Two hot topics from UGA Athletic Board meeting

If you missed it -– and if you did here’s the story -– there was a pretty interesting meeting of the UGA Athletic Association board of directors yesterday at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall.

The board got another upbeat financial report and voted to spend almost $4 million on several facilities projects (details in story), but the two topics that might interest you the most pertained to Mark Richt’s contract extension and a college football playoff.

UGA President Michael Adams pronounced the parties “in 98 percent agreement” on Richt’s contract extension and said the remaining 2 percent “is just minor details.” Adams said the executive committee of the athletic board could reconvene by teleconference to approve the deal when it is done.

As for a playoff, Adams added to the recent indications that momentum is finally building toward one, telling the executive committee: “My best guess is we’re going to end up with either a four- or eight-team playoff by the time we get to ‘14.” That assessment came a couple of days after a report that the Big Ten, long a playoff opponent, is warming to the possibility — a shift that Adams called “a very significant development.”

So what are your thoughts about a playoff for college football? An idea long overdue? Or one that should be left to other sports? And if one really is on the horizon for college football, how do you think it should work?

286 comments Add your comment

dawgfan

February 9th, 2012
3:34 pm

Yes, there’s no way Auburn would have beat that USC team that squeaked out wins against average at best Pac 10 teams for most of the season. That 2004 USC team might be one of the most overrated of all time. I have never seen anything like it. You would think they beat everyone with an average margin of victory of 60 points the way they are talked about. They were good and very talented, but Auburn was too. It would have been a helluva game. The real villain in that mess was the overrated Chokelahoma Sooners. They had no business being in that game.

Thanks.

Bama Mike

February 9th, 2012
3:34 pm

My thoughts on CMR. Better coach than we bash him for but not as good as we give him credit for. CMR has become comfortable and jaded. He needs the energy and passion of Vandy’s Franklin. His taking a knee at Auburn couple of years ago when Farley was taking all kinds of shots at the qb really hurt Gerogia’s mantra.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
3:38 pm

Big Crimson 75

February 9th, 2012
3:28 pm

LSU is in trouble bc Les Miles screwed his team over in the NCG. Not much is getting out about it. but he flipped out on the players and the OC that came up to him saying Lee should start and play most of the game bc he was their best chance. Then he benched the players and fired the OC, and caleld the plays himself. the players that night showed they were more important than he was and played half a$$ most of the game. Their OL barely blocked for jefferson. Mett is a great QB and will do well there.

As for Bama I am predicting a 3rd place finish bc of the loss of TR and the guys you lost on D. West will be a toss up this year.

JB

February 9th, 2012
3:39 pm

Bama mike………………We got a little mantra back this year by pasting AU….I do agree CMR coach’s a little passive, intended or not, or real or not, the perception is there.

Big Crimson 75

February 9th, 2012
3:40 pm

who did GA lose those 2 games to in ‘07??
Was that the year they beat FLA & danced after the touchdown?

TDF

February 9th, 2012
3:41 pm

Tech Troll 13

February 9th, 2012
3:30 pm

As long as the four arent reserved for 4 conf champs Im ok with it. Not just the ACC but the big east as well. Granted WVU destroyed clemson, but Clemson wouldnt have belonged in a playoff last year either.

JB

February 9th, 2012
3:41 pm

Yes. Crimson. I think our only loss was Tenn.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
3:43 pm

Big Crimson 75

February 9th, 2012
3:40 pm

SC 16- 12 and Tenn 35-14

Yea that was when we beat UF and danced in the endzone.

Bama Mike

February 9th, 2012
3:46 pm

JB, I just wonder what Franklin’s passion would have been that day or what would Grantham have done that day. Georgia fans passion for their team takes second to no one. There just seems to be a disconnect between Richt and the fan base when it comes to that emotional passion we all have.

Big Crimson 75

February 9th, 2012
3:46 pm

Y’all give Arky too much credit. They don’t play D. Really can’t run the ball well. Get a lead on Arky & you got em!!
Auburn is the question mark for the West next year. You never know with those damn Barners.
As for Bama, if we beat Michigan to start the season, WATCH OUT!!!

D Fence

February 9th, 2012
3:47 pm

Jim Delaney is simply grown tired of the fact that the Rose Bowl is now an after thought to the National Title scene and outside of the big 10 and pac 10 has become irrevelant to most of the country. Delaney has been in bed with the BCS boys all these years and only now that he realizes all roads to the national title lead through dixie does he want to better position his teams to have a shot.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
3:50 pm

Big Crimson 75

February 9th, 2012
3:46 pm

I have always said Arky has no def! They are the only top tier team that doesnt have a def year after year.

Yea you really do never know with auburn.

