College Football in the Year 2000... 20 Years Later They've Learned Nothing
This year's playoff was a joke with little drama. Notre Dame should not have been in it. Period. Eye test or whatever. They had one fluke win versus a depleted, covid year Clemson. Ohio vs Clemson was intriguing but the game was lopsided. Pathetic... And hopefully the powers-that-be see a decline in TV ratings and fan apathy and get this to 8 teams as it always should have been.
I dug this up from Wikipedia... Twenty years ago Washington got absolutely screwed by the BCS. They BEAT #2 and #5 yet were left out of the title hunt! This crap keeps occurring because we fans don't raise hell. A great sport and tradition that could have real drama and legit playoff upsets/more parity has been reduced to a shell.
"The BCS title game was not without controversy, as the system shut fourth-ranked Washington out of the championship game, despite being the only team who had beaten each No. 2 Miami and No. 5 Oregon State and having the same 10–1 record as No. 3 Florida State during the regular season. 10–1 Miami, who handed No. 3 Florida State their only loss, was ranked higher in both the AP Writers' Poll and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, and had the same record as the Seminoles, was also seen as a possible title contender."
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:12 AM ^
Wooh, for a second I thought it would be about Michigan College Football.
Swinney gave OSU a ton of poster board material and I don't think any team feeds off emotion like OSU does, so I would attribute that to the blowout. As for ND, no 4th or 8th seed, or 100th seed was beating Alabama this year barring major injuries or flukes.
The 4-team playoff was designed to put the best teams in the finals, not to make the games entertaining and close. I think you're looking at the 2 best teams in the finals, unfortunately.
An 8-team playoff would be nice though and 16 would be even nicer so Michigan could have a chance to make it.
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:23 AM ^
Texas A&M would have been at least slightly intriguing. Could Jimbo challenge Saban? Likely not but it wouldn't of been this snoozefest.
Overall, looking back 2+ decades it is so obvious that 8 team playoff brings about parity, a very meaningful regular season, and better drama.
Interesting: in 2000 Michigan was co-big ten champs but Perdue got the rose bowl bid.
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:26 AM ^
I don't see much parity until athletes can get paid and academics are taken out of the equation. Even with an 8 team playoff, I would still expect the usual suspects to dominate the field year-in and year-out.
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:19 AM ^
You mean “officially paid,” correct?
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:31 AM ^
Alabama played A&M. It was 52-24.
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:35 AM ^
Purdue got the RB because they hadn't been there in the longest time. That was one of the better bowl rules the Big Ten had back in the day.
I agree that 8 (I prefer 16, actually) would make for a better playoff. But don't try making your point by mentioning perfectly legit scenarios as some dumb shit. Makes you sound foolish and impetuous.
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:11 AM ^
Purdue went to the January 2001 Rose Bowl because they went 2-0 against the other 2 teams that finished tied for 1st in the 2000 regular season. The "who has gone the longest" tiebreaker was not a factor in 2000, it was all decided by on-the-field factors.
January 2nd, 2021 at 10:33 AM ^
Bama and Saban beat the tar out of A&M and Jimbo this year
January 2nd, 2021 at 7:51 AM ^
Screw 16, 3 loss teams do not belong in the playoff.
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
It should be 16. That’s how many teams make it in the playoffs at every other level of college football. It should be the same for D1 instead of this bs crap every year. Now of course only one of the same three teams have a chance but it might add a tiny bit of intrigue for more fans.
Now the real problem is in recruiting and how it’s also the same teams with the best classes every year also. Not sure how to add parity to recruiting because you would have to limit who goes where and that’s not fair to kids but something needs to change in college football because it’s boring and more and more fans don’t care anymore
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:20 AM ^
Wait, so Swinney's "poster board" material made it so Clemson had no DL, and couldn't stop a run before 10 years, or lay a finger on Fields? Sorry, but OSU was much better and it had nothing to do with motivation. Clemson was crushed into fine powder on the ground. Can't stop the run, can't win a football game. Alabama will be a very different challenge as St. Nick stops the run first.
