Saban: Expanded Playoff Format Undercuts Players' 'Self-Gratification'
Guess this is why Mr. Saban gets the big bucks? (What he apparently means is that the playoff diminishes the value of the other bowls.)
This will likely ramp up--maybe clarify in some wise--the conversation about the declining value/meaning of the bowls.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25625384/alabama-crimson-tide-coach-nick-saban-remains-opposed-expanding-playoff-field
December 27th, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^
Not sure why my link isn't live, or why I can't get in to futz with it. Placing it here doesn't seem to do it, either.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25625384/alabama-crimson-tide-coach-nick-saban-remains-opposed-expanding-playoff-field
December 27th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
What's your secret o tricolored one?
December 27th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^
The icon that looks like a chain link.... right after the B and I .
December 27th, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
Dont copy and paste links
Drag the link from the new link into the GOBlue area,this should help you out
December 27th, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^
Linking, so easy a caveman can do it.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^
Yep. It's extremely easy.
December 28th, 2018 at 8:52 AM ^
RIP
...to Phil Hartman, not cavemen. Although I guess RIP cavemen, too.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
I'm a big fan of self-gratification.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
Didn't mean to beat around the bush.
Or did I???
December 27th, 2018 at 3:50 PM ^
Maybe he was referring to Jim Delaney
December 27th, 2018 at 8:20 PM ^
You do give off that onanism vibe, Jasper.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^
Small words, Nick. Stick to small words.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:13 PM ^
He has a point though, it just isn’t the one he thinks he is making. A real playoff would essentially replace the Bowl system. At this point I say go for it. I think maybe disassociating the Playoff from the Bowl system and just keeping the “major” bowls would be the best model. An 8 team playoff that is “the playoff,” not this bowl or that bowl, etc. And then keep the 4 major bowls (Cotton, Rose, Orange, Sugar) for non-playoff teams. Like, if Michigan was #10 one year and was not in the playoff, going to the Rose or Sugar Bowl would be “gratifying” if there wasn’t 60 teams playing in bowl games. Yeah, some players may still sit out and it wouldn’t be “the Playoff,” but then it would feel like a legit consolation prize because not everybody “gets” to go to a bowl game. I don’t think the Peach Bowl is “meaningless,” but it starts to feel that way because making a bowl, in its own right, is not an achievement. There are just way too many Bowl games right now.
December 27th, 2018 at 5:11 PM ^
His team makes the playoff every year and then only has to win two more games for title. Any expansion doesn't help his team make the playoff and just forces them to win more games for a title. Hence he is against expansion.
It has nothing to do with the players. It always comes down to what's best for Nick. Just like his whole thing against up-tempo offenses and claiming that it's a player safety issue when really he just didn't like that teams were gaining an advantage that he didn't use.
December 27th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
Bingo. It also would add more variables and cut into his current huge competitive advantage by exploiting the analyst situation. Right now he only needs 3 other teams scouted tops. expanding that to 6 or 7 cuts into preparedness and frankly, creates a far more leveled playing field. Bama has the entire system skewed toward them right now... they don't benefit in anything changing.
December 28th, 2018 at 12:04 AM ^
Eight teams would be perfect.
December 28th, 2018 at 1:23 AM ^
But how would that one dude who runs the Outback Bowl continue to make seven figures off the backs of amateur athletes?
December 27th, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
4 team playoffs are good for Alabama at the moment. I hope they expand we need some fresh air in post season cfb. Bowls were ruined when they sold corporate naming rights.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:52 PM ^
Of course he loves the current system. It has the fewest number of teams with a virtual autobid for Alabama even if they lose 1 game.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:22 PM ^
He said he didn't favor 4 teams vs 2 either. I don't know why that matters, his team would have made it in either scenario this year and most years.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:28 PM ^
He wants to play fewer games to get the championship.
December 27th, 2018 at 6:04 PM ^
What's the problem with that? When you get to 8 teams you're talking about 16 games to win it all with one loss at most maybe 2. Thats a lot considering less than 20 years ago it took 12.
December 27th, 2018 at 10:17 PM ^
Is playing more games to get to a championship ever a good strategy? And not to defend the guy, but he’s won in the two team format, the four team format, and would probably win an eight team format if he’s still around by then.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:37 PM ^
That sentence doesn't make sense, but OK Nick
December 27th, 2018 at 3:38 PM ^
He just doesn’t want any more interlopers into his playoff format. He’s absolutely fine the way it is.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^
Translation: Don't mess up this status quo that favors Bama and the SEC including our soft schedules and taking the second to last week off with a cupcake game.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
The format doesn't favor Bama, they will make it if its 2 team playoff. 16 teams will definitely cheapen it. The one thing he has going in his favor is that as long as its 4 teams he can tell recruits they have a better chance of making it. More teams cheapens that argument.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:50 PM ^
What gets cheapened? It cheapens bowl games? I mean, the Gator or Outback Bowls have never been particularly relevant nationally, and having a playoff that occurs somewhere else won't change that.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^
The first BCS championship game was the beginning of the end for the bowl games. It was promoted endlessly on other broadcasts, to the near exclusion of promoting other games.
Bowl games have been becoming an arena for also-rans ever since and it's going to get worse ever ytime the playoffs expand. What people value changes with the times and college football is not exempt.
December 27th, 2018 at 8:50 PM ^
Did anyone care about the Alamo Bowl? The Sun Bowl? There are more bowls now and, thus, have diminished the value of any one of them if they are not associated with the playoffs or the national title. But at no point did the #4 team in the Big 10 playing the #3 team from the SEC "mattered" any more or less than it does today.
December 28th, 2018 at 6:29 AM ^
I love college football but I have barely watched any of the bowl games. I watched the 1st half of the Wisc/Miami game yesterday and that was the first bowl action I've taken in thus far. The only intrigue in that was Miami playing in the cold weather.