Dan

February 9th, 2012
3:51 pm

An eight-team playoff would be great; it wouldn’t remove the “bubble team” issue (and that would always be an issue, no matter how big the field), but it’s a reasonably safe assumption that a team ranked 9 or lower would, in back-to-back-to-back games, seldom if ever knock off three different teams rated above it so recently. As for non-playoff bowl games and non-playoff teams, I’m not anti-bowl — so long as cities and sponsors are willing to have them, that’s fine. They can still serve a “reward” purpose, an “extra practices” purpose, etc.

JB

February 9th, 2012
3:52 pm

Bama Mike…………..We are a sleeping giant. We’re still napping. The studs coming out of these Georgia High schools is scary. Everyone loves Mark. But, 11 years with these resources?

TDF

February 9th, 2012
3:59 pm

JB

February 9th, 2012
3:52 pm

Blame searles not richt. He was the head recruiter and OL coach. Friend is much better OL coach and evaluator of talent. Searles but us behind big time by being late with evaluations, which our coaches have to have before they will ever offer a player.

Searles is at Tenn now and you can see his trend continuing with 0 OL recruits this year.

FYI UGA just offered a Samoan out of JUCO in cali. Bigger and stronger than Chester.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/511613/

Link to his highlights.

G-Dawg

February 9th, 2012
4:02 pm

Agree with JB…everyone, go ahead and keep picking on the Dawgs!! Trouble is brewing!!

JB

February 9th, 2012
4:02 pm

Why did Searles leave Texas?

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:03 pm

JB

February 9th, 2012
4:02 pm

No clue. Prob bc he is awful. Tenn loves our rejects, see the kid who stole from UGA locker room as a recruit they picked up as a prime example.

BigTimeTechFan

February 9th, 2012
4:10 pm

If Playoff teams consist of Conf Championship teams only I’m for it
If making the playoffs is based on any kind of polls I’m against it.
Coaches have no clue other than teams they play, and the media is bias to their darling teams.

If by polls, picking top two teams is easiest as it is now
But when you start picking 4 or 8 teams it gets a lot harder. Most years you could have about 5 teams saying they should be ranked 4th, stuff like team A two losses are better than Team B’s one loss.

I say NCAA Div 1 needs to be 4 major conferences of 16 teams (64 teams). Those teams can only play each other.

Winners of those 4 conf go to 4 team playoff. Rest get bowl games.

Have a Sub division below Div 1 like European soccer
At the end of the year the 2 teams in each conf with the worse records move down a division and 8 team with the best records in that lower division get to move up to play Div 1 Ball.

would be fun:
Gives smaller school something to play for.
Don’t have to worry about weak conferences

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:17 pm

BigTimeTechFan

February 9th, 2012
4:10 pm

Your whole plan would have to be implemented for it to work. If they dont realign into super conf and still have OOC games then this would make OOC games worth nothing, and only the conf games would matter, so 1/3 of the season is thrown out.

If they did 8 team playoff with a selection committee comprised of a representative from each BCS conf, with the limitation that all playoff teams must be top ten would be the best solution. This makes the whole season matter, even conf champ games even though they wont be automatic bids to the playoff. The conf game would give bubble teams a chance to jump up into the disscusion or give teams a chance to improve their slot in the playoff.

Bama Mike

February 9th, 2012
4:22 pm

With the resources Georgia has should be the Texas of the SEC. For Georgia to get to the top, there has to be a philosophical change with its offense. The must become more physical across offensive front, develop a punishing backfield. Last two years Georgia’s run to pass is like 30/70. Offensive lineman end up just rubbing bellies with the defense. Grantham must improve his x’s and o’s by that I mean show the offense a set back off, show them something else. Multiple defensive formations prior to the snap especially with the 3/4 set can weaken the best offene. See MSU game regarding my last comment.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:26 pm

Bama Mike

February 9th, 2012
4:22 pm

Bobo seems to get scared when its a good opponent. But his numbers are actually better than Richts when he was calling the plays. The only diff is Richt was much better at beating the good teams where as bobo crawls into a shell and waits till its over to come out.

BigTimeTechFan

February 9th, 2012
4:35 pm

@TDF

Agree, but what would be cool is to have southern Conf Div 1 and Div 2, 16 team in Div 1, 16 Teams in Div 2.

The 11 game schedule, you could only play those team in the Southern Conf. No lower teams.

Say you took the top 16 teams from ACC and SEC, they would only play each other, then chamionship game at the end of the year. UGA scheduled would be like:

Auburn
Alabama
Florida
Va Tech
Clemson
Tenn
Miami
LSU
Ga Tech
South Carolina
North Carolina

That would be awesome and every game would be huge. But also every other team has to play same type of schedule. Finish at the bottom then you go down to Div 2 with Teams like East Carolina, Duke, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, NC State, Vandy, South Florida. Still would be pretty nice because all those team would be playing for shot at Div 1 the next year.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:40 pm

BigTimeTechFan

February 9th, 2012
4:35 pm

That is actually a very interesting proposal, but would be hard to implement and we would end up with a bunch of whinny babies in D2.