January 2nd, 2021 at 6:31 PM ^
Sermon had runs that were so long that he ran right past his prime and straight into his 30s. I wonder how that will affect his draft stock.
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:37 AM ^
You are correct regarding the CFP design being about putting the 4 best teams into the playoff. However, the "however" here is huge. The disservice this perpetrates against the well-being of the competitive balance among the member schools, and really to the players too, is significant.
On one hand, comparing basketball and football is not fair and equal. However, football would do well to observe what the expansion of the Big Dance has done for college basketball. For me as a fan, post-season college basketball is joy on steroids...while post season football has become, pretty much, a non-event. Football would do well to expand the CFP and install further limits on the stockpiling of recruiting talent.
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:09 AM ^
Different sports. If there was a 64-team playoff, that would mean 6 extra playoff games, which even the NFL does not do. Football is a grinding sport and the season would have to be cut much shorter (6-7 games, would that even be a season?).
How about Top 12 where #1-4 get a bye so you still award the top 4 spots, then 1st round seed:
5 v 12
6 v 11
7 vs 10
8 vs 9
That way undefeated non-power 5 schools teams get a shot.
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:13 AM ^
Interesting bit of history, but I'm guessing we're not going to cover new ground with this thread. I will thus refrain from opining on how I think the CFP should be run, # of teams, etc.
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:17 AM ^
Yawn
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:37 AM ^
LOL that 20 years ago ND got blown out by a different top 5 team. I guess we'll never learn with ND.
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:42 AM ^
Eh... This is sour grapes of the maize and blue variety.
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
Indeed. So many posters on the forum act like our only problem is talent. We get blown out by a meh Wisconsin team. A 2-4 Sparty throws up and down the field with a QB who then transfers out because he’s been benched. We go to three overtime’s and need a missed field goal to beat Rutgers. We have larger issues than recruiting.
January 2nd, 2021 at 12:51 PM ^
2-5 sparty team - don’t underestimate how bad they are/were
January 2nd, 2021 at 3:44 AM ^
2 teams got rocked and showed they didn't belong in the top 4 and you want to expand this to 8? They even said before today out of the 12 playoff round games 9 were won by double digits what would going to 8 teams do besides get 6 SEC teams in?
January 2nd, 2021 at 7:57 AM ^
And if this was the BCS one of those teams that blew out the other would not have been in. So, who's to say that Texas A&M or somebody else shouldn't have been in?
You have 5 power 5 conferences. All 5 champs should automatically get in. You have the group of 5 that doesn't even have a shot of getting into the playoff. They are the only college football teams in the NCAA that can't play for a championship. They should have at least one spot amongst the 5 of them. Then put your 2 at large teams.
January 2nd, 2021 at 5:40 AM ^
The underdog blew out the heavy favorite and you're still mad?
January 2nd, 2021 at 6:57 AM ^
I don't get what you're trying to say. Under the playoff system, the Washington team you're bemoaning would have gotten its shot.
January 2nd, 2021 at 12:52 PM ^
Yes - The lack of coherent logic in this post cannot be overstated.
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:10 AM ^
Jim Tressel changed OSU football and modernized it. Urban Meyer made it even better. Meanwhile, Michigan remained arrogant and refused to acknowledge the game as it changed before them.Michigan is simply a third tier regional program which is no longer respected nationally. It is a basketball school
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:16 AM ^
An 8 team playoff isn't going to be less boring, when 3 semi-pro teams completely dominate, and one conference (SEC, LSU, Auburn, GA, FL) picks up every other morsel of glory. They need to find some way to get balance back, with scholarship rules or something (perhaps enforcing actual rules?). The 90's were exciting when teams could emerge from nowhere to win it all. Then Nick Saban showed up at one of the most corrupt programs in history and turned it into an NFL franchise. It's been a boring decade that's just getting more boring.
And Washington didn't get "absolutely screwed" that year. They were a contender, but other teams had as good of resumes, if not better. They squeaked by Miami in Seattle early in the year, but then Miami was dominant yearlong, while UW took a loss. Miami was the team that was screwed. And they proved it the next two years going like 25-0 before losing to OSU on the abhorrent pass interference call that handed Tressel his undeserved Natty.
