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

[scooter]

6 BCS conference champs get in. Toss in 2 at larges from wherever and seed accordingly

[DanGenck]

No one has addressed the validity of at-large bids.

Why have a conference championship and system if Georgia makes a national tournament? What does the SEC Championship "mean" if you can still win the national championship without winning the SEC Championship?

Should we dissolve the conference system? Or should we just acquiesce and become similar to college basketball?

11-0 Michigan v. 11-0 Ohio State is worthless if the loser gets an at-large bid and can still win the National Championship (keep your SEC superiority comments to yourself with this example as it is irrelevant). Not to mention that the teams might have to meet again, further trivializing the regular season game.

And what's the point of winning the sugar bowl if it's a quarterfinal game? Would you still claim that you are the "Sugar Bowl Champion"? Would we do confetti at the end of the game? Would you get a championship ring?

Again, I only want to spur discussion. I do not coach in Division 1 and have no attachments to it. The ultimate decision is nearly meaningless to me, though I find the discussion interesting.

[Beta]

11-0 Michigan v. 11-0 Ohio State is worthless if the loser gets an at-large bid and can still win the National Championship (keep your SEC superiority comments to yourself with this example as it is irrelevant). Not to mention that the teams might have to meet again, further trivializing the regular season game.

And what's the point of winning the sugar bowl if it's a quarterfinal game? Would you still claim that you are the "Sugar Bowl Champion"? Would we do confetti at the end of the game? Would you get a championship ring?

More than 1 team from a conference can get into the postseason for most playoff systems. Esp in ncaa basketball; be it ACC, Big East, etc. And there are ACC playoffs, ACC champion, etc. The NHL has 2nd place, and even 3rd place teams make the playoffs. So does the NFL, MLB, NBA, National Paintball Association of Combined Underwater Basketweaving, etc. The whole "point" is that if a team can't win their conference, odds are they won't make it far in the playoffs. That's why they're underdogs like Gonzaga used to be in March Madness.

The "point" of winning your conference is that you get to play a lower seed. I would rather play against Hawaii in the first round than against LSU or USC.

You do realize that the argument you're making against the standard playoff system means that you oppose it for ALL sports. Or am I incorrect in that assumption?

[DanGenck]

Don't ever pigeon hole my argument. That is usually viewed as an insult.

I am confused by any system in which any championship lacks value. Division 1-A football is the lone area of athletics that still holds strong to this mentality by making regular season and conference play important, and the subsequent championships from those games are important. If you do not win them, you do not have a chance to play for a national championship.

Basketball is the worst. 2 regular season games and a tournament game, and a chance to see the team again in the NCAA tournament. Why should you have to defeat someone more than once? Twice? Three times?

Do we want college football to move in that direction? Will this devalue the things that are great about 1-A football?

[Beta]

Don't ever pigeon hole my argument. That is usually viewed as an insult.

OoooooOoo, so angry! Easy killer, it's an internet debate on sports. Why should the type of sport determine the type of post-season (vote/$/Politics/more-$-based or playoff-based)? Shouldn't there be definitive champion for every sport? Because right now there are what, 4 teams with #1 votes in college football.

Perhaps the problem is that there's so many different conferences and divisions in college sports. If only conference champions were selected...then you'll have 2nd place SEC/Big12 teams complaining about a SunBelt champ getting the nod and not them. Then they add the at-large bids and BAM...we're at the point where 2nd/3rd place teams can sneak in and get rematches.

Every other sport has wild-card/non-champions play. This weekend the Giants play the Cowboys again, and the Colts play the Chargers again. But that's the thing. When teams play in the regular season it's always "they MIGHT meet in the playoffs". Obviously in hind-sight they're playing again...but they didn't assume the first time. Rematches happen. Teams aren't going to be throwing their last conference game in college football because I don't think voters would take too kindly to it. And when 1 loss can drop you out of the few proposed at-large bids...it's not going to happen. ESP if throwing the conference championship game means you are no longer playing Hawaii in the first round...but UGA.

Arguably, the best thing about college football are the regular season conference games and perhaps the bowl game, if it's felt that it's picked right since there's only 1 post-season game per team (not incl conference championship games...which are a mini playoff in themselves since the 2 teams from each division play each other, then the winner advances).