I do agree that the best thing to do is to do a complete overhaul of the system and that plan of yours would be interesting to see play out. Especially with teams switching back and forth between D1 and 2.

It would at least end the talk of easy this easy that.

Bama Mike

February 9th, 2012
4:44 pm

There should also be 4 weeks of spring practice with an actually game at the end. Call it a preseason game. Doesnt go against your record. But gives you an opportunity to play everyone. In game day settings. Call it SEC vs Big Eight Week. A game every night. Can you imagine a week of Alabama vs Oklahoma, Georgia vs OSU or Auburn vs Texas. What a way to spend your spring evening. This dead period is murder.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:46 pm

Bama Mike

February 9th, 2012
4:44 pm

Thats why I have turned to recruiting! Best way to pass the time, but be forwarned once you start its too hard to stop.

BigTimeTechFan

February 9th, 2012
4:51 pm

@TDF

I agree, I’m for anything that will improve but I think one of the biggest issues is there are to many teams in Div 1. The difference from top teams and bottom teams is huge.

Like Houston, they had nice team this year, but you really don’t know how good because week by week they did not play very good teams. Then they are compared to team, lets just say Georgia. UGA lost 4 games but almost every week they played better teams.

Not saying Houston is not good, but just saying you will never know.

Also as Tech fan, Tech may be a team that really has to earn it right to stay in the upper league each year, but that would make it fun, even if they were 4-5 after 9 weeks they have something to play for.

BigTimeTechFan

February 9th, 2012
4:53 pm

@Bama Mike

I like that a lot, that would bring big time $$$ to teams/NCAA also.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:54 pm

BigTimeTechFan

February 9th, 2012
4:51 pm

Yes way too many teams.

Agree 100% about teams like Houston. Yea they finished with a great record, but who really tested them this year? Southern Miss and Northern illinois as well. All finshed with better record but who did they really play??

If we went to the 16 team super conf, tech would get better recruits with only 64 D1 teams.

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:56 pm

Alright it was nice to be able to chat without the trolls today! I promise I am a very civil guy when they arent around ruing the chat for everyone else (cough cough, GTBob)

TDF

February 9th, 2012
4:56 pm

ugab

February 9th, 2012
5:17 pm

Looks like CMR is going to get his extension. I have to live with mediocracy for another 5 to 10 yrs. I think MR needS to prove himself. Saban and Meyer are coaches. CMR is a ?????joke. Oh well… LET’S GO SWIMMING. YOU LOOK TIRED. DON’T WORRY BOUT THE GAME … EVERYONE GO HOME AND SEE UR FOLKS.. DON’T WORRY BOUT THE UPCOMING GAME.. YALL EAT AS MUCH AS U WANT. DONT WORRY BOUT THE GAME.. LOSING IS GOOD. WHAT A JOKE, KIDS COME TO OUR SCHOOLD FOR THE CHOW HALL.

ugab

February 9th, 2012
5:19 pm

WHY CAN’T UGA HIRE A SPECIAL TEAMS COACH? WTF. 4 MILLION AND MORE MENTORS.

ugab

February 9th, 2012
5:22 pm

MISSOURI IS GOING TO BEAT UGA. I’LL PUT MONEY ON THAT ONE

Big Crimson 75

February 9th, 2012
5:54 pm

Not so sure about that, but I for one can’t wait to see DGB in action!
Will he be as good as AJ or Julio??

Fair n Balanced

February 9th, 2012
6:18 pm

I’ve always wanted a playoff but as an GA / SEC fan………what the heck? Win the SEC and you win the NC. If we need a system, how about this: SEC winner plays the winner of some other bowl or playoff game for the NC. The SECCG is basically the prelim for the NC.

Rick James

February 9th, 2012
6:19 pm

A playoff system is coming because the other conferences hated seeing two SEC schools playing for the national championship and want to prevent it from happening again.When SEC commissioner Mike Slive suggested a playoff four years ago they didnt want to hear it.

Rick James

February 9th, 2012
6:22 pm

@ugab

Shouldnt you be rejoicing on the Tech blog over the quarterback CPJ offered yesterday.Or will you wait until the kid visits another school and the scorned coach takes the offer of the table?

Big Crimson 75

February 9th, 2012
6:22 pm

It’s there own fault Rick……The SEC has been saying playoff since Auburn got hosed in ‘04…..but we are the “slow” ones.