December 28th, 2018 at 6:33 AM ^
Not true. Back when the championship was decided by polls, how your conference did in the bowl games might matter. All one need do is look back at 1997. The Big Ten got slaughtered and that hurt Michigan. I remember being relieved to get half a championship.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:42 PM ^
I completely disagree that 16 teams will cheapen the playoff, considering that every single level of football other than FBS uses a model similar to that. The regular season would not be cheapened, as it would still be very advantageous to have a higher seed.
I've never really agreed with the whole 'best team' argument. Does the on-paper 'best team' win every single year in any other major sports championship? HELL NO. That's the aspect that makes sports and in particular, playoffs, so exciting. If you're among the top teams during the regular season you qualify for the chance to compete for a championship. Nobody gets mad when an upset happens in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, even though the 'better team' lost.
December 28th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
Michigan v. Villanova really cheapened the Tourney. Worst thing since Butler made it twice.
Keep football from being so competitive and surprising. We want Clemson and Bama and Georgia and OSU to always have a leg up in consideration over the UCFs of the world.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:07 PM ^
The bowls are already as cheap as you can get, they can't give away tickets for most games which more and more players don't even want to risk playing in. if they want revenues and relevance they have to change it to a playoff.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:55 PM ^
Think you may be right that they are in the middle of a slow-rolling crisis of their own making. The cheapening of the bowls is far from a sudden development, but the playoffs definitely diminish them in value. Wouldn't be surprised if we see a move to eight teams next year; cutting way back on the number of bowls, meanwhile, would be a good thing.
December 27th, 2018 at 6:52 PM ^
Yes, if recruits want to be in the playoffs, and eight teams make it, they will have a wider array of likely participants to consider. The smaller the playoff, the better selling point a consistent participant like Alabama has. Not to mention, the chance of an upset increases when you have to play more games. Saban’s take is all about Alabama and Saban self interest.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:41 PM ^
Go back to hell where you came from, Nick.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
What a joke, anything to keep the deck stacked for “Bama”
December 27th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
Saban wants to win championships, and having to play an extra game diminishes that possibility if you are already in the playoffs, so he's against it right now. If Alabama finished #5 at the end of the regular season, he'd advocate for his team being in the playoffs. It's as simple as that.
The complaint about the meaningfulness of a bowl game always seems to come from teams that view not playing in a playoff game as a disappointment. But for a lot of guys, playing in a bowl game is still a big deal. A middling team from the MAC, from a P5 program that doesn't always make bowl games, etc. really would care. When Rutgers makes a bowl game again, they'll likely be super-excited. Purdue seemed really excited to play in a bowl last year, and that novelty won't ever be completely eradicated because teams are constantly turning over. Michigan fans were really excited about playing VT in the Sugar Bowl or Florida in the Citrus because they had gone through some struggles and it felt like a return to form. Yes, the Peach Bowl feels like a secondary prize because Michigan was a game away from the playoffs, but that's relative to expectations.
In the end, bowl games are mostly cash-grab endeavors; hell, even the CFP basically exists so that a bunch of guys can collect millions of dollars and maybe, sorta we get a final "champion" who has a plausible claim to being the best team in the country. But Alabama's championship last year was one overtime away from not happening, and Georgia was an overtime away from missing that shot. Hell, we were only a couple of plays away from Oklahoma possibly being a champion last year, and that likely wouldn't have fundamentally altered the particulars of the teams prior to those games.
I'm excited to watch the Peach Bowl because it's another football game before a long downtime. But I don't blame anyone for skipping it. But Saban acting like playoff expansion would injure the august majesty of the Gator Bowl is just a rich guy complaining about a change to the status quo.
December 27th, 2018 at 3:49 PM ^
Other things Saban is opposed to;
Hedge rows over 3 feet tall
Clothing sizes larger than Youth Medium
Smiling
Happiness
Personal integrity
December 27th, 2018 at 3:53 PM ^
Shut the fuck up satan!!!
December 27th, 2018 at 4:03 PM ^
Either you have an expanded playoff system or you go back to the old bowl system because right now the bowls outside of the Playoff are so meaningless that you have high profile players sitting out left and right. If there was a Championship on the line you can bet your ass these guys would be playing for it and more people would be watching
I think 8 teams is the sweet spot. 5 P5 Champs and 3 at large bids. The P5 Champ must have 10 or more wins to be eligible for the playoffs so no weak teams sneak in
This would be so much more interesting than what we have now:
1 Alabama vs 8 Washington
2 Clemson vs 7 Michigan
3 Notre Dame vs 6 Georgia
4 Oklahoma vs 5 OSU
December 27th, 2018 at 4:14 PM ^
These would be some great matchups..
December 27th, 2018 at 5:30 PM ^
I do like some form of your rule like 'To qualify as a P5 Champ auto-bid you must have 10 wins or else you are vying for an at-large' or something like that. No sense in letting something like an 8-5 P5 team in the playoff in the event they pull off a miracle (which will definitely happen).
Having the P5 champions be dependent on wins seems like a cool way to make the title games really interesting, but keep riff raff P5 teams out of the playoff
December 28th, 2018 at 12:53 AM ^
If ten wins is a minimum reguirement get ready for more dog shit schedules. Hit that 10 win mark and keep your fingers crossed.
December 27th, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
Of course he doesn't want that. He probably opposed the 4 team format. Back in the BCS days it seemed like the best team that could beat him almost always wound up #3. Then the first year they went to 4, he gets bounced in the first round, invalidating (in my opinion) all his BCS titles. Adding 4 more would add other teams that were on fire at the end and just out of the reach of the 4. He wants no part of that.