2ndGenIllini
- Chambana
I think this year was a bit unique in how there is only one undefeated team. In years with more undefeateds or stronger conference champions, those losses would have mattered more.
B1G Bowls Thread
I think this year was a bit unique in how there is only one undefeated team. In years with more undefeateds or stronger conference champions, those losses would have mattered more.
I respectfully disagree. Under the previous system, we had a national championship between the #1 and 2 teams, but the #3, sometimes #4 team, always felt like they were #2 and should be playing in the NC. Nobody ever thought the #5-8 teams should have been playing as the #1 or 2 team in the NC.
So we put the 4 team playoff system in place to remove any debate over who the #1 or 2 teams are. Put it this way, look at the #5-8 teams and ask if under the old system anyone would be arguing they should be in the National Championship. The answer is inevitably going to be "no."
The debate is (and should be): who are the top 2 teams who should be playing for the national championship? 4 teams removes any doubt. Calls for an 8 team playoff suggest that the debate is "who should the #4 team be?" It dilutes the prestige of being considered championship-worthy. The 4 team playoff is great how it is.
The unspoken truth of college football, the secret sauce that makes it (IMO) the greatest sport on earth from a fan perspective, is that the race for the national championship is a comparatively small part of the overall narrative in its rich tapestry.
In pro sports there's a bright line between what "matters", the mechanized lemming-march to the playoffs and then through the championship on one hand, and the fun frivolities associated with the game on the other. It's all one gumbo in college football. From week 1 to the last bowl to the coaching carousel to signing day to spring ball and all over again it is loud, ridiculous, tense, pressure-packed, beautiful, dumb, all-or-nothing excitement. May that never change.
In pro sports there's a bright line between what "matters", the mechanized lemming-march to the playoffs and then through the championship on one hand, and the fun frivolities associated with the game on the other. It's all one gumbo in college football. From week 1 to the last bowl to the coaching carousel to signing day to spring ball and all over again it is loud, ridiculous, tense, pressure-packed, beautiful, dumb, all-or-nothing excitement. May that never change.
How many of the 1-64 NCAA tourney teams really have a chance at winning the NC? The problem is when you have years like this where Michigan IS good enough to play for an NC. Clemson and OSU are inconsistent enough to lose in the first round of an 8 team bracket. (Not saying Michigan isn't). 8 is probably not gonna beat one, but in a great year like this year, it would be fun to watch. 16 has never beaten 1 in the tourney but they haven't stopped that. A number of games argument in terms of impact on the body is legitimate. But in reality, it's one more game for only 2 teams. And players generally like to play.
The reason I'm in favor of an 8 team playoff is that is puts arguably more emphasis on the regular season by rewarding all the power 5 conference champions, by removing the subjectivity of trying to decide which conference is more/most deserving and which conference should be left out. This year Penn State and Oklahoma won their conferences respectively but lost non conference games against high quality opponents, while Washington made the final 4 by breezing through cupcakes in the non conference and only having 1 conference loss.
Is it not crazy the B1G has teams in the Rose, Orange, and Cotton Bowl? Not to mention the Fiesta and Outback Bowls...
Those are pretty much all of the top bowl games (Really only missing the Sugar Bowl). Maybe I'm just used to the time before the playoffs and less games where we were only in the Rose Bowl and maybe a new years eve bowl, but dang this is just insanely impressive to me as a conference.
Those are pretty much all of the top bowl games (Really only missing the Sugar Bowl). Maybe I'm just used to the time before the playoffs and less games where we were only in the Rose Bowl and maybe a new years eve bowl, but dang this is just insanely impressive to me as a conference.
People acting like 1-loss teams being considered ahead of 2-loss teams is anything other than automatic makes me feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode.
What would people think of a 6 team play off? Top two teams get a bye. Basically a playoff for teams to have the 3 and 4 seeds. I do agree this is diluting the issue and if they put this in place people are gonna call for 8 team the next year.
Question: Do y'all think Michigan would've pushed Clemson/Washington out if they went 11-2 with a B1g championship win? I Think they would've pushed Washington out personally.
Question: Do y'all think Michigan would've pushed Clemson/Washington out if they went 11-2 with a B1g championship win? I Think they would've pushed Washington out personally.
What's the scenario in which that would be possible?
