Major college football no longer afraid of the p-word
Finally, the national championship trophy (whatever they end up calling it) will be the result of a playoff. (Associated Press)
So, what do you think of the news that the conference chiefs finally are proposing a four-team college football playoff — and after years of shying away from the p-word they’re coming right out and calling it that?
There’s a lot still to be decided, including how the four teams will be selected, where and when the two semifinals and a championship game will be played, and what role the current BCS bowl games (Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar) will play in the new system. But it seems almost certain that with the expiration of the current BCS arrangement after the 2013 season, college football fans will at last get what they’ve wanted for so long: a playoff.
Whether they continue with the BCS name or not, the most likely outcome will be two playoff games rotating among the current BCS bowls and then the national championship game staged by the high bidder (not necessarily one of the BCS bowls, meaning Atlanta might be able to land the game).
The commissioners will finalize the format first, probably by July, and then decide exactly how to pick the teams (whether by polls/computers or a selection committee).
I like the idea of the bowls still being involved. What can I say, I’m a traditionalist. With the rotation plan, the other BCS bowl games not involved in the semifinals would still host traditional New Year’s games, and presumably the lesser bowls would continue to operate pretty much the way they do now.
They’re also talking about college football “reclaiming” New Year’s Day and concentrating the games more in late December, with the national championship winding up by the first week of January, which I think is a good idea. Aside from the national title game, the major bowls should be played on Jan. 1. (Like I said, I’m a traditionalist.)
A playoff followed by a championship game somewhere else does have its complications, of course — particularly the travel demands on fan bases. But that’s going to be the case with any sort of playoff arrangement.
As for how they pick the teams for the playoff, I’m hoping that SEC chief Mike Slive prevails and they go with the four highest ranked teams instead of the Big 10’s preference for limiting the playoff to conference champs. I think this year, as frustrating as it was for everyone outside the SEC, proved that the best team doesn’t always win their conference. Bama was definitely the best team in 2011.
Of course, going with the top four teams in the polls wouldn’t necessarily always mean getting the four hottest or most competitive teams. UGA fans remember 2007, when Georgia finished the season as one of the two hottest teams but was ranked by the poll voters as No. 5 (because it didn’t win its division, much less its conference) and would have been left out of a four-team playoff.
Anyway, I like putting the playoffs in bowls as opposed to having the higher-ranked team host it at their home stadium, a PAC 10 proposal that appears to be pretty much dead now. A playoff game would be a logistical nightmare for some college towns and the weather might be a factor. While playing for home-field advantage might juice the regular season some, having playoff games at neutral sites in a domed stadium seems like the best and fairest approach.
Thankfully, that ridiculous idea that was floated about having the Rose Bowl pit the Big 10 and PAC 10 winners separately from the playoff and still have a shot at the national title game was shot down.
Also of interest is that the commissioners decided that under the new plan there’ll be no automatic qualifier conferences, which is likely to be the death knell for the Big East, a conference that has barely held itself together and has managed to attract new members like Boise State strictly because it previously had the AQ designation.
BCS executive director Bill Hancock called the playoff proposal “a seismic change,” and he’s right.
But in this case change is good. Assuming they don’t mess it up at the last minute — or the school presidents, who must approve the plan, don’t go off the deep end — this looks like a very positive step forward for college football (which many of us already think is the best sport around). The regular season will not be devalued (as it would with an eight-team or 16-team playoff) and will come to an end with four teams in contention for the national title instead of just two.
Plus getting rid of the increasingly unwieldy restrictions on the BCS bowls will put an end to nobody-cares bowl matchups like Virginia Tech-Cincinnati or Oklahoma-Connecticut.
All in all, I think there’s much to like about this move. How about you?
Got something on your mind concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
— Bill King, Junkyard Blawg
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
115 comments Add your comment
JDW
April 27th, 2012
12:51 pm
ooops missed a colon
GTBob
April 27th, 2012
12:56 pm
It makes the regular season count
That is another missed point. Did anybody else find it sad that the SEC championship last year had no impact on the National Championship at all? LSU could have lost that game by 30 points and the two teams in the title game would have still been the same.
