2008 NCAA Football Thread

[Immortalfire]

I'll tell you what was funny...yesterday seeing clips of Spurrier's press conference after SC's loss, it was all he could do to keep from saying "Ya know, we just suck."

 

[Venom'sDad]

Sportscenter was doing an all nighter last night about how to tweak the system... add a plus one after the Bowls... I like how they conveniently leave out the fact that Texas would be left out should they even win their Bowl game... since the winner of FLA/OU would play USC for the title in that format... I just wish they can hear me through the television... "GUYS... you are not fixing anything... TEXAS WOULD BE LEFT OUT"... Curt Fowler brings up the Texas scenario and you still got Holtz saying that a plus one would fix all the remaining problems... what a joke...

And since I have little to do this time of year... I went through every scenario possible that can balance both tradition and fairness in deciding a national champion. The fact is... there is no possible system that can make everyone happy... even an 8 team playoff involves adding too many games and scrapping too many bowls... there is no system that can work perfectly. A four team playoff is not enough teams... an eight team playoff is too many teams (from the conference presidents perspective). I think they'd be better off sticking to what we have right now.

Yeah... that's another thing, Texas. I thought they should play over Oklahoma, but I do understand the three-way tie breaker scenario.

However, I would do a 8 team playoffs, rotated around the top 7 bowls for example... the first round played in the Holiday Bowl, Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, the next round in maybe the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and championship game in the Rose Bowl. Location is important cause cities have to be able to handle hosting a championship game, stadium size, and hotel commendations and amenities.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Yeah... that's another thing, Texas. I thought they should play over Oklahoma, but I do understand the three-way tie breaker scenario.

However, I would do a 8 team playoffs, rotated around the top 7 bowls for example... the first round played in the Holiday Bowl, Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, the next round in maybe the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and championship game in the Rose Bowl. Location is important cause cities have to be able to handle hosting a championship game, stadium size, and hotel commendations and amenities.

Yeah but you don't change the fact that that means three travel weekends as opposed to two (involving four teams as opposed to two) with a plus one format (and the presidents won't even agree to a plus one any time soon). Seven bowl playoff doesn't work. The logistics would be too complicated... the Bowls shouldn't be incorporated into the playoff. The other argument for an eight team playoff I'd use is when you schedule that first round. Students have finals up until a few days before Christmas... the academic requirement means that most schools need to give their kids at least two weeks off between the final regular season games and the bowl games. If you do it Christmas week then you basically devalue every other bowl played that week... not to mention the travel problem. There is honestly no perfect solution... even playoff proponents need to accept that...

 

[BlackLantern]

I don't agree with Tonie much, but it is a cluster****.....

 

[Immortalfire]

Ole Miss is destroying...

 

[Venom'sDad]

Yeah but you don't change the fact that that means three travel weekends as opposed to two (involving only two teams as opposed to four) with a plus one format (and the presidents won't even agree to a plus one any time soon). it doesn't work. The logistics would be too complicated... the Bowls shouldn't be incorporated into the playoff. The other argument for an eight team playoff I'd use is when you play that first round. Kids have finals up until a few days before Christmas... the academic requirement means that most schools need to give their kids at least two weeks off between the final regular season games and the bowl games. If you do it Christmas week then you basically devalue every other bowl played that week... not to mention the travel problem. There is honestly no perfect solution... even playoff proponents need to accept that...

Fat_... finals is not an issue, that is the reason why there is a lull in between the final regular season week and the first bowl game which is around Christmas and the Championship game is played nearly a week after New Years. There's your three weeks... Christmas week, New Year week, and the week after New Years like is done now. I do understand your point on logistic, however. That may be a concern; but one that can be worked out.

The "Plus One" scenario would be fine in my book as well, just rotate it around the Sugar, Fiest, and Rose Bowls.

 

[gogetter0587]

Ole Miss is destroying...

SEC domination. I really did think Tech would be able to handle them though.

DEAD wrong.

 

[Kelly]

Yeah... that's another thing, Texas. I thought they should play over Oklahoma, but I do understand the three-way tie breaker scenario.

However, I would do a 8 team playoffs, rotated around the top 7 bowls for example... the first round played in the Holiday Bowl, Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, the next round in maybe the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and championship game in the Rose Bowl. Location is important cause cities have to be able to handle hosting a championship game, stadium size, and hotel commendations and amenities.

I would put the Cotton Bowl in the 2nd round rather than the first, simply because of its capacity, it rivals the Rose Bowl, and is larger than the other stadiums...by about +20,000.

 

[Venom'sDad]

I would put the Cotton Bowl in the 2nd round rather than the first, simply because of its capacity, it rivals the Rose Bowl, and is larger than the other stadiums...by about +20,000.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying; but you are forgetting that the Cotton Bowl is going to be played in the new Jerry Jones Cathedral. Also, capacity would be a good reason to include it in the first round through rotation.

 

[Kelly]

Yeah... but you are forgetting that the Cotton Bowl is going to be played in the new Jerry Jones Cathedral.

lol, I could be wrong, but I think that is even bigger, and Arlington is right next door to Dallas, within a couple of miles. So within 10 miles you have Dallas, and Ft. Worth, as well as Arlington beginning to rival some of the largest amusement park cities in the country.


