Re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic: 12 team playoff

[Michchamp]

Hey, actual college football news that in theory should be exciting, and has nothing to do with crime or sexual assault!

Link.

I might have cared about this and thought it was a great idea a couple years ago, but I think the sport is now dirty as hell, and when I watch the games, I feel like the only contest I'm seeing is which teams' boosters paid better talent under the table, so personally I don't care.

I suspect they're only making these changes because TV ratings (and therefore ad revenue) has gone down, and the TV networks are balking at paying whatever grotesque amount of money the conferences are demanding.

 

[Michchamp]

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I suspect they're only making these changes because TV ratings (and therefore ad revenue) has gone down, and the TV networks are balking at paying whatever grotesque amount of money the conferences are demanding.

I was right! viewership was down - by a lot - for most bowls last year (link), and although the ND/Alabama playoff game saw a higher audience and rating (by a bit), I assume that was because of the ND connection. OSU/Clemson was down, and the championship game saw a 27% drop in viewership. Fewer people watched the championship than either semifinal.

I didn't even remember ND being in the playoff... huh. They must have had a good year.

The numbers for the rest of the season mostly tell the same story (if you scroll down in the first link above, you can see the ratings and audience numbers for the whole season). Here and there there are some games that viewership increased for, but most games, the comparisons are down. Looks like most of the big increases were driven by ND games once their fans realized their team had a shot.

I assumed our numbers only dropped down after the MSU loss, but look at this:

MICH/MINN - viewer numbers down 23%

MICH/MSU - viewer numbers down 37%

Even sitting at home with nothing to do in a pandemic, Michigan fans tuned out.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I'm still in favor of the old way where the coaches voted and the other one. Might as well make a 64 team playoff like the NCAAB tournament.

 

[tinselwolverine]

I'm still in favor of the old way where the coaches voted and the other one. Might as well make a 64 team playoff like the NCAAB tournament.

It was sports writers, the other one. The Associated Press.

Various media operations sponsored the coaches? poll.

 

[Mitchrapp]

It was sports writers, the other one. The Associated Press.

Various media operations sponsored the coaches? poll.

I knew it. I really did. Just didn't want to look silly.

 

[thewolverines24]

Bowls working as a postseason were destroyed when college football expanded to so many pointless bowls. It's long overdue for D-1 football to finally have a real playoff for a postseason. Literally ever other version of football on earth ends with a 12+ team playoff.

Sure, we will all miss the pageantry of the Manscaped Pube Shavings Bowl, the untethered awesomeness of the Vaseline Let's Try Anal Bowl, the Roman Grow Back Your Hair You Bald Fuck Bowl, and who can forget the majesty of the Summer's Eve Douche Bowl?

I'd prefer to see it as a 16 team playoff so they could do two rounds on campuses. College stadiums' atmospheres are better than every bowl game stadium. The Rose is the only one that competes. If the top 4 teams that get byes don't get a game on their campus, that's pretty stupid. I fully expect that to be the case since the NCAA is stupid.

 

[byco42]

There was a time when Jan 1 was a day-long playoff, because the top-four teams were either playing each other or playing in one of the bowls. It was far more interesting than any system that has followed.

I contend that the D3 playoffs succeed because 27 of the teams are conference champions and five are at-large bids. D2 has 24 teams. D1 can?t model this because of the conference championship games, unless you make them the ticket of entry, with the loser staying home, and that?s not likely either, in the event of an upset. Or restructure all the conferences into leagues with the same amount of teams and have them play all their conference members, with a set number of OOC games.

 

[thewolverines24]

There was a time when Jan 1 was a day-long playoff, because the top-four teams were either playing each other or playing in one of the bowls. It was far more interesting than any system that has followed.

I contend that the D3 playoffs succeed because 27 of the teams are conference champions and five are at-large bids. D2 has 24 teams. D1 can?t model this because of the conference championship games, unless you make them the ticket of entry, with the loser staying home, and that?s not likely either, in the event of an upset. Or restructure all the conferences into leagues with the same amount of teams and have them play all their conference members, with a set number of OOC games.

Yes, there was a time when there weren't 42 bowl games and bowl season was awesome. If they would have kept it at a maximum of 15-16 bowl games, I don't know if I would have really ever complained. The overexpansion completely killed it for me. Letting .500 teams or teams that go 7-5 get into a bowl was/is ridiculous. Since 2001, there have been 16 teams with losing records make a bowl. I'm not sure I can conjure up the words for how stupid that is.

