If a conference had 8 members for football and played 7 conference games, there would likely be 2 or 3 at the end of the year with 2 losses in conference or less. All the members have good to very good football reputations, the token "easy win" does not exist in conference.

If playoff distributions account for how many times a conference made it in the playoffs, this conference could potentially have 2 in the playoffs every year and possibly host the first round game each time. That does not sound like a bad deal and even better for the fans of the teams.

I have said for a long time that 9 conference games in a 10 team Big 12 was killing the conference

There was a study done on the PAC 12 that showed that replacing a random conference game with a game equal to the WEAKEST game on the schedule of each team consistently made a meaningful improvement in the strength of schedule for all but the very weakest teams in the conference and sometimes even for the weakest teams it helped

I would not advocate for two D1-AA games or for a schedule filled with horrible teams in the OOC across the board, but it does help the strength of schedule especially for the top teams when you play fewer conference games

Too many people cannot get past the idea that "well team X is going to play 2 teams from the CUSA, a D1-AA game, a ,id level AAC team, and the worst team in the MAC".....and the answer to that of course for anyone with a brain is "who cares" because of that is what that program needs to actually get some wins then that is what they need to do......and the programs that would complain about that are free to play Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, and USC in the OOC along with a D1-AA game and then they can be assured of making a 4 team playoff if they win all of those.....and of course if they lose two of them they will probably not make it

but more importantly if a team in the conference that generally goes 2-10 to 5-7 was to decide to play Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, and a D1-AA game (with 8 conference games) and they only win the D1-AA game......guess what that is still a team coming into conference with 3 losses, one weak win, and they are going to play 8 other teams in the conference with that horrible SOS

and people forget that the SOS is based much more on actual wins vs. a "good loss"........there is no loss over any teams that is better than a win over even a weak team.....and the fewer chances you give your weakest conference members to get a win on the OOC even against a team that barely has a pulse, and the more conference games you make them play.....that just means that your weakest conference member contributes more and more to the overall SOS of the conference in a very bad way

the more chances you give them to get a OOC win against anyone with a pulse and the less conference games they play.....the more chances they have to get a win and while that better record will be reflected against fewer conference members because of less conference games played.....it will still be much better for the conference overall

so yes what you are saying is 100% possible and it has been proven mathematically

We’ve gone over this before, but the playoffs added a new variable. Presumably the SEC and B1G in a good year will likely get 7 teams combined in a 12 team playoff, then the best G5 and the ACC and B12 auto bid. That leaves 2 spots left that this hypothetical league, ND and the M2 can compete with to get the last 2 spots. I think the M2 eliminates themselves from getting the 2nd bid because of the conference championship game adds an extra loss.

7 conference games, 4 easyish OOC games and 1 OOC rival is a smart schedule, even better if an entire conference follows this model.

I think the PAC schools really wanted to play as many games in California as possible for recruiting purposes. This has been an issue in the ACC with Florida.

I could not find this link before for some reason, but below is the 9 games vs 8 games study done on the PAC 12

https://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/20...en-big-acc

this will be an even bigger factor with the playoffs when getting in the top 11 will have much more of an "eyeball test" for playing out of conference and for the lesser conference members still looking like they are good teams because they won out of conference more than they lost

(04-26-2024 09:33 AM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  I have said for a long time that 9 conference games in a 10 team Big 12 was killing the conference

There was a study done on the PAC 12 that showed that replacing a random conference game with a game equal to the WEAKEST game on the schedule of each team consistently made a meaningful improvement in the strength of schedule for all but the very weakest teams in the conference and sometimes even for the weakest teams it helped

I would not advocate for two D1-AA games or for a schedule filled with horrible teams in the OOC across the board, but it does help the strength of schedule especially for the top teams when you play fewer conference games

Too many people cannot get past the idea that "well team X is going to play 2 teams from the CUSA, a D1-AA game, a ,id level AAC team, and the worst team in the MAC".....and the answer to that of course for anyone with a brain is "who cares" because of that is what that program needs to actually get some wins then that is what they need to do......and the programs that would complain about that are free to play Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, and USC in the OOC along with a D1-AA game and then they can be assured of making a 4 team playoff if they win all of those.....and of course if they lose two of them they will probably not make it

but more importantly if a team in the conference that generally goes 2-10 to 5-7 was to decide to play Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, and a D1-AA game (with 8 conference games) and they only win the D1-AA game......guess what that is still a team coming into conference with 3 losses, one weak win, and they are going to play 8 other teams in the conference with that horrible SOS

and people forget that the SOS is based much more on actual wins vs. a "good loss"........there is no loss over any teams that is better than a win over even a weak team.....and the fewer chances you give your weakest conference members to get a win on the OOC even against a team that barely has a pulse, and the more conference games you make them play.....that just means that your weakest conference member contributes more and more to the overall SOS of the conference in a very bad way

the more chances you give them to get a OOC win against anyone with a pulse and the less conference games they play.....the more chances they have to get a win and while that better record will be reflected against fewer conference members because of less conference games played.....it will still be much better for the conference overall

so yes what you are saying is 100% possible and it has been proven mathematically

The ACC is playing eight conference games anyway.

But maybe we should consider a scheduling arrangement with UConn to balance out five ND games.

(Yesterday 12:35 PM)random asian guy Wrote:  

(04-26-2024 09:33 AM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  I have said for a long time that 9 conference games in a 10 team Big 12 was killing the conference

There was a study done on the PAC 12 that showed that replacing a random conference game with a game equal to the WEAKEST game on the schedule of each team consistently made a meaningful improvement in the strength of schedule for all but the very weakest teams in the conference and sometimes even for the weakest teams it helped

I would not advocate for two D1-AA games or for a schedule filled with horrible teams in the OOC across the board, but it does help the strength of schedule especially for the top teams when you play fewer conference games

Too many people cannot get past the idea that "well team X is going to play 2 teams from the CUSA, a D1-AA game, a ,id level AAC team, and the worst team in the MAC".....and the answer to that of course for anyone with a brain is "who cares" because of that is what that program needs to actually get some wins then that is what they need to do......and the programs that would complain about that are free to play Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, and USC in the OOC along with a D1-AA game and then they can be assured of making a 4 team playoff if they win all of those.....and of course if they lose two of them they will probably not make it

but more importantly if a team in the conference that generally goes 2-10 to 5-7 was to decide to play Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, and a D1-AA game (with 8 conference games) and they only win the D1-AA game......guess what that is still a team coming into conference with 3 losses, one weak win, and they are going to play 8 other teams in the conference with that horrible SOS

and people forget that the SOS is based much more on actual wins vs. a "good loss"........there is no loss over any teams that is better than a win over even a weak team.....and the fewer chances you give your weakest conference members to get a win on the OOC even against a team that barely has a pulse, and the more conference games you make them play.....that just means that your weakest conference member contributes more and more to the overall SOS of the conference in a very bad way

the more chances you give them to get a OOC win against anyone with a pulse and the less conference games they play.....the more chances they have to get a win and while that better record will be reflected against fewer conference members because of less conference games played.....it will still be much better for the conference overall

so yes what you are saying is 100% possible and it has been proven mathematically

The ACC is playing eight conference games anyway.

But maybe we should consider a scheduling arrangement with UConn to balance out five ND games.

8 conference members (minimum number for a conference).
“Game the playoff system” is to exploit a loophole in the intent of the playoffs.