Here's a sign of the times. It's more fun to debate about 2000, than it is to watch football in 2021.
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:47 AM ^
-1 for 'Natty'...
The thought with a larger playoff is that it will lead to more parity across CFB because more teams will be able to sell the 'playoff experience'. Will trickle down 'crootin actually work? Who knows? But it couldn't be any worse than the three +1 we currently have. It would take a few years to balance out, if its going to. Again, who cares? Any chance to even it out just a little works for me.
Lets face it, CFB is broke - the same three will be in the playoff next year, and for the next hundred years until something is done to change the competitive 'balance'. Start change now.
January 2nd, 2021 at 2:43 PM ^
It won't change anything to expand the playoffs, IMO. The BCS/Playoff has just ruined it. It used to be about regions, rivalries, conferences. Now a small group of schools has chosen to funnel everything they have into winning the NATTY every year, and essentially creating an environment of professional football on campus. Meanwhile, most school haven't embraced this model.
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:46 AM ^
People are missing the point here. Expanding the playoffs to more teams allows for a better spread of player wealth. You don't have a clump of the best players going to the same 4 schools.
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:48 AM ^
Right? I don't know how this point keeps getting missed!
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:21 AM ^
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:34 AM ^
Ok so let’s say the talent decides to spread out more evenly. Who becomes the consistent second best team in the Midwest? PSU? ND? Wisconsin? All those teams have accomplished more than Michigan in the past 15 years.
What is Harbaugh’s biggest accomplishment? A 10-3 season with losses to two biggest rivals and a citrus bowl win or a 10-3 season with loss to two rivals and a blowout loss to Florida in the peach bowl?
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:40 AM ^
This is mere argument by assertion. There's no evidence that the players go to teams because those teams have been in the playoff. Evidence says that those teams went to the playoffs because they got the players.
What it takes to be one of those powerhouses is to turn your football program into an NFL minor league: players "take classes" remotely or via independent study (with enough "academic support" to ensure that they not only never fail classes, but never even have to attend them), swanky digs in special dorms, the best equipment and coaches money can buy, "take care" of the parents, plenty of walkin'-round money, etc.
Better than expanding the CFP would be to abolish it and go back to the old system of bowl games and popularity contests. College football doesn't need an undisputed national champion, and was better when it didn't have one.
January 2nd, 2021 at 8:53 AM ^
What does 8 teams do?
OP, you are arguing that ND and Clemson aren’t good enough for the playoffs and your solution is to add 4 more teams? Do you think UC or Oklahoma or UF would have made the playoffs amazing?
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:44 AM ^
Brings a larger variety of teams to the table, which spreads the talent around more and allows for more competitive games in the future with more parity.
Just take a look at Michigan. With a playoff appearance in 2016 (and potentially 2018), does the trajectory of Michigan football change at all? Does it attract more top end talent? Now factor in a couple other schools. This levels the playing field with top recruits a bit. Instead of the same 3-4 schools getting over half of the top 100 recruits because they make the playoffs every year, there’s a larger contingent of teams who have playoff appearances that they can point to in recruiting those guys.
Which closes the talent gap to some extent and creates a scenario where there is at least a semblance of parity.
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:13 AM ^
If I remember correctly, the Washington situation played out a couple times in the annals of the BCS, and I believe the problem was the same each time this particular scenario arose - somewhere in the mess was a late-season loss that somehow doomed a team despite having an otherwise flawless record as an AQ conference. Strangely, one of the reasons that the CFP was created was to mitigate these controversies, and to no one's shock, we find that a version of recency bias still creeps into it.
January 2nd, 2021 at 9:47 AM ^
The most interesting thing about 2000 is that Oregon St. was #5 that year.
January 2nd, 2021 at 10:45 AM ^
The Chad Ochocinco effect!
January 2nd, 2021 at 10:30 AM ^
I hate that our only option is to expand the playoffs. There's too much money in college football at this point and corporate greed had sunken it's teeth too deep.
