Listen up! President of UGA speaks his mind...

[DanGenck]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3186232

Apparently an 8 team play-off is the answer, therefore making the national championship game no longer a "beauty pageant". Never mind that Georgia managed to not win the SEC East, thus raising questions about their belonging in a "championship" game in the first place.

But this seems to set up a situation in which the presidents of teams #9, #10, #11, and #12 complain that the 8 team play-off is simply a beauty pageant in which they were not invited to play in. Surely there will be an instance in which #9 could have beaten team #8 because team #8 lost to team #24, which lost to team #9 by a greater margin, etc. Not to mention that team #9 plays in a tougher conference, and so on.

Some questions which I would like to discuss with you all-

#1- Do at-large bids trivialize a tournament? Why play in conferences if at-large bids are awarded? Why play a regular season for that matter...

#2- Is a "regional" play-off fair to make a national tournament? If you do not win the region, you do not go to the play-off? (This raises the question of how to make regions fair competitively. Surely the upper Midwest region will be easier to win than the Florida/Georgia region. This has become a problem in DIII with the "East" region). This would effectively destroy the conference system as well...

#3- Could the regular season be shortened to 8 or 10 games to accommodate a legitimate 16 or 32 team tournament?

most importantly...

#4- How do you decide who makes an 8 or 16 or 32 team tournament fairly? Can fairness exist when at-large bids are awarded? Can fairness exist when a champion is crowned nationally to a team that has not won a conference or region?

Your thoughts?

[laxfan25]

Well even with 64 teams in B-ball the last two teams always complain about being excluded.
I think regionals are fair - they do it in basketball and in D2 football.

[Zeuslax]

Go with the traditional varsity high school model. 10 or 11 regular season games and a single elimination playoff with seedings.

[Sonny]

The only possible solution is to shorten the regular season by a game or two and have a 16-team tournament. 11 Division 1-A conference champions get automatic bids with 5 at-larges.

This would seriously dilute the bowl system and probably hurt the overall revenue generated en mass. It would definitely minimize the importance of the Division 1 regular season.

[Jolly Roger]

It would definitely minimize the importance of the Division 1 regular season.

Sonny,

I'm curious what you mean here. I think it would place a premium on the conference regular season and encourage better non-conference matchups (sound familiar MCLAers?).

[KnoxVegas]

I am guessing that for all this man's academic book learnin', he must not have learned that after losing to Tennessee and then not playing in the SEC Championship game, he should feel lucky that UGA was invited to play in a BCS game at all.

A playoff is needed but the whinging about it because your school was left out is not the way. 4-teams, 2 weeks sounds good. It is not a far stretch from where we are now with the Plus One system.

All I ask is that Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis are not allowed anywhere near the broadcast booth for such games.

[Pinball]

This would seriously dilute the bowl system and probably hurt the overall revenue generated en mass. It would definitely minimize the importance of the Division 1 regular season.

couldn't the bowl system still be kept for example-

sugar bowl- semi-final game
Rose bowl- semi-final game2
orange bowl- east region final
micron pc bowl brought to you by Best buy and Wallmart- west region final
etc
etc
etc

I would have more interest in watching the sugar bowl when it has the means of advancing to something rather then being crowned the sugar bowl champion (which really means nothing in my opinion)

Cut down the crappy OOC games and add something that the casual non-sec fan can watch and care about.

[Sonny]

Cut down the crappy OOC games and add something that the casual non-sec fan can watch and care about.

you mean the OOC games from this past season like Virginia Tech at LSU, Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, Oklahoma State at Georgia, Tennessee at Cal, USF at Auburn, Notre Dame at Michigan, BYU at UCLA, Washington at Hawaii, USC at Nebraska, USC at Notre Dame, Florida State vs. Alabama, Washington at Ohio State, or any number of OOC rivalry games like Clemson/South Carolina, Florida/Florida State, Georgia/Georgia Tech, Missouri/Illinois, Iowa/Iowa State, Louisville/Kentucky, Maryland/West Va?

