertaining — to Bama fans and that’s about it.

    Liked by 7 people

  7. back9k9

    So if you expand the playoffs to 6 or 8 teams, that somehow makes the remaining bowls somehow more relevant?
    The logistics I’ve seen bandied about show the first round of an 8 team playoff would be a home game for the higher rated team. Thus not a bowl game.
    Wouldn’t the same bowls still get non-playoff teams anyway?
    Opt-outs don’t bother me that much.
    If many of the bowl games largely become a preview for the upcoming season, so be it.

    Liked by 4 people

  8. Polls and Bowls wasnt perfect, and here is the thing: with 130 teams there is no perfect, which is hard to fathom apparently, its a system based on regional games and regional rivalries, but bowls were more serious. But everything creeps, first the number of bowls, then the 2 team NC playoff, then the 4. and the expansion of Div1 teams.

    Make a super-conference with regulation then. But no one wants that either.

    The differences in college is why we liked college. The desire to have it look like the NFL is where the problem is.

    Liked by 7 people

    • stoopnagle

      More than any other American sport, CFB would benefit from following global conventions in soccer: league games mixed in with “cup” games and relegation… it all makes too much sense but Ted Lasso, etc.

      Liked by 3 people

      • CB

        In principle this sounds like a great idea, but imagine Auburn getting relegated in 2011. You lose the Iron Bowl and the DSOR. Or even more likely one of the Mississippi teams goes down and no more Egg Bowl.

        Like

    • Wasn’t weren’t. Oh well. Im a Georgia grad.

      Like

  9. Hogbody Spradlin

    So, fu *k things up for TV dollars, then when the tv dollar playoff games cause loss of interest in the bowls, blame the bowls and fu *k things up more?
    Izzat about right?
    Sounds like many other human endeavors, compounding bad decisions with more bad decisions.

    Liked by 7 people

    • Hogbody Spradlin

      I didn’t mean that to come out that way. Thought I was writing an asterisk. Sry.

      Like

    • Hogbody Spradlin

      What’s a good way to write a blank character in WordPress? To mask a letter in profanity?

      Like

      • Spell Dawg

        TL;DR asterisks do funky things in markdown, but that can be useful for formatting.

        Asterisks are used in pairs to format (markdown) text in this commenting system. One asterisk in a comment won’t trigger anything weird, but two or more can do some funky things:
        3 asterisks: *** (italics)
        5 asterisks: ***** (bold, I think)
        7 asterisks: ******* (bold italics, I think)

        You can avoid this behavior by escaping asterisks with a backslash character in front of any asterisk after the first one:
        3 asterisks (all escaped): ***

        If you ever want a backslash character to appear, you have to type two of them:
        1 backslash: \ (nothing, I think)
        2 backslashes: \

        I don’t know if this system follows all markdown formatting rules (https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/#emphasis). Not being able to edit your comments makes me hesitant to experiment.

        Another formatting issue I see on here pretty frequently is using a straight quote (`) instead of single quote(‘). Now all this text is probably green or something because of that straight quote.

        Like

    • PTC DAWG

      Damn focking straight!

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Not sure if I agree with your take on this. The whole point of all of this is so that we CAN be entertained. Not so that players can prepare for the NFL. If they are not prepared to play out the season, then find someone who is and let them play from day one. I do not believe playoff expansion fixes this, but something has to be done. Maximus would be embarrassed. We are not entertained.

    Like

    • Torrents of money flow through college football, none to its stars. Instead, they’re told the real reward comes in having the opportunity to prepare for a lucrative NFL career. Now, when they’re on the verge of that payoff, you think they should postpone that opportunity, risk injury, all so you can be entertained?

      Fuck that noise.

      Liked by 8 people

    • By the way, about that whole “If they are not prepared to play out the season, then find someone who is and let them play from day one” take of yours? I’d love to watch you tell Monty Rice that to his face.

      Liked by 5 people

      • Oh, the old “tell it to his face” line. Why would I be scared to tell him what I think? Will he beat me up? How childish is that? Weak sauce for an argument there Bluto.
        As far as risk to the players, explain the difference between the game vs. Vandy that all were going to play, and this one vs. Cincinnati that they are sitting out. I will hang up and listen.

        Like

        • I don’t think he’d beat you up. I just think it’s easy to be an anonymous keyboard warrior.

          As far as your rhetorical question goes, you’d have to ask Monty that, too. All I can point to for now is where the dividing line lies, and that’s with the bowls. YMMV.

          Liked by 4 people

          • Tony BarnFart

            Serious question: what’s to stop opt outs from creeping into the regular season ? It seems safe to say perception (maybe even with the NFL), but i dunno. I recall hearing last night how just a few short years ago it was Christian McAffrey (sp) as a wildcard that has snowballed pretty big. Is creep inevitable ?

