I know that it would be more difficult to pull off than it sounds, but would the G5 be better off staging an 8-team Group of Five football NIT rather than creating a bunch of new low-level bowl games in lackluster locations?

Extend invitations to each of the Group of Five champions; and ensure that you have at least one team from each G5 conference, even after invitations are declined. (See below)

The NY6 bowl bid participant would definitely opt to go to the NY6 bowl over the NIT. Some other of the participants selected for the better G5 bowls would also likely opt out (ie, MWC v. PAC 12 at Las Vegas, AAC v. ACC or SEC at Military, St. Petersburg, and Birmingham, C-USA v. Big Ten at Heart of Dallas, etc.)

But, after that, the bowl games are G5 v. G5. You could have the best of C-USA, MAC, Sun Belt and solid teams from the MWC and AAC play in an 8-team NIT playoff.

Like the basketball NIT, have the first round or two at the home field of the higher seeds. Then, have the championship or the semi-finals at bowl sites. My suggestion would be to have a rotation of: Armed Forces, Poinsettia, New Orleans, and Miami Beach Bowls.

All the other G5 bowls could stay in place and there would still be room for the (6-6) G5 teams that would have previously been left out. No need for Little Rock and Tuscon bowl games.

Here is what 2014-15 could have looked like (arbitrarily picked without much analysis):

NIT ROUND 1
Saturday, December 13, 2014
#1 Marshall (C-USA) v. #8 Toledo (at large), at Huntington, WV
#2 NIU (MAC) v. #7 Air Force (at large), at Dekalb, IL
#3 Utah St. (MWC rep) v. #6 Rice (at large), at Logan, UT
#4 ECU (AAC rep) v. LA-Lafayette (SBC), at Greenville, NC

NIT SEMI-FINALS
Saturday, December 20, 2014
New Orleans Bowl - Semi-Final #1: Marshall v. ECU
Poinsettia Bowl - Semi-Final #2: NIU v. Utah St.
* [matchups based on higher seed winning assumption]

NIT CHAMPIONSHIP
Friday, January 2, 2015
Armed Forces Bowl: Semi-Final Winners

* Teams declining NIT invitation:
Boise St. (NY6 Fiesta Bowl)
Colorado St. (Las Vegas Bowl v. PAC 12)
Cincinnati (Military v. ACC)
UCF (St. Petersburg v. ACC)
ECU (Birmingham Bowl v. SEC)
Louisiana Tech (Heart of Dallas v. Big Ten)
Memphis (Miami Beach Bowl v. BYU)

I've been tossing around a semi-playoff idea in my head for a while now

It's called FCS. Move there if you wish.

I would limit it to four teams and take the other four G5 champions not selected for the access bowl.

(04-02-2015 04:38 PM)Stay Cool Wrote:  I've been tossing around a semi-playoff idea in my head for a while now

Go for it. But the AAC would never even answer the phone on this issue.

(04-02-2015 09:50 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(04-02-2015 04:38 PM)Stay Cool Wrote:  I've been tossing around a semi-playoff idea in my head for a while now

Go for it. But the AAC would never even answer the phone on this issue.

Well not quite this one, mine would be a little more refined...

Also, you shouldn't throw stones in a glass house brah, the American is far from perfect and could seriously use some help and new blood right now

(04-02-2015 09:51 PM)Stay Cool Wrote:  

(04-02-2015 09:50 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(04-02-2015 04:38 PM)Stay Cool Wrote:  I've been tossing around a semi-playoff idea in my head for a while now

Go for it. But the AAC would never even answer the phone on this issue.

Well not quite this one, mine would be a little more refined...

Also, you shouldn't throw stones in a glass house brah, the American is far from perfect and could seriously use some help and new blood right now

The American has "new blood" out the wazoo. Its made up of schools that are *not* in the old boys club. Most of us are outsiders and rebels ... aggressively trying to improve and move up the food chain.

