Superconferences & Realignment

[Rhode Irish]

Stupid move in my opinion. Only the football factory schools will be in the top 4 every year

Do you want them to lobby for a system in which we don't have to finish in the top 4 to win a national championship? Maybe you're right, but if you are it doesn't matter much how it is set up.

 

[aubeirish]

I love that Jack was the one doing the announcement of the 4 team playoffs. The people who ever think that Notre Dame would ever be left out can suck it.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I hate the selection committee. It sounds like collusion to keep out mid-majors.

 

[NDhoosier]

I love that Jack was the one doing the announcement of the 4 team playoffs. The people who ever think that Notre Dame would ever be left out can suck it.

I noticed that too, and your right, ND is just as important as the other teams even the entire conferences.

"11 conference commissioners and ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick..."

love that line, and the haters need to respect it.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Here are five reasons why the commissioners are headed toward a selection committee.

 

[STLDomer]

I like the selection committee but it is unfortunate that in the future at least once it is bound to create a controversy bigger than the current BCS system

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I like the selection committee but it is unfortunate that in the future at least once it is bound to create a controversy bigger than the current BCS system

...which will lead to a 6 team field. Then 8.

 

[chubler]

I honestly believe this slows down the pace of conference realignment.

Conference affiliation plays a much smaller role with a committee picking the 4 best teams, even if conference championship is one of the criteria.

That puts less pressure on ND, Big East, ACC etc teams who may have been panicked or trying to get into a superconference.

I honestly think the Big 10 has done the best in conference realignment, and the Pac-12 isn't far behind. Neither has changed the essential character of their leagues or diluted the quality (or diluted it by much, in the case of the Pac12.) I think the SEC diluted their brand, the ACC is a mess, and the Big 12 is a bit worse off...

here's my bold and completely unsubstantiated guess at how the rest of the process plays out.

Big 12 grabs Florida State and one other team from the ACC, plus West Virginia and TCU makes 12, back into the championship game format.

The ACC is now back at 12, the Big 10 is winning, the Pac-12 is obviously at 12, the Big 12 is at 12, and the only leagues that I see as unstable are now the Big East and counter-intuitively the SEC. So we're all set up for another round of this shenanigans in 5-10 years when Bama, Florida, LSU and the other big boys realize they could be like Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska and try to demand dramatically unequal revenue sharing. Thus, the SEC meets its end...

Or maybe thats just what I wish would happen.

 

[stlnd01]

I honestly believe this slows down the pace of conference realignment.

Conference affiliation plays a much smaller role with a committee picking the 4 best teams, even if conference championship is one of the criteria.

That puts less pressure on ND, Big East, ACC etc teams who may have been panicked or trying to get into a superconference.

I agree. A four-team, no-conference-champ requirement playoff means you don't have to be in one of the big four conferences to qualify. If whatever system they devise to pick the four playoff teams rewards quality nonconference wins, so much the better.

Either way, aside from the TV payday of a conference championship game (which is dubious anyway as half those games are crap matchups), I'm not seeing the same big incentive to consolidate conferences that appeared briefly to exist a few weeks ago.

Only big risk I can see right now to us is if everyone starts demanding nine-game conference skeds. But, honestly, if conferences remain at their current size I'm not sure why that would happen.

Basically, Jack Swarbrick's looking like one cool mofo at this point.

 

[NDhoosier]

...which will lead to a 6 team field. Then 8.

Agreed, this 4 team playoff everyone is talking about will eventually be an 8 team playoff which is ideal for me. Any more than 8 teams in the playoff would start to lessen the regular season a little.

 

[beryirish]

Retweeted by Eric Hansen

Stewart Mandel's tweet:

BigXII outgoing commish Chuck Neinas says "no movement on Notre Dame joining BXII; sometimes I wonder what people are smoking"

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

BK spoke to a local TV station in Michigan following his charity golf tournament.

On the announcement of a four-team playoff in the FBS future:

"We're excited about it. Certainly, as a college football coach you want to see the best teams play . Plus, now we get a playoff format to do that. I think it's just the start of it. I think this is going to continue to build. I think you're going to see access granted to those teams that were left out down the road.

"As it relates to Notre Dame, couldn't be more excite the way it's playing out. We'll have a chance now to continue that independent status that is important to us because we'll have access to that final four, and having that access was important to us."

On how the move affects Notre Dame's independent status:

"No question I think when the stories are written after this is all said and done ... allowing us the opportunity to be part of the top four and then the tie-ins after that with different bowls was important. ... As the football coach at Notre Dame independence has always been important to me and our university and it looks like that's here to stay.

"Just getting the start with four is going to be a lesson that's learned as to whether we can go and expand it to eight, 16 or 32. I don't think you can start down this road unless you get a feel for it."

 

[beryirish]

BK spoke to a local TV station in Michigan following his charity golf tournament.

On the announcement of a four-team playoff in the FBS future:

"We're excited about it. Certainly, as a college football coach you want to see the best teams play . Plus, now we get a playoff format to do that. I think it's just the start of it. I think this is going to continue to build. I think you're going to see access granted to those teams that were left out down the road.

"As it relates to Notre Dame, couldn't be more excite the way it's playing out. We'll have a chance now to continue that independent status that is important to us because we'll have access to that final four, and having that access was important to us."

