OT: The Other Sports Thread (Titans, Vols, Dores, etc) - Part VIII

[LCPreds]

We went to 4 and now people are wanting 6. After we go to 6 they'll want 8. Before long it will be the NFL where you can lose 12 games and still get in.

I'm for any (reasonable) format that takes an opinionated selection process out of the mix.

 

[Armourboy]

I'd rather watch Georgia pound UT than watch Ohio State and Michigan State.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I'm for any (reasonable) format that takes an opinionated selection process out of the mix.

With the way college football is set up I think you'll always have some form of opinion involved in the process. The key to making a good system in my mind is to have some sort of objective component to it. I think having eight teams with 5 slots for each of the P5 champions, the top rated G5 team, and then two other at large bids makes the most sense. People will always complain about some team on the bubble, but this option at least gives all the P5 teams a clear path to the playoff and at least one G5 team a chance each season.

 

[Enjoy i24 Traffic]

I was hoping for an early start for UGA@UT because I will be at the Preds game. Bummer.

 

[Viqsi]

I'd rather watch Georgia pound UT than watch Ohio State and Michigan State.

To each their own.

 

[LCPreds]

With the way college football is set up I think you'll always have some form of opinion involved in the process. The key to making a good system in my mind is to have some sort of objective component to it. I think having eight teams with 5 slots for each of the P5 champions, the top rated G5 team, and then two other at large bids makes the most sense. People will always complain about some team on the bubble, but this option at least gives all the P5 teams a clear path to the playoff and at least one G5 team a chance each season.

I'm good with this. It positions the opinions to the last 2 slots. Even then I'd rather have some grouping of computer rankings to determine the final 2 slots and keep random Joe sports writer's opinion out of it.

 

[Legionnaire11]

it'll never happen because of tradition and money, but they could just push everyone into 8 super conferences.

Then you have basically a 16 team playoff with the conference championship games being round 1 and the 8 conference champions advancing to the actually playoffs. It would mean everyone technically has a chance at a national title without relying on polls, but if structured strategically you'd still be able to position the biggest programs to dominate.

But that's just a wild fantasy of course.

 

[Viqsi]

it'll never happen because of tradition and money, but they could just push everyone into 8 super conferences.

Then you have basically a 16 team playoff with the conference championship games being round 1 and the 8 conference champions advancing to the actually playoffs. It would mean everyone technically has a chance at a national title without relying on polls, but if structured strategically you'd still be able to position the biggest programs to dominate.

But that's just a wild fantasy of course.

I vaguely recall putting together a tentative conference alignment kind of like that, back around that brief period when it looked like Texas and Oklahoma and friends might actually consider jumping ship to the Pac-12 and leave the Big 12 for dead.

 

[LCPreds]

I know some people will say "but then certain teams will always get pummeled!"

To which I would reply, "Kinda like the Titans and Browns."

 

[triggrman]

Conference champions should not get automatic bids, some power 5 champs are still crappy teams.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Conference champions should not get automatic bids, some power 5 champs are still crappy teams.

When was the last time a P5 conference champion was truly crappy? Maybe not the most deserving team, but they are usually at least Top 15.

 

[Gnashville]

Conference champions should not get automatic bids, some power 5 champs are still crappy teams.

It’s that way in Basketball, Hockey, and Baseball and it doesn’t lessen the playoffs/tournament one bit.

 

[triggrman]

It’s that way in Basketball, Hockey, and Baseball and it doesn’t lessen the playoffs/tournament one bit.

You’re comparing pro leagues of 32 teams at most, that play fairly even schedules to an amateur league of 130 teams that play way different schedules

 

[Armourboy]

You’re comparing pro leagues of 32 teams at most, that play fairly even schedules to an amateur league of 130 teams that play way different schedules

Never been an issue for other divisions of football under the NCAA.

 

[triggrman]

Never been an issue for other divisions of football under the NCAA.

If you’re arguing full playoffs like the fcs I agree.

