More common sense from our college football overlords?
As the leaders of the College Football Playoff prepare for another in-person meeting on Saturday in Indianapolis to discuss expanding the current four-team system, the lopsided semifinal scores that resulted in two SEC teams playing for the national title — again — might not resonate as much with the commissioners as they have with fans and critics over the past week…
“I think college football is better served by having a broader participation in national championship games, but the fact is, you’ve got to go beat those people,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told ESPN on Tuesday. “And that means you’ve got to go do it on the football field. That doesn’t have anything to do with the format; that has to do with who’s playing at the highest levels.”
That doesn’t mean they don’t continue to have their eyes on the expansion prize, of course.
“I don’t think it should really matter,” American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco told ESPN. “I think we’re talking about a playoff that would be essentially more inclusive, give more teams an opportunity, and if you gave more teams an opportunity, you know, a few of those teams might perform at a level better than the teams that you choose.”
And… a pony!
The good thing for someone like me who would prefer not to see any further enlargement of the CFP (futile, I know) is that these assholes are still bickering and sniping like they’re in high school.
Bowlsby said he would be “very pleasantly surprised” if they come to any conclusions “because I don’t think there’s much spirit of doing what’s best for the game.”
“I think people are protecting their territory,” he said, “and … we need to go into the meeting trying to think about what’s good, the best for college football, not what’s best for any particular league.”
Yeah, it’s a real shame to watch this group not united by greed, which is their usual default mode.
Get The Picture 
I’m marveling at the lack of self-awareness by the commissioner of a conference that just put the first G5 team in the playoffs (which subsequently got strangled by an SEC team) in saying this:
“and if you gave more teams an opportunity, you know, a few of those teams might perform at a level better than the teams that you choose.”
Is he saying they should have taken Baylor or Notre Dame or Oklahoma State to play Alabama? WTF? He’s opening up the possibility that one of his own teams wasn’t deserving of a bid to the CFP.
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No, he’s hoping the next time a Cincy plays a Bama, the Bama star player(s) get hurt or some other fluke occurs allowing Cincy to squeak through with a “victory” and claim to be the best. You know, a true Cinderella story.
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Dinich is a fool. The 2017 semifinals had the closest total margins at 24 (get your facts straight).
The Group of 5 proved once and for all that it’s fine for them to get a NY6 spot, but they don’t play the quality of schedule throughout the year to warrant a berth in this format without total chaos. Expansion is coming. Whether that’s good or bad for the sport remains to be seen. One thing I do know is that $ankey is going to win whatever negotiations happen. There’s no way this thing goes to 8 with 6 automatic bids and 2 wild cards (which I believe is what the alliance wants) because Sankey and Swarbrick will never agree to it. It’s either staying at 4 or moving to the original 12 proposal.
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Then we can hear all the crying about how unfair it is for teams like Georgia and Alabama to get a bye during the tournament (which is what it really will be). The whiney asses from the other conferences will never be happy because the root problem can’t be fixed…the South just has better football (players, high school programs, enthusiasm, etc) than the north and west.
It really does mean more. The SEC is the golden conference of the South. TX and OK barging in just makes it more so.
There will be an occasional elite team from the other conferences but there will always be two or three or even more in the SEC.
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“doing what’s best for the game.”…should that statement be true, they will leave the game alone, take their friggin’ checks to the bank and don’t get pissy just cause your Big whatever conference has two institutions with a one way ticket outa’ town…enjoy the title game and take notes on how it’s done…!
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I too find it hard to imagine Sankey agreeing to 8 with 6 automatic bids unless the agreement is that there is no limitation on who can get the at large bids (i.e. the SEC can get three teams from time to time and is likely assured of no less than two on an annual basis). The 8 with 6+2 format to me is absolutely the most asinine thing ever. This year it would be #1 Alabama, #12 Pitt, #2 Michigan, #4 Cincinnati, #11 Utah, #7 Baylor, #3 Georgia, and #5 Notre Dame. Yawn. Not that the 12 team would be much better. I really, really hope that they stay at 4.