            Liked by 1 person

            • Again, I can’t speak for the players. But one thing to keep in mind about timing is that the earlier they leave, the sooner they’ll be on their own for training and opportunities. With regard to the latter, remember that Senior Bowl invites don’t go out until the regular season ends.

              That being said, Jamie Newman…

              Liked by 1 person

            • If you have 2 years of good tape, I dont see why you couldnt claim hardship or a medical and “opt out” and then get good personal training, no class, and rest your body. I think your right, its likely coming, at least in small doses.

              Like

              • chopdawg

                I think CFB players can already opt out after 2 years, or after 1 year, or whenever. The player doesn’t really need a hardship or medical reason. He can just quit playing.

                Liked by 1 person

                • hmm. I think that may need some digging. All I meant was a player that had a couple of easy years can come up with whatever to get out of playing if they really wanted. But I dont think you can 1 and done just like that.

                  Like

              • classiccitycanine

                I don’t think its coming for non-Covid football seasons for a few reasons:
                1) You can count on one hand the number of players each year who are good enough to get away with not playing and still maintain their draft stock (see Lawrence, Trevor),
                2) If you don’t play, you could get passed by someone who had a breakout year and cost yourself millions of dollars in draft slot money (this is likely going to be the case for Jamie Newman). The flip side is you could also lose money by performing below expectations (see Fields, Justin).
                3) You would lose a free year of development in an insanely competitive industry where the slimmest of margins separate the winners from the losers. Private training can’t substitute for good-on-good live reps.
                4) These guys are very competitive. Competitors don’t like walking away from the opportunity to compete and win.
                5) Team sports aren’t very fun by yourself. The payoff for the insane grind these guys put themselves through is to ball out with your buddies on the field. Taking away that reward just leaves you with the private grind for 12-24 months.

                Like

              • CB

                Y’all must be forgetting that Clowney played up an injury his entire junior season in an attempt to keep from getting hurt.

                Like

          • I don’t think giving an honest opinion about the current state of college football and players opting out of bowls left and right makes me a “keyboard warrior.” Funny coming from you, a guy who runs a football blog for a hobby. You might want to check yourself on that one.

            Like

  11. dman2020

    Because everyone would love to see a Coastal Carolina-Liberty winner get to play Alabama. Anyway who loved seeing cousin Eddie have to pull Trask who was in the process of ruining what little Heisman Trophy chance he had left? The only sad note from last night is that has to be 3rd and Grantham’s last game as the DC for the lizards.

    Liked by 5 people

    • originaluglydawg

      Mullens will blame somebody or something (he did a pre-emption blame btw)..when ultimately, he’s responsible for the great sucking sound coming from that stadium last night. The offense was worse than the defense, if that’s possible.

      Liked by 4 people

  12. I was thoroughly entertained for the small portion of the game I saw. I enjoyed seeing the final score and stats this morning.

    We should have never lost to that bunch of Handbags/douche bags.

    Liked by 6 people

  13. PTC DAWG

    I said it before, OU would beat ND by two TD’s….

    Liked by 3 people

  14. Tony BarnFart

    I know this probably belongs elsewhere, but…..

    WHY?!?! It’s not black jerseys per se, although the patch-creep is real and the spike collar and nike dawg head are trash, but rather (1) red helmet/black shirt vs black helmet/ redshirt— seems like that’s asking for INTs (2) why the fuck do they / are they wearing red ? Don’t they wear black way more than red, at least for the last decade or so ?

    Like

  15. PTC DAWG

    What opt outs was UF’s D dealing with? I’ll hang up and listen..

    Like

  16. year 1-2 of big playoff: everyone!!! dials in to watch bama (or other serious hot blue blood) play #8 team. Game is close for a Q to half. THen blowout. repeat.
    year 3-4: people causally watch, like maybe in the background
    Year 5+ people wait till next day to see final score
    year 6: WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS A NEW SYSTEM!, #9 has been hot 2 years in a row and got robbed!

    Liked by 3 people

  17. rigger92

    Hattip to you senator for calling your guy out on this. I’m glad I don’t look at twitter. Why can’t people understand this stuff? It’s money, ratings, and narratives that drive the marketing. Hell, I doubt they even care if the ratings are poor.

    Like

  18. chopdawg

    Anybody else see Kyle Pitts’ “good-luck” video, played on the telecast by ESPN, right about the time Florida got down 17-0?

    I wonder how many of the Florida players who stayed with the team were tremendously pissed off by that.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Russ

      I hate Florida and it pissed me off. Ridiculous.

      And what happened to any hype from ESPN about our game? I get they usually hype the next game on the schedule, but last night at halftime, the pretty much ignored our game. I’d like to hear the previews and stuff.

