Georgia’s President wants playoff
Playoffs are gaining momentum. I really think it’s only a matter of time until we have it. This is America, after all. We don’t like corruption. We don’t like inequality. We like everyone to have a fair shot and we value stories where the little guy gets a chance to knock off the big guy. Playoffs will give that to all of us college football fans.
Check out this story on Georgia’s President declaring his desire for an 8-team playoff. It’s a good read.
You want playoffs? Boycott the BCS
I won’t be watching any of the BCS games this year. What’s the point? I’m not a fan of any of the teams playing so why should I? Yes, I’m pro playoffs. Yes, I think the college football post-season is a joke. Yes, I think fans who like the bowl system are morons. Sue me.
I tell you what, if enough of you folks out there in cyber space band with me and all the other college football fans who want a playoff system there’s a good chance we can get things changed. What do we do, you ask? Boycott the BCS. It’s that easy. Don’t watch any of the BCS games. Don’t let your friends watch the games. I realize you’ll watch the one your team is playing in (if your team is that good), but any others just find something else to do. And be loud about it.
Check out this quote from an Allstate representative who indirectly verifies what I’m saying:
“What matters to us is the consumer interest in the BCS,” said Lisa Cochrane, vice president of marketing for Allstate, which is in its second year as a Sugar Bowl title sponsor. “All of the interest we’re seeing is good, as long as it’s not negative, and we’ve not seen any evidence of fans boycotting bowls because of their various opinions.”
You and I are those beloved consumers. Here’s some negative response for you Lisa - F the BCS!!! So long as you sponsor the BCS I will not be a customer of Allstate.
Here’s a link to the story where I found the above quote.
Kudos to the Ragin Cajun
James Carville says some great things and smashes college presidents and pretty much everyone involved with the BCS in this interview with ESPN:
2007 College Football Playoffs Bracket
Okay, so this is wishful thinking but here it is anyway, courtesy of Dan Wetzel at Yahoo Sports:
Wetzel wrote a fantastic article about a possible 16 team playoff system that I wish existed. Check out some highlights:
A playoff is coming to college football, not eventually but probably sooner than the moneyed-establishment wants to admit.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, the Vladimir Putin of college sports and the key figure preventing a playoff, can stem the tide for only so long.
Just like in what used to be Division I-AA, the tournament would feature four rounds with teams seeded one through 16. Just like the wildly popular and profitable NCAA men’s basketball tournament, champions of all the conferences (all 11 of them) earn an automatic bid to the field.
Come on you BCS pansies… we want playoffs!!!
Forget the BCS - Give Me Some Old School Football
A blog post by a Utah fan gave me chills this morning. It recalls a game between Utah and USC in 1916 and includes newspaper coverage of the game. Everything about the post - the language used by reporters and the excitement felt in Salt Lake City and by the Utah players for going to such “an exotic” place to play football as Los Angeles - it all rings so foreign under the looming shadow of the BCS, doesn’t it?
Now players get excited over how much loot they pull at their bowl game. How many iPods, video cameras, apparel, shoes, and whatever else will I get at “x” Bowl? We fans care so much about winning that after a single loss we want the entire coaching staff fired and all the players replaced with guys that have real heart (or talent, or discipline, or…)
What have we created? Is the game you love?
$122 Million Not Enough for SEC Presidents
So after the other SEC Presidents convinced Florida President Bernie Machen that the BCS is better than playoffs in college football the league announced the annual take: $122 million to be split among member schools.
It’s a new record for the SEC. Wow. Congratulations. Remind me again that college sports aren’t about money. Why don’t you do it, Machen - tell me exactly how the BCS suddenly became more fair and how your decision to flip-flop on the issue of playoffs didn’t have a thing to do with money.
Yeah, that’s right, it’s not about money because your school and conference already generate a $@#! load of it so if the playoffs were more fair and a better model that was more entertaining and satisfying for fans you’d be all for it because you’ve already got enough money… Right?
Machen and the SEC Will Rot in Hell
Florida president Bernie Machen backed off his playoff football proposal after conferring with colleagues at the Southeastern Conference’s spring meeting.
Machen decided it’s better to work within the confines of the current Bowl Championship Series system.
“What we learned today from my colleagues is that we see the world pretty much the same way,” Machen said Friday on the final day of the annual meeting. “We see the problems in the current system.
“They are persuaded, and I am now persuaded, that the best way to proceed is to try to work within the BCS structure, to make some changes to make it better. That seems to me to be a very good way to go.”
Are Most SEC Coaches Pansies?
A recent article has quotes from several SEC coaches conveying their thoughts about a possible playoff in college football. Most say they’d prefer a “plus one” model over an 8 or 16 team playoff.
Say what?!?
If you were a coach of a prominent college football team would you prefer a chance at making an 8 or 16 team playoff once every couple of years (or more often even) or be required to be ranked in the top two or four to have a shot at a national championship in any given year (also relying on a little luck for things to go your way elsewhere in the country)? It’s hard for me to believe that any coach would prefer the latter, but maybe I’m just biased.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that bowls are often operated by local businessmen who have millions on the line each year in tourism revenue generated by fans visiting for their bowl game. And maybe I think those businessmen often are major boosters for certain schools for both athletics and academics.
One of the many duties a college football coach has is to increase annual booster donations, right? So maybe the fact that a lot of the SEC coaches are saying they are only mildly interested in a plus one playoff model is due to the possibility that they don’t want to offend some of their major boosters. After all, booster money is what often pays the multi-million dollar annual salary of a lot of the big time coaches.
Or maybe the coaches really do like the “pageantry of the bowl system”.
12 SEC Presidents Gather to Discuss College Football Playoffs
Bernie Machen hasn’t given up his cause of promoting college football playoffs. The meeting between the 12 SEC presidents is set for next week.
This is the most exciting news in college football so far this off-season, even though a meeting of non-football personnel wouldn’t typically qualify for that honor. The potential outcome of this meeting is what is so exciting: will the SEC presidents unite and decide they want change? Will any decision they make have enough impact to influence presidents in other “BCS” conferences to jump on the bandwagon of change?
It doesn’t appear the Big 10 will be interested in a playoff anytime soon, or at the very least Jim Delaney won’t be interested, as evidenced by the letter he already sent to Machen stating as much. But why should that be a surprise? Playoffs would be the best thing that could happen to division 1 college football while Delaney has been the worst thing to happen to college football. He’s just maintaining the status quo.
Now, one question that arises in light of the impending meeting is whether or not the public could possibly influence the outcome in any way. It is one man’s opinion that public support could only help convince these college presidents that a move toward a D1 playoff is a move in the right direction. If you agree, why not make your opinion known?
CONTACT AN SEC PRESIDENT
- J. Bernard Machen - Florida
- Edward R. Richardson - Auburn
- Robert E. Witt - Alabama - (205) 348-5100
- John A. White - Arkansas - (479) 575-4148
- Michael F. Adams - Georgia - (706) 542-1214
- Lee T. Todd, Jr. - Kentucky - (859) 257-1701
- Sean O’Keefe - LSU - (225) 578-6977
- Robert C. Khayat - Ole Miss - (662) 915-7111
- Robert H. Foglesong - MSU - (662) 325-3221
- Andrew A. Sorensen - South Carolina - (803) 777-2001
- Loren Crabtree - Tennessee - (865) 974-3265
- Gordon Gee - Vanderbilt - (615) 322-1813
LA Times redeems itself with this satire
BCS Basket Cases is a must read. Yes, still catching up so this piece is a couple of months old now but it’s very worthwhile if you haven’t already read it.