ARdawg
April 27th, 2012
12:57 pm
“Why doesn’t the SEC just leave the FBS and crown their champion the national champion? If they are the best football conference then why even bother with the sideshow that is the rest of college football? Simple, because no one would watch it or care about it.”
Nice strawman there GT Bob. You are effectively, dismissed
GTBob
April 27th, 2012
1:02 pm
Nice strawman there GT Bob. You are effectively, dismissed
Answer it then if it is not a good argument. If the SEC deserves to have 3-4 teams in the 4 team playoff every year then what is the point in the SEC even existing within the FBS structure?
ARdawg
April 27th, 2012
1:10 pm
GT Bob
If the SEC or any other conference has 4 teams worthy of being playing for the NC, yes, they should be there. Your hypotheticals is just silly on it’s face and you know it. It’s not about the SEC, it’s about a play off system for college football. You are trying your best to disparage the SEC and failing miserably. Building a strawman, then attacking it trying to prove your useless point.
gbal
April 27th, 2012
1:12 pm
Great news but the real key to this is going to be how they choose the teams that make the playoffs.
Is the goal to do your best to have the BEST 4 or 8 teams in the playoffs —- Highest ranked.
Or will it be confrence champions. In which case there could be a weak team or two in every year.
I am hoping for the 4 highest ranked by the current ranking system.
Pitbull
April 27th, 2012
1:21 pm
I say lets fo back to the time when schools played 10 games a year and bowl invitations were extended to the individual schools and the players voted on which bowl they wanted to play in.
A 7-3 team was a decent team and it belonged to the students alumni and fans and not to ESPN, the BCS and businessmen.
Pago Pago Dawg
April 27th, 2012
1:26 pm
Let’s just win a major bowl sometime again.
At least the horseback riding DAWGS are pretty good.
gbal
April 27th, 2012
1:26 pm
I just want the best teams in the playoff.
Could go for conrence champs if in the top 6-8 BCS type ranking. If not inn the top 6, then go to the highest ranked.
GTBob
April 27th, 2012
1:29 pm
You are trying your best to disparage the SEC and failing miserably
I am not trying to disparage the SEC at all. I am saying that no conference deserves to have multiple teams in the playoffs. It makes the regular season less important, and will decrease the support in the playoffs which will eventually harm college football in the long run.
robodawg
April 27th, 2012
1:42 pm
Great news!
I did not like all the bowl games moved to January 2nd this year to accommodate the NFL. Not the way it’s supposed to be.
Suggestion
April 27th, 2012
2:03 pm
I would be for having the 3 highest ranked conference champions, and the highest ranked non-conference champion.
BMac
April 27th, 2012
2:18 pm
So every other team in every other conference should have an advantage by playing a weak schedule all year, winning their pathetic conference and “deserve” a shot at the NC… No. 4 highest ranked teams at end of the year. Hands down. And I love all these whiners complaining that the SEC shouldnt be able to get two teams in. Bet you would love it if the ACC got two in wouldnt you Bob? wait…. that will never happen.
BMac
April 27th, 2012
2:22 pm
Do you Tech fans have nothing better to do than get on here and whine on UGA articles? I would rather go put my hand through the paper shredder than read an article on GT athletics.
Dave
April 27th, 2012
2:26 pm
It should be the 4 highest ranked teams…period….end of discussion….the end. If it’s multiple teams from the Big 10, PAC 10, Big 12, SEC, etc…the 4 highest ranked teams in the final poll goes to the playoffs. Conference champions are great, but the playoffs are about entire season of work, not one game. This isn’t so hard. Get the playoffs rotated between the BCS Bowls and the Championship Game rotated in the BCS Bowls as well. All ramaining bowls operate as they have in the past. I’m glad I have solved this for everyone….
