🏈 Turns out, I was right.....sort of

[sean]

i'm not bragging or trying to sound arrogant, but it turns out i was right about all the complaining that would happen concerning the playoff rankings and the system they use.

back when it was announced that the bcs was going away and it was being replaced by a new playoff system, just about everyone interested in college football cheered collectively. they said it would help determine a true champion and would be a more fair representation of who the true champion is.

well, it turns out that you can always expect fans to be fans.

now that the playoff system is well underway and the rankings have been shaken up quite a bit for just about every week since the initial standings were released, just about every one of those that loathed the bcs are now loathing the new playoff system. now they're all crying about how we, 'BAMA, don't deserve to be ranked #1 and how fsu should be ranked ahead of us and how having 2 sec teams in the top 4 is bullsh*t.

they're all crying about how espn is still pumping SEC sunshine and they're the ones who are keeping the SEC in the middle of it all and how much influence they have over the playoff rankings.

i said back then that people who are crying about the bcs system and how the SEC had won 8 of the past 9 national championships (don't get me started on all the crap that was said when we played lsu for the national championship in 2012) will be doing the exact same thing when 2 (or more) SEC teams get ranked in the top 4 at the end of the regular season.

at first, they were all cheering and saying how it would help keep more than 1 SEC team out of the playoffs and it would be more fair and bring balance. i chuckled and said, "yeah, until 2 SEC teams go undefeated or lose just 1 game and wind up in the top 4 at the end."

and here are some of the things that have been said about the whole thing.....

They have the advantage of being in the SEC West.
(this is concerning Miss St and their non-conference schedule and how their conference wins are really not that impressive)

That may be more ridiculous than a SEC team dropping 1-3 spots after losing. SEC teams jump 5-8 spots after winning. A loss doesn't hurt them. It's a fixed system. ESPN has too much influence over this and has for years.

We should all hope this is how it stays. If a one loss Big 12 and a one loss Big 10 team are left out then all hell will break loose. Those commissioners will not stand for it and 8 teams will be coming soon! Next year soon!
(this is concerning UGA's top-10 ranking)

WTF? I've been a critic of their SoS (strength-of-schedule) but I'm having a hard time believing FSU should be behind Bama and Oregon in the playoff rankings. And it does appear Mississippi St. just has to win out and they'll make the top-4. It looks like this new playoff committee is going to be even more controversial than the old BCS formula... I have no logical explanation for these rankings.

there are a few that are saying basically what i've been saying about the playoff system from the beginning. they need to ditch the 4-team system and go to either an 8- or 16-team system. an 8-team system would be more viable as it could be said that they playoffs would take the 5 power conference champions and 3 at-large teams. that is the model i was thinking would be best and a couple other people from other forums have the same feeling.

 

[mhardiman]

I heard it from somewhere, but an 8 team playoff would give the NCAA full control of the "Tournament." I've said it several times hear; the BCS should have been kept to determine the top four teams, because unlike what most think it did get it right every year.

 

[psychojoe]

I think there is something in the NCAA by-laws that would give them control if there was an 8 or more team playoff. However, the NCAA did give the power five conferences some latitude in deciding some of their rules. Perhaps the power 5 could insist on having control of any playoff system they came up with and make it stick.

I have seen suggestions for a six team playoff with #1 and #2 getting a first round bye. That would add (as it stands now) TCU and Ohio State to the mix, giving, in effect, a representative to each conference and Mississippi State at large. That arrangement would silence a lot of the grumbling. As I said in a mid season post, I favor an eight team playoff.

 

[JoshB]

I have with the "plus one" system, I hate the selection committee. They could have left the BCS rankings the way they are and it would have been fine imo.

 

[JoshB]

*have no problem with the plus one system

 

[jdpas29]

you have a very basic math problem here with the 4 team playoff.... everyone refers to the big guys as the Power 5 conferences now right... well you have to expect a problem when you plan to have 1 fewer teams in the playoff than you have "power" conferences. I think they really crapped the bed with the number of teams. 8 teams should have been the idea from the start. 4 teams is dumb. shorten the regular season by 1 game if you need to but we need 8 teams or at the very minimum a 6 team playoff with a bye for the top 2 seeds.

 

[alabama mike]

I have no problem with an 8 team playoff or do it the way D II and D III do it now. The system they use has been in place for years.

 

[planomateo]

Plenty of football left to be played, anything can still happen.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

^This

Every single top 10 team could loose over the next 3 weeks & none of this will make any difference. Think 2007 & how LSU made it in.