      Liked by 1 person

    • It was such a half hearted vid IMO, maybe he just isnt a good speaker. I felt the passion of a wilting blade of grass.

      Like

    • junkyardawg41

      He really reminded me of Billy Crystal in The Princess Bride when he said, “Good luck storming the castle! It will take a miracle.”

      Like

  19. Bowls were entertaining. Then bowls expanded, not as entertaining. BCS created and was entertaining. Bowls less entertaining. CFP created and was entertaining. Bowls less entertaining.

    Just guessing here, but seems every expansion has led to less entertainment. Nah…expand the CFP. Bound to be more entertaining.

    Like

  20. otto1980

    I can hardly wait for Bama to play #16 BYU, Clemson to play #15 Iowa, a rematch Ohio St and Northwestern, and ND vs UNC. A playoff would create multiple blowout games.

    Further only 16 teams play in a playoff. I am sure much more get to play somewhere in a normal ESPN bowl month,

    If the kids don’t want to play they can skip on the travel, gifts, and hopefully enjoy someplace fun.

    The national champ at one time was declared before the bowl season, and the bowls were essentially a nice gift to the players. The bowls which are not in the playoff are returning to that.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. macdawg22

    Why did the dumbest people run the most popular sport in America?. To make these games matter and to prevent players from opting out… Must do one of two things.

    Seed the playoff after the bowls … OR
    Go to a 16 team playoff. First round at higher seed home weekend before Christmas. Final 8 is rotating 4 major bowls. Final 4 is in other 2 major bowls.

    Like

  22. TN Dawg

    Definitely why JT Daniels should not only go pro, but also sit out the Peach Bowl.

    Watching D’Eriq King and Sam Ehlinger getting hurt in meaningless games definitely seals the deal.

    College football is not worth playing if you are getting paid. It is only about money.

    JT Daniels has no business playing. Even if they paid him $25,000 for the game, it would not be worth risking millions for.

    It’s all about professional money for the players.

    Like

  23. rigger92

    Watching this Army game. Good ol 14-10 at the half. No electricity here, and its all good,

    Like

    • rigger92

      Having not watched non SEC play for a while now, I am alarmed at the athleticism, or, lack thereof.

      Like

      • Russ

        Those Tech announcers on the Liberty Bowl won’t even mention that we’re playing tomorrow. They keep pimping the NW-Auburn game. Auburn is going to get hammered.

        Like

  24. rigger92

    It’s fun watching Army. Nice lead blockers, miss the FB presence in our offense. Army runs into full boxes but uses the the right numbers to counter. Cool to see.

    Like

  25. rigger92

    Well, as I say the above, not a fan of going low on defenders. We know all about that……

    Like

  26. Illini84

    Three years ago tonite we were eating with family in LA and I was talking to some SC fans at an adjoining table. They pretty much said there was no way we could stop the Sooners offense. I said “have you seen OUR offense? There is no way Oklahoma stops us”. Just for fun.

    Liked by 2 people

  27. Illini84

    Of course they get to remind me Bear’s last game at the Liberty Bowl! We froze our asses off!

    “After a sixth-place SEC finish in the 1982 season that included losses to LSU and Tennessee, each for the first time since 1970, Bryant, who had turned 69 that September, announced his retirement, stating, “This is my school, my alma mater. I love it and I love my players. But in my opinion, they deserved better coaching than they have been getting from me this year.” His last regular-season game was a 23–22 loss to Auburn and his last postseason game was a 21–15 victory in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, over the University of Illinois. After the game, Bryant was asked what he planned to do now that he was retired. He replied, “Probably croak in a week.”

    Like

  28. Russ

    Not only will they not preview the Georgia game, they keep showing Bama highlights of them beating Georgia. I hope our guys come out pissed tomorrow and make a statement.

    Like

  29. rigger92

    I know I’m stupid, but where in the hell is TCU vs Arky?

    Like

    • rigger92

      Damn it. Just found it in the fabris pool thingy. Did not know it was cancelled. Was banking on that game to keepme awake until late.

      Like

  30. rigger92

    Bluto, dawg sports in the SB platform has a live/automatic update comment section where instant posts and responses are in real time, updated down to the second/less than without the user doing anything. It is a real time conversation that generates up to 2000 comments during a game and it is like we are all talking to each other in person.

    Is there any way for the WP platform to do that for games? Special occasions? I know that you don’t want to police that kind of environment. I also know that real time banter, almost the same as texting each other, is very entertaining for those of us that watch and engage in your content/narrative/environment.

    Otherwise, this Alamo bowl sure is riveting. TX up by 32 points….

    Like

  31. RangerRuss

    Wow. BYU’s Katoa laid out as Landers should have on many occasions.
    Great catch.

    Like