Tell me he’s wrong.
CFB Playoff Expansion will solve none of the problems you think it will all while creating new ones. #FourAndNoMore pic.twitter.com/jOgCfEZIii
— Josh Pate đđ (@LateKickJosh) April 30, 2021
- Bloviation for the Dawgnation
-
Quote Of The Day
-
âAnd Georgia fans, donât be turds. Enjoy this. Soak it up. Itâs awesome. If you donât win this year, itâs still not a failure. Itâs a heck of a run. Back-to-back in the Playoff era hasnât been done. So, to ask for a third I feel like itâs gluttonous. I feel like itâs not OK. But weâll be in the mix.â-- David Pollack, On3.com, 5/9/23
Search
Categories
Archives
Blogroll (ND)
- 82 Sluggo Win
- And The Valley Shook
- Banner Society
- Black Heart Gold Pants
- Black Shoe Diaries
- Blatant Homerism
- Braves & Birds
- Brophy Football
- College Football Talk
- EDSBS
- Eleven Warriors
- Lost Angeles
- MGoBlog
- RazorBloggers Network
- Rock M Nation
- Rocky Top Talk
- Saturday Down South
- Saturday Tradition
- Shakin The Southland
- Smart Football
- Team Speed Kills
- The National Championship Issue
- The Wizard of Odds
- Tide Bits
Dawg Blogs
Dawg Links
Media Links
Stats/Info Links
- All-Time Division 1-A CFB Standings
- American College Football
- American College Football – Rankings
- cfbstats.com
- College Football at Sports-Reference.com
- College Football by the Numbers
- College Football Data Warehouse
- College Football Recruiting Map
- College Nicknames
- Football Outsiders – College
- Football Study Hall
- GBE College Football Ratings
- MapGameDay.com
- NCAA Division I Football Statistics
- SEC Statistics
- Statistically Speaking
- Strangestbrew's College Football Schedulizer
- The Helmet Project
- Varsity Numbers
Useful Links
Time, time…
GATA
Blog Stats
- 70,442,539 hits
Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
The law of unintended consequences is what controls the NCAA and the CFP. ESPN rules (money) and the rest is just BS.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Amen
LikeLike
Those extra institutions get invited to Micky’s expanded playoff picnic, that vegas views as 20 point all you can beat teams, can boast of their roasting and scream “wait till next years ass whipping” are nothing but collateral damage….2 or 4 team playoff is all that’s required to keep college football fan interest or does vegas need more sports wagering…
LikeLike
My thoughts exactly.
LikeLike
…what ya’ll said.
LikeLike
The only playoff expansion that makes sense would be a champions only format with 8 super-conferences (either a total of 80 or 96 schools in a separate division). Even that would require so much realignment to maintain competitive balance that itâs not worth it.
Every other format requires wild cards who didnât even win their leagues. No thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So, what so you do with a 12-1 Alabama that loses the SECCP game and doesnât win the conference?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Snif-hoped for but not reality
LikeLike
Tough … they didnât win their league. Why should they have a claim to be the national champions?
LikeLiked by 2 people
And an 10-3 Pac12 champion is more deserving? I see more strife with that outcome. I get your point about the league champions but thereâs an argument for the âbetterâ Bama team.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You didnât read my comment about why it doesnât work. It would require so much realignment for competitive balance that college football wouldnât be recognizable (of course, the conferences have pretty much already made it that way). The SEC would likely be broken up into at least 2 leagues. It would also require a new governance structure to allow the conferences to work together.
Wild cards devalue the results of the regular season. An expanded playoff in the current structure will require multiple wild cards and a spot for a Group of 5 qualifier. Thatâs the main reason Iâm a 4-team guy who wants a BCS type of selection system over the committee we have now.
LikeLike
Wild cards encourage aggressive OOC scheduling…IMHO.
LikeLike
No, it wonât if thereâs a committee.
LikeLike
Yes.
Here’s why: whomever beat Bama in that scenario shouldn’t have to play Bama again. AND who is to say that the Pac12 that year isn’t a tougher, more balanced, league? If it isn’t, then the team that beat Bama would beat that 10-3 right? Only one way to find out and it’s make games count.
Also: FUCK BAMA.
LikeLike
There will be an at large spot(s)
LikeLike
Shit can ’em!!!
