College Playoff

[FCollinsBuckeye]

 

[BigWoof31]

Sure we [censored]ing can. That's like saying you can't bitch about a having to jump thru hoops for a Catholic wedding and still be Catholic. Just because I think it's horse[Mark May] doesn't mean Jim Delaney gives two UGAmcllxcll [Mark May]s what I think.

Then the problem is with your league management - not everyone else.
Fire the guy and hire someone better.

 

[Bucknut24]

Andy Staples ‏ @Andy_Staples Close
So if four-team options are the only options, it means college football is going to have a playoff. Happy V-BCS day.

 

[Muck]

Honestly, Fuck where this is going.

 

[BearBuck27]

Here is the main crux. Games don't count unless they are in the snow......

I haven't seen yours/gator's/smoov's (understandably still mourning) opinion on on-campus semi final games, or maybe I missed a huge previous argument.

But, what is you sec guys' position on on-campus semi finals?

For me personally, it comes down to the fact that there is nothing in American sports that can match the excitement and atmosphere for a big time on-campus college football game. It also rewards the teams that perform the best during the "most important regular season in sports." You're not asking alumni/fans to make back-to-back weeks of traveling, etc..

Personally, there's too many positives for on-campus semi final games to be ignored. I know the NCAA/whoever could probably make more money by putting these games at neutral sites, and they fear a TCU/Boise/Oregon hosting a semi final. However, if you look historically, those teams would host a very, very small percentage of the games. Much more regularly these games will be played at tOSU, TSUN, Happy Valley, UF, LSU, Bama, Texas, USC, UGA, etc.. that hold 90,000 +.

Also, I'm going to note another personal pet peeve of mine. If we're talking about the academic welfare of the student-athletes, shouldn't the semis be played during winter breaks and the 'Ship around New Years? This way, there's no chance of going into the next quarter/semester, like the playoffs would if we used the New Year's bowls as semis and the championship a week later. Also, you cut down on a ridiculous month break between the CCG's and the semi-finals, which would also be to the student athlete's benefit.

 

[BB73]

Gimme a freakin' break.
We had this conversation earlier with the B1G being insistent and keeping it's Rose Bowl Tradition in a playoff.

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2012/...nt-michael-adams-rips-big-ten-pac-12-stances/

http://sports.omaha.com/2012/04/04/big-ten-rose-bowl-a-thorn-in-playoff-plans/


You cannot bitch and moan about what a challenge it was to fly to warm weather and play teams from warm weather and then have the highest levels of management of your league demand to keep those very same games.

First of all, I'm not bitching about playing in warm weather. My complaint is about having to play in the backyard of the opponent. The Title games in Arizona after the 2002 and 2006 seasons were against teams from Florida and were fair from a geographic perspective, even though they were in a warm-weather location.

Secondly, Delany may speak for the B1G, but he doesn't always hold a position that I agree with. And his proposal about having the Rose Bowl separate from the BCS semi-final games got almost no support and has been rendered dead in the current talks. I think he knew that would happen. It was a blip on the radar as far as the current discussions go.

Thirdly, please don't ever quote me again and make a statement about what I can and cannot do. I can damn well state an opinion that isn't something that Delany supports.

If they insist on having warm-weather bowls as part of the BCS semifinal games, (and they won't let teams up north host any games), then I would like to see the matchups arranged to minimize any geographic advantage among the four teams. For example, in a year, where USC, Texas, Florida, and tOSU are teams 1 through 4, and the bowl sites are the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl; I'd like to see USC-tOSU in the Sugar Bowl and Texas-Florida in the Rose Bowl.

If someone says that USC earned a home game by being #1, that's fine if tOSU can have a game in Ohio when they're #1.

I realize that my geographical-fairness proposal will get nowhere, since it would piss off the fans by making them have to travel farther, and could have a negative impact on ticket demand. They'd still sell out, but they might not be able to charge as much as they'd like.

But I just want to get fairness for tOSU in ongoing playoff scenarios. I don't care about maintaining the Rose Bowl's historical matchups, and if the B1G commissioner does care about that, then he might be representing my favorite team's league, but he's not speaking for me.

 

[Muck]

But, what is you sec guys' position on on-campus semi finals?

I think you need to translate for the benefit of the SEC faction.

A 'campus' is all those old buildings & cut lawns (no not a golf course) next to where your local professional football franchise stadium is located.