This was all set in motion by our co-championship with Nebraska. That seemed to be the final straw for people after the 90s saw three split championships. All could have been avoided if the NCAA just let the two schools come to an agreement to settle it on the field. Then we could have had a system going forward where if there was ever a split, the teams just play. I know, way to difficult to figure that out!

 

[Spartanmack]

Bowls working as a postseason were destroyed when college football expanded to so many pointless bowls. It's long overdue for D-1 football to finally have a real playoff for a postseason. Literally ever other version of football on earth ends with a 12+ team playoff.

Sure, we will all miss the pageantry of the Manscaped Pube Shavings Bowl, the untethered awesomeness of the Vaseline Let's Try Anal Bowl, the Roman Grow Back Your Hair You Bald Fuck Bowl, and who can forget the majesty of the Summer's Eve Douche Bowl?

I'd prefer to see it as a 16 team playoff so they could do two rounds on campuses. College stadiums' atmospheres are better than every bowl game stadium. The Rose is the only one that competes. If the top 4 teams that get byes don't get a game on their campus, that's pretty stupid. I fully expect that to be the case since the NCAA is stupid.

Bowls working as a preseason were destroyed more by the BCS and subsequently the playoff than they were by the explosion in the number of bowl games. Prior to the BCS, everyone knew there were only a dozen bowls that were good games and less than 6 that really mattered. The rest could just be ignored by everyone except the fans of the teams playing in them.

I'm not making an argument in favor of infinite number of bowl games - I agree most are a waste of time and money, but they had little impact on the tradition of the Rose, Orange, Fiesta, etc Bowls. What killed all of that was the BCS, which was complete garbage as it didn't make deciding the NC any better - if anything, it added more controversy. the playoff has rendered every bowl game meaningless.

I prefer the old imperfect way to the new imperfect way. I didn't care much about the national championship and still don't given it's dominated by 3 teams that flout the rules to completely dominate the landscape. If back in the day, a team won the Big Ten, then the Rose Bowl and some coach or writer said someone else was the National Champion, I couldn't care less. Now the tradition of the Rose Bowl is all but gone and what's in it's place is a circus run by crooks.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Bowls working as a postseason were destroyed when college football expanded to so many pointless bowls. It's long overdue for D-1 football to finally have a real playoff for a postseason. Literally ever other version of football on earth ends with a 12+ team playoff.

Sure, we will all miss the pageantry of the Manscaped Pube Shavings Bowl, the untethered awesomeness of the Vaseline Let's Try Anal Bowl, the Roman Grow Back Your Hair You Bald Fuck Bowl, and who can forget the majesty of the Summer's Eve Douche Bowl?

I'd prefer to see it as a 16 team playoff so they could do two rounds on campuses. College stadiums' atmospheres are better than every bowl game stadium. The Rose is the only one that competes. If the top 4 teams that get byes don't get a game on their campus, that's pretty stupid. I fully expect that to be the case since the NCAA is stupid.

Okay, a person shouldn?t go near anyone - I don?t care if it?s a woman or a man - who would allow Vaseline for use in the back door.

K-Y would seem the likely title sponsor; but the internet is full of rankings of ?the best.? This is probably my favorite.

PSA - Vaseline was not made for anal lubrication - do your homework people.

 

[byco42]

There were some epic bowl games before the BCS fouled the air. Maybe it?s a bit nostalgic to reflect on them, but I still believe this. There were some duds, too. I remember Nebraska steamrolling Alabama and ND in successive Orange Bowls in 72-73.

 

[Michchamp]

Bowls working as a preseason were destroyed more by the BCS and subsequently the playoff than they were by the explosion in the number of bowl games. Prior to the BCS, everyone knew there were only a dozen bowls that were good games and less than 6 that really mattered. The rest could just be ignored by everyone except the fans of the teams playing in them.
...

I'm not sure exactly how the number of bowls changed over time, but this article from 2014 reports that there were 38 bowls that year, 39 counting the national title game. It says in 1984 there were only 16. edit, I can't find the article now, but there's a wikipedia page that tracks them.

The BCS started in 1998, when there were only 22 bowl games.

At 22, 44 teams qualify, or about a third of all FBS teams. at 38, that number jumps to 76, more than half of all FBS teams. seems to me the sheer number of games meant more shitty teams in the mix, and cheapened the value of going to a bowl, more than the BCS.

I think I remember there being a post here about one of the Florida bowls, and how they pay a handful of local big wigs a pile of money to basically host an exhibition football game once a year. they claimed they gave a lot of money to charity, but didn't have receipts.