7576DAWG
April 27th, 2012
2:32 pm
I like the idea that the conference championships would not get automatic consideration to be one of the four teams chosen for the playoff. The best example I can come up with is : In 2010 Auburn won the national Championship . If Cam Newton had not been at Auburn they would have lost no less than 4 games that year and maybe more. If Cam Newton had been hurt so bad in the SEC championship that he could not play in the National Championship game, I am glad that at least the selection committee to determine which 4 teams who will play for the national title, can now have eliminated Auburn. To receive one of the four bids you can’t look at if a team won their conference or what their record is to that point. To get the true FOUR BEST teams you have to look at strength of schedule , their record against top 20 teams, and is the team going into the post season play with the same team they had been playing with all season that got them to that point.
7576DAWG
April 27th, 2012
2:43 pm
Eventually they will come to the realization that they will need at least an 8 team playoff to really determine who is the best team in America. Right now the SEC is able to keep the teams in the Big -10, Pacific- 12 and Big 12 from having such an easy schedule that a much more deserving team in the SEC doesn’t get enough consideration just because they have one or two loses but eventually the SEC will weaken which will allow the MEDIA to control who the 4 playoff teams will be, like they did in 2004.
Chris
April 27th, 2012
2:48 pm
Well, it should have happened 20 years ago, but I guess it’s good to see that these money hungry fools have finally seen the writing on the wall.
When they see how much money they can make with a four team playoff, and ESPN makes even more off of this playoff bonanza, it will probably go to 8 teams after the first 5 or so years. More money = more games.
Rolling Tide
April 27th, 2012
2:51 pm
as long as they always save a place for bama in the 4-team playoff, it’ll be the correct recipe in crowning a nat’l. champ
7576DAWG
April 27th, 2012
2:52 pm
I don’t like great teams from other conference playing each other early in the season . Whether Alabama beats Penn State or vice versa playing each other in the first game doesn’t prove anything for either team. Now if they would play sometimes in October or especially in November then it would be different. Boise State beating Georgia the first game of 2011 proved nothing , so I would like to see great non conference games played later in the season so everybody can really see if either team would be worthy to end up as one of the four teams chosen to play for the national championship game.
7576DAWG
April 27th, 2012
3:14 pm
Right now the SEC has 2 or 3 teams that are so good they could end up in the top 6 or 7 teams and that is all well and good for now. But, eventually you are going to see every team in the SEC with at least 2 losses again because the two division are so tough and they will get back to being close parity. When that happens if you have another conference that doesn’t have very good parity and is dominated by only one team , who doesn’t play any of their non conference games against any top 100 teams , the Media will control everything. Some will argue that the SEC has that going right now and I would agree if every team thrown against the best SEC team hasn’t lost in the last six years. What we can’t go back to is for when the Big 10 Champion would be ranked # one every year going into the Championship game because they didn’t have a very competitive conference and they didn’t ever play a worthy non conference game. That is why they got beat every year by the SEC Champion. More than one of those years the Big -10 should not have even been in the top 4 teams to determine who played in the national Championship game let alone the top ranked team.
I will agree that the Big -10 expansion and now having a championship game will be enough for that type of injustice to repeat but it could happen with other conferences like the Big-12 who now doesn’t even have a Championship game to determine who is the best in the conference.
a country boy can survive
April 27th, 2012
3:24 pm
the true national championship game is rotated between tuscaloosa and baton rouge every year.
ricky sticky
April 27th, 2012
3:26 pm
Why is the article being discussed in a dawg blog? Uga will never be part of a national championship discussion.
meh
April 27th, 2012
3:33 pm
I think the reason the Big 10 wanted the conference champ prerequisite is because they know it’s gonna end up being 4 SEC teams in the playoffs.
UGABugKiller
April 27th, 2012
3:34 pm
I hate the AJC… sigh.
doug dawg
April 27th, 2012
4:03 pm
GTbob. you seem focused on ‘how many would watch.’ how many watched your bees win the acc a couple of years ago? who cared? how many fans showed up for the game? how many watched your team get tanked in the orange bowl? how many cared? worst bowl game rating-wise in a long time. how many even show up to your own home games, in that pit of a stadium? no one cares about or watches the ‘institute’ play football, such as you call it. ivy league at best, but not nearly so classy or respectable. or anything else. just a mediocre city college in a dangerous neighborhood, with an average football team. kind of like temple. nothing more. and certainly no mit.