Those games are already high interest and generate $$$.

[StrykerFSU]

A lot of people say things about the BCS games; ala Rose, Sugar, etc; not meaning anything now that there is a separate championship game and therefore not interesting but that seems to be contrary to the long history of these bowls prior to the establishment of the BCS.

I know a lot of the posters here probably can't remember when there was no BCS and all of the bowls were played on NYDay but I don't recall any lack of interest in those games just because there was no possibility for advancement. I don't dismiss that traditional conference match ups might have contributed to the interest but I don't buy that as the only reason. The fact was there were good match ups and bad match ups and for the most part only two or three teams in the running for the mythical national championship. Not unlike what we have now.

I'm all for a playoff in some form but I don't think that the argument that the bowls don't mean as much or aren't as interesting under the BCS system is a valid one for instituting a playoff. I think it is a bit of a cop out to say that you aren't interested in watching VT vs. KU or UGA vs. UH just because the winner is not playing for anything...back in the day only one or two bowls had title implications so what's the difference?

Like it or not, the BCS is going to be with us for a while. The FOX/BCS television contract doesn't run out until 2009 and the Rose Bowl contract goes until 2014 so don't expect any changes any time soon. In the meantime, enjoy the bowls and/or the I-AA playoffs.

[Pinball]

Cut down the crappy OOC games and add something that the casual non-sec fan can watch and care about.

you mean the OOC games from this past season like Virginia Tech at LSU, Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, Oklahoma State at Georgia, Tennessee at Cal, USF at Auburn, Notre Dame at Michigan, BYU at UCLA, Washington at Hawaii, USC at Nebraska, USC at Notre Dame, Florida State vs. Alabama, Washington at Ohio State, or any number of OOC rivalry games like Clemson/South Carolina, Florida/Florida State, Georgia/Georgia Tech, Missouri/Illinois, Iowa/Iowa State, Louisville/Kentucky, Maryland/West Va?

Those games are already high interest and generate $$$.

No i say lets keep those games get rid of the:
Louisville vs Murrary State
LSU vs Mississippi State
Ohio State vs Youngstown State
Florida vs Kentucky State
nebraska vs nevada
texas vs arkansas state
A&M vs Montana State
Georgia tech vs Samford

[Beta]

LSU vs Mississippi State

Yeah good call, I mean why should LSU play someone in their own conference AND division that has a winning record and won their bowl game. Stupid LSU!

But if strong teams don't play cupcakes...then the weaker teams complain that "no one will play them".

[Pinball]

i have no response to that besides mississippi state is not a good team

[Danny Hogan]

i have no response to that besides mississippi state is not a good team

8-5 and won a bowl game, they were by no means great, but to lump them in with the other teams on that list is a stretch.

and where did you pull florida vs. kentucky state out of?

[TexOle]

I have to agree with Stryker on this topic. I can remember the Cotton Bowl hosting some games that were not for a National Championship, but it was a game that everyone wanted to see. Nobody cared about a "true National Champion." The beauty of the college game was arguing who had the better team at the end of the season. I remember the year that Michigan and Nebraska (breaking news: they used to have a football team) tied for the national title. Michigan went to the Rose Bowl and Nebraska was in the Orange Bowl. We wanted the teams to play, but everyone was excited for every bowl game. It was an amazing Bowl season. I used to look forward to Notre Dame coming down to the Cotton Bowl to play one of the Texas teams. It was all about getting the best match up for a great game. Now we want a made for TV show that would be playoff. I am sorry, but count me out for a playoff. If I am one of the current non-BCS conferences I would file a lawsuit immediately to prevent the 8 team playoff which will leave conference champions out of the playoff.

I think Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News/Around the Horn/ESPN had a great take on the bowls this year.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/tcowlishaw/stories/010408dnspocowlishaw.2cd845d.html

[mcshea21]

LSU vs Mississippi State

Thank you for proving how little you know about college football. Please refrain from posting anymore on the subject.