Like everything else in college football, it's clear the number of Bowl games could be curtailed by just fucking paying the players. You wouldn't have local in-bred southern "aristocracy" making $1,000,000 for 2 weeks of work a year hosting the "KY Lube Anal Sex Bowl" tinsel spoke of if they had to pay the players to show up.

Fuck em all. Burn it all down.

 

[tomdalton22]

I know I'm in the minority, but I preferred it before the 4 team playoff. I liked the BCS and liked the old bowl system. I don't like the idea of expanding to a 12 or 16 team playoff. I understand that every other sport has a tournament to determine the "champion", but that's why I liked the way college football did it...because it was different.

As far as too many bowls...who cares? If you don't want to watch two 6-6 teams play on a Wednesday in December, don't watch.

 

[Michchamp]

I was mildly annoyed the first time I read about players sitting bowl games out.

Now I thing they were the only sane people associated with those games in any way shape or form.

The coaches pocketing 5- and 6- figure bonuses for going 6-6 and making "The Toilet Bowl presented by Shitcorp," and the slimeballs hosting it should all be in jail..

The fans paying money and traveling to go watch bad football, and the players suiting up and risking injury, and playing for grab bags of trinkets are saps.

 

[Michchamp]

I know I'm in the minority, but I preferred it before the 4 team playoff. I liked the BCS and liked the old bowl system. I don't like the idea of expanding to a 12 or 16 team playoff. I understand that every other sport has a tournament to determine the "champion", but that's why I liked the way college football did it...because it was different.

As far as too many bowls...who cares? If you don't want to watch two 6-6 teams play on a Wednesday in December, don't watch.

I'm not watching any of it anymore, at least until the playing fields are leveled by paying the players for their substantial labor.

 

[tomdalton22]

The cost of a college education including room and board ranges from $100-$200K. If the athlete takes 5 years it goes up to about $125-$225K. That is just the cost. The value of the degree is estimated to be $260K
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/res...a 4 percent annual,men and $310,000 for women.

So, the monetary value received for their +/- 4 years of "substantial Labor" is about $400K. About $100K per year. Not bad.

 

[Michchamp]

The cost of a college education including room and board ranges from $100-$200K. If the athlete takes 5 years it goes up to about $125-$225K. That is just the cost. The value of the degree is estimated to be $260K
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/res...a 4 percent annual,men and $310,000 for women.

So, the monetary value received for their +/- 4 years of "substantial Labor" is about $400K. About $100K per year. Not bad.

this is all bullshit. they're worth a hell of a lot more than $100K/year.

few of them get educations worth that; they're railroaded into majors and forced to take classes around their practice schedules, film, game prep, and travel.

and if they get injured it's a bad deal for them. How are they being compensated for CTE?

In the book i mentioned in the other thread, Walter Byers, the NCAA head from the 50's to the 80's, said some AD's would raid kids' federal grants and scholarship money all the time in order to plug holes in their budgets, so kids, particularly bench warmers and players that the coaches viewed as disposable, wouldn't even get what they were entitled to. and many schools would let boosters pick up the slack, under the table.

the system as it is now, far from preserving amateurism or protecting kids from these sleazy tactics, is actively corrupting them and teaching them to play the game.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I liked it when the top bowls were all on New Years day. Orange, Rose, Cotton, Sugar.. Now they get spread out. Then they got spread out for another week. I started to lose interest. And those stupid names, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, are you kidding me. And what the freak is this The Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl? Lol.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, what the ..

 

[tomdalton22]

this is all bullshit. they're worth a hell of a lot more than $100K/year.

few of them get educations worth that; they're railroaded into majors and forced to take classes around their practice schedules, film, game prep, and travel.

and if they get injured it's a bad deal for them. How are they being compensated for CTE?

In the book i mentioned in the other thread, Walter Byers, the NCAA head from the 50's to the 80's, said some AD's would raid kids' federal grants and scholarship money all the time in order to plug holes in their budgets, so kids, particularly bench warmers and players that the coaches viewed as disposable, wouldn't even get what they were entitled to. and many schools would let boosters pick up the slack, under the table.

the system as it is now, far from preserving amateurism or protecting kids from these sleazy tactics, is actively corrupting them and teaching them to play the game.

they are all free to do whatever they want. If they don't want to go to a school that "railroads" them into a degree that they don't want, they are free to go somewhere else. Hell, they are free to just go to school and pay their tuition like the rest of us did.