Jim
April 27th, 2012
4:04 pm
My put is 1 plays 3 and 2 plays 4 then the two winners play for the championship. With a system like this Bosie could have won a National Title.
Natureboy809
April 27th, 2012
4:06 pm
I understand the traditionalists wanting the big games on Jan 1, but I like them being spread out so that I can watch them all.
Natureboy809
April 27th, 2012
4:08 pm
Also, I agree with the Big 10- you SHOULD have to win your conference to play for a NC. (Spare me the NFL argument, that is 12 teams out of 32; this is 4 out of 120.) Alabama was #1 in the nation, but #3 in the SEC? That doesn’t even make sense
DIT
April 27th, 2012
4:09 pm
Might be much, but for me an 8 game playoff would be a better fit. With a 4 team playoff the BCS will still find a way to leave out a minimum of 2 teams that should be in there.
This way every major BCS league has a participant and there is little room for error when the NC is crowned.
For what it’s worth!
Cdpridg
April 27th, 2012
4:31 pm
Point being…not every conference champ is created equally…as is the case at the moment….the 3rd or even 4th best SEC team is equal to or better than many of these conference champions.. If conference champs get an automatic bid then a.4 team playoff does not suffice. If that liducracy is put into effect..we need a 8 or more team playoff.
Pin Worm
April 27th, 2012
4:34 pm
1. UGA in 2007 was hot at the end of the year – but the lesson here is that EVERY GAME counts.
– As I Recall – Bobo / Richt lost the USCe game as the play calling was way too close to the vest. Again, playing not to lose. Also, UGA got blown out by Tennessee.
It was a good year for the MUTTS and their fans as UGA did finish strong.
2. SEC will not always win the NT. If UGA gets to the game – they will lose as this staff and culture do not seize games and will play not to lose. I would think USC or OHIO STATE will win a NT soon – especially if they play UGA. However, this is a moot point as RICHT and company will NEVER play for a NT at UGA.
3. SEC fans are crazy – dominance comes in cycles. The sun is shining on the SEC today – but tomorrow, it will another team – another conference.
4. In reading these blogs – one would think UGA is a National ELITE football program. Hey, the program is respectable – but what exactly has UGA done? Moving to ATL a few years ago – UGA has been average to above average – but nothing special.
Geez..
April 27th, 2012
4:39 pm
@Pin Worm
Thankk you for your whiny, pitiful explaination mr techie. Sounded like a whole lot of envy there.
GTBob
April 27th, 2012
4:41 pm
Bet you would love it if the ACC got two in wouldnt you Bob? wait…. that will never happen.
I don’t care at all about the ACC. I am a GT fan not an ACC fan. I doubt a playoff would help or hurt the ACC in any way.
Geez..
April 27th, 2012
4:43 pm
Talk about little whiny girls….. There’s GTBob. That’s my que!
GTBob
April 27th, 2012
4:48 pm
Point being…not every conference champ is created equally…as is the case at the moment….the 3rd or even 4th best SEC team is equal to or better than many of these conference champions.
As I said earlier, if the SEC truly deserves 3-4 of the 4 playoff spots every year then there is no reason for the SEC to be part of the FBS anymore as they are on a significantly higher playing field and they shouldn’t be brought down by the mediocre play of the other 106 teams in the FBS. The SEC should create their own football subdivision and see how that goes for them. If they want to actually prove they are the best then they can send their best team to the playoffs every year and see what happens just like every other conference.
GTBob
April 27th, 2012
4:49 pm
Talk about little whiny girls….. There’s GTBob. That’s my que!
Are you leaving now? Can’t stand differing opinions?
damngooddawg!
April 27th, 2012
5:15 pm
GTBob. You’re just a bitter techie who can’t wrap his pinhead around the fact that you are a fan of a 2nd rate program in a 4th rate football conference. You show yourself to be the idiot that you are in every post. GTH!