So if you guys think the conference champ should get in, then the runner up should they get it n too? What about a team that didn’t even make the championship game? What if it’s a 2 loss champion do they get in over a single loss non champ? What about Washington last season with 4 losses?

 

[Enjoy i24 Traffic]

Auto bid conference champs is a bad idea. There have been some real s hitass teams to win their conference.

 

[PredsV82]

Auto bid conference champs is a bad idea. There have been some real s hitass teams to win their conference.

Right but at the same time winning a conference should actually mean something or else why have the damn conference championship games??

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

Right but at the same time winning a conference should actually mean something or else why have the damn conference championship games??

It does mean something. Winning the conference is a huge achievement for any program. The playoff should still only be the very top teams though.

 

[Legionnaire11]

If an elite conference champion like Alabama or Clemson can't beat a crappy shitass champion in round 1, do they really deserve a national title anyway?

I hate protecting tradition and fostering an environment where we continue to see the same teams year after year after year. I know it's always been this way to an extent, but in the last 20-25 years it's gotten a lot worse as the money involved has ballooned. If the networks had their way i'm sure we'd see a handful of teams leave the NCAA to form their own elite league.

 

[Enjoy i24 Traffic]

After looking at this, conference champ autobids wouldn't be the worst thing ever. I guess I was basing my opinion off of the one 4-loss Uconn team from the Big lEast that one year. The only problem you run into with conferences is they don't all play the same number of conference games. It would be nice to force everyone to 9 conf games but you run into issues with SEC and ACC teams that have locked in OOC rivalries, that only gives teams like UF/FSU, UGA/GT, USC/Clemson, etc two OOC games to schedule other teams.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Auto bid conference champs is a bad idea. There have been some real s hitass teams to win their conference.

When was the last time a truly bad team won their conference? Wisconsin in 2012 was the last team to not finish in the Top 15 to win a conference championship and that was only because an undefeated Ohio State team was banned from the postseason. Then you have Clemson in 2011, but they were at least Top 25 and pulled off an upset to win their conference championship. So twice in a decade you may end up with a team that doesn't have a legitimate case of being a top team. That doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me, and provides a bit of an underdog story from time to time. Ultimately, if it goes to an eight team playoff and you pull of three consecutive wins against the other top teams I think you're probably good enough to call yourself the champion.

 

[triggrman]

When was the last time a truly bad team won their conference? Wisconsin in 2012 was the last team to not finish in the Top 15 to win a conference championship and that was only because an undefeated Ohio State team was banned from the postseason. Then you have Clemson in 2011, but they were at least Top 25 and pulled off an upset to win their conference championship. So twice in a decade you may end up with a team that doesn't have a legitimate case of being a top team. That doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me, and provides a bit of an underdog story from time to time. Ultimately, if it goes to an eight team playoff and you pull of three consecutive wins against the other top teams I think you're probably good enough to call yourself the champion.

Washington last season lost 4 games, Pac 12 champ. Finishing in the top 15 shouldn't be the judge, how many finished in the top 8?

 

[Gnashville]

You’re comparing pro leagues of 32 teams at most, that play fairly even schedules to an amateur league of 130 teams that play way different schedules

I was talking about College sports

 

[Armourboy]

Apparently Tennessee has had 5 players leave the program since the 1st loss to Georgia State. While none of them were recruited by Pruitt that's still pretty rough.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Washington last season lost 4 games, Pac 12 champ. Finishing in the top 15 shouldn't be the judge, how many finished in the top 8?

They weren't an actually bad team though which was my point. The problem is no other system is going to pick the Top 8 effectively either so I'd prefer something with at least some clear guidelines of how to get in versus all based on more subjective measures.

FWIW if we had an eight team playoff and assuming all else equal with how the committee did there final CFP rankings last year the only difference in who they would have picked for the playoff versus who would have made it in a P5 champ autobid, top G5 team, and two at larges would have been Michigan making it in over Washington. Michigan and Washington were pretty comparable teams and I don't think one was necessarily more deserving then the other. In every other year since the CFP started the only difference would be the eighth ranked team getting replaced by the top G5 team.