On how the move affects Notre Dame's independent status:

"No question I think when the stories are written after this is all said and done ... allowing us the opportunity to be part of the top four and then the tie-ins after that with different bowls was important. ... As the football coach at Notre Dame independence has always been important to me and our university and it looks like that's here to stay.

"Just getting the start with four is going to be a lesson that's learned as to whether we can go and expand it to eight, 16 or 32. I don't think you can start down this road unless you get a feel for it."

December Madness?? Doesn't have a good ring to it. I'm happy with just the Top 4 playing. 8-16-32 no thank you.

 

[yankeeND]

I really want to see how the final four plays out first too Bery. 32 would be too much IMO. At most I think 8 would be ok but still pushing it.

 

[anarin]

December Madness?? Doesn't have a good ring to it. I'm happy with just the Top 4 playing. 8-16-32 no thank you.

Top 8 or 12 would end any controversy. You would have a true champion every season.

 

[D-BOE34]

I have always been a fan of 8. I feel at 4, people can still make a valid argument on who should have had that number 4 spot. At 8, who cares.

 

[phork]

If you apply a top 12 (top 4 get a first round bye) you'll see that in the Top25 generally 15 is the cutoff point for teams going from 2-3 to 3-5 losses. I think top12 would be a perfect model. To me, its in deciding how we get those teams there. Polls are crap, especially preseason polls.

 

[Irish YJ]

I'm good with 8.
6 conference champions plus two wild cards.

Conf Champs
ACC
Big East (as they stand now)
Big 12
Big Ten
PAC 12
SEC

A few rules...
1. You must win your conference. The regular season is important....
2. No more than 1 team from any conference. Again, regular season.... Also decreases the drive for super conferences...
3. The two wild cards slots take the two highest rated teams not in one of the 6 major conferences. The wild cards must be in the top 15. If there are not 2 teams, the highest ranked remaining team from the 6 major conferences would be granted an exception.


The first 4 games would follow or create traditional matchups:
Big10 vs Pac12
ACC vs Big East
SEC vs Big12
Wild Card vs Wild Card

The semi pairings would follow rankings...

 

[NDhoosier]

I am good with 8, but I dont like the conference champions rule and the Big East doesnt deserve a AQ.

Top 8 best teams, the only "rule" I would debate is a limit of 2 teams per conference.

 

[irish1958]

I don't believe that there has ever been a conceneses national champion that was ranked lower than 8th at the end of the season. If so 8 would appear to be the maximum number we should consider for a playoff.

 

[Irish YJ]

I am good with 8, but I dont like the conference champions rule and the Big East doesnt deserve a AQ.

Top 8 best teams, the only "rule" I would debate is a limit of 2 teams per conference.

100% agree about the Big Easy. OK, 3 wild cards
I think if they limited it to one per conference, schools would stop killing themselves to be part of the next big conference.... I'm just sour grapes over all the conference shifts and moves....

 

[Rhode Irish]

100% agree about the Big Easy. OK, 3 wild cards
I think if they limited it to one per conference, schools would stop killing themselves to be part of the next big conference.... I'm just sour grapes over all the conference shifts and moves....

Why?? You have two conferences that are complete wastes and don't pull their weight. I value Notre Dame's independence but objectively CFB would be better if the Big East and ACC dissolved and it's members were divided among the other four conferences and then those four conferences split off and had a separate division.

I appreciate the effort you put into your post, but almost all of your proposed rules governing who gets in are arbitrary and don't help in determining the true national champion. Under your proposed rules you could easily have the second best team left out if they are in the same league as the #1 ranked team, but then have the best WAC team get in and they could realistically be the 30th best team. What kind of sense does that make and why would anyone want that?

 

[JT_IRISH]

Here is an article from USA Today about the new playoff format:

College playoff format could rotate among six bowls – USATODAY.com

 

[phork]

I dont think you should limit it to 2 per conference. If you have 3 or 4 teams in the top10 you deserve it. The best teams, period. They must be selected based on SoS, any FCS games should be given a high negative grade to start with.

 

[chubler]

If the goal is the get a true national champion, conference champions only is fine: by definition, if you're not the best team in your conference there's at least one team in the country that's better than you. That's not to say we can't get a true national champion with top 4 teams regardless of conference champions.

If the goal is to determine the "best team in the country", then we must go with the top 4 teams no matter what, because the "best team in football" ends up not winning the super bowl almost every year, and that's a value judgement anyway.

 

[Rhode Irish]

If the goal is the get a true national champion, conference champions only is fine: by definition, if you're not the best team in your conference there's at least one team in the country that's better than you. That's not to say we can't get a true national champion with top 4 teams regardless of conference champions.

If the goal is to determine the "best team in the country", then we must go with the top 4 teams no matter what, because the "best team in football" ends up not winning the super bowl almost every year, and that's a value judgement anyway.

I disagree. LSU finished the regular season ahead of Alabama, and Alabama was clearly the best team in the country by the time the championship game was played.

 

[STLDomer]

Playoff officially endorsed by presidents

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

Huge day for college football. Best thing to happen to college football in a long time.

 

[Chamellion]

As far as I understand, we continue to get grandfather status. Love it.

 

[phork]

As far as I understand, we continue to get grandfather status. Love it.

Relish it while you can.