Joey
April 27th, 2012
5:19 pm
Well, I, for one, don’t swell up in the chest when yet another SEC team wins the Crystal Football, not do I chant SEC!, SEC!, SEC! Those teams and fans don’t give a crap about UGA, and it just makes us look silly to crow about it. We lost to Boise and MSU last year – what does that say about the SEC!? That the East title was damn-near meaningless.
I do recognize that our conference has had the best couple of teams in the country since ‘06 – and yes Techies, we were one of those in ‘07. But this is 2012, and I have watched Sec team after SEC team collect the Crystal, while we keep getting nothing, except the occasional 10 WIN SEASON!!
I’m trying to be optimistic about ‘12, and I wish I had AltamahaDawg’s confidence in Mark Richt, but the realist in me says if Richt couldn’t even get into the BIG GAME with Stafford, Knowshon, AJ, and a host of other NFLers, well it probably won’t happen this time around either.
Cdpridg
April 27th, 2012
5:29 pm
Bob….lets not make assumptions…it is simple the ranking system is fine…take the top 4 teams. Whether that be no SEC teams or in this case the past year 2 or 3 as it would habe worked out. Bob…open your mind to the big pictire…same system just a 4 team playoff of the top 4 teams. As for the SEC having its own division…the SEC has been around for ages. Lastly as far as the SEC proving it is vb the best…not muchelse to prove…6 straigt by 4 different teams…nothing to argue abt, on that topic Bob. Bob…..does it not ever get old being wrong day in and day out on the topic of college football? You are a Techie…find a more suitable hobby.
Cdpridg
April 27th, 2012
5:39 pm
Oh and Bob since we are talking about SEC dominanve lets just throw it out there that the Auburn team of 04 and the UGA teams to a lesser extent of 02 and 07 can make a case for a shot in the BCS game as well. Imagine the possibilties Bob! With the exception of 05 we could possibly be talking about 1 conference winning for a decade straight! Bob…i bet you are saying wow right abt now as you read this. Yep…life is good in the SEC. Lucky for you Bob we still maybe talking 10 straight before it is over. So smile Bob and enjoy it! You are witnessing history being made my man!!
NCDawg
April 27th, 2012
5:47 pm
A playoff is long overdue. A 4 team event is about the best we could hope for. I just hope that somebody doesn’t screw it up and muscle in some BS that favors only their conference. The idea is to get the format to be as fair as possible. The idea is to get the 4 best teams and that should be easier than just the top 2. Is someone going to get left out?… yep. Does that make the system unworkable?… nope. Let’s just play the game, let thing fall where they may and see what happens. It can’t be worse than the BCS.
ricky sticky
April 27th, 2012
6:13 pm
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/26/thumbs-up-uga-behemoths-cat-naps-are-priceless/
nothing else to say
AltamahaDawg
April 27th, 2012
6:23 pm
What confidence is that Joey?
ricky sticky
April 27th, 2012
6:29 pm
The nation shakes its collective head…
AltamahaDawg
April 27th, 2012
6:32 pm
Classic GTBob here today. Toss out something completely subjective and partisan. Get a few folks to respond, then cleverly morph the debate away from his point (which never mattered in the first place) to try to win a few battles over wording and ancillary points.
I am always entertained and occational impressed with the skit. Sorry I could not participate more today.
evil empire
April 27th, 2012
6:36 pm
dawgtards are so easily played…
GT Junior
April 27th, 2012
6:49 pm
My only issue is that our beloved football coach Paul Johnson is on the HOT SEAT and that is huring our 2013 recruiting. Normally, our kids would wait until late Fall to weigh us and say Furman, for their signing day decisons but these rivals for our players are going ahead and getting these kids commiting early to Furman and Elon College and Millsaps and Presbyterian, and Lipscomb University and to Jax State etc. GT is in recruiting trouble.
F. Sinkwich
April 27th, 2012
6:54 pm
Congrats to Megatron for the cover of Madden. He is truly great.
But reality is that GT is minor league in this great state.
Pamela
April 27th, 2012
7:45 pm
Dawgtards are so easily played…
Yes, that’s an obvious sign of very low intelligence, bless their hearts.