Where do you stand on the GREAT ISSUE: Playoffs?

DawgSpeare wrote:

These days, you watch a game on TV, and most of the time, the commentators don't give the down and yardage, don't give how many yards were gained on a play, who made the tackle and who broke up the pass. Poor, poor play-by-play work. They want to talk about other stuff...I hate it!

The major problem is that ESPN was originally not a sports programming channel (despite what the acronym might tell you), but rather sports' answer to CNN -- 24-hour reportage on professional and collegiate sports. That said, they are not interested in providing you a good game. They are interested in THE STORY. They want a good story, which is why they rejoiced when West Virginia beat us, for example. It \"proved\" that the Big East was a great conference. All of the focus was on WVU scoring 38 on us, though, and not on us outscoring them 28-10 in the second half. Because Georgia beating West Virginia is not a story; it's just business as usual.

ESPN's commentators during college football games is an outgrowth of that. Half of these people are just assigned to games they don't want to watch themselves (like Wyoming-Nevada or FAU-FIU) and so they talk about what they want to talk about. That's why you get that jackass talking about Britney Spears during our OT game against Alabama.

I love college football. It's the only sport where I watch every game I can, not just my team's games and the postseason. I'm a bowl season junkie. The only postseason game I avoid every year is the SEC Championship, because unless Georgia's in it I'm way too bitter to watch. The first one I watched without Georgia in it was the AU-UT game in 2004. THAT was a mistake. Then again, I fell asleep three different times during the ACC Championship game last year. And that was before halftime!

I hate ESPN. I prefer to refer to them as HYPEspn. Or YESpn, given their predilection for reporting on the Yankees even two months after the baseball season has ended. However, I watch ESPN constantly. Because you never know, Houston Nutt might get hired by Ole Miss and you could be the last to know unless your eyeballs are glued to that ticker!

10gadawg wrote:

dapolla,

I'm not for sure why you think that the games during the season wouldn't matter. Win your conference games/Championship and your in. Lose late in the season and drop out of consideration based on the BCS standings. Every game would still matter. This arguement is kind of like the arguement that ensued when baseball brought in the wild card. Everyone said that it would ruin the season and that winning you coference would mean nothing. What it has done has given more teams the chance to make it. The same could be said of a playoff for CFB. We could take a team like Florida that knew two weeks ago that they were out of the SECCG. Under the palyoff system, they still stood a chance to get an at-large bid, make the playoffs, and possibly still go all the way. Dont' tell me that you would rather see WV & mizzou play instead of say Oklahoma/UF or UGA/OSU.

I have to disagree with you again, 10gadawg. First off, the Wild Card is ruining baseball. To hell with the wild card. The games all matter, of course they do, but they wouldn't matter as much. With the exception of the rivalry games, the other games simply wouldn't matter as much because winning your conference WOULD NOT MATTER. Can you imagine getting all hyped up about an LSU game you went into 5-0, looking down your schedule at Florida and Auburn and Tech and saying, \"yeah, but...\"? No. And I guarantee you we lose that game 5 times out of 10. But you hype us up about it, and make sure that we can't play for the SEC title unless we beat LSU because Tennessee doesn't have any losses yet either, and neither does Florida, and every game is a MUST-WIN...do you see what I mean?

Plus, by your reasoning, Michigan would still be able to play for the national championship after losing to APPALACHIAN STATE!!! The hell with that.

The other major problem is the size of the pool. In the NFL you have 32 teams. In baseball you have 30. In college football you have 119. An eight-game playoff won't do it. Even my system, a 14-team playoff, still wouldn't do it. You'd have to have a field of 64 like in college basketball. And they're already talking about expanding it to 128, so that roughly half of all teams in NCAA D1 get into the tourney. That's ridiculous! The proportion of 12 teams out of 32 getting in versus 8 or 14 or 16 teams out of 119 getting in is apples and oranges.

And for the record, I want it to mean something that we beat hell out of Ole Miss. I want the dominating wins over Auburn and Florida to mean something. And, believe it or not, I want that loss to South Carolina to keep us out of the National Title picture, because we should have to know next year -- and the year after that, and the year after that -- that we can't lose that game. That Ohio State might be able to play for the MNC after losing to unranked Illinois is ridiculous. That unranked Illinois has jumped to #15 in the BCS and may edge us out of the Rose Bowl if they get to #14 is even more disgusting, but that's not what this thread is about.

kentdaddy, I respect your position, but I continue to disagree (see, this is what's great about sports, especially CFB; a little familiarity with the facts and even a borderline retard [like me] thinks he's a genius).

I respectfully question two of your statements: Playoff is inevitable, and would be best for CFB. I may be wrong, but I don't see it as inevitable. Getting all those conference commissioners and boards to concur won't be a walk in the park. The second part cannot be evaluated unless and until the first part takes place (a playoff system is established, running and has a history of a few years).

I am wondering if I am wrong about a suspicion lurking deep in my crainial tissue. Does this debate dichotomize primarily between two age groups? My youngest son is an avid fan and out of college and he supports a playoff. Is it a natural part of younger fans to want to have a playoff, and older fans tend toward the virtues they find in the status quo? Don't know; but maybe sumpin there.

In the meantime, dapolla and myself will continue to satisfy ourselves in the exquisite joy of the present system, knowing that if a playoff is instituted, it will likely take a while, and by then, we old codgers will likely be pushing daisies. We all do agree on this: Dawgs rule! Luv our Dawgs! Go Dawgs!

A playoff is inevitable because the primary hold out now is the Big Ten. It will start with a plus one. Then a few years later it will expand to 4 teams. I do not expect it to expand past 8.

All the fears Dapolla expressed are not really founded. In an 8 team playoff nothing changes from what we have now. All our wins and losses still mean things because to get in to the playoff you have to win the conference title.

An 8 team playoff with 6 spots for the major conferences and 2 at large spots. If you guys do not like the two at large spots then tie them to smaller conferences.

I have actually communicated with the NCAA about the idea of a playoff and studied it at length. The Big Ten commissioner is the biggest road black.

An 8 team playoff can easily be put in place next year.

An 8 team playoff would do it and Appy State is a better team than some ranked team we have now. I would take them over Hawaii.

wlayton and miss_uga are conspicuously absent from this discussion.
Won't you join dapolla and me in thrashing the opinions of our beloved yet misled forum brothers?

I'm an old fart myself and would like to see some kind of playoff OR an equitable system where every conference plays by the same rules. Of course, the SEC is always gonna get screwed because of the level of competition. On a given day, most SEC teams could beat just about anyone. A playoff with 8 teams wouldn't be perfect but it would be a heck of a lot better than what we got now. Talk about excitement, look at March madness and multiply that 10 times. Work it into the bowl system and eliminate this down time. It's like we play 2 seasons. Personally, I'd like to see a couple/three SEC teams show the rest of the country what football's about.