Just let the SEC Championship game be for the title, especially once OU and Tx join. I guess you could throw in Clemson once in a while. There is such a gap between the top couple of teams, and everybody else, it would be ridiculous to expand the playoff just to make some extra money and keep more fans interested in postseason football. But, apparently it will happen.

All about money.

It’s a joke that it hasn’t already expanded. 12-16 teams. No excuses. Settle it on the field like every other sport or league pro or college. No bowls needed. High seed hosts until the championship game.

(01-01-2022 10:20 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  It’s a joke that it hasn’t already expanded. 12-16 teams. No excuses. Settle it on the field like every other sport or league pro or college. No bowls needed. High seed hosts until the championship game.

No doubt Alabama and Georgia are the 2 best teams. In recent years, it was pretty clear who the best 3 or 4 teams were. It would be ridiculous for the Georgia and Alabama players to play 2 more games than they are playing now. Sixteen football games is insane for college kids to have to play. The first two playoff games were a joke. What would Ga or Alabama have done to the 16th seed.

If the teams that are pretenders would cut out their buy-a-win games, they would have plenty of slots left. What I fear is that they end up expanding the playoffs spring-ward and cut even further into basketball.

I always hope for 16 teams. Even bracket, 10 conference champs, and 6 at large.

Unless something changes, the SEC will continue to be heads and shoulders above everyone else. Oh ya, something will change. The SEC will add Tx and OU which will only make the league that much better. The Alabama vs. Cincinnati and Ga. vs. Michigan games were almost unwatchable. Like I said above, how watchable would Alabama and Ga games against the 15 and 16 seeds have been. While I acknowledge little interest in Bowl games, matchups of evenly matched teams (the norm in most bowl games) is a lot more entertaining than watching blow-outs.
Okay, I guess there will be occasional upsets. But is that even "fair" to a team who has run through the juggernaut of an SEC schedule to earn the number one seed?

I'm not sure I wouldn't rather go back to the days of the "mythical" National Champion. The bowl games were fun and exciting to watch (no opt outs). We could switch back and forth between games on New Year's day that "meant" something with regard to who might be crowned champion. We could argue about who should be champion until we were blue in the face. The arguments would last until the next season began. Soon we will be arguing about who should be the 16th vs. the 17th seed and be the sacrificial lamb for Alabama.

I think that is a factor that people have forgotten in all the clamor for playoff-determined national champions. It totalls eliminates the speculation, and speculation is half the fun of sport. "What would have happened if Joe Louis had fought Jack Dempsey?" "What would Joe DiMaggio bat if he played today?"

So what to people do now that we have playoffs? We speculate as to whether the 2010 champion would beat the 2015 champion.

I hate speculation. I like tournaments. March Madness, anyone..?

And bowl games are meaningless and usually phoned-in games that may not even have the best players involved as they get ready for the NFL.

Most college football games - even ones that are supposed to be good matchups - usually wind up being anticlimactic, one sided disappointments anyway so might as well have a reason to play like a National Championship Tournament.

Up until now the football season is really meaningful. One loss can knock most DI teams out of any chance for the championship. 2 losses will knock even the top P5 teams out, except for rare situations. If 16 teams get in, it will take far from a "special" season for a P5 team to get in. Losses early or mid-season won't mean a whole lot. I guess I like the regular season being meaningful, more than a 16 team playoff.

(01-05-2022 07:01 PM)mjs Wrote:  Up until now the football season is really meaningful. One loss can knock most DI teams out of any chance for the championship. 2 losses will knock even the top P5 teams out, except for rare situations. If 16 teams get in, it will take far from a "special" season for a P5 team to get in. Losses early or mid-season won't mean a whole lot. I guess I like the regular season being meaningful, more than a 16 team playoff.

Did you see the NFL playoffs over the weekend? The regular season has way more meaningful games in a true playoff. Games that didn't matter because nobody in the conference was undefeated still matter in a true playoff. Seeding would still be determined using something similar to how we do it now. Play the games at the high seed until the title game and you get better crowds.

Anything other than a true playoff is just stupid. There is a reason no other team sport just picks the teams they think are probably the best every year to put in the semifinal.

(01-10-2022 02:39 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  

(01-05-2022 07:01 PM)mjs Wrote:  Up until now the football season is really meaningful. One loss can knock most DI teams out of any chance for the championship. 2 losses will knock even the top P5 teams out, except for rare situations. If 16 teams get in, it will take far from a "special" season for a P5 team to get in. Losses early or mid-season won't mean a whole lot. I guess I like the regular season being meaningful, more than a 16 team playoff.

Did you see the NFL playoffs over the weekend? The regular season has way more meaningful games in a true playoff. Games that didn't matter because nobody in the conference was undefeated still matter in a true playoff. Seeding would still be determined using something similar to how we do it now. Play the games at the high seed until the title game and you get better crowds.

Anything other than a true playoff is just stupid. There is a reason no other team sport just picks the teams they think are probably the best every year to put in the semifinal.

I'm not for a playoff, but it will eventually happen. I worry about "kids" playing 16 games but now that they are basically becoming "pros", with the NIL, I am less concerned than I used to be.