LikeLike
EE, I just canât get behind âauto qualifiersâ. That will still leave better teams out of it. At the same time, I also hate how winning a conference isnât heralded like it should be/used to be. Both things play off each other. Still, I would think that the SEC runner up would consistently beat a PAC champ until they get their acts together over there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How did you feel about losing the national title to a team that didnât qualify for the SECCG? I hated it. If the SEC champion and the runner-up will typically get in the playoff, it completely cheapens the value of a conference championship.
All of this is why I donât like expanding the playoff but changing the selection criteria and method.
If you have 8, youâre going to have 5 automatic qualifiers and a Group of 5 champion (essentially 6 automatic qualifiers). If ND has 1 loss, they are going to get in more often than not. Therefore, you only have 1 or 2 spots for teams that didnât even win their league.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Itâs a healthy debate. Problem is, CFB is wildly inconsistent. Yes, it sucked. We lost by one play and one bad ref call. Still, we would have hit any other team in the mouth easily, save OK. That was a good game. Would have been fun to whip Washington or USC or OK again though. In the end, it came down to the best vs. best. Thatâs how it should be.
LikeLike
Except for the fact that Bama wasnât even the SEC runner-up … sorry, but if you arenât the best team in your conference, you have no argument to be the national champion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When you have unbalanced divisions and crossovers, that goes out the window. Never every team in a conference has the same shot.
LikeLike
5 into 4 was the original problem. 5 conference champions, 3 at large. First round on campus. Not that hard.
LikeLike
Other than the fact that every 8 scenario has a Group of 5 qualifier and that Notre Dame will take an at-large as often, there will be 1 true at-large.
LikeLike
5 + 1 = 6, no? So there are at least 2 at large, plus ND very well might be in the ACC by then.
LikeLike
If you think ND is going to join the Almost Competitive Conference and give up their NBC contract, I have some nice oceanfront property in Hahira to sell you.
LikeLike
Ok, even if they donât, thatâs still 2 at large bids each year, and thatâs assuming ND gets in every single year.
5 conference champs + 3 at large makes too much sense to happen.
LikeLike
If ND gets in most every year and there is going to be a guaranteed spot to a Group of 5, you have 1 spot left.
LikeLike
5 + ND = 6. 8 – 6 = 2. Iâm not giving G5 a spot. 5 P5 champs, plus 3 at large. If a G5 is good enough, then find. But no auto tie in.
LikeLike
I get your math, but that isnât going to be how the spots get decided. Every plan for 8 has a Group of 5 guaranteed spot.
LikeLike
I think they can work around that, but even if they canât: 1) I think itâs at least 50/50 that ND does end up in the ACC in the next 5 years, and 2) the point if this is to keep the regular season meaningful, so win your conference.
You donât want to be squeezed out of an at large? Then win your conference. Also, in the scenario, scheduling other P5 out of conference games can only help. A loss doesnât hurt you in conference, and a win helps your at large case.
No matter what they do, 6 or 8 or whatever, the original problem was 5 into 4. That was a dumb idea from the start. It was great for ginning up attention and froth, but it wasnât practical.
LikeLike
Heâs wrong. Confirmation bias. Same teams are gonna win is the dumbest argument. And the âtrip to Home Depotâ week three argument while
Is a new one – I donât get it.
Having the same 5/6 teams play for the same thing and the season essentially decided in August will damage the sport long term.
Rip away
LikeLike
College football has less parity than any other organized sport. That’s why the cream rises to the top, and will do so with an 8-team field.
LikeLiked by 5 people
I agree with that. But,
Rest assured those week 3 HD sales will be fine either way
LikeLike
When’s the last time you watched a meaningful — not entertaining, but meaningful — regular season college basketball game?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is because you watch Georgia basketball. There are plenty of important regular season games. Every major conference has good teams on the bubble.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I follow Virginia basketball. Try again.
LikeLike
Good grief … when was the last time a team on the bubble won the tournament?
LikeLike
Won? Or made a serious run? The back to back Butler years, 2014 UCONN, Wichita State, etc.
LikeLike
What would the stats say? The teams that are deeper in talent are likely to make it through an extended playoff unscathed. That means the teams that currently are the best are more likely to rise to the top. I donât see any confirmation bias in that.
