Will Big 10 vs SEC vs Pac 10 Debate Still Continue?

[Bobby Hoying]

This debate has to be one of the stupidest things in sports. Do you think the Carolina Panthers will be cheering for the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs? Will anyone in the NFC South care if the Falcons win the Super Bowl?

Divisions in the NFL are just like conferences, they are based on geography and you play most of your games in divisions/conferences. So why are you a fan of your conference in college football but not in the NFL?

When will be people realize it's about the team and not the conference?

 

[GeorgiaBuck2]

Well I don't know about the Panthers, but I sure as heck will be.

BTW, if the debate is stupid, don't bring it up.

 

[ScriptOhio]

When will be people realize it's about the team and not the conference?

It's about both.

Being in a strong conference helps make you a geeat team. You want a strong conference for more TV ratings (i.e. $$$), that provides a tough schdule for the BCS ratings, and is prestigious enough to attract the top recruists to your school, etc. They are the teams on your schedule, you play them every year, you see more of their games, and your rival(s) are in there.

 

[Ryan36_1]

Will it continue?

Well, we have:

-Conferences that typically don't play except for A) Early season games where neither team is at full potential and B) Bowl games, which except for the MNC are glorified exhibitions with long layoffs, media hoopla, and different team attitudes towards being there

-Billions of dollars being spent

-What seems like dozens of sports channels that need to fill 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

-Did I mention the billions of dollars yet?

I think we can safely assume that it will continue (although if BB73 wants to set up a vbet, I won't complain )

 

[jlb1705]

Since when has the Pac-10 been part of this debate?

 

[rnclittlerock]

This debate has to be one of the stupidest things in sports. Do you think the Carolina Panthers will be cheering for the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs? Will anyone in the NFC South care if the Falcons win the Super Bowl?

Divisions in the NFL are just like conferences, they are based on geography and you play most of your games in divisions/conferences. So why are you a fan of your conference in college football but not in the NFL?

When will be people realize it's about the team and not the conference?

that's easy to say when you're one of the favored programs.

when you're not, people appease their little man syndrome with conference affiliation.

out of the slightly >100 D1 programs, about 10 have a chance of ever attending that national title game. virtually all of the TV time is divided between the big 10, SEC, Big 12, and Pac 10 teams, and only the top few teams out of those. to take our example, florida had about a half dozen nationally televised games this year, despite their poor season. miss state was much more deserving, yet only got two. and if miss state would've beaten LSU and threatened the preferred winners by going into tuscaloosa with only one loss, the fixing ref crew from slive's office would've descended on them in full force, like they did to us against auburn this year, and against florida last year.

the only way to avoid full blown mutiny from those programs who win games they're not supposed to win is to sell their fans and boosters conference affiliation.

and to be COMPLETELY honest, the reason why 10-15 more aren't allowed to compete is primarily the big 10 brass.

no conference's administrators are more resistant to a playoff than the big 10's are. the big 10's fascination with preserving the rose bowl is the strongest force against a playoff at this point in time, even in the face of demands from the TV networks so much of their money comes from.

and the reason for that is the same little man syndrome that we have in the SEC. as long as it's all about the rose bowl, the second tier big 10 teams can make their season all about beating OSU and making the rose bowl. if they win their one all-or-nothing game they can claim victory without having to tell their fans that there is no way in hell they're ever making it to the national title game.

 

[Diego-Bucks]

that's easy to say when you're one of the favored programs.

when you're not, people appease their little man syndrome with conference affiliation.

out of the slightly >100 D1 programs, about 10 have a chance of ever attending that national title game. virtually all of the TV time is divided between the big 10, SEC, Big 12, and Pac 10 teams, and only the top few teams out of those. to take our example, florida had about a half dozen nationally televised games this year, despite their poor season. miss state was much more deserving, yet only got two. and if miss state would've beaten LSU and threatened the preferred winners by going into tuscaloosa with only one loss, the fixing ref crew from slive's office would've descended on them in full force, like they did to us against auburn this year, and against florida last year.

the only way to avoid full blown mutiny from those programs who win games they're not supposed to win is to sell their fans and boosters conference affiliation.

and to be COMPLETELY honest, the reason why 10-15 more aren't allowed to compete is primarily the big 10 brass.

no conference's administrators are more resistant to a playoff than the big 10's are. the big 10's fascination with preserving the rose bowl is the strongest force against a playoff at this point in time, even in the face of demands from the TV networks so much of their money comes from.

and the reason for that is the same little man syndrome that we have in the SEC. as long as it's all about the rose bowl, the second tier big 10 teams can make their season all about beating OSU and making the rose bowl. if they win their one all-or-nothing game they can claim victory without having to tell their fans that there is no way in hell they're ever making it to the national title game.

Well, I don't know about primarily. But the Big Ten brass is maybe the strongest force in that. The Pac-10, the bowl presidents, the Big-12, the Big East are all in favor of the BCS currently.

The SEC and ACC have only cursory support for a playoff, and are probably more in favor of a plus-one.

 

[Mrstickball]

I don't see a 'AFC North' TV network being pitched, do you?

The college game is a bit closer-knit than the pro game. Love it or hate it, it is there.