Rick James

February 9th, 2012
6:24 pm

@Fair n Balanced

I’ve always wanted a playoff but as an GA / SEC fan………what the heck? Win the SEC and you win the NC. If we need a system, how about this: SEC winner plays the winner of some other bowl or playoff game for the NC. The SECCG is basically the prelim for the NC.
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So true..Now watch out for the rocks about to be thrown at you by the Tech fans.

NCDawg

February 9th, 2012
6:50 pm

Test – to see if my post actually shows up

NCDawg

February 9th, 2012
7:15 pm

AGGGGHHHHH 3 paragraphs into the void. Why? Anybody else have 90% of their posts eaten?

Douglas

February 9th, 2012
7:36 pm

I like Mark Richt but I only think he gets an extension if he does two things: gets rid of Bobo as his OC and hires a full-time special teams coach. We already have a great defensive staff…it’s the offense and special teams that is the problem.

Stephen A.Dawg: 8,9,or 10 win seasons is the best UGA can do with Richt.

February 9th, 2012
8:12 pm

Tim, it really doesn’t matter what Georgia fans thoughts are on a college football playoff since we are stuck with a coach that no longer has the capability to win against top ranked teams. So we will never reach such playoffs when they start with a head coach like Mark Richt . He’s a good guy and I don’t mean to offend, but over the past 11 years he gave it his best shot and came up short. He blew his best chance when he decided to keep former QB DJ Shockley benched for 3 of his 4 years at UGA.

Richt’s outdated offense can only best mediocre teams at this point UGA and hasn’t even beaten South Carolina in three years so we don’t have to worry about facing a Oregon, Oklahoma, Stanford, or Southern Cal in a playoff because even if they lowered standards and let UGA in, Richt would be routed and the Dawgs would get stomped. Again in 2012, just like 2011, UGA will lose to any ranked teams they face. Nothing has changed at UGA with the coaching staff and the same failed offensive strategy has persisted change. Grantham will work his rear end off with the defense, but the offense again will let the team down in big games.

Truth hurts but we won’t belong in the running of the best teams until UGA dumps wannabe status and Richt to find a real head coach that can take the Dawgs to the next level. So as UGA administrators waste more time trying to build an iron-clad reason to dump Richt, playoffs in college football shouldn’t matter to Georgia fans, because we can’t even win the SEC anymore.

Jim

February 9th, 2012
8:13 pm

Who Cares if you are a Bulldawg Fan! With year after year of undersigning and 77 scholarship athlethes when you could have 85. 70 if you reduce the 77 number by the 7 walk-on’s awarded by Richt last year.

DO YOU BELIEVE WE CAN COMPETE WITH 70 QUALITY ATHLETHES, when the rest of the SEC has 85?

Wake Up and Smell The Roses!

the season is a playoff

February 9th, 2012
8:18 pm

No playoff. Part of the fun is arguing with each other over who shoulda and who woulda and who coulda.
Quick, who finished second in March Madness last year? Quick, now…
See?

Monkey

February 9th, 2012
8:18 pm

I firmly believe that our conference Leaders( not the School Presidents) such as Mike Slive and his more than ready staff will not vote for a playoff that requires the participants to “WIN” their conference. The final rankings and post bowl rankings would have placed 2 SEC members, 1 Big 12, and 1 PAC 10 team( post bowl records) or 2 SEC teams, the same Big 12 team and a different PAC 10 in the playoffs, with Arkansas barely missing out on the top 4 teams.

In other radio interviews and speeches around the south Mr. Slive has stated that if it was a requirement that conference champions were only eligible it would not be something he would be interested in. He went on to say that others “wished” they had the history and depth of our conference( and he is absolutely correct) in the BCS Championship game.

The funny thing is that the Big 10 and Mr. Delaney would have been shut out of the playoff picture this past season based on the rankings.

This is all about money, and splitting money up among the conferences. Money Grab. Now practically every college fan is wanting a playoff, however from the poll taken at the senior bowl it looked pretty apparent the players are not so thrilled about it. I think some of them see the money grab and see it as another level of some people taking advantage of their amateur status.

Best of luck to your teams this spring practice and hoping all of our teams come out healthy for the fall season.

Monkey

February 9th, 2012
8:22 pm

Did anyone else notice that Van Gorder is attempting to reassemble part of his Bulldog staff on the plains in Auburn? Now he is going after Martinez..what a hoot!

East Repeat

February 9th, 2012
8:41 pm

NCDawg- Can’t type Gamec**ck as won’t get posted. Just tried it. Some words are banned, I guess?

Rick James

February 9th, 2012
8:44 pm

@Wet Willie…keep on smiling

@No conference champ rule and 4 teams. No committe either or the SEC will get screwed. Continue to select them as we do now.
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If there was a conference champion rule in place this year guess who would not be national champs…….