The best plan for a college football playoff
This topic is a departure from our normal diet of politics. I don’t do this often, and ask the indulgence of my regular, non-pigskin readers.
The college football world has been abuzz for weeks with the prospect that, in a series of meetings this month, the powers-that-be will finally settle on a system for a playoff. Major college football is the only team sport that lacks one, in the NCAA or professional leagues. Controversies over the years about which teams are chosen to play for the national championship have led the sport to the threshold of adopting a playoff. The questions have centered on how to do it. Among the thorniest: Should the field include only teams that won their conferences, or be opened to other highly ranked teams? Should the games be played apart from the traditional bowl games, or incorporate those games in the format?
So far, the fan’s voice has been missing from the debate, if only because few fans have the kind of platform available to university presidents, conference commissioners, bowl executives, and journalists who cover the sport. Well, this college football fan, smitten with the sport ever since my parents allowed me to stay up and watch a freshman named John Kasay kick a field goal to lift Georgia over Arkansas in the 1987 Liberty Bowl, has more of a platform than the average fan. And I’m using it today to offer a different proposal.
Not So Fast, My Friends
The key questions are indeed tricky. There are legitimate arguments both for mandating that playoff teams have won their conferences and for allowing at-large teams. Including only conference champions helps to preserve the importance of the regular season, as well as to guarantee more national interest by ensuring multiple regions of the country are represented. That said, there almost always are teams that lost an early regular-season game but look like world-beaters by season’s end — and requiring a team to be nearly perfect from the opening kickoff has always struck me as a bad way to decide who’s become the best team in January.
The bowls, too, are a tough point of contention. They are part of the tradition and pageantry of college football, and no sport relies more on those two intangibles. To those who complain that the current Bowl Championship Series (BCS) has diluted the other bowls, I say the problem is on the opposite end: The plethora of bowls played by middling teams, sometimes with no more wins than losses, is the culprit. The top-tier bowls are not to be discarded lightly.
As I see it, the main reason these problems are so intractable is that everyone rushed too quickly to adopt a four-team format. I agree with those who say an eight-team format is probably too large. That’s why I think the answer is a six-team playoff.
More Than Four
A six-team playoff not only affords more room for compromise on the key issues, such as making more people happy with the balance between conference winners and at-large teams. It also allows for more ways to preserve what’s best about college football.
The two highest-ranked teams, for instance, deserve special recognition. They’ve historically been set apart from the rest of the teams: Even before the BCS, they were matched up in bowls nine times between 1968 and 1996, and the teams ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the final regular-season poll by the Associated Press went on to win the AP national title 22 times in those 29 years. If the top team and the eighth-ranked teams both get into a playoff, there will be far less incentive for teams to prove they’re really one of the best: We’d be treated to more late-season games like the ones we see toward the end of the NFL regular season, when top teams sit their starters for the playoffs, knowing they’re assured of a spot.
Give the top two teams a first-round bye, as would be needed in a six-team playoff, and a strong incentive remains to be No. 1 or No. 2.
Conference winners also deserve something more than non-champs, but not to the point of excluding at-large teams altogether. In my plan, the top four seeds in the playoffs would have to be conference winners. Nos. 1 and 2 get byes, while Nos. 3 and 4 get home games in the first round. It would be a strong benefit for — to use an example from 2011 — Big Ten champ Wisconsin to get to play host to Alabama. The Crimson Tide would still make the field, but it would have to prove itself in a cold road game before moving to the semifinals.
Also, most people last fall focused on the question of whether Alabama deserved to be in the title game. But few apparently realized that, in a four-team playoff without the conference-winner requirement, Stanford might have gotten in over Oregon, even though the Ducks beat Stanford head-to-head and won the Pac-12. Resolving the Bama controversy might simply have created a different one on the West Coast.
The Plan
Without further ado, here’s the plan:
- The two highest-ranked conference champs, as ranked by the BCS formula, advance to the national semifinals as seeds 1 and 2. The next highest-ranked conference champs are seeded 3 and 4. After that, the two highest-ranked remaining teams, whether they are conference champs or not, are seeded 5 and 6. If Notre Dame or another independent school were to finish in the top 6, it would be seeded as if it were a conference champion. In 2011, the seeds would have been 1 LSU, 2 Oklahoma State, 3 Oregon, 4 Wisconsin, 5 Alabama, 6 Stanford. Wisconsin, which was ranked 10th in the final BCS standings, would have been the first team to make the playoff field from outside the BCS Top 6 since 2003. So, by and large, we would get the six best teams in the six-team field.