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Had a long diatribe typed out, but what’s the point? The world is literally on fire so it doesn’t matter. Nevermind.
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These are NOT very smart people. They are sitting in a position of weakness and sit there demanding that it be an 8 game play-off (that in itself makes ‘0’ sense) and that each conference and a group of 5 team get automatic berths.
The SEC just put two teams in the Natty for the 2nd time in 5 years. Has had a team in the Natty all 5 of those years, and with the exception of the Clemson win (thanks to the QB), has won it every year.
Why in the World would Greg Sankey agree to that? Got to 12, allow the champions of the ACC, Big 10, Pac 12, Big 12 and SEC in (with seeding depending on the committee, which will factor all the other teams that did not win their conference) – where the best 12 teams are picked.
They don’t want this either, because they know that the SEC will likely end up with at least 4 teams, and as many as 6 when this is implemented too. But the SEC is dealing from a position of strength – keep screwing with them and they’ll just invite the best of the best into a Super Conference – kind of like the Champions League of Soccer – and set up their own National Championship.
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I love how they use words like “inclusive”, when all they want to do is include more of those $$$ into their wallet.
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“inclusive” is the end run around merit-based. It’s the ultimate participation trophy.
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And the smartest guy in the room is…nobody!
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Funny how the phrase “what’s best for the game” was all the media rage yesterday. Like there is a master script. So it’s no longer about the children. I can no longer tell if this is The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland.
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Any system that doesn’t eliminate same – conference competitors before getting into the meat of the playoff will only serve to produce MORE SEC titles, not fewer.
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Create two NCAA Divisions just for the post season.
A Tournament Division and a Traditional Division.
Let the schools that want a big ass playoff join the Tournament Division and have the F at it. Their tourney would be played in lower status bowl games as soon as possible after the regular season.
Let the SEC and whatever schools or conferences that don’t want a big ass playoff have a Division Championship game the week after the regular season (those two teams to be determined by something like the BCS formula).
After bowl season, the two Division champs meet in the national championship game.
The Tournament Champs VS The Traditional Champs for the National C.
You can have it either way you think is best for your conference.
If you want a silly ass tournament, you can do it. But you can’t force other conferences to go along with your tom foolery.
And neither division has to have a defined number of teams or conferences. Teams can move to either division every summer before the season starts.
It won’t effect the regular season one bit…just the post season.
(No I’m not drinking early, but I’m bored. Got a ton of work to do outside but this is more fun)
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The NCAA has nothing to do with the playoffs and the P5 conference commissioners aren’t about to do anything to change that.
Nice plan, otherwise. 😉
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The best argument I’ve heard for expanding the field to 12 is that 15 teams could theoretically pitch themselves to recruits as playoff contenders. And maybe in four years that bubbles up into more parity. As the Senator likes to say, “theoretically” is doing some lifting there.
But there’s a very good chance that doesn’t come to pass. Ultimately, the proof of concept rests in non-Southern teams being able to come south and get more linemen out of that region than they’ve been getting. You don’t have to be a genius to see that that’s what Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Texas A&M, and, until recently, FSU have been doing. If that doesn’t happen, then all we’ve done is replace “NY6 team” with “playoff also-ran.”
And, at that point, the toothpaste is out of the tube. We’ll have an expanded playoff, a further devalued regular season, and some team whose campus is within a half day’s drive from Atlanta taking home the hardware. So: pretty much like what we have, but shittier.
But perhaps the upside is, if and expanded playoff doesn’t solve the “problem” of Southern teams hogging all the hardware, we can stop talking about expanding the playoff, right? Yep, sure.
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“So: pretty much like what we have, but shittier.”
Well said and spot on.
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Yeah, that “playoff expansion helps recruiting” pitch doesn’t fly with me. When’s the last time the Aggies won anything? Yet they just signed probably the greatest recruiting class in history. If other teams want to compete, hire 50 analysts, put the assistant coaches on the road 50 weeks a year, build the fancy facilities and go get the players.
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