NCAA Playoffs.

[mcmwcat]

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/12/09/jim-delany-warns-non-aq-leagues-dont-expect-more-than-youre/

what an ass.  if he and the rest of the AQ leagues really feel that way why don't they just form their own division made up of only their conferences?

[mcmwcat]

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/22987/beebe-delany-talk-expansion-playoff

the expanded tournament has devalued the regular season.

lie.

an expanded tournament has allowed (or forced) more meaningful and intriguing non conference matchups.

[Rams]

The fan entertainment playoff talking point holds much more water than the best teams talking point. 

This

And the best argument against a playoff is how it would affect students and fans that regularly travel to bowl games.  If we somehow end up in this hypothetical 16 team playoff at some point, are you gonna wanna travel to Boise rough ridin' Idaho in December to watch the Cats play on the smurf turf in the first round?  What if they lose that game and you didn't go.  You just mumped out of a postseason bowl trip to AZ or CA.

[kso_FAN]

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/22987/beebe-delany-talk-expansion-playoff

the expanded tournament has devalued the regular season.

lie.

an expanded tournament has allowed (or forced) more meaningful and intriguing non conference matchups.

How so?

[EllToPay]

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/22987/beebe-delany-talk-expansion-playoff

the expanded tournament has devalued the regular season.

lie.

an expanded tournament has allowed (or forced) more meaningful and intriguing non conference matchups.

lol, wut?

[slimz]

I want a +1 Championship game, or a tournament involving the top BCS ranked teams. No at large bull crap.

The top BCS ranked teams is at large bull crap. I think you are saying you don't want to reward the conference champions (basically what the whole season sets out to determine) with automatic bids.

How hard is it to take the top 16 teams instead of having UCONN, UCF, FIU, etc. The OP is Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) if he wants to see that nonsensical bullshit.

Exactly why we need to stick with the bowls.  The auto bids in the NCAA basketball tournament make that thing pretty much unwatchable. 

Yeah the whole 6-10 games over the first 2 days where an AQ gets blown out really ruins a three week 64 game tournament.  Good call.

Guess I should have used the italics. Figured I was laying it on heavy enough.   

[Trim]

Guys, I know I've said this before, but before I was a goEMAW.com moderator, I taught high school math.  And you want to talk pressure?  Moderating a message board isn't pressure.  Teaching math to kids whose primary concern is the senior prom, that's pressure.  What was I talking about?  Yeah, math.  Look, I can count to 120.  There's no system that's going to take 120 teams and using 12 days a year, which I'd think anyone could put out effort for 12 days in a single year, there's no way playoff or not to get a champion out of that.  Makes me sick to my stomach.

[slimz]

I guess what I don't get is why people care if #1 plays #2 in the championship game. Nobody bitches about this in other sports, and as long as #1 and #2 are given a chance to get there, what's the problem?

#1 and #2 gets the entire season to prove they belong there.  While I don't always agree with how they decide their #1 and #2 teams, I think claiming that you actually have the two best teams in your sport play for the national title as a reward for having the best seasons is a valid talking point.  This doesn't mean that sports where underdogs can make it to and win a championship are bad, its just different and what the BCS is attempting to do and makes it unique.

BTW, if I had to choose I'd choose an 8 team play-off as well, but I do like trying to see this argument from both sides.    

The problem is that #1 and #2 aren't necessarily the 2 best teams.  Right now, it's a beauty contest.  The sample size is simply too small, the sport too regionalized (as MIR pointed out), for that to be the case year-in and year-out.  Ironically, college basketball, with its larger sample size providing observers with more information on which to base their rankings, would be a better fit for the BCS system, and college football would be a better fit for a tournament, if the goal is really to provide the best teams in the country with an opportunity to meet and decide a champion on the field.  (And some of the debate here depends on what "best" means:  team playing the best at the end of the year? Team with the most wins?  Team with the best resume? Team to have lost last?)

The BCS "accomplishes its goal" each year because it's designed to pair the #1 and #2 BCS teams in one game. The #1 and #2 BCS teams are determined by the BCS system.  It's circular logic.  Of course it's going to accomplish its goal.  

I recommend reading "Death to the BCS" for anyone who hasn't.  I don't agree with all of it, but they do set forth a compelling argument for why a 16-team playoff is the way to go.  

[Rage Against the McKee]

Guys, I know I've said this before, but before I was a goEMAW.com moderator, I taught high school math.  And you want to talk pressure?  Moderating a message board isn't pressure.  Teaching math to kids whose primary concern is the senior prom, that's pressure.  What was I talking about?  Yeah, math.  Look, I can count to 120.  There's no system that's going to take 120 teams and using 12 days a year, which I'd think anyone could put out effort for 12 days in a single year, there's no way playoff or not to get a champion out of that.  Makes me sick to my stomach.