- The first round would be played at the home stadiums of the 3 and 4 seeds: 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5. The games would take place the third Saturday of December (i.e., two weeks after conference title games).
- The semifinals would be played at the bowl games to which the top teams’ leagues would have ties: Big Ten and Pac-12, Rose; SEC, Sugar; Big 12, Fiesta; ACC and Big East, Orange (although I could imagine the Big East establishing a unique tie-in for itself, just as the “mid-major” leagues would need to do). The games would be 1 vs. the 4-5 winner and 2 vs. the 3-6 winner, and they would take place two weeks after the first round. In 2011, that would have been 1 LSU vs. 4 Wisconsin or 5 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and 2 Oklahoma State vs. 3 Oregon or 6 Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. (Yes, LSU and Oklahoma State fans would have had a big leg up in terms of getting tickets, hotel rooms, etc. — another incentive to finish in the top two.)
- In the event that the Big Ten and Pac-12 champs, or the ACC and Big East champs, were Nos. 1 and 2, they would be separated in the semifinals. This would no doubt cause some heartburn at the Rose Bowl in particular, but allowing a 1-2 game in the semis would make a farce of the final game. And it has been an exceedingly rare occurrence: The Big Ten and Pac-12 champs have not ended the regular season as Nos. 1 and 2 (in the AP poll or BCS standings) since 1969. The ACC and Big East champs managed it once during the BCS era, in 1999. One possible compromise: If the Rose Bowl were hosting a semifinal, I might allow a 1-3 or 2-4 match-up if that would provide the game’s traditional pairing — and, more important, get everyone to sign off on a strong playoff plan.
- The semifinal winners would play one week later (to avoid dragging the season out to mid-January) in a game that cities could bid to host, a la the Super Bowl.
- Finally: I would require bowl games to invite only teams with at least eight wins. This inevitably would lead to the elimination of some games. Then again, it might be more attractive for, say, Detroit or San Francisco to host the national title game once every six or seven years than to host also-ran bowl games every year. One possible compromise: To help teams for which a six- or seven-win season is a rare occurrence, each school might be granted a waiver to the eight-win rule once every five years or so.
- Money? Not my problem. I have no doubt the powers-that-be will find a way to make oodles of money from any playoff system.
To see how this system would have worked during the BCS era, view this document. Note that, in a number of recent years, champions from conferences that aren’t BCS “automatic qualifiers” would have made the field and even hosted first-round games. That’s a big step forward for those leagues and might quell some of the conference-switching frenzy we’ve seen the last year or two.
What It Would Mean for Fans
Fans would be assured that it would mean something, but not everything, for their teams to play well in the regular season and to win their conference. Fans would be assured a better chance that one team, and perhaps two or three — but no more than that — from their region would participate. That would help prevent the sport from potentially devolving into a regional one. Fans would be assured that tradition and pageantry still matter. Finally, fans would be assured of seeing at least five high-quality playoff games, and of seeing better-quality games in the other bowls as the best non-playoff teams were more concentrated in fewer games.
All in all, I think it’s much better than what the powers-that-be are discussing. Now if we can only get them to listen.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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94 comments Add your comment
State of Hawaii Certificate of Live Birf
June 5th, 2012
3:02 pm
Dear President 0bama JiveTalker,
I do not care to hear your opinion on sports, essentially the only topic you can address & articulate without the aid of a teleprompter.
Frankly, I really don’t dig your thoughts on any other topic, either.
State of Hawaii Certificate of Live Birf
June 5th, 2012
3:03 pm
It doesn’t matter whether a college football playoff system is in place.
Coach Saban and THE TIDE will still Roll all over everyone else.
ROLL, TIDE, ROLL !!!!!!
State of Hawaii Certificate of Live Birf
June 5th, 2012
3:06 pm
Alabama > Clarke County Correctional & State University at Athens
Progressive Humanist
June 5th, 2012
3:08 pm
8 teams, no consideration for conference champions, just the 8 best in the country and play it out.
Jefferson
June 5th, 2012
3:29 pm
College football playoffs will kill the regular season, look at college basketball. Nothing wrong with what we have, what does it really mean anyway ?
@@
June 5th, 2012
3:38 pm
I don’t do this often, and ask the indulgence of my regular, non-pigskin readers.
What should I wear…my tichel or snood?
No butt slappin’, fellas.
Kyle Wingfield
June 5th, 2012
3:38 pm
Jefferson: I would prefer the current system to a bad playoff system.