In my dream world we go back to multiple polls declaring their own national champions. Why the hell do we need a definitive national champion in college football? I completely see UCFs claim as valid a few years ago. College football should not be NFL Lite. Unabashed homerism, school pride, followed up with conference pride should reign supreme. As long as we can be polite and lighthearted about it.
The big bowls should be a reward for conference champions and serve as one last opportunity to stake your claim for one of those (or maybe the unanimous) poll national championship against a strong OOC opponent. Lesser bowls should be driven by interesting story lines and OOC matchups we rarely get to see. I would find it hilarious to see a Texas vs Michigan bowl this year or last just for the who's been the biggest disappointing "powerhouse" story line.
If only the NFL could be forced to have their own version of the G League. Then maybe we could have college sports truly be about amateur sports. The number one factor for any college athlete's school decision should be the education they will receive followed up by whether or not they grew up a fan of the team. I don't blame kids who are sitting out bowl games or even this entire season to focus on their NFL prep, it's the wise thing to do for their future. I hate that that is even a valid concern. If college football wasn't NFL prep academy, maybe we'd see a few diamond in the rough seniors sit out because they worked themselves into a NFL caliber player.
At this point I'm just kind of rambling and feel like an old man shaking my fist at the clouds. I admittedly never paid attention to sports growing up and was just a defacto Michigan fan from living in the state. It just wasn't a thing in my household. It wasn't until the end of the Carr era that I started watching sports, and this semester I'll be a UofM alum. Maybe some of the older crowd here can chime in and tell me how bad the poll system actually was and why a definitive champion is needed. And again, I'm completely aware this will never happen.
January 2nd, 2021 at 11:04 AM ^
Couldn’t agree more about college football having turned into an inferior version of the NFL. No wonder ratings are down. Why watch NFL Lite when I can watch the real thing? It’s the same reason why nobody watches the G-League. And it’s only going to get worse for college football as we move toward athletes receiving salaries.
As for your proposal, I would take it one step further. Let the NY6 Bowls serve as de facto semi finals and the play a Plus One after the bowl games. This was the mistake they made with the initial incarnation of the BCS — the championship was played concurrent to the bowls, rendering all but one game useless. They’ve only slightly improved the model with all but three games currently being useless. What if we restored New Years Day to it’s proper glory? We’d have six games of paramount importance (seven including the championship), as the Plus One combatants would then be selected from among the six winners.
January 2nd, 2021 at 10:31 AM ^
The problem is that the best 2-3 teams are head and shoulders above the rest. I’m also in favor of expanding the field, but if you make it eight it would only result in even more lopsided games. You might get more exciting games, at least at the beginning, if you expanded it to 12 and gave the top four byes.
January 2nd, 2021 at 11:45 AM ^
That was an infuriating year. Miami got totally screwed - they were an incredible team and probably easily beat that Oklahoma team. It was also a total mess the next year when an awesome Oregon team got left out for a boring Nebraska team that got rocked in its last game of the year against Colorado, 62(!)-36. Nebraska then got crushed in what is probably the worst Rose Bowl game ever (except maybe yesterday).
The BCS formula made no sense. College football is even more broken now though.
January 2nd, 2021 at 12:12 PM ^
The sport is changing really fast but it also starting to look more like a minor league now. College football spirit is long gone. Guys now just show up to showcase their talent and if they dont play enough they move to the next team who is willing to play them. There is no more loyalty to the team or teammates. While these guys deserve to be paid, the money will change this sport for worse. It will eventually lead to high school kids having managers. Only time will tell but it is not looking good for college football.
January 2nd, 2021 at 6:48 PM ^
The rankings in college football really need to go. If #6 Auburn loses to #4 Florida who were 2-0 after beating the Butler State Yodelers and the Southwestern Tennessee Pianists, then it is considered a quality loss and they only move down to #8. If the playoff is expanded to 16 teams with auto-bids for Conference Champions, it's inevitable that the playing field will be leveled to some extent.