I would not be for this nor would I recommend it. If the G5 wants to get together and invest some of their CFP money into a series of 3 bowls with payoffs high enough to attract #3-5 selections from a power conferences then Im all ears. Something like this---

G5 champ #1 goes to access bowl

G5 champ #2 vs P5 #3-5 (new G5 owned bowl)

G5 champ #2 vs P5 #3-5 (new G5 owned bowl)

G5 #3 vs G5 #4 (new G5 owned bowl)

If we simply put 5 million a year of CFP money away each year when the next bowl cycle rolled around we would have 25 million dollar fund to create these 3 bowls. How would that affect us each year? Instead of dividing 19 million in CFP money between the conferences based on performance, we would just divide 14 million. It would not affect the 1 million each team gets. I doubt we would really miss it. But the effects of signature destination bowls for our champions every year would make a huge difference. If the bowls were profitable (and I see no reason why they wouldn't be), they would cost us nothing. In fact, they would MAKE us money.

(04-02-2015 09:50 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(04-02-2015 04:38 PM)Stay Cool Wrote:  I've been tossing around a semi-playoff idea in my head for a while now

Go for it. But the AAC would never even answer the phone on this issue.

Neither would the MWC...

It's threads like this that prove that ESPN was correct in creating the "Power 5" designation. Small minds succumb to the wills of greater minds and seek the path of least resistance.

Best of luck on poverty row. I'll root for my school while they struggle to over come adversity and seek inclusion with the upper echelon of College Athletics.

I like this idea. We can start by with the basketball tournament. The P5 can have one and the G5 can have one.

(04-02-2015 04:51 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  It's called FCS. Move there if you wish.

^^^^
This.

(04-02-2015 04:38 PM)Stay Cool Wrote:  I've been tossing around a semi-playoff idea in my head for a while now

same here

the bowl system is out-of-date....I could definitely see it evolving into not just one, but MULTIPLE playoffs....

I'm all for an idea like this....As it is now, I don't even know when the Sun Belt and MAC champs play??

It would be great to see a playoff

(04-02-2015 04:27 PM)YNot Wrote:  I know that it would be more difficult to pull off than it sounds, but would the G5 be better off staging an 8-team Group of Five football NIT rather than creating a bunch of new low-level bowl games in lackluster locations?

Extend invitations to each of the Group of Five champions; and ensure that you have at least one team from each G5 conference, even after invitations are declined. (See below)

The NY6 bowl bid participant would definitely opt to go to the NY6 bowl over the NIT. Some other of the participants selected for the better G5 bowls would also likely opt out (ie, MWC v. PAC 12 at Las Vegas, AAC v. ACC or SEC at Military, St. Petersburg, and Birmingham, C-USA v. Big Ten at Heart of Dallas, etc.)

But, after that, the bowl games are G5 v. G5. You could have the best of C-USA, MAC, Sun Belt and solid teams from the MWC and AAC play in an 8-team NIT playoff.

Like the basketball NIT, have the first round or two at the home field of the higher seeds. Then, have the championship or the semi-finals at bowl sites. My suggestion would be to have a rotation of: Armed Forces, Poinsettia, New Orleans, and Miami Beach Bowls.

All the other G5 bowls could stay in place and there would still be room for the (6-6) G5 teams that would have previously been left out. No need for Little Rock and Tuscon bowl games.

Here is what 2014-15 could have looked like (arbitrarily picked without much analysis):

NIT ROUND 1
Saturday, December 13, 2014
#1 Marshall (C-USA) v. #8 Toledo (at large), at Huntington, WV
#2 NIU (MAC) v. #7 Air Force (at large), at Dekalb, IL
#3 Utah St. (MWC rep) v. #6 Rice (at large), at Logan, UT
#4 ECU (AAC rep) v. LA-Lafayette (SBC), at Greenville, NC

NIT SEMI-FINALS
Saturday, December 20, 2014
New Orleans Bowl - Semi-Final #1: Marshall v. ECU
Poinsettia Bowl - Semi-Final #2: NIU v. Utah St.
* [matchups based on higher seed winning assumption]

NIT CHAMPIONSHIP
Friday, January 2, 2015
Armed Forces Bowl: Semi-Final Winners

* Teams declining NIT invitation:
Boise St. (NY6 Fiesta Bowl)
Colorado St. (Las Vegas Bowl v. PAC 12)
Cincinnati (Military v. ACC)
UCF (St. Petersburg v. ACC)
ECU (Birmingham Bowl v. SEC)
Louisiana Tech (Heart of Dallas v. Big Ten)
Memphis (Miami Beach Bowl v. BYU)

So, assuming that the best G5 teams won't want to participate, what exactly is the point of having a tournament? What would the winner be champion of? And why would we want to see that team three times in one postseason? I think this needs work.