Rafe Hollister- trying to save the Choom Gang
June 5th, 2012
3:49 pm
Playoffs will not kill the regular season! If you go through the motions and lose unexpectedly, you drop in the polls and don’t make the playoffs. No one is going to put you in the playoffs if you lose to Vanderbilt or Duke.
Committee made up of college football reporters, equal number from each region, get together and pick the best eight teams. Seed the games 1 vs 8, with team with best record playing at home. Second round same way, home team to highest seeded team. Championship game up for bids. If your conference was not good enough to make the playoffs, a conference championship would still be a big accomplishment for someone like GT in the ACC. The conference races would still be contentious.
Douglas
June 5th, 2012
3:49 pm
I disagree with your emphasis on conference champions. I think the best 6 teams should go regardless. A team could be a conference champ and not be one of the 6 best teams. Why not just base selection on the BCS ratings?
Gordon
June 5th, 2012
4:02 pm
Not a bad idea, but with 15 games you are turning football into a two semester sport. These are student athletes. With only 14 games, you can play a semi-final around December 20th and the final in very early January.
I think the polls should be less human driven and more data driven. Conference champions in order from the top 8 in the final ranking should get in, and then any remaining spots would be filled in order from the top of the poll.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
June 5th, 2012
4:04 pm
Why do you need to have a number one?
The conference championship was and still is the highlight of the season.
td
June 5th, 2012
4:06 pm
I want a college playoff (4, 6, 8 teams) and I agree with Kyle that it should be done the right way and make sure the best teams are on the field.
Now this plan sounds like some type of lib model to ensure everyone is represented instead of making sure the best teams are on the field.
A reader
June 5th, 2012
4:10 pm
Kyle, this made me laugh –
“Money? Not my problem. I have no doubt the powers-that-be will find a way to make oodles of money from any playoff system.”
Because you are correct, the powers that be will find a way to make money and it is ALL about the money.
Jefferson
June 5th, 2012
4:10 pm
I think conferences that are so big that all teams don’t play each other just adds to the questions — ACC, SEC… these championship games are fun and money makers, but still questions and controversy remains. 12 teams in a conference, 11 conference games and a rivalry game. Bowls could be the playoffs if you have to have them, but the folks that run the Bowls don’t want anyone telling them what to do, they like the power they have. Again after a couple of years it means little.
stranger in a strange land
June 5th, 2012
4:11 pm
in the spirit of the times in your country – all teams should get a trophy for participation as an actual ‘winner’ might cause self esteem problems for the other teams (and let’s all go kick a round ball in the net)
Kyle Wingfield
June 5th, 2012
4:20 pm
td: Well, not everyone would be represented. But I do think that, because teams in different conferences don’t compete head-to-head, it’s hard to have an objective idea of which teams are really better than the other ones. I wouldn’t want a system in which only conference champs were included, but nor do I want to water down the importance of the regular season. I think you need a mix to make sure you get “the best teams on the field.”
Oh, and don’t forget that it wasn’t too long ago the SEC fretted that its teams couldn’t make the BCS title game because they’d just beat each other up…
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
June 5th, 2012
4:21 pm
I think the best 6 teams should go regardless.
And you can determine this in 10 games? LOL
Logical Dude
June 5th, 2012
4:22 pm
I read in the spirit intended, and when I saw “6 teams” I went “huh???” you mean like give two teams wild card spots?? then I read “Give the top two teams a first-round bye” which is Brilliant.
I still think an 8 team or 16 team playoff is better for true rankings – although it would hurt the tradition and pageantry.
4 teams seems to small a measure, but the 6 team playoff sounds very workable. Although (being from Alabama and supporting the SEC) I think less emphasis should be given to conference champs, but keep the BCS standings for all teams.
Glenn
June 5th, 2012
4:27 pm
I think the best model is 8 Teams . The five conference champs with three at large bids . I don’t think there is anyway the Big East can get an automatic bid . Maybe you can have one automatic bid given to the highest seeded conference champ that doesn’t come from an automatic bid conference . Then you would have just two at large bids .
Good topic when you consider the politics between conferences & politicians representing certain state schools .
State of Hawaii Certificate of Live Birf
June 5th, 2012
4:28 pm
When I watch college football games on TV, such as when the University of Alabama throttles the likes of Florida, Auburn, LSU, Texas, USC & Clarke County Correctional & State University at Athens, GA, I like to enjoy a 52-ounce, high-calorie, sugar-infused carbonated beverage from the Coca-Cola Company with my Golden Flake potato chips.
Then, I like to pour myself a 52-ounce beverage refill, light on the ice.
