The SEC and B1G are going to be insanely crafty with how they build their schedules moving forward. They will absolutely limit "potential losses" to their top teams. The SEC should absolutely be playing a 9th conference game but I'm sure they won't.
ISU Bowl Projection
- Thread starter Chitowncy
- Start date
The SEC and B1G are going to be insanely crafty with how they build their schedules moving forward. They will absolutely limit "potential losses" to their top teams. The SEC should absolutely be playing a 9th conference game but I'm sure they won't.
100% agree on the 9th conference game
I actually think it’s going to be the opposite, because all of the TV money goes to the marquee matchups so they are going to figure out how to get more of those on the schedule, not less.
They just don’t want to do it and not get compensated, which is why the SEC hasn’t added that 9th game yet because so far ESPN has declined to pay them anything for it. The same thing with the SEC-Big10 challenge that’s been discussed - they will only do that if a media partner will pay them extra for that set of games.
Where the small schools will get screwed is the committee is going to start beating the drum about strength of schedule, which will be used to justify a bunch of SEC teams with worse records getting in. Look at Washington St, which has a good shot to go 11-1 this year and it won’t be enough because they never got their chance to play a team like Alabama to see if they could knock them off. Meanwhile some team from the SEC is probably going to get in with 3 losses.
Winner winner. With the playoff expansion most 2 loss teams in the big ten will get in especially the big brands. No real need to adjust the schedules and they are already made for the next several years. If the playoff was still 4 teams things would be different
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
So what exactly was Iowa State playing for before the CFP?
This notion that the playoff is the be-all and end-all of college football, that nothing else matters, and that “only” winning 9 or 10 games, missing the playoffs, and going to a nice bowl is somehow a “failed season” is just batty to me. Oh, I get it, I know lots of fans and players think exactly that, but for a guy who grew up seeing the polls crown national champions (sometimes split champions) while teams still fought for conference titles and rivalry wins and bowl games and finishing strong (even if it was a 4-7 record) this is just weird.
The playoff is great entertainment, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also destroyed a lot of what made college football special. And the bowls are practically worthless exercises at this point, with all the best players opting out as they become essentially the first exhibitions of the season to come, instead of a celebration of the season and performances just completed.
I agree with all you're saying, but you're missing one big factor, in my opinion:
Let's say we do make the playoff. Not necessarily this year, but any year. Then what? Hang a banner for making it, because we have no shot of pulling off 3 significant consecutive upsets (or 4 without a bye). An Incredibly amazing season will never be able to end with a win again. Ever.
I feel like a broken record, but pretending every team should be striving for a natty is stupid.
Oh I understand, especially being an Iowa State fan. Just had this conversation with a buddy of mine and he was saying how a 10 win season is successful. I agree BUT I would want something to come with that 10 win season. You should be rewarded. But being rewarded with an Alamo bowl berth just doesn't do it for me. You said it yourself, bowls are worthless. Winning 9/10 games in a season is successful but if the rewards for doing that is a lowly Pop-Tart bowl where I can watch our players eat a human sized pop-tart after a win, consider me disappointed.
As a P4 conference, you have the best chance to attain the CFP than ever before.
But you're right, too. The playoff has all of the originality out of college football. Imagine crowning National Champions today using an outdated AP Poll, though. HA.
The fact of the matter is, there is still going to be 3 or 4 teams that could win the national championship. That isn't going to change if the playoff is 4 teams, 8 teams, 12, teams, or 16 teams. So I don't think striving for a national title should necessarily be the goal.
In my opinion, we should be striving for Big 12 titles. Thats it. That should be the goal. And by winning Big 12 titles you don't go to the Pop-Tart Bowl. You go to the playoff.
The bowls are no more or less meaningless now than they ever have been. We have had a four team playoff, and before that a BCS title game, and before that you may have a couple top tier bowls where the participant could claim a natty with a win. For everyone else, all the other bowl games have always been just a fun exhibition.
Obviously if you win your conference championship game as a P4 team, you're more than likely to get an auto bid to the playoffs.....so yeah the playoff is great because of that auto bid.
The things I want Iowa State to achieve in my lifetime are a 10 win season and a Big 12 Championship....those two things are still on the table this season...obviously we're gonna have to play a hell of a lot better if we want either of those things to happen.
The things I want Iowa State to achieve in my lifetime are a 10 win season and a Big 12 Championship....those two things are still on the table this season...obviously we're gonna have to play a hell of a lot better if we want either of those things to happen.
Yup. conference championship is the only meaningful accolade on the table these days.
They, like any game, are worth what fans say they're worth. And while they were never worth a natty, or even a conference championship, they mattered more 20 years ago than they do now. Even the 4 team CFP did a lot of damage to the prestige and hype of bowl games. The addition of bowl games themselves probably didn't help, either.
But once upon a time there were at least 6 bowl games that undeniably mattered. And if that were still the case, we'd have something past the CCG to play for. But we don't any more,
Literally every other level of football has existed for 100 years with only 1 team getting to end the year on a win.
Bowls are fun. They're stupid entertainment and the kids get to go somewhere warm(ish) for the work they've put in for a year.
We don't have to take everything so seriously.
Bowls are fun. They're stupid entertainment and the kids get to go somewhere warm(ish) for the work they've put in for a year.
We don't have to take everything so seriously.
This is becoming more and more of a business, though.
Whether you like it or not, this is amateur sports. NFL lite. Whatever you want to call it. The bowl system needs blown up. It makes no sense going froward with the access to the playoff the way it is.
This is, in part, why I am on board the the PE type league or the College Student Football League proposal. Make it more like the NFL in the way you set up divisions/playoffs.
Right and the kids that make it a business are going to opt out and we'll have fun games with young kids and walk ons.
As Hines said if you get to the playoff that means you’ve gotten a 10 win season and most likely won the Big12 or competed for the championship. That’s awesome.
Just because you don’t end the season on a win doesn’t have to take away from an awesome season. Would you rather go 7-5 with a G5 bowl win or go 10-2 win the big 12 and lose the first round of the playoffs? I know what one I would want.
Plus getting into the playoffs is a massive amount of exposure. Even getting a single win gives the team something to build on. String a couple births together and that recruiting starts to improve which makes it easier to win more Big12 championships.
I think a significantly expanded playoff, say 24 or 32 teams, will serve to better distribute talent. Kids want to go where they can play and also have access to the playoff. With more even talent distribution, upsets will become more common.
Obviously I'd prefer 10 wins, a conference title, and the playoff berth that comes with those.
I'm just lamenting the playoff as a whole, and I know there's no going back. I'd greatly prefer 10 wins, a conference title, and a Sugar Bowl appearance.
I pray this never happens otherwise the regular season has zero point. I didn’t even want to go past 8 teams
Just so the SEC and B1G can get a combined 20 or 26 teams into the playoff? No thank you.