I don't think comparing college football to basketball is exactly apples and apples. That's talking about a traditional playoff system versus a system that has traditionally tried to find the top 2 teams to play against each other in a championship game. And I still feel like the 64 team bracket is too big. Do we want the goal in college football to be "good enough to make the playoffs" like in bball? The race for the national championship during the regular season in football is great. Just because 8 vs 1 would be a great game doesn't mean 8 should be playing for a national championship.
Besides, you won't get the fan bases to show up to all these games. Assume the extra playoff games are existing bowl games. Let's take a B1G team for example. Fans are asked to travel to Indy for the B1G Championship, Pasadena for the first round of the playoff, Miami for a second round Orange Bowl, then Arizona (or other city) for the NC, all in 5 weeks. I don't think you are realistically going to fill those stadiums.
A 64-team single elimination tournament is an awful way to choose a champion in a vacuum.
But it just so happens to make for one of the greatest, most beloved televised events in all of sports. It's dumb, but perfect.
Similarly, to say college football's pre-BCS format was a system for choosing a champion would be inaccurate. It abdicated all responsibility for doing so and left deciding to a poll of writers it had no control over. And that sense of anarchy created magic. It was dumb, but perfect.
If you want to see the best players on the biggest stages competing to determine true greatness, go watch the NFL and NBA. They do a better job of providing that than college ever could. Please let college sports remain the delightful oddballs that make no sense to outsiders that they have always been.
But it just so happens to make for one of the greatest, most beloved televised events in all of sports. It's dumb, but perfect.
Similarly, to say college football's pre-BCS format was a system for choosing a champion would be inaccurate. It abdicated all responsibility for doing so and left deciding to a poll of writers it had no control over. And that sense of anarchy created magic. It was dumb, but perfect.
If you want to see the best players on the biggest stages competing to determine true greatness, go watch the NFL and NBA. They do a better job of providing that than college ever could. Please let college sports remain the delightful oddballs that make no sense to outsiders that they have always been.
Illini fan in Tennessee
- Eastern Tennessee
Clemson way overrated.
Illini fan in Tennessee
- Eastern Tennessee
I hope Western Michigan beats Wisconsin.
britt31
- Madison, WI
I too hope the Broncos take it to them. I get tired of hearing how good they are every day at work.
At least they are good. Imagine being in Austin and the whiny entitlement of UT fans. They're just awful.
On the bright side, it is way more enjoyable with UT sucking recently.
FinalFour88
- Charlotte, NC
Heisman finalist two years in a row and he's a fraud? Wow.
You can't be serious...did you watch the NC game last year? Watson makes the other QB's in the Final 4 look like middle schoolers. There is some serious Big 10 myopia on this board.
Get rid of 55 games and add only four?
It might be more fun. I think you are right about that. But lots of teams would miss out on revenue and there fans would miss out on a fun weekend.
This is a no win game for whisky and that wmu run defense is pretty stout
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Keep the existing bowls. Just expand the playoff to 8. That's what I meant.
Not good for Minnesota.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/10-minnesota-players-indefinitely-suspended-045551900.html
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/10-minnesota-players-indefinitely-suspended-045551900.html
Claeys runs a loose ship at Minny. I have been rooting against them after the targeting against Turner and subsequent celebration.
It got worse when the targeting/ejections kept coming and nobody on Minny's staff seemed to truly care.
I hope they lose all their games. Forever.
Dan
Admin
Sources say #Gophers football players threatening to boycott bowl game to protest 10 suspended teammates
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-football-players-plan-to-threaten-boycott-of-bowl-game/406928136/
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-football-players-plan-to-threaten-boycott-of-bowl-game/406928136/
Deleted member 10676
D
Guest
[FONT="]Brian Bennett ESPN Staff Writer [/FONT]
[FONT="]Minnesota players called for an immediate boycott of all football activities on Thursday evening after 10 players were suspended by the school a day earlier. In a statement read by senior receiver Drew Wolitarsky, the players demand a closed door meeting with the school's board of regents and for the suspensions to be lifted. The Golden Gophers are scheduled to play Washington State in the National Funding Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27[/FONT]
https://twitter.com/MHendrickson18/status/809556250405064704
Joel Goodson
- ties will be resolved
That should end well.