Suck the carbonated fizz off THAT, Mayor Bloomberg and First “Lady” Me-Chelle.
ROLL !!
TIDE !!
Kyle Wingfield
June 5th, 2012
4:30 pm
I didn’t realize Harvey Updyke had Internet access…
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
June 5th, 2012
4:40 pm
The best plan is to eliminate athletic scholarships, return to the concept of the student-athlete, do away with the BCS, and have sports writers and coaches vote for the national champion.
Not enough money in that approach, I suppose.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 5th, 2012
4:51 pm
Take the top 8 teams based on BSC points.
Put all the players in a large room with a single sheet of paper and a pencil each.
Ask them to spell “CAT” without having to spot them the “C” and the “A”.
Whichever team has the highest percentage of correct entries wins the national championship, provided the winning team has a percentage above 50%.
St Simons- island off the coast of New Somalia
June 5th, 2012
4:55 pm
That’s fine, but that lets the Big 10 / 12-Pac sneak in every year,
and that’s just not serious big boy football.
The SEC championship game IS the NCAA nat’l championship game.
The rest is like the NIT tournament.
Hillbilly D
June 5th, 2012
5:28 pm
I’ll make the same suggestion I made on the sports blog. Cancel the season and invite every team in the country to a double elimination tournament that lasts from September to January.
LonghornGuy
June 5th, 2012
5:39 pm
Like most people with college football playoff plans, and like the people actually running college football, you’ve missed the point of all this. The reason we the fans wanted a playoff in the first place is because the way that the teams are selected for a playoff or championship game are subjective at best and corrupt at worst. The polls, the BCS formula (which uses the polls), or a selection committee, would all have the same problem, people are inherently biased, and easily corruptible. I don’t care how many teams you pick. If you take 6, #7 is going to have a legitimate gripe that they were left out. There is NO WAY you can watch every football game all season, and tell me who the best 6 teams are. You can tell me who you “think” are the best 6, but then we’re right back where we started. Winning your conference is the only fair way to earn a playoff spot. Any remaining “wildcard” spots in a playoff should be decided by some sort of formula similar to how the NFL seeds its’ playoff teams. There should be NO human input AT ALL.
@@
June 5th, 2012
5:48 pm
teams have won their conferences
Does anybody ever win at a conference? Only ones I’ve attended ended up being gabfests. Nuthin’ much was accomplished other than to schedule another conference for a later date, at which time…
yammer, yammer, yammer.
I know…off-topic…different kinda conference.
Douglas
June 5th, 2012
5:54 pm
”I think the best 6 teams should go regardless.
And you can determine this in 10 games? LOL”
Top 6 in BCS points ——- What’s so funny about that?
229 more days
June 5th, 2012
5:59 pm
I vote for either the 6 or 8 team system, but who is going to pick them?
Hillbilly D
June 5th, 2012
6:00 pm
Does anybody ever win at a conference?
Some of the best fights I ever saw were at Saturday Night Conference. (Most folks won’t get that but the ones who do will know exactly what I’m talking about. (IWH)
getalife
June 5th, 2012
6:02 pm
Looks like this is a birther blog not a college football blog.
Anyhoo, LSU 1. bama 1.
Needed another Championship game to break the tie.
Kyle Wingfield
June 5th, 2012
6:04 pm
Actually, LonghornGuy, I pretty much agree with what you said. I just don’t know how you take human input out altogether if we get into at-large teams — and while I would emphasize and reward conference champs, I wouldn’t exclude at-large teams, for the reasons explained in the OP. Even if we did, we’d have to rank them somehow to get seedings.
In my view, the BCS formula is as close as we’ve gotten to objective, though it is of course imperfect. (It’s gotten better over time.) The worst thing about it is that both human polls have been revealed to be jokes. Then again, I have a hard time believing Kansas State was the fourth-best team in the country at the end of the 2011 regular season, which is how the computer rankings’ average had it. So, you’re going to have to strike a balance there. A selection committee, however, would be the worst of all options imo.
LonghornGuy
June 5th, 2012
6:06 pm
Oh, and why is it sooo important to have the “best” 2 teams (or 4, or 6, or
teams on the field. There is not a single sport, where everybody’s opinion of who is the “best” team, wins the championship, or even plays for it, every season. This idea of picking the “best” is ridiculous. Let’s look at last season. Using the BCS, Stanford was rated ahead of Oregon, even though Oregon beat them on the field, and won the conference. Alabama didn’t even play for their conference title. So how were they more deserving than a team that won it’s conference? They weren’t. They had no business in that title game. But this is what “opinions” get you.