The season is decided in December and February with the distribution of talent on the signing days. The only way to get more parity is to change the way talent is distributed. I donât think anyone would like that.
LikeLike
You are not wrong. But, can’t stand the subjective element to picking four teams to play a BCS and 1 game.
Make a bracket. Make AQ and an at large spot. Give two byes. Get down to Semis by NYD.
LikeLike
As mentioned, I think the 4-team format is fine. I detest the way the 4 teams are currently selected with this non-transparent committee. I would like to see a BCS type of formula where the polls donât come out until mid-October, the computer rankings drop the highest and lowest ranking, a strength of schedule component, and a conference championship bonus.
Everyone who wants brackets by saying the bowl season is meaningless misses the real point of the bowl games to the schools. The NCAA has shortened spring practice multiple times. The pre-bowl game preparation is essentially pre-spring practice for the players who are returning. I hate that players are opting out of non-playoff bowl games and fan enthusiasm has waned. The powers that be in college football made that bed and now have to sleep in it.
LikeLike
But, they did it for the players safety…soooo, let’s add moorrrre games…
LikeLike
Bubble games in Feb are awesome. Champ week games are awesome. AQ games are awesome
LikeLike
They’re nothing more than a means to an end — in this case, tourney seeding.
LikeLike
I am not going to say that Reg season wonât change. But those rivalry games will ALWAYS matter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hate to break it to you, but as someone growing up who cut his teeth on ACC basketball in an era of an 8-team men’s basketball playoff, the regular season is a shadow of its former self, if that.
LikeLiked by 4 people
I think a reg CFB season with expanded playoff is more Comparable to that reg season than it is to the 68 team NCAAâs reg bball season
LikeLike
That’s what they said when they extended March Madness to 32 teams. đ
LikeLike
Late 60s, early 70s ACC Tourneys were magic. 1974 Md-NCS game still best ever game in college basketball (EIGHT players that night were pros later). 1976 UVA run to win the tourney was incredible. Shame, those days are long gone.
LikeLike
The 8 team ACC was the tits, no doubt…
LikeLike
Ask Duke and UNC fans if they had their choice of sweeping the regular season rivalry or winning the NCAA tournament. I think you would find that the rivalry doesnât matter. Entertaining? Yes. Meaningful? No.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Are you saying that there was a time where winning the series was more important than wining ACC/NCAA ?
LikeLike
Listen to people here that bitch about not winning the SEC when we sweep all of our rivals. The ânatty or bustâ mentality is getting old, and expanding the playoff is only going to serve to grow that mentality.
LikeLiked by 1 person
College hoops fan (at one time), played the game…would go out of my way to view Duke-UNC games…then, if they made it to the acc finals…look out…EEntertaining, Yes…could care less…YES…
LikeLike
A Ole Miss UGA game with both teams at 16 wins (suspend belief) and trying to get into tourney is awesome. Will either win the NCAA? No.
But making it means something to the players. Bowl games are MEANINGLESS now.
But, a team wining an exciting game v conference game in late November with a chance to make an expanded playoff is more interesting than bowl seeding amongst an Outback or Citrus Bowl where significant players will opt out
LikeLiked by 1 person
So they can have the opportunity to get their brains beat in by a number one team? C’mon, man.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes!
LikeLike
Gonna add âgot a âcâmon manâ by Sen Blutarsky to my Twitter bio
LikeLiked by 4 people
Ha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Creating new problems is what the NCAA does best
LikeLiked by 2 people
Unrelated CFB news that kinda got swept under the news cycle w/ the ongoing NFL draft, but Leipold going to Kansas makes me think:
(1) such a good coach deserves a far better fate
(2) knowing he was ready to leave Buffalo (for KU of all places), I am super thankful he didn’t end up @ AU, SC, or UT.
(I should say, “yet,” bc if he gets to a bowl somehow in the next 4 years at KU, some SEC AD will come calling.)
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31364799/kansas-expected-hire-buffalo-lance-leipold-football-coach-sources-say
LikeLike
Senator are you of the opinion the teams or the amount of teams at the top wont change?
