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"Back To The Future" Playoff
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ken d Offline
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Post: #21
RE: "Back To The Future" Playoff
(01-22-2021 09:19 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  
(01-22-2021 08:56 AM)ken d Wrote:  IMO, the four major New Year's Bowls, the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta should not be a part of any playoff rotation. Those are the fun sites. Playoff games are business trips. I could see the Peach and Cotton being better suited for business trips, and therefore for hosting playoff semis. These really aren't what you typically think of as tourist attractions for winter fun.

I concur and dissent. My concurrence is that I do not want to see the major bowls, a huge aspect of college football history, relegated to consolation prizes.

But my dissent is that if the playoffs are separated from them, then I think that is exactly what they will become. If there is an 8-team playoff with four playoff QFs independent of the bowls, IMO that will result in the "major" bowls being viewed as, well, no longer anything major. Their status will be stripped. So if we MUST have an expanded playoff, which I oppose, then I would prefer to see four major bowls host the semis, like two do now with the CFP.

I also have a mixed response to your general characterization of bowls. Yes, bowls were historically a reward - a final game in a bright sunny place that fans and alumni and boosters could build a Christmas/New Year's vacation around, and the same for the players for a great season. But, bowl games were never all fun and games. Teams wanted to win the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl etc. with at least as much passion as they did other games. And that wasn't just in the past, and it also doesn't just apply to major bowls. Just in the past 10 years, I can count many, many times when players have stormed the field and doused their coach with Gatorade for winning a hard-fought *minor* bowl game contested between 7-5 or 6-6 also rans from minor conferences. That happens, a lot, so players and coaches do care - except for the coaches with one foot out the door to another job, LOL.

I see your point about the NY4. My problem is with having a quarterfinal playoff round on New Years Day. In my view, the semifinals should be played that week, not quarterfinals. I believe the field needs to be winnowed to four by the first week in January. My strong preference is that any expansion of playoff qualifying should take place in early December, and be driven by conference tournaments (in the case of P5 conferences) and inter-conference tournaments (in the case of G5 and indys).
(This post was last modified: 01-22-2021 10:27 AM by ken d.)
01-22-2021 09:49 AM
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Wedge Offline
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Post: #22
RE: "Back To The Future" Playoff
(01-22-2021 08:56 AM)ken d Wrote:  Let's not forget the purpose of the bowls. They were always intended to be played for the fun of it.

No, bowl games were always intended to serve the commercial purposes of whomever organized that particular bowl. The Rose Bowl game was started as a way to raise money for the Tournament of Roses Parade. Many other games, then and now, were started to drive tourist dollars to the bowl region. None of these bowls were started or maintained for the purpose of doing something fun for the football players. That part of it has always been incidental at most.
01-22-2021 02:33 PM
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ken d Offline
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Post: #23
RE: "Back To The Future" Playoff
(01-22-2021 02:33 PM)Wedge Wrote:  
(01-22-2021 08:56 AM)ken d Wrote:  Let's not forget the purpose of the bowls. They were always intended to be played for the fun of it.

No, bowl games were always intended to serve the commercial purposes of whomever organized that particular bowl. The Rose Bowl game was started as a way to raise money for the Tournament of Roses Parade. Many other games, then and now, were started to drive tourist dollars to the bowl region. None of these bowls were started or maintained for the purpose of doing something fun for the football players. That part of it has always been incidental at most.

I shouldn't have said the bowls. I should have said the bowl games. Of course the bowls themselves were started to benefit their community financially during what otherwise was a slow tourist season. Clearly that was a stroke of genius for the Rose Bowl.

Initially, the bowls were played long after the mythical national champion had been selected, and stats from the games didn't count. Yes, players cared whether they won or lost, just like they would have cared if they were playing a sandlot game. Athletes are competitive - they always want to win.
01-22-2021 03:09 PM
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Frank the Tank Online
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Post: #24
RE: "Back To The Future" Playoff
(01-22-2021 09:49 AM)ken d Wrote:  
(01-22-2021 09:19 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  
(01-22-2021 08:56 AM)ken d Wrote:  IMO, the four major New Year's Bowls, the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta should not be a part of any playoff rotation. Those are the fun sites. Playoff games are business trips. I could see the Peach and Cotton being better suited for business trips, and therefore for hosting playoff semis. These really aren't what you typically think of as tourist attractions for winter fun.

I concur and dissent. My concurrence is that I do not want to see the major bowls, a huge aspect of college football history, relegated to consolation prizes.

But my dissent is that if the playoffs are separated from them, then I think that is exactly what they will become. If there is an 8-team playoff with four playoff QFs independent of the bowls, IMO that will result in the "major" bowls being viewed as, well, no longer anything major. Their status will be stripped. So if we MUST have an expanded playoff, which I oppose, then I would prefer to see four major bowls host the semis, like two do now with the CFP.

I also have a mixed response to your general characterization of bowls. Yes, bowls were historically a reward - a final game in a bright sunny place that fans and alumni and boosters could build a Christmas/New Year's vacation around, and the same for the players for a great season. But, bowl games were never all fun and games. Teams wanted to win the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl etc. with at least as much passion as they did other games. And that wasn't just in the past, and it also doesn't just apply to major bowls. Just in the past 10 years, I can count many, many times when players have stormed the field and doused their coach with Gatorade for winning a hard-fought *minor* bowl game contested between 7-5 or 6-6 also rans from minor conferences. That happens, a lot, so players and coaches do care - except for the coaches with one foot out the door to another job, LOL.

I see your point about the NY4. My problem is with having a quarterfinal playoff round on New Years Day. In my view, the semifinals should be played that week, not quarterfinals. I believe the field needs to be winnowed to four by the first week in January. My strong preference is that any expansion of playoff qualifying should take place in early December, and be driven by conference tournaments (in the case of P5 conferences) and inter-conference tournaments (in the case of G5 and indys).

I’ve mentioned this before, but TV interests are huge here. I think almost every TV executive would rather have “January Madness” instead of “December Madness”. It’s a well established decades-long pattern that TV viewership goes down significantly in December leading up to Christmas. The whole point of this exercise is to maximize revenue, which means that the playoffs *starting* on New Year’s Day (or around then) and then lasting through January is more valuable to everyone involved.
01-23-2021 11:17 AM
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