@@
June 5th, 2012
6:16 pm
Hillbilly:
(Most folks won’t get that but the ones who do will know exactly what I’m talking about. (IWH)
Then I’m the hostess with the mostess.
@@
June 5th, 2012
6:20 pm
…giving into the whims of mens.
Sounds bad, doesn’t it?
schnirt
LonghornGuy
June 5th, 2012
6:29 pm
I don’t think you should exclude at large teams either, if you are doing a 6 or 8 team playoff. I prefer an 8 team playoff. The NFL seeding rules to choose wildcard teams are:
If the tied clubs are from the same division, apply division tie breaker.
If the tied clubs are from different divisions, apply the following steps.
Two Clubs
Head-to-head, if applicable.
Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
Strength of victory.
Strength of schedule.
Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
Best net points in conference games.
Best net points in all games.
Best net touchdowns in all games.
Coin toss.
With a little tweaking this system could easily be used to seed 8 college football teams.
Skip
June 5th, 2012
6:38 pm
Best eight.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 5th, 2012
6:51 pm
I don’t think Georgia has to worry about it any time soon.
@@
June 5th, 2012
6:59 pm
What’s Bill up to?
WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton says broad tax cuts that expire in January should be temporarily extended, including for the wealthiest Americans, to give lawmakers time to reach a deal on long-term tax reductions that he says should exclude the rich.
Clinton’s comments Tuesday were in contrast to President Barack Obama, whose re-election he Clinton is supporting. Obama has opposed renewing the tax cuts for people earning more than $250,000 a year.
I guess Bill will be getting another phone call from the Obama team. He can’t be going around disagreeing with the president like that. Send forth the drones!
@@
June 5th, 2012
7:14 pm
So sorry.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bill-clinton-says-renew-all-expiring-tax-cuts-temporarily-long-term-cuts-should-exclude-rich/2012/06/05/gJQAPRYoGV_story.html
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 5th, 2012
7:25 pm
Sure enough, rumpus giganticus Michelle throws down with Doomberg-
Michelle O Applauds NYC Soda Ban!
I told ya so.
@@
June 5th, 2012
8:12 pm
This is a revealing poll.
Early exits: Are recall elections appropriate?
Looks like Wisconsin voters favor the Republican view. Only in cases of misconduct.
<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Governors/2012/0605/Wisconsin-recall-election-Why-voters-can-t-wait-for-it-to-end"?Many voters who supported Walker Tuesday said their decision was not necessarily because they fully support his budget reforms, which included curbing collective bargaining rights for most public-sector unions, or because they believe he is untarnished as a candidate. Instead, they said Walker got their vote because they feel a need to send a message about the inherent unfairness of the recall process itself.
Cheeseheads are suffering embarrassment due to the union mold.
@@
June 5th, 2012
8:13 pm
Oops! Just cut & paste.
@@
June 5th, 2012
8:19 pm
In defeat of Paycheck Fairness Act, Senate goes into deep campaign mode
Senate activity surrounding the Paycheck Fairness Act – it failed to get enough votes to overcome a GOP filibuster – more closely resembled the taping of campaign ads rather than a debate of the issue.
This administration has become all too transparent but not in a good way. Do they think women are stoopid?
Obviously.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 5th, 2012
8:31 pm
A Madison City Clerk has told a Wisconsin radio host that turnout for the area is expected at over 100%, up to 119%.
They expect the dead to vote?
bu2
June 5th, 2012
8:47 pm
In my one person opinion poll there should be 8 with the top 5 champions of conferences. Except for 1 or 2 years when a minor conference team was unbeaten you would never have had any legitimate complaints from #9.
If you do it all champs in a 4 or 6, you still have to have the human element. Like in 2008 when the BCS points picked Oklahoma over Texas for the Big 12 South title in a 3 way tie, despite the Longhorns beating OU by 10 on a neutral field.
@@
June 5th, 2012
8:52 pm
on a neutral field.
Would that be one where alot of lime is applied?
bu2
June 5th, 2012
9:00 pm
No that would be like France and Germany debating the solution to the Eurozone crisis in Switzerland.
@@
June 5th, 2012
9:09 pm
Whooaaa!!!
Dassa BIG WOMAN!
Dusty
June 5th, 2012
9:30 pm
FOOTBALL! When the Braves are playing and the score is seven to nothing in their favor?
What is going on? I’m taking my cookies and going home! There aint no justice here.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 5th, 2012
9:33 pm
Governor Walker is leading in Wisconsin. Of course, the Democrat precincts won’t report until later, after they determine how many votes they “need”.