 

[BUCKYLE]

Then the problem is with your league management - not everyone else.
Fire the guy and hire someone better.

I'm not in a position to do that. I work in a warehouse. I can only fire temps during peak season. The most powerful commissioner in CFB is slightly out of my reach.

 

[BB73]

I disagree. You lost by 13, 1, and 10 and 25. You also won one by 21. The normal spread for home field advantage is between 3 and 7. Looks like only one of five contests could be reasonably argued to have been affected.

Nope - you're wrong. Two of the games were 1-point losses: 18-17 in the 1975 Rose Bowl, and 17-16 in the 1980 Rose Bowl (1979 MNC game). In both of those games USC drove for a late TD to win, one of them on a 2-point conversion.

The game lost by 13 was against a team that tOSU had defeated by 21 in the regular season (in LA), and then had to play them again in the Rose Bowl.

tOSU took a lead into the 4th quarter in the 27-17 loss to Stanford, so it wasn't a typical 10-point loss.

The one tOSU won wasn't for the National Title if they'd won it, that's why I didn't include it, or the 25-point loss.

But using your 3 point margin, I'd be happy with an additional 2 National Titles for tOSU if those games had been played at neutral sites, regardless of the temperature at those sites.

And if avoiding playing title games in the other team's backyard (unless that same possibility exists for tOSU) can get tOSU 2 additional NCs in my remaining lifetime, I'm damn sure going to be arguing for it.

 

[BigWoof31]

For me personally, it comes down to the fact that there is nothing in American sports that can match the excitement and atmosphere for a big time on-campus college football game. It also rewards the teams that perform the best during the "most important regular season in sports." You're not asking alumni/fans to make back-to-back weeks of traveling, etc..

I love the idea. Think that it does nothing but drive ratings and the "Football Final Four" will be a RIOT in Las Vegas. We'll have to come up with a better name than Football Final Four though...

Two lingering questions:

1. Since it's now a national semi-final and not a big home game. Does your ticket allotment for visiting fans change? In the regular season, UGA dishes out 7-9k tickets to opposing fans. Do we have to increase it if we host an NCAA Semifinal.

2. What do we do about po-dunk college towns? Columbus doesn't have a hotel problem, Athens/Gainesville/Baton Rouge don't either.
What about Auburn, or Morgantown or Stillwater...etc

What do you do when the sites are awarded to towns that cannot host this type of event?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Here is the main crux. Games don't count unless they are in the snow.

Georgia travels to ASU or OKSU - Fuck you doesn't count too warm
LSU travels to ASU or Washington - Fuck you doesn't count too warm LSU has played at Washington once, ever (2009) and barely beat a 5-7 Huskie team...the ASU game was seven years ago
Alabama plays Oklahoma - Fuck you doesn't count too warm Alabama has played in Norman once, ever (10 years ago)
Auburn plays WVU and Clemson - Fuck you doesn't count too warm Clemson is in South Carolina...hardly a cold-weather state, and they played at WVU once, ever (getting pounded by 17)
Arkasas plays Texas and USC (and gets CRUSHED) - Fuck you doesn't count too warm 73 of their 77 games against Texas was when Arky and Texas were in the SWC, plus they're neighboring states...UT loses to Cal and UCLA in Cali - Fuck you doesn't count too warm.

Get off it. The best teams in our league can and do travel

Georgia has done an OK job at leaving SEC country to play decent OOC teams, and so has Tennessee (and both have/had upcoming home/away series scheduled with Ohio State). But the current big boys (LSU, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, all four of whom have won national titles in the last decade) almost never leave SEC country. And as you yourself have shown, when SEC teams do actually travel outside to an opponent well outside the SEC sphere, they don't do particularly well.

 

[BB73]

I love the idea. Think that it does nothing but drive ratings and the "Football Final Four" will be a RIOT in Las Vegas. We'll have to come up with a better name than Football Final Four though...

Two lingering questions:

1. Since it's now a national semi-final and not a big home game. Does your ticket allotment for visiting fans change? In the regular season, UGA dishes out 7-9k tickets to opposing fans. Do we have to increase it if we host an NCAA Semifinal.

2. What do we do about po-dunk college towns? Columbus doesn't have a hotel problem, Athens/Gainesville/Baton Rouge don't either.
What about Auburn, or Morgantown or Stillwater...etc

What do you do when the sites are awarded to towns that cannot host this type of event?