 

[JoshB]

you have a very basic math problem here with the 4 team playoff.... everyone refers to the big guys as the Power 5 conferences now right... well you have to expect a problem when you plan to have 1 fewer teams in the playoff than you have "power" conferences. I think they really crapped the bed with the number of teams. 8 teams should have been the idea from the start. 4 teams is dumb. shorten the regular season by 1 game if you need to but we need 8 teams or at the very minimum a 6 team playoff with a bye for the top 2 seeds.

8 is too many to me, it will devalue the regular season. As it stands the regular season still means something, in fact college football is the only team sport where the regular season means as much as it does. Look at the NFL, my Atlanta Falcons are horrible and well under .500 yet are first in their division and have a shot at the playoffs. Lets go with what many want, the 6 conference champions (Pac 12, SEC, Big XII, Big 10, ACC, and maybe AAC) plus two wild cards (or you could replace the AAC with another wild card which would prolly be smart). So lets say we got USC (Pac 12 Champ), Alabama (SEC Champ), Oklahoma (Big XII Champ), Michigan State (Big 10 Champ), and Florida State (ACC champ) in the top 5 spots. Oklahoma and Michigan State have three losses but because their conferences suck monkey balls they still get into the playoffs because they are conf. champs. Notre Dame (independent), Miami (ACC runner up), and Georgia (SEC runner up) are the next three in but that leaves a one loss or two loss Stanford and LSU out because you had to put the two teams from the shit conferences in.

Right now wins mean everything, its heartbreaking when you lose. The top four teams in a playoff to decide the #1 team still allows the traditional bowls (which need to be reduced) to be played while giving us a playoff. Yes of course #5 and 6 are going to complain that they should have been in the top four but if you go to 8 teams #9 and [HASHTAG]#10[/HASHTAG] are gonna claim they should have been in there too. And I damn sure dont want it to end up like the NCAA basketball tournament which is just ridiculous and means nothing to me anymore.

 

[rammerjammer]

The playoff selection committee is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Create an uproar and generate talk shows/tv shows tons of hype. It is all driven by money. Phil Savage said it best. With the money's involved you can bet your butt that ESPN is wanting/driving for there to be a UA (Saban) vs OSU (Meyer) match up. With OU (Mariota) vs FSU (Winston) match up. Those names going head to head will drive ratings through the roof and would not have any problems with folks showing up to the semi-final games.

I never understood the 4 team play off with 5 power conferences. That insures someone will be left out. I think going with a 6 team play off you could give 1 and 2 a bye and then match them up with the winners of 3&4 and 5&6. This would keep it from getting to too many games and bypassing the 8 team NCAA control. It would also leave a little wiggle room for the years that you have a team like a Boise St or BYU, or a season where you have a couple of real good teams from the same conference. Like a few years back with us and LSU and UGA and UF were all in contention, but you could only have 2 teams in BCS bowls from the same conference.

All of that said, I liked the BCS standings, it took them a few years, but they figured it out and was a real good system. Took out a lot of subjectivity which is the bitching point among most everyone. I wish they would have just expanded to the 4 teams, but used the BCS standards for the polls.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

Well, I'll just throw my ideas out there. We should have 6 conferences of 16 teams (2 divisions of 8 teams each). That is 96 teams. Some teams need to be dropped from D1 and if you refuse to really join a conference (Notre Dame) you get left out. Play 10 games a season, 7 of those being against the teams in your division and those are the only ones that count in your standings for the Conference Championship (ie: Bama can still play Tennessee each year but it doesn't count in the SEC standings for either team) and 3 games that are not counted toward your conference standings but can impact your Wild Card status. Division champions play in the Conference Championship. The 6 Conference Champions go straight into an 8 team playoff along with two Wild Cards chosen from the other teams. Then there are 3 rounds of playoffs to determine the champion, with the first round played at the higher ranking team in each matchups home stadium 1 week after Conference Championship weekend. The current playoff system would take over at that point where the semifinals are on New Years at certain bowls and the Championship is the week later. All teams either not in the playoffs or defeated in the first round can fill out the current bowls not part of the playoff. They become real exhibition games again.

 

[UAgrad93]

I still think the old BCS ranking system should be used and all the committee would decide would be where to place the 1v4 and 2v3 game. 8 would be better in a sense but then next season or years down the road, we have 1 undefeated, 2 one loss teams, and 10 two loss teams. Then we would have bitching from teams 9 and 10 about how they were screwed. If the Power 5 can get the NCAA to sign off and waive their controlling power over playoffs of 8 or more, I'd be all for it. Take the Power 5 conference champions and the 3 wild cards.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

Take the Power 5 conference champions and the 3 wild cards.

Or tell the NCAA to shove it and do Power 5 champs and 2 Wild Cards for a total of 7. Number 1 gets a Bye Week and 2-7 play to get the Top 4. Proceed as normal.