LikeLike
Can we just blame Florida? FTMF.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ditch the playoff, ditch the conference ties to bowls. Have a normal bowl season and then pick the top two for a NC game after the bowls. If someone gets left out, tough shit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You just know weâll be one of three and Herbstreit will lobby against us. No…Iâll take anything but that…again.
LikeLike
I wouldn’t go to Home Depot and skip the Georgie/Clemson game because Georgia has a safety net of the expanded playoffs. And it wouldn’t make the game less important to me.
So yes, I think he’s wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I mean maybe you guys would skip the game, IDK.
LikeLike
And unlike him, I feel like if we had played Alabama again with JT in the second round of the 16 team playoff, we would have gotten our brains kicked in.
Just as Florida gave them a helluva gave, I believe we would have too.
But we’ll never know because the field was limited to 4 teams of which overrated ND was one of them.
And I believe TAMU, UF and UGA were all better than ND. So actually an expanded playoff would have brought better teams into the playoffs, not worse.
So yes, I think he is wrong.
LikeLike
Wouldn’t*
LikeLike
We already have a 10 team playoff and at large picks. Some just donât like how the final four are selected from that group. That seems easier to fix by offering a formula that favors P5 OOC wins over cupcakes. In fact, just donât count the cupcake wins and see a massive improvement in matchups, fan interest, and selection of the final 4.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly. All of the Power 5 champions can get in if they have 1 loss. ND typically plays a schedule that enables them to have a path with 1 loss. Penalize teams in the formula with a weak OOC schedule. Everyone understands the rules under a BCS type selection system as opposed to what we have now which is 13 people who all have bias and change the rules as they go along to get the answer the WWL wants.
LikeLike
Letâs make Alabama play more teams on their way to a national championship said no SEC fan ever. Itâs just pointless, right?
LikeLike
He’s right.
But it’s not about making games matter. Shit, they play 160-odd games in baseball and still feel like they need a playoff to figure out who the best team is. SMH. And they keep adding teams. Because it’s ain’t about the games or finding out who is best, it’s about money.
LikeLike
What is the break even revenue point for a college football game? How much does it cost to produce and broadcast a game from a decent size city/stadium? I know little about the subject, but I’d speculate that there’s profit for ESPN and handsome revenues for our beloved alma maters right up to the point of 64 teams in a college football playoff, maybe even further.
Analogy: third tier bowl games.
Think about a first round playoff game, 6-6 South Carolina or 6-6 Indiana taking on a top seed, in front of how many fans? If that generates marginal profit for ESPN and revenue for the colleges/conferences, then ESPN will broadcast it and the “non-profit, charitable” colleges will assume the position for it.
How many games will the champion have played? How many more players will have nagging long term orthopedic problems, or worse?
I was okay with NIL rights already, but the thought of a big playoff field makes me like them even more. At least with the third tier bowl games there’s an end to sending players out there to make money for Ole Siwash U.
LikeLike
I understand the argument that MLB or NFL don’t need any more playoffs. But MLB and NFL teams only play other MLB and NFL teams. CFB schools play plenty of games against lower-level teams, so the way to equalize this is to let the playoffs expand. Then, you know you’ve got good-on-good, and whoever comes out on top is your national champion.
LikeLike
The owners will be the judge of that, thank you very much.
LikeLike
SB,
I’m a long-time UGA Fan and an Alumnus from UGA having graduated twice many years ago. I really enjoy Josh Pate’s “Late Kick Show” on TV two to three times per week. I have found Josh to be very fair and complimentary to all college teams and especially to Georgia (but then if you aren’t Dan Mullen, what is there to criticize). Josh pretty much “calls it like he sees it” and has not been overly critical of Kirby and Company, but then that is true of Josh in general.
So generally I agree with Josh’s comments about football, but in this one area he is wrong about expanding to eight teams versus four. It will not destroy the game. Instead, it will make it stronger and better by providing four more teams the opportunity to win the National Championship, which expands interest and viewership.
When the two best football teams were picked prior to playing for a National Championship, it was like a Beauty Pagent and a complete joke. it was all about what the Media thought, or whomever on the committee had the most pull. Any game worth being called a National Championship should be decided on the field of play, because as we all know, that is what all Sports are all about. Add to this there is no group of people who are not predisposed enough to pick the best two teams as these people all went to college and were predisposed before they got on the Committee to select two teams.