It is pretty easy to come up with a playoff system that fairly crowns a national champion. First, you have to agree that the best team in the country will be the best team in its conference. The regular season crowns a conference champ in every conference, via a round robin tournament or a championship game. These 12 conference champs can then be seeded and play each other at the campus of the higher seed. The top 4 teams would get a first round bye. The championship game would be at a neutral site.

Would this playoff be more fun to watch than a playoff with just the top 8 BCS teams? No, but this playoff would actually improve college football's regular season, which is already the best regular season out of any sport.

[Trim]

Guys, I know I've said this before, but before I was a goEMAW.com moderator, I taught high school math.  And you want to talk pressure?  Moderating a message board isn't pressure.  Teaching math to kids whose primary concern is the senior prom, that's pressure.  What was I talking about?  Yeah, math.  Look, I can count to 120.  There's no system that's going to take 120 teams and using 12 days a year, which I'd think anyone could put out effort for 12 days in a single year, there's no way playoff or not to get a champion out of that.  Makes me sick to my stomach.

It is pretty easy to come up with a playoff system that fairly crowns a national champion. First, you have to agree that the best team in the country will be the best team in its conference. The regular season crowns a conference champ in every conference, via a round robin tournament or a championship game. These 12 conference champs can then be seeded and play each other at the campus of the higher seed. The top 4 teams would get a first round bye. The championship game would be at a neutral site.

Would this playoff be more fun to watch than a playoff with just the top 8 BCS teams? No, but this playoff would actually improve college football's regular season, which is already the best regular season out of any sport.

So OOC games are irrelevant or cease to exist, and all conferences get an equal amount of teams in (1) whether they're the SEC or whatever T42YS has been pining for his TSTATEOs to be invited to? 

Your plan might work when applied to 4 16-team conferences in a self-contained league.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Guys, I know I've said this before, but before I was a goEMAW.com moderator, I taught high school math.  And you want to talk pressure?  Moderating a message board isn't pressure.  Teaching math to kids whose primary concern is the senior prom, that's pressure.  What was I talking about?  Yeah, math.  Look, I can count to 120.  There's no system that's going to take 120 teams and using 12 days a year, which I'd think anyone could put out effort for 12 days in a single year, there's no way playoff or not to get a champion out of that.  Makes me sick to my stomach.

It is pretty easy to come up with a playoff system that fairly crowns a national champion. First, you have to agree that the best team in the country will be the best team in its conference. The regular season crowns a conference champ in every conference, via a round robin tournament or a championship game. These 12 conference champs can then be seeded and play each other at the campus of the higher seed. The top 4 teams would get a first round bye. The championship game would be at a neutral site.

Would this playoff be more fun to watch than a playoff with just the top 8 BCS teams? No, but this playoff would actually improve college football's regular season, which is already the best regular season out of any sport.

So OOC games are irrelevant or cease to exist, and all conferences get an equal amount of teams in (1) whether they're the SEC or whatever T42YS has been pining for his TSTATEOs to be invited to? 

Your plan might work when applied to 4 16-team conferences in a self-contained league.

OOC games are only irrelevant if the schools don't care if they get a first round bye. OOC games would be just as relevant as they are now.

[mcmwcat]

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/22987/beebe-delany-talk-expansion-playoff

the expanded tournament has devalued the regular season.

lie.

an expanded tournament has allowed (or forced) more meaningful and intriguing non conference matchups.

How so?

maybe it's just the nature of the tournament, expanded or not.  college hoops non con games are ridiculously more entertaining than college football's.  the reason for this is because top level teams in basketball will actually play each other in the non con.  this occurrence is nonexistent in football

[Cire]

the only reason we are even having this argument is because we suck ass.

[mcmwcat]

the only reason we are even having this argument is because we suck ass.

doubtful

[Rage Against the McKee]

the only reason we are even having this argument is because we suck ass.

If K-State were undefeated this year, we would be on our way to the Fiesta Bowl to play UConn. I'm pretty sure that this argument would still be happening.

[OK_Cat]

the only reason we are even having this argument is because we suck ass.

If K-State were undefeated this year, we would be on our way to the Fiesta Bowl to play UConn. I'm pretty sure that this argument would still be happening.

link?

[Rage Against the McKee]

the only reason we are even having this argument is because we suck ass.

If K-State were undefeated this year, we would be on our way to the Fiesta Bowl to play UConn. I'm pretty sure that this argument would still be happening.

link?

Oregon and Auburn generate more money than K-State, therefore they get all tiebreakers. This isn't that hard.

