4 Team Playoff Officially Approved
In this format the #1 seed plays the #4, #2 plays #3, winners advance to championship game
EDIT: As stated in the article, the playoffs are not set to begin until 2014, so this season and next will still use the current BCS system.
I haven't seen that either, but I had previously heard that there would only be one more year of the BCS, so it had me confused a bit.
If the only topic is the BCS I think it's more than a bit confusing when they just say it's going to start in 2014 when the actual games won't be played until 2015. Generally speaking, yes, this season is the 2012 season and that's the end of the it but when the topic of conversation is the BCS I think it's worth throwing the dash on there since none of the games happen in that year.
statement that 6 or 8 teams are too many.
Maybe it is just me. I had dental surgery today and probably shouldn't be posting.
By saying the season should be "2012" instead of "2012-2013?" What does that have to do with a playoff?
that I'm fashionable, and fishsticks are crunchy?
This season and next season will decided by the BCS, and after that the playoff will take hold.
Can't we at least celebrate for a split second that this is a better version than the BCS?
Yes, it's not going to be perfect but it might work out okay enough.
4 teams is perfectly fine...I mean seriously how many times is the 5th ranked team going to have that big of a beef for being left out?
Why - so our game with USC would have been a semifinal rather than the Rose Bowl? Would that have made it any better?
Or more realistically, so we get beat up on by Florida in a semi final rather than USC in the Rose Bowl? Unless you think we would have beaten Florida that year, but I seriously don't.
Yes, I did. But that's not the point. The point is we have the benefit of hindsight right now, and I know how good we were in 2006 and how good Florida was in 2006 (and USC). We lost kinda bad, and Florida smoked OSU.
Could we have beaten them? It's always possible. But that's like saying I'd like to play that 2007 Rose Bowl over again. I suppose a different result could happen, but I have no reason to believe it wouldn't look just like it did.
Did you think we had a chance against UF in 2008?
Why?
would seem to be a shot across ND's bow.
Spare me the tears. A one-loss Notre Dame is going to get picked in the top four every time, even at the expense ot a one-loss team from the B1G or Pac 12, and even if their strength of schedule is weak. Not fair, but that's how it is, even with an "impartial" selection committee.
Any idea how much time there will be between the semifinals and championship game?
I know there's the potential for a lot of travel between game sites, so 1 week doesn't seem like enough. But waiting 2 weeks for the Super Bowl is brutal.
1 week. Semi's are on Dec 31st/Jan 1st, Final is on the Monday the next week.
It's something, it's likely better than the current BCS system or any of the previous BCS iterations, and it's a step. But it still leaves a lot to be desired, including way too long of a break between the conf championship and the semifinal game plus the lack of campus sites for semi's. But maybe we'll get there when we go to 8 or 16 in the next 4 to 6 years.
What if int he future we only have four major conferences? Then wouldn't it be likely that each conference champion gets a spot in the four-team playoff?
The problem then would be that any team not in one of those conferences wouldn't have a shot at all. Any D1-A team should have a shot. What if a team like TCU or somebody who isn't a big name now hires a great coach, builds a great team, and schedules tough teams and beats them? They at least need to have a shot.
going to lie in the arcana of selection. (Say that 3 times fast, it will still be true.)
HUGE factor is the seletion method. Isn't a mathematical formula (like what the BCS used) better than 4 guys trying to pick the 4 best teams? Realistically, what human has absolutely no agenda? Or can be entirely unbiased?
I think it should be humans who incorporate the computers into their decision. Take last year, for example. The top 4 was LSU, Bama, OKSt. and Stanford. Oregon, who won the Pac-12 and beat Stanford, was #5, the major difference between Oregon and Stanford was that Oregon played LSU out of conference by Stanford didn't. The humans would see that and put Oregon in over Stanford, which is deserved. I'm sure the humans would throw the #7 or #8 team in there for no good reason, but they could see discrepancies like the one last year.
You think the guys writing the programs don't have agendas? They have all kinds of prejudices built into their code. And none of it is public.
This had nothing to do with them coming around to 4 or 8 or 16 as "best". The schools from the big conferences and especially the coaches love old scattered meaning less bowl system because it's great for job security and maintaining their power.
The new TV contract instigated this playoff expansion and it will instigate the next one.
The conferences "loyalty" to bowls? That's all a smokescreen to keep alive the vestiges of the fat cat post season system that has frankly raped schools financially for decades. But again coaches love it because they can sell a good season going to a lame bowl game and AD's love it because they normally get a bonus when the team appears in one.
Same with the inane worries about kids missing class. They think we're stupid? Most of this would take place in winter break and besides kids are already practicing during break for the silly bowl games anyways.