Democrats: Criminals.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 5th, 2012
10:02 pm
Watching the events unfold in Wisconsin they way they are, is it any wonder the symbol of the dummycrat party is the Jacka$$?
md
June 5th, 2012
10:39 pm
It really doesn’t matter if there is an arbitrary cut-off point…..there will always be those that poo poo the system especially those just beyond the cut-off.
And any team can win on any given day, so even a 4 or 6 team playoff is a crap shoot. Look at the recent ACC baseball tourney……GT gets in on the last day of the regular season as the last (#8) seed and proceeds to run the table in the tourney and wins the title. Then they get shellacked by Fl in the regionals…….
Pick something and stick with it……….
Shine
June 6th, 2012
6:43 am
10 game regular season……if conferances want a championship game that would make 11…and then the top 32 teams play making the champion play a max of 16 games.
otherwise its still more bs and may as well just leave it as it is so the mulligan tide or some other whiner can insist on an undeserved do over.
@@
June 6th, 2012
6:47 am
California voters DID IT too!
LOS ANGELES — As Wisconsin residents voted on Tuesday not to recall Gov. Scott Walker — who has become an enemy of labor unions nationwide — two California cities dealt blows of their own to organized labor.
@@
June 6th, 2012
6:49 am
yay
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 6th, 2012
6:51 am
And when excuses aren’t enough to cauterize Democrats’ gaping electoral wound — which not only included Governor Walker increasing his winning margin over this same opponent from their contest 19 months earlier, but also Republicans keeping all four state senate seats that were subject to recall — denial and misdirection is the name of the game.
Opened a can of whoop a$$ on the dummycrats, did they?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
June 6th, 2012
7:00 am
Americans Win.
jconservative
June 6th, 2012
7:36 am
State of Hawaii Certificate of Live Birf
Sir. In 2008 we had a choice for President between a Panamian and a Kenyan and the Kenyan won. This year we have a choice between that Kenyan and a Mexican. My money is on the Mexican.
@@
June 6th, 2012
9:12 am
Well….I guess Bill got the call.
Bill Clinton clarifies comments on extending Bush tax cuts
Wuss.
The Grand TeetOns
June 6th, 2012
9:20 am
Author fears for future of the American breast
The American breast is bigger than ever before.
Oblama
June 6th, 2012
9:21 am
I agree that as fans we want a playoff system. If you had ever played football you would know that this to many games and will result in more serious injuries – not to mention the time it would take away from studies, which should be the reason they are in school to start with. The answer is to drop one of the “cup cake” games and have one less game in the regular season. A conference championship game and then two playoff games after that is to much with the regular season schedule as it is now. The problem with all of this is that the athlete’s best interest is not being considered here and they are the only ones not getting payed. Greed will ruin the college game as the LOVE of money is the root of all evil.
md
June 6th, 2012
9:23 am
For our austerity minded individuals that just don’t seem to get it:
“The European Union should provide funds to bail out Spain’s banks, a senior Spanish minister suggested for the first time, as the chairman of the nation’s largest lender projected that about €40 billion ($50 billion) will be needed to stabilize Spain’s battered banking sector.”
“In the interview he also highlighted the punishing yields on Spanish sovereign debt, currently around 6.3% for 10-year bonds vs a 1.2% yield on German debt. “What that premium says is that Spain doesn’t have the market’s door open, as such. The challenge is to open that door,” Montoro said.”
It’s all about borrowing the money in order to try to “spend” one’s way out of debt……but keep in mind that that same debt increases if the gamble fails………a la Greece.
md
June 6th, 2012
9:25 am
Back to football…….put all the teams in a conference……ALL conferences have a championship game…..ALL winners move into playoff games.
just the facts
June 6th, 2012
9:30 am
The BCS doesn’t love you, so why do you love the BCS?
If it’s not decided on the field LIKE EVERY OTHER SPORT ON THE PLANET SINCE THE BEGINING OF TIME, you never will know who is the best and should rightfuly be crowned national champion.
Sherlock
June 6th, 2012
9:46 am
I like it.
clyde
June 6th, 2012
9:48 am
Football?????Go away.
Mash
June 6th, 2012
9:51 am
Kyle,
I’m a huge college football fan as well and really like your plan. I agree that 6 teams would solve all of the problems presented with the conference champions vs. at large debate as well as the on campus venue vs. bowl games venue debate.