[OK_Cat]

the only reason we are even having this argument is because we suck ass.

If K-State were undefeated this year, we would be on our way to the Fiesta Bowl to play UConn. I'm pretty sure that this argument would still be happening.

link?

Oregon and Auburn generate more money than K-State, therefore they get all tiebreakers. This isn't that hard.

you're trying way too hard to find a conspiracy theory. 

for the sake of argument, if kstate were undefeated, we'd be somewhere between 1-3.   

[MakeItRain]

I want a +1 Championship game, or a tournament involving the top BCS ranked teams. No at large bull crap.

The top BCS ranked teams is at large bull crap. I think you are saying you don't want to reward the conference champions (basically what the whole season sets out to determine) with automatic bids.

How hard is it to take the top 16 teams instead of having UCONN, UCF, FIU, etc. The OP is Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) if he wants to see that nonsensical bullshit.

Exactly why we need to stick with the bowls.  The auto bids in the NCAA basketball tournament make that thing pretty much unwatchable. 

Yeah the whole 6-10 games over the first 2 days where an AQ gets blown out really ruins a three week 64 game tournament.  Good call.

Guess I should have used the italics. Figured I was laying it on heavy enough.   

My bad, its hard to tell who's being sarcastic with regards to this topic

[mcmwcat]

the only reason we are even having this argument is because we suck ass.

If K-State were undefeated this year, we would be on our way to the Fiesta Bowl to play UConn. I'm pretty sure that this argument would still be happening.

not true.  i heard that every week is a playoff game and if you don't lose you are guaranteed to make it to the BCS championship bowl game.   there are multiple links all over the interwebz for this.  just google it.

[kso_FAN]

maybe it's just the nature of the tournament, expanded or not.  college hoops non con games are ridiculously more entertaining than college football's.  the reason for this is because top level teams in basketball will actually play each other in the non con.  this occurrence is nonexistent in football

Yes, but most of those games have nothing to do with the tournament. There are more quality OOC basketball games for a couple reasons; a) the NCAA did away with the rule that only allowed teams to play in "exempt tournaments" once every 4 years.  Now you can play in them every year, and more often than not these match-ups happen in those tournaments on neutral floors; like the Duke game this year.  b) ESPN/TV creates league to league match-ups like the Big 12/Pac 10 Challenge.  This gets more games on home floors, which is nice, but a lot of good match-ups wouldn't happen without these deals.  If you take these two things away, the number of good match-ups would be comparable to what you see in football.  And if anything, football has gone the opposite direction, getting rid of some of the neutral site "preseason" games, like when K-State played Iowa in the BCA game in Arrowhead.

[steve dave]

We should give the BCS some type of award for absolutely nailing the national championship game every year.  They are batting 1.000 and probably will forever. 

[chum1]

the bcs never promised a match up between the top two teams, just a match up between a #1 and a #2.  in general, it was never intended to be perfect, just intended to remove a major flaw in the former system.it did that.  if at the outset you thought it would be as good as you think a playoff would be and are now surprised, you didn't think things through very far.

[mcmwcat]

maybe it's just the nature of the tournament, expanded or not.  college hoops non con games are ridiculously more entertaining than college football's.  the reason for this is because top level teams in basketball will actually play each other in the non con.  this occurrence is nonexistent in football

Yes, but most of those games have nothing to do with the tournament. There are more quality OOC basketball games for a couple reasons; a) the NCAA did away with the rule that only allowed teams to play in "exempt tournaments" once every 4 years.  Now you can play in them every year, and more often than not these match-ups happen in those tournaments on neutral floors; like the Duke game this year.  b) ESPN/TV creates league to league match-ups like the Big 12/Pac 10 Challenge.  This gets more games on home floors, which is nice, but a lot of good match-ups wouldn't happen without these deals.  If you take these two things away, the number of good match-ups would be comparable to what you see in football.  And if anything, football has gone the opposite direction, getting rid of some of the neutral site "preseason" games, like when K-State played Iowa in the BCA game in Arrowhead.

this has everything to do with college football coaches being absolutely terrified of losing a game in the non con and being disqualified from the BCS championship bowl game.  unless you're one of the selected few in college football you aren't going to be considered for the BCS championship bowl game unless you are undefeated.

if there was a tournament we'd have coaches not afraid of being challenged in the non con and we'd have a college non con worth watching.

[mcmwcat]

We should give the BCS some type of award for absolutely nailing the national championship game every year.  They are batting 1.000 and probably will forever. 

they are doing an exceptional job matching up #1 and #2 in the BCS rankings.  plaudits

it says something about college football that it took as long as it did for the Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) ass jockeys to get even this far.  they deserve some credit for it.