 

[rnclittlerock]

Well, I don't know about primarily. But the Big Ten brass is maybe the strongest force in that. The Pac-10, the bowl presidents, the Big-12, the Big East are all in favor of the BCS currently.

The SEC and ACC have only cursory support for a playoff, and are probably more in favor of a plus-one.

and i won't completely shun the blame, since the SEC brass were the ones who came up with the BCS.

the bottom line is college football, despite how much i love it, is a sham for 80% of the participating programs. not for the boises and TCUs, but for the miss states, and the georgias, and the arkansas, and the wisconsins and the like.

edit: by "and the like" i mean "and so forth and so on" gotta remember who i'm talking to here.

 

[ryan20]

The NFL playoffs work pretty much completely on Wins and Losses. The NCAA, not so much. You need your conference to be strong, play well in their out of conference matchups, in order to better your team when you beat them and in the subsequent games that team plays. Boise gets no love because their conference teams cant do anything against the AQs. In order for your team to be perceived as worthy of playing in a BCS championship, it may be necessary for your conference to succeed overall -- especially when computer rankings and formulas get involved in the process. Of course, a playoff would largely do away with this.

 

[Mrstickball]

and i won't completely shun the blame, since the SEC brass were the ones who came up with the BCS.

the bottom line is college football, despite how much i love it, is a sham for 80% of the participating programs. not for the boises and TCUs, but for the miss states, and the georgias, and the arkansas, and the wisconsins and the like.

edit: by "and the like" i mean "and so forth and so on" gotta remember who i'm talking to here.

+1.

The current system is horrible. Admittedly, the bowl season still has 2 marquee matchups in LSU-TAMU and the NC game, but from what I've seen, there are quite a few teams that, given their performance, deserve the chance to prove they aren't just a 1-win bowl wonder. Unless you are one of 6 programs, you rarely get the chance to prove yourself in the title game, unless the said 6 programs (Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Ohio State, Alabama and Florida) are 1-loss or greater. If you look at games like Stanford-VT, and Alabama-MSU, they are fully deserving of something more than they got - a blowout.

The saddest part of the playoff debate is that the conferences that shun the idea don't see the big picture - a true 16-team playoff would generate massive capital for every conference, and yield a much better and lucrative system.

 

[matcar]

I have always hated the idea of a playoff because I love the bowls and the way things worked in CFB. Having said that, the conference nonsense IS getting tiresome and the main cause of it is the BCS/bowl system. A playoff would probably end much of the conference banter because you wouldn't have to worry about conference strength when a playoff allows multiple teams to sort it out through multiple playoff rounds.

So, will it ever totally end? No, but when the playoffs come, it will silence most of the debate. While I will miss the bowls terribly, I won't miss the conference hissy-fits.

 

[rnclittlerock]

+1.

The current system is horrible. Admittedly, the bowl season still has 2 marquee matchups in LSU-TAMU and the NC game, but from what I've seen, there are quite a few teams that, given their performance, deserve the chance to prove they aren't just a 1-win bowl wonder. Unless you are one of 6 programs, you rarely get the chance to prove yourself in the title game, unless the said 6 programs (Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Ohio State, Alabama and Florida) are 1-loss or greater. If you look at games like Stanford-VT, and Alabama-MSU, they are fully deserving of something more than they got - a blowout.

The saddest part of the playoff debate is that the conferences that shun the idea don't see the big picture - a true 16-team playoff would generate massive capital for every conference, and yield a much better and lucrative system.

there's a great book i've been reading called "of bowls and tattered souls" that kind of recounts the history of bowls and heismans since the BCS was introduced, it's a pretty good read.

i agree with the author in that eventually the TV pressure for a playoff will cause the traditionalists in the big conferences to buckle to money pressure. we're already to the point that ESPN is the only network that even wants the bowls at the asking price, the other networks don't care to broadcast them, short of fox with the national title game.

plus, i don't see why the bowls couldn't be integrated into a playoff, like the NCAA does with the basketball tourney. make the bowls neutral site playoff games, and everyone is a winner.

 

[Muck]

. we're already to the point that ESPN is the only network that even wants the bowls at the asking price, the other networks don't care to broadcast them, short of fox with the national title game.

That's because most of the bowls were created by ESPN within the past decade as a quick & dirty way to create product & ESPN is willing to pay higher than market value to keep that product within their portfolio.

plus, i don't see why the bowls couldn't be integrated into a playoff, like the NCAA does with the basketball tourney. make the bowls neutral site playoff games, and everyone is a winner.

Because playing an SEC team in New Orleans, most Pac 12 teams in Pasadena or FSU & Miami at the Orange Bowl isn't anything close to a 'neutral' site.

 

[matcar]

That's because most of the bowls were created by ESPN within the past decade as a quick & dirty way to create product & ESPN is willing to pay higher than market value to keep that product within their portfolio.

[/i]
Because playing an SEC team in New Orleans, most Pac 12 teams in Pasadena or FSU & Miami at the Orange Bowl isn't anything close to a 'neutral' site.

Neutral site playoff games don't work because people cannot afford to attend all of them. If there is a playoff, there WILL BE home and away games until you get to the championship game.