All you have to do is to look at last year when the final four were selected: Bama, ND, Clemson and Ohio State. The Playoff Committee seated Bama # 1, which was right but then they got #2 and #3 wrong as Ohio State was rated #4 and they obviously were the next best team to Bama.
Added note: We all have to be honest here; there has never been a College Football team with the level of success and domination that Bama has experienced under Nick Saban. Plus Coach Saban he has accomplished things that may never be topped, ever! Just sayin…..and I don’t like the man, but then I never met him, so I should say nothing other than he is best Head Football Coach ever in College Football, and that is in no way meant to be disrespectful to the Bear!
Every sport with any merit and a major following has some form of a playoff to determine the best in the nation or best in the world.
Professional Baseball has it with the Pennant races and then the World Series. The NFL has it with their eight-team playoff to win the Super Bowl. Division 1 College Basketball has March Madness with 64 teams that gets down to the Sweet 16, the Great 8 and then the Final Four before a National Champion is crowned. College Baseball has the College World Series that Georgia was fortunate enough to win once several years ago. Rugby which is the closest thing to Football has the equivalent of a World Championship known as the Rugby World Cup which was started in 1987. I could go on and on, but it is useless.
Josh, like all of us, is entitled to his opinion and I will still continue to watch him when he is on weekly because he is one of the few who covers college football so thoroughly and in an unbiased fashion. But Josh sees it differently than I do when it comes to College Football. An Eight Team College Football Playoff will improve the game, not destroy it.
Add to this the fact that an 8 Team College National Championship Playoff will do nothing to harm the rivalry we have with the Florida Gayturds, The Aubun’ War Chickens, or the puking Orange TInny Sea Volunteers, Old Slammer Bammer, the South Carolina War Chickens or any other SEC team, no puns intended!
Plus it will have no impact on how badly we want to beat Clem and his Son in the opening game to start the 2021 Season either (Go Dawgs! Sic ’em!).
In closing on this subject, expanding to 16 teams would be a whole different story because I believe it would add too many games to the two teams that wind up playing the final game for the National Championship. But an eight team playoff where you play three games to win the National Championship should not be a problem. We will see how it works out, as I do believe the Playoffs will eventually be expanded and we will go from four to eight teams. Still, it could be years down the road and you would probably need to provide a week between the semifinal playoff games and then another week to rest before the finals. So it would add at least a week to the season, but this would give the guys more time to study for classes as well as continuing to not allow any contact in between games as bodies do need time to rest and heal. But these are young men between the ages of 18 and 22 and they heal quickly. Nothing helps you heal faster than adrenaline, and man is it ever flowing when you get to the Championship level.
Sorry for being long-winded, but this is not an easy subject to discuss, and you can state what needs to be stated in a paragraph.
Keep up the good work,
Bob Machen bobmachen@hotmail.com
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bob, thanks for your comment. It’s well thought out.
That doesn’t mean I don’t disagree with it. But you probably knew I would. đ
Where it begins and ends is with your assertion that “Every sport with any merit and a major following has some form of a playoff to determine the best in the nation or best in the world.”
Historically speaking, college football hasn’t been like every other sport and that’s what has been its glory. No other sport has a history where independent postseason games — the bowls — were allowed to take root independently from the ownership of the sport. No other sport has allowed a subjective element on the level CFB does to surround the crowning of its champion. And no other sport came as late to the table to chase money the way college football did.
And make no mistake about it, playoff expansion occurs for one reason: money. And more of it.
That’s why ultimately I have to dismiss your argument. The college football postseason has reached the point where any further expansion will be driven by dollars. You may bemoan a 16-team playoff, but if the money’s there, so will college football be there. And the selection of the field will always have a subjective element to it, although it will be reduced somewhat by auto bids to conference champs.
I presume even with that, you’ll find it a better arrangement than what we have now, and that’s certainly your prerogative. Me, I think the people in charge are jettisoning everything that makes their sport uniquely attractive because the money’s good. From my selfish standpoint, seeing college football embrace what all the other sports do is something that won’t end well.
Thanks again for your comment. You should pitch in more often!
LikeLike
Mr. Machen – while I have always been anti expansion, just wanted to say that’s its so great to read your thoughts here, Sir. Hope y’all are well. HBTD. Cheers.
LikeLike