The only tweak I would make to your plan would be to use a selection committee a la the basketball tournament. I don’t trust the BCS formula any further than I can throw it. Add in a selection committee and I think your plan should be a winner.
md
June 6th, 2012
9:57 am
“The only tweak I would make to your plan would be to use a selection committee a la the basketball tournament.”
And every year, we have a conversation about the “bubble” teams in basketball…….there is no fool proof plan and never will be. Someone will always have a case for getting the shaft.
And the BCS DOES account for “on the field”……it factors wins…………
Kyle Wingfield
June 6th, 2012
10:14 am
Thanks, Mash. I personally would trust a selection committee even less. It works in basketball because the only tough decisions are about the last 8-10 teams — maybe even the last 3-4 teams — in a 68-team field. In other words, the vast majority of the selections are not controversial, and even the ones that are controversial involve maybe the 35th to 40th best teams in the field.
In football, you’d probably be talking about a couple of controversial picks every year — a third of the field (or half in the case of a four-team playoff). And the picks would be totally subjective. I think that by using the BCS formula, which incorporates objective (or as objective as possible) computer rankings, and setting a requirement for a minimum number of conference champions, we would introduce as much objectivity as possible into the system. I would, however, beseech the BCS to find better polls than the two they use now, which include coaches who don’t pay attention or even in some cases make their own choices, and an amalgam of ex-players, coaches, etc. who are blatant about their regional and rivalry biases.
But it’s never going to be perfect.
@@
June 6th, 2012
10:15 am
6-2-1-22-29-3&4-Big 10-PAC 12-BIG 12-5-8-team-1987-1968-1996-1999-2003-2011.
Now if I can only get my head to stop hurting.
@@
June 6th, 2012
10:20 am
I know…off-topic…but
Recycling?
A flying cat? Dutch artist turns dead feline into a helicopter
Dusty
June 6th, 2012
10:20 am
There once was a political reporter,
Who suffered from a football “disorder”.
His pigskin was punctured
When team rules disrupted
And goal posts were burned to the ground.
THE END (We hope!)
@@
June 6th, 2012
10:24 am
The markets rallied amid hopes global policymakers will take action to boost the economy even after the ECB chose not to take imminent action after its monetary-policy meeting.
This global economy reminds me of the game, musical chairs.
Dusty
June 6th, 2012
10:29 am
@@ 10:20
I know a pilot who turned a helicopter into a sculpture of twisted metal and he wasn’t even artistic!
@@
June 6th, 2012
10:33 am
Dusty:
You still KNOW him. That’s a good thing.
Orville was transformed, living on in propellortuity?
Dearie
June 6th, 2012
10:34 am
Well thought out plan Kyle!
I especially liked seeing the Six-Team Playoff Plan During BCS Era.
Thanks
Dusty
June 6th, 2012
10:35 am
@@
How’s your garden growing? My tomato plants grew an inch and fell over in exhaustion. I think it is going to be a long summer for them.
Pizzaman
June 6th, 2012
10:52 am
I have to say Kyle you picked a subject where we can agree/disagree without bloodshed. Thank you.
Consider this: Divisions 1A, 2 and 3 all have playoff’s. Why can’t D1?. Well! 1A, 2, and 3 all play 10 regular season games and have the playoff teams determined by a poll of coaches and/or sports writers. Their season is over before Christmas.
If D1 were to adopt a 16 team playoff (very doable but will never happen) they’d have to go back to a 10 game regular season and eliminate 25 or so “Holiday Bowl” games. Do you really think the 56 teams that now make a “bowl” but wont make the “playoff” will want to loose the revenue of 2 regular season games and a bowl?
So why cant we do a 16 team playoff with 12 regular games and play well into January? Because the NFL will never allow it. The NFL, with more power, money and influence than the US Government, will never allow a College game past the 10th or so of Jan. They don’t want anyone to inter fear with their playoffs and they can demand that.
So we reduce the season and play it off New Years weekend Or keep it like it is, have a 16 team play off and eliminate or obfuscate 25 bowls.
More complicated, and at least in the South, more important than the Presidential race!
@@
June 6th, 2012
10:56 am
Dusty:
How’s your garden growing?
Like gangbusters. I’ve been watching a tomato turn (my first). Went out to pick it this morning and it was gone.
Dang squirrels!
The defending national champions speak
June 6th, 2012
11:08 am
No matter how you slice it or woulda done it we woulda won it all. Rollllll Tide!
@@
June 6th, 2012
11:18 am
The defeat of yesterday’s recall efforts and this:
Green Bay Packers, Inc., has been a publicly owned, nonprofit corporation since Aug. 18, 1923, when original articles of incorporation were filed with Wisconsin’s secretary of state.