No. That is falling into the trap that the media is trying to create.

(04-03-2015 10:30 AM)ken d Wrote:  So, assuming that the best G5 teams won't want to participate, what exactly is the point of having a tournament? What would the winner be champion of? And why would we want to see that team three times in one postseason? I think this needs work.

Competition. More excitement. More $$$.

Your same arguments could be made for the basketball NIT, and yet it still exists.

You, and a lot of others would care less. You and a lot of others don't and will not care about the New Mexico Bowl, the Boca Raton Bowl, Idaho Potato Bowl, etc. (and now Little Rock, Tuscon, etc.) But those bowls still exist.

There is still a sizeable minority of G5 fans that would love this. I bet that Georgia Southern's fan base would prefer to play Louisiana Tech in a football NIT over the Boca Raton Bowl. Arkansas St. fans would prefer a game against Utah St. in an NIT instead of the New Mexico Bowl.

An NIT tournament isn't meant to replace the CFP or the better bowl games. But it could be a nice replacement for the growing number of bad G5 v. G5 bowl matchups in underwhelming locations and venues.

(04-03-2015 05:40 AM)USFRamenu Wrote:  It's threads like this that prove that ESPN was correct in creating the "Power 5" designation. Small minds succumb to the wills of greater minds and seek the path of least resistance.

Best of luck on poverty row. I'll root for my school while they struggle to over come adversity and seek inclusion with the upper echelon of College Athletics.

Ditto. The G5 play in the same subdivision as the P5. Let's try to act like that.

It depends on whether or not these bowls become lopsided. The Go5 vs P5 record in these non-Access bowls was 1-4 with a few of the losses competitive and only CSU vs Utah being a blowout loss. If these games start looking like FBS vs FCS openers, then maybe a NIT-like playoff will happen.

Colorado St. (Las Vegas Bowl v. PAC 12) L 10-45
Cincinnati (Military v. ACC) L 17-33
UCF (St. Petersburg v. ACC) L 27-34
ECU (Birmingham Bowl v. SEC) L 20-28
Louisiana Tech (Heart of Dallas v. Big Ten) W 35-18

(04-03-2015 02:32 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(04-03-2015 10:30 AM)ken d Wrote:  So, assuming that the best G5 teams won't want to participate, what exactly is the point of having a tournament? What would the winner be champion of? And why would we want to see that team three times in one postseason? I think this needs work.

Competition. More excitement. More $$$.

Your same arguments could be made for the basketball NIT, and yet it still exists.

You, and a lot of others would care less. You and a lot of others don't and will not care about the New Mexico Bowl, the Boca Raton Bowl, Idaho Potato Bowl, etc. (and now Little Rock, Tuscon, etc.) But those bowls still exist.

There is still a sizeable minority of G5 fans that would love this. I bet that Georgia Southern's fan base would prefer to play Louisiana Tech in a football NIT over the Boca Raton Bowl. Arkansas St. fans would prefer a game against Utah St. in an NIT instead of the New Mexico Bowl.

An NIT tournament isn't meant to replace the CFP or the better bowl games. But it could be a nice replacement for the growing number of bad G5 v. G5 bowl matchups in underwhelming locations and venues.

How is there more competition, more excitement? Third rate teams playing meaningless games aren't bringing in more $$$ than a typical late December bowl game. If the G5 wants this, they should simply want their own division and avoid the FBS entirely. But close to half the G5 schools had a playoff within the past couple of decades and decided they didn't want it - they preferred the chance to play in a bowl. At least somebody besides their family and friends will be watching the bowl game.

The G5 breaking off will simply make them 1aa. Better off like it is and keep pushing.

For AAC simply need to renegotiate TV deal up to 3.5 to 6 mil per school and regain a better bowl for champ next time.

Think TV is doable, bowl not so sure.