Actually, after alittle research, it has a capacity of 80,000, about 12,000 less than the Rose Bowl, but still larger than the other stadiums, which average about 75,000.

What I meant was, the Cotton Bowl, should be one of the stadiums for the larger games, even the National Championship Game......

 

[The Game]

I can't believe so many people picked TTech. I expected Miss to win but not this easy. I mean, they beat Florida, played Bama close and dominated LSU so you had to know they weren't that bad.

 

[Immortalfire]

I can't believe so many people picked TTech. I expected Miss to win but not this easy. I mean, they beat Florida, played Bama close and dominated LSU so you had to know they weren't that bad.

I didn't doubt for a second that Miss would play well, but I thought TT would be a tad too much for them..at least this year.

They proved me wrong and ripped apart my whole argument. :gl:

 

[Kelly]

SEC teams come to play when it comes to Bowls.....but it would have been nice if TT had kept it close.

 

[Venom'sDad]

lol, I could be wrong, but I think that is even bigger, and Arlington is right next door to Dallas, within a couple of miles. So within 10 miles you have Dallas, and Ft. Worth, as well as Arlington beginning to rival some of the largest amusement park cities in the country.


Actually, after alittle research, it has a capacity of 80,000, about 12,000 less than the Rose Bowl, but still larger than the other stadiums, which average about 75,000.

What I meant was, the Cotton Bowl, should be one of the stadiums for the larger games, even the National Championship Game......

OK, I re-read it... I gotcha.

However that's the thing, everyone is going to want a piece of the title game and if you have an eight team playoffs, played at bowl sites, you would have to rotate it. Also those bowls I named may not be the 7 top bowls; those were just the first to come to mind as far as cities were concern.

Your point is well taken.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Fat_... finals is not an issue, that is the reason why there is a lull in between the final regular season week and the first bowl game which is around Christmas and the Championship game is played nearly a week after New Years. There's your three weeks... Christmas week, New Year week, and the week after New Years like is done now. I do understand your point on logistic, however. That may be a concern; but one that can be worked out.

The "Plus One" scenario would be fine in my book as well, just rotate it around the Sugar, Fiest, and Rose Bowls.

You are talking about 30,000-50,000 fans making 3 trips during the Holidays??? No way... I mean the only way around it is playing two games at one site each... and then playing the semifinal at the same sites. That is also pretty insane. Again... it's doable... but three different sites in three weeks and that is pushing your luck... and a plus one will leave out undefeated mid majors and one loss teams like Texas. 8-10 teams is the best solution... another solution is cutting down the regular season a week or so... but these conferences all go by their own schedules... the Big 10 wants to be done before Thanksgiving... the Pac-10 pits USC against UCLA the final Saturday of the season... everyone is doing their own things. No one is going to sign up for a playoff the last weekend of the regular season either. Again... that travel week would be insane. It's just not something that will fly with the presidents.

 

[Venom'sDad]

You are talking about 30,000-50,000 fans making 3 trips during the Holidays??? No way... I mean the only way around it is playing two games at one site each... and then playing the semifinal at the same site. That is also pretty insane. Again... it's doable... but three different sites in three weeks and that is pushing your luck... and a plus one will leave out undefeated mid majors and one loss teams like Texas. 8-10 teams is the best solution... another solution is cutting down the regular season a week or so... but these conferences all go by their own schedules... the Big 10 wants to be done before Thanksgiving... the Pac-10 pitts USC against UCLA the final Saturday of the season... everyone is doing their own things. No one is going to sign up for a playoff the last weekend of the regular season either. Again... that travel week would be insane. It's just not something that will fly with the presidents.

Dude, I never said play a playoff game the last week of the regular season, I was talking about the lull in between that and the first bowl game concerning "Finals".

More than two thirds of the sites stadium capacity for the bowls games are attended by locals in that area, not fans of the schools or attendants of those schools.

Issues can be worked out some how, by those in the know of the process. However, a Plus One scenario may be more expediate, but it has to evolve to at least 8 teams having a shot at a title. If that mean expanding in to eight major conferences with a minimal of 14 teams and just have the conference winner go to the playoffs, so be it. Let the conference adsorb some of these mid-conf teams. Like E.Car and Memphis could go to the SEC with natural rivaries with South Carolina and Tennessee. UNLV and Nevada, Boise State, Utah could go in to the Pac14 so to say or New Mexico and BYU and make the Pac16.

I'm just saying something has to happen to start evolving the current system. BTW, 27 bowls is UGHhhh, at this point!

 

[Venom'sDad]

Pac 10, 5-0 in Bowls this year.... top of all the Conferences.

 

[Kelly]

yep, the Pac-10 did very well.....

 

[FaT_tONle]

Dude, I never said play a playoff game the last week of the regular season, I was talking about the lull in between that and the first bowl game concerning "Finals".

I was merely presenting a solution that you may have found more appealing. To me that's better than three travel weeks during the Holidays... People have proposed this before. It's not terrible but it still has kinks that need to be worked out with all the major conferences... including the dreaded Big 10.

