(05-07-2013 08:05 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 07:50 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  

(05-07-2013 04:11 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  The good news is that the best team of the G5 conferences is guaranteed a spot every year. As for which slot... there are a lot of rules & by-laws. If I got it right, here's how the 3-year cycle will look for G5 teams:

Phase 1
Rose & Sugar - semi finals - #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3
Orange - ACC vs. SEC/B1G/ND
Fiesta - B1G vs. Pac-12
Cotton - B12 vs. SEC
Peach - at-large vs. G5
(total slots open to G5 = 2 max, must be Peach)

Phase 2
Orange & Cotton - semi finals - #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3
Rose - B1G vs. Pac-12
Sugar - B12 vs. SEC
Peach - ACC vs. at-large
Fiesta - at-large vs. at-large
(total slots open to G5 = 3 max, could be either Peach or Fiesta)

Phase 3
Fiesta & Peach - semi finals - #1 vs. #4, #2 vs. #3
Rose - B1G vs. Pac-12
Sugar - B12 vs. SEC
Orange - ACC vs. SEC/B1G/ND
Cotton - at-large vs. G5
(total slots open to G5 = 2 max, must be Cotton)

I did not think the Cotton automatically receives a Big XII and SEC if those schools make the playoff when the Sugar Bowl is a semifinal host.

It doesn't matter if they make the playoff or not - that is their "contract" bowl tie-in for when the Sugar is a semi-final. That is how the Pac, B1G, SEC and B12 hosed the G5, IMO (it doesn't appear that the ACC was a party to that under-the-table deal; we were actually trying to get the SEC or B1G team in the Orange, but at the last minute they changed the deal and said those teams have to go to an Access bowl to play the Pac or B12 team).

No it is not. The contract conferences are only guaranteed a spot somewhere in the system when their contract bowl hosts a semifinal, not a secondary bowl game - that is patently wrong. The Cotton does not acquire the Sugar Bowl tie-ins when the Sugar hosts the semifinals. If a XII or SEC team makes the playoff, that counts as a spot, but additional teams from those conferences could be included based on how they are ranked. The Fiesta and Cotton are not "back-up bowls" for the B1G/PAC and SEC/XII. They are at-large games. Using last year's BCS standings, the SEC would have had 5 CFP participants, the PAC would have had 2, and the rest of the contract conferences would have had only 1 each.

How the contract conferences snookered the G5 was by getting their guaranteed contract bowl payout even in those years when the contract bowl is a semifinal.

Also, technically, the semifinal spots are at-large, as any school ranked in the top 4 can participate.

I broke down the permutations of the next three bowl cycles using the 2012 BCS standings here: http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=631...pid9293719