As far as the new 4-team system, to paraphrase the great Martin Luther King, Jr. from his 1965 Oberlin College Commencement address:
We aren't where we are going to be, but thank god we aren't where were.
Seriously. Why all the hate on a four-team playoff? I don't mind four teams because it's football, and they can't get too carried away by expansion. I could never see them going past eight teams. By locking in to a 12-year TV contract, they can cement the four-team model.
I'm all for it.
the fact that they are going to rotate the semi-final games among SIX different bowls? If you are going to keep the bowls, why elevate the f-ing Gator or Pawn Stars Bowl or something to the level of national semi-final?? Stupid. there has been far too much dilution of bowls as it is.
It will probably be the Cotton Bowl (already big bowl) and somelike like the Capital One bowl maybe. I'm crossing my fingers that the Little Ceasers Pizza Pizza Bowl gets picked.
In all seriousness they should really consider a bowl in Indianapolis or Chicago. Detroit would be a great venue too, but nobody would want to travel there
They've already said that the 6 Bowls will be in the Southwest, Southeast, or Texas.
Sorry to the rest of the country, you don't count. Toursim (and junkets) over competitive balance.
"access" by having extra bowls participate. As usual, this will likely mean phoney access and an attempt to avoid Congress and lawsuits. So it will probably be a couple of bowls that usually have teams from non-AQ conferences
Eh I think you're making something out of nothing. A lot of the time, everyone will just tell the number 7 team to STFU. Looking back at the last few years there's not really that much controversy either. Going back to 2006:
2011: This past year. LSU, Bama, and Okie State. The only issue is with the PAC-12 and Stanford vs Oregon. The next grouping was 10-2 Arkansas (lost to Bama/LSU), 11-1 Boise, and 10-2 Kansas State. None of those guys had a legitimate claim
2010: Auburn, Oregon, and TCU are all undefeated. For the 4th spot it's a tossup between 11-1 Stanford, Wisconsin, and OSU (and I guess MSU too, but there's no way they're getting in without a perfect season). Next group is Big 12 champ Oklahoma at 11-2, but they have losses to Missouri and Texas A&M, so they're out. Arkansas has 2 losses to Auburn and Alabama
2009: The almost-perfect scenario. Alabama, TCU, Texas, and Cincinnati are all undefeated. So is Boise State, but they're kinda out anyways (for the first time ever, the Big East trumps something else when Big East>WAC)
2008: Big test here. Oklahoma and Florida are 12-1, so they're 1-2. Texas and Alabama are 11-1 and 12-1 respectively, but both lost their conferences to the aforementioned teams. So out of the two, one will get in. But what about undefeated Utah? Of the other ranked teams Penn State is really the only one that has an issue. Texas Tech lost their conference, Boise is WAC, and OSU has 2 losses
2007: OSU, LSU, VT, and Oklahoma are 1-4. The next groupings: Georgia, Missouri, USC, and Kansas, are all runner up's in their conference/divisions.
And finally 2006: Going in, OSU and Florida are 1-2. Sitting at 11-1 is Michigan, Louisville, and Wisconsin. We lost to the No. 1 team, so our loss is stronger than Wisconsin's (to us), or Louisville (Rutgers). Then there's conference Champs USC and Oklahoma and conference runner up LSU (10-2). Not trying to be a homer, but I feel like we would get the No. 3 spot. USC lost to unranked Oregon State and UCLA, and Oklahoma had 2 losses to 18th Oregon and 7th Texas. Throwing out bowl results we were a penalty away from a perfect season, so I think we would be plugged in over USC and Oklahoma. From there it's a fight between LSU, Oklahoma, and USC for the 4th spot. Wisconsin and Louisville would be arguing, but there's no way 3 Big Ten teams would be in, and PAC/SEC/Big 12>Big East
I dunno, lot's of quality teams getting left out of the 4th spot in your illustration. It does not look that clear cut at all.
I guess we'll just have to disagree on it then. I think there's only one or two teams that would have a claim to being left out, except in a few clusterfuck years which will pop up every now and again. At a max per year, we're really only looking at 1 or 2 teams that could have a claim, and most of the time, those teams are conference champs with 2 losses (Boise aside)
I thought 8 teams would be a good playoff system..
Pac 10 vs. Big 10 in Rose Bowl
SEC vs. Big 12 in Sugar Bowl
ACC vs. Big East in Orange Bowl
Notre Dame or At Large Team vs. non-AQ conference champ or At Large Team in Fiesta Bowl
Have all these teams seeded 1-4 after all these games are played and go from there. But, I have to admit, any system is going to have it's flaws some years. Even this 4-team system.