I'd be OK with them allowing the team that earned home field to bid out the game to a nearby NFL site, or wherever they wanted to. It's something that would have to happen in just a few days, however. But teams like Kansas State, WVU, Okie State, and Auburn would be aware of the possibililty before their CCGs, and they could be making plans ahead of time.

 

[BearBuck27]

I love the idea. Think that it does nothing but drive ratings and the "Football Final Four" will be a RIOT in Las Vegas. We'll have to come up with a better name than Football Final Four though...

Two lingering questions:

1. Since it's now a national semi-final and not a big home game. Does your ticket allotment for visiting fans change? In the regular season, UGA dishes out 7-9k tickets to opposing fans. Do we have to increase it if we host an NCAA Semifinal.

2. What do we do about po-dunk college towns? Columbus doesn't have a hotel problem, Athens/Gainesville/Baton Rouge don't either.
What about Auburn, or Morgantown or Stillwater...etc

What do you do when the sites are awarded to towns that cannot host this type of event?

Obviously, there is going to be much deeper research on the idea by people paid to do such research, and seeing as I can't do that right now, I'm going to spitball some answers. I was going to put this in with my original post, but I left it out. Let me know what you're thinking...

1. I would say yes, but to a smaller extent. I think tOSU's number is around 5%. I could see a standard number grow to something around 12%.

2. If there were a semi at Bryant-Denney, that would mean 12,000 away fans + some home fans who need to crash in vicinity looking for hotels. That number, while higher than normal, doesn't seem to me to be an outlandish increase that the city couldn't take on. Now, Stillwater, has about half the population of Tuscaloosa, but it's stadium is also about 40,000 seats smaller. That would mean ~7000-8000 allotted tickets for away fans. An increase for when compared to hosting Texas, sure, but not so much as overpopulating the city, imo.

EDIT: Just saw you wrote Auburn, not Tuscaloosa, but I contend that my point would remain the same.

Also, capacities:

WVU_-60,000
OkSU-60,000
Auburn-87,000

While those first two would allow fewer tickets sold, the majority of the time, I think the #1, or #2 teams would be from those that hold 90,000 + as mentioned in my previous post, which is more than most places that would receive "neutral site" bids. Pricing would have to also be looked at, as most NFL stadiums have many, many more high-valued suites as compared to the college stadiums, I think most years you're coming out even. All the while, you're benefiting the athletes, athletes' families, and alumni way more than with these neutral site games that would likely benefit third party vendors way more than any of the previous groups of people I mentioned. That's what the NCAA is supposed to be right...right? I know, this could just be me living in an ignorance is bliss state. I just think it's the right thing to do for a myriad of reasons and any potential hang-ups could be reasonably resolved.

 

[BB73]

Obviously, there is going to be much deeper research on the idea by people paid to do such research, and seeing as I can't do that right now, I'm going to spitball some answers. I was going to put this in with my original post, but I left it out. Let me know what you're thinking...

1. I would say yes, but to a smaller extent. I think tOSU's number is around 5%. I could see a standard number grow to something around 12%.

2. If there were a semi at Bryant-Denney, that would mean 12,000 away fans + some home fans who need to crash in vicinity looking for hotels. That number, while higher than normal, doesn't seem to me to be an outlandish increase that the city couldn't take on. Now, Stillwater, has about half the population of Tuscaloosa, but it's stadium is also about 40,000 seats smaller. That would mean ~7000-8000 allotted tickets for away fans. An increase for when compared to hosting Texas, sure, but not so much as overpopulating the city, imo.

I think if they did have the colleges hosting games, they should mandate a certain number of tickets for the opposing team, not a percentage. Something like 10,000 seats are always made available to the other team. If that's 25% of a college stadium's seats, too bad - they should build a bigger stadium.

 

[BearBuck27]

I think if they did have the colleges hosting games, they should mandate a certain number of tickets for the opposing team, not a percentage. Something like 10,000 seats are always made available to the other team. If that's 25% of a college stadium's seats, too bad - they should build a bigger stadium.

Fair enough, I think this could be a good way to go as well.

It just seems that college football would be the only sport that would discount home field advantage awarded for a great season. Which is ironic because all the BCS/NCAA people have been hammering home the importance of said regular season for years now.