More than two thirds of the sites stadium capacity for the bowls games are attended by locals in that area, not fans of the schools or attendants of those schools.

You are still talking about 20,000-30,000 fans having to make those trips... a one game trip for a few days is more managable than 2-3 trips over 2-3 weeks.

Issues can be worked out some how, by those in the know of the process. However, a Plus One scenario may be more expediate, but it has to evolve to at least 8 teams having a shot at a title. If that mean expanding in to eight major conferences with a minimal of 14 teams and just have the conference winner go to the playoffs, so be it. Let the conference adsorb some of these mid-conf teams. Like E.Car and Memphis could go to the SEC with natural rivaries with South Carolina and Tennessee. UNLV and Nevada, Boise State, Utah could go in to the Pac14 so to say or New Mexico and BYU and make the Pac16.

HORRIBLE idea... not only will the other mid majors shoot that down completely... but the whole point of a playoff is for those At-Large teams to have a shot... since they are more deserving than Conf Champs of other conferences. Every playoff format out there incorporates those At-Large bids. That's why OU/Texas makes the playoff question more compelling than ever before.

I'm just saying something has to happen to start evolving the current system. BTW, 27 bowls is UGHhhh, at this point!

The first step needs to be eights teams... a plus one and we don't even know if they'll match up the four best teams in the country... they'd matchup based on the tie-ins the Bowls have with the conferences... no way you separate two teams from the field without having controversy like we have now. I mean bewteen USC, FLA, Texas, Utah... two of those four teams would be left out....

 

[Venom'sDad]

You are still talking about 20,000-30,000 fans having to make those trips... a one game trip for a few days is more managable than 2-3 trips over 2-3 weeks.

I don't think the number is nearly that big, more like 10,000 -15,000... schools report all the time the percentage and number of tickets sold for bowl and/or tournament games. However, keep in mind that anywhere between 8,000 -12,000 fans travel city-2-city during March madness between 1st Round games and the Sweet-Sixteen games even when a team play Sunday followed by their next game, Thursday... which is certainly less than a week. I do agree, it could cause some logistic problems... I admit that; but, that's something that can be addressed.

HORRIBLE idea... not only will the other mid majors shoot that down completely... but the whole point of a playoff is for those At-Large teams to have a shot... since they are more deserving than Conf Champs of other conferences. Every playoff format out there incorporates those At-Large bids. That's why OU/Texas makes the playoff question more compelling than ever before.

Mid majors have always and will always try to align themselves in major conference... more than ever nowadays. So if the NCAA expand conference memberships and have 8 major conferences... I see that as a possible way to move towards an playoffs system. One just can't institute a playoff system without making major changes to the conferences themselves. The conferences will never completely give up the bowl games.

The conference champions goto the playoff format, the other teams goto the remaining bowls. Pay-out won't changes, the amounts may have too because of teams playing numerous games can accumulate 50+ million if the win it all... but the logistic can be fixed in accordance.

Look, if there was an easy way to do it, it would have been done by now. Everyone is not going to like it, true enough; but something has to be done.

 

[#1Batmanfan]

USC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! who could beat us???? except orgeon state :|

 

[Dr. Evil]

My condolences go out to all of the Utah fans tonight.

 

[StorminNorman]

Lets try Ohio state not ole miss who played LSU last year.

and Utah is not Hawaii but they are not anyone who can compete with BAMA. The mountain west is not a better conference than the big ten much less the pac -10. Utah might get shut out tonight.

The Mountain West, however, DOMINATED the Pac 10 in inter confernece play this season. 4-0. The Pac 10 was incredibly weak this year, the Mountain West was strong.

 

[StorminNorman]

My condolences go out to all of the Utah fans tonight.

Both are them appreciate it.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Mid majors have always and will always try to align themselves in major conference... more than ever nowadays. So if the NCAA expand conference memberships and have 8 major conferences... I see that as a possible way to move towards an playoffs system. One just can't institute a playoff system without making major changes to the conferences themselves. The conferences will never completely give up the bowl games.

The conference champions goto the playoff format, the other teams goto the remaining bowls. Pay-out won't changes, the amounts may have too because of teams playing numerous games can accumulate 50+ million if the win it all... but the logistic can be fixed in accordance.

Look, if there was an easy way to do it, it would have been done by now. Everyone is not going to like it, true enough; but something has to be done.

If you just took conference champs then teams like Cinnci and Va Tech would be playing for it... did you see how awful those two teams looked last night? I mean that just doesn't make sense. Another problem I have it that the Rose Bowl will never give up playing on New Year's Day. And they'll match up a Big Ten/Pac-10 team whenever they have an opportunity. I mean how are you going to force teams on these bowls as part of a playoff system when these bowls want no part of certain schools/conferences. I mean we can go on all night about the problems with this and that... and I agree the first step should be a plus one. But that will obviously not be enough. To go to that next step of 8 teams or more... I don't think the big conferences will ever give in. Especially not the Big 10... since they are the worst conference of all and need the Rose Bowl to survive.