Two things Wisconsin got right.
Call It Like It Is
June 6th, 2012
11:19 am
… “Anyone who doesn’t win their conference has no business playing in the
national championship game.” Nick Saban, Alabama (12/8/03)
*Well unless of course it was us, then its a different matter
@@
June 6th, 2012
11:20 am
Bought “new sheets” yesterday. 750 thread count! Like sleeping on buttah.
Dusty
June 6th, 2012
11:24 am
Pizzaman, 10:52
You & your pizzas are full of baloney. Proof:”More complicated, and at least in the South, more important than the Presidential race!” The SOUTH?
R U kidding? Football, the game of goobers and yahoos best suited to cool climates? The presidential race looks like a storm cloud over the South ’cause we don’t like the debt ridden doodling done in Washington. The South has risen again in indignation over such as that. Nobody’s happy ’bout it!
Now, throw a little more cheese on that pizza. Better make it good ’cause I think you did not wear your helmet when you played football.. Hang on to that job, fellow.
Dusty
June 6th, 2012
11:37 am
@@ 11:20
I love all cotton sheets. No comfort with plastic thread interwoven.
———————–
NEW SHEETS!!!! (hint hint) Yes! New sheets! Glad you mentioned NEW SHEETS , @@
BuckeyeinGa
June 6th, 2012
12:15 pm
Sounds like a good plan..I also don’t trust the BCS..they punish some teams like Boise St. because they aren’t in the “popular” conferences.
Pizzaman
June 6th, 2012
1:13 pm
Sorry Dusty! No job. Retired Military. Never played football and have nothing to do with “Pizza”s”. But I do know Southerners care more about football than anything else and they used to be yellow-dog Democrats till the ‘64 Civil Rights Act. Their the same bigoted rednecks who now vote Republican!
NCAA Playoff in 2012
June 6th, 2012
6:57 pm
Since everyone is talking about our Irish President O’Blama how about this… If the same number turn out in 2012 as 2008 then with the increase in electoral votes for Republican States and the four States that will turn Republican again after a tiny majority flirted with O’Blama in 2008, only because he was nominally Black then you will get this fun event… O’Blama gets the most popular votes, there is a tie in the Electoral College and the Republican wins in the House of Representatives 29 to 17. You got to love it and how the Marxist and they slaves will howl.
NCAA Playoff in 2012
June 6th, 2012
7:01 pm
I see my first post about an NCAA Div IA FBS Playoff was not printed here. Please Kyle ask those powers about a Fan Plan… 16 from 12 Conference Champions of 10 Team equal strength Conferences and 4 at-Large 2nd Place Teams with the most wins. An 11 game Regular Season without any of the Patsy Games with FCS Teams. No Bye, Every team plays the same number of playoff games till they lose one. http://www.ncaa2012.com/theperfectplan.pdf
NCAA Playoff in 2012
June 6th, 2012
7:06 pm
Oh for that other Irish wanna be President, John Kerry, his grand father changed their name from Cohen and then blew his brains out in the lobby of Faneuil Hall, Kerry was French & Jewish. His mother’s people had the opium mononply in China and most of them were expatriot America haters that settled in France and Hong Kong, his french cousin ran for the French Presidency as a Communist, they played together as children on the French sea-side estate (1%).
bu2
June 6th, 2012
9:03 pm
You’re getting more rational comments than you typically do on one of these political blogs!
Gray Grantham
June 9th, 2012
2:06 am
If we take the BCS folks at their word that a 4 Team playoff is what they really want than I see this plan as a bit of a stretch for them, HOWEVER. I can see meeting in the middle. Create a 4 Team playoff for the 4 highest ranked conference champions. If there is one team ranked higher than the 4th seeded conference champion than that team and the #4 seeded conference champion would have a play-in at the home of the #4 conference champion the week following Championship Saturday.
If there is also a team ranked higher than the #3 seeded conference champion they would have a play-in vs the #3 conference champion at the home of the #3 conference champion the week following championship Saturday.
This would elevate the importance of winning the conference championship and yet allow for the occasional 2011 Alabama, Notre Dame and BYU.
But more often than not it would most likely be a true 4 team playoff.
In years where you don’t have a non champion ranked in the top 4, you would have a true 4 team playoff and most likely this scenario would involve the winner of the Rose Bowl playing the winner of the Champions Bowl for he national Championship.
Tim Keck
June 11th, 2012
10:54 am
I think that Kyle has hit the nail on the head here. It will be good to show the world that the SEC can’t run the gauntlet of a playoff system.