Question: Are Conference Championship Games now a Liability with the Playoff?

[RammerJammer14]

Watching these conference championship games, outside of ours I see a bunch of undefeated or one-loss teams playing 3-4 loss teams. Looking at the top 6 entering today, we had:

1) Alabama
2) Clemson
3) Notre Dame
4) Georgia
5) Oklahoma
6) Ohio State

Oklahoma played a rematch with Texas. Clemson is playing a weak team they are crushing. Ohio State has been fighting with Northwestern. Alabama played Georgia today, beats them.

But many think Georgia should still get the #4 playoff spot. So Bama gets nothing out of playing them. The same would be true if Georgia had won.

Say they do keep the #4 ranking, the top 4 is then....Bama, Clemson, ND, Georgia. What did we play the game for then?

It seems to me that the playoff has created an environment where, while it purports to value conference championships, it completely devalues them. Alabama has a lock into the CFP today before the game. All they can get out of it is injuries and a loss that upsets seeding at the least. Georgia cold only lose a playoff spot today. With no CCG, Alabama wins the conference anyways with the best conference record. Same goes for Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Clemson.

What value, then, do CCGs bring if the loser still gets to advance to the playoff? Teams are just playing what the committee considers a 13th regular season game for the heck of it. Maybe conferences should move away from CCGs if the outcomes are meaningless for the post season? Like I said, just something I was thinking about watching the games. What do y’all think?

 

[B1GTide]

Yes - the day the CFP was announced they became so. I like Saban's idea of eliminating these games and adding 4 more teams to the CFP. Won't happen because of the $$$ involved.

 

[uafan4life]

Yes, for teams who would certainly be in without them.

However, they still offer a quality match-up for a team that wouldn't or, at least, might not make it in otherwise, e.g., Ohio State a few years ago.

 

[Chechem]

Ask Notre Dame. They should be playing Clemson tonight.
Instead, they're in the playoffs and GA has to beg for a position. GA would likely beat ND, OK, and OSU by 10-14 points.
But thanks to the ND scheduling, ND's resting and awaiting the winners.
It stinks!

 

[TideEngineer08]

They bring in too much money for the conferences. Especially the SEC championship. I would think the same is true for the Big Ten and Big 12, who are able to play in domes, in front of packed crowds. These kinds of money makers are not easily parted with, if at all. But I tend to agree with the sentiment, in the playoff age. If we are to expand the playoff, I do think they have to be rid of these conference championships. The punishment on the players begins to become too much.

 

[cbi1972]

They bring in too much money for the conferences. Especially the SEC championship. I would think the same is true for the Big Ten and Big 12, who are able to play in domes, in front of packed crowds. These kinds of money makers are not easily parted with, if at all. But I tend to agree with the sentiment, in the playoff age. If we are to expand the playoff, I do think they have to be rid of these conference championships. The punishment on the players begins to become too much.

We don't need any more teams that think they should be #1.

 

[PA Tide Fan]

It worked out that way this season but last season the conference championships were important as to who gets in the playoff. UGA-AU the winner got in, the loser eliminated. In the B1G Wisconsin would have gotten in if they beat OSU but they lost so Bama got in. Clemson and Miami each went into the ACC championship with only 1 loss so the winner gets in the loser doesn't. OU had 1 loss in the Big 12 so a loss to TCU would have knocked them out but they won and got in.

 

[Valley View]

I view the CCGs and any future expansion of the playoffs the same, it's just another opportunity to lose. Any team (like us Saturday) can have a bad day and get beat by a lessor team. We won, but we could have lost easily.

 

[ReturnToGlory]

It won't happen, but I'd like to see the conference championship and the 12th regular season game eliminated. 8-team playoff with higher seeds hosting, then the final four go to neutral sites.

 

[M2J]

They matter to the fans, they matter to coaches jobs, they matter for the players, they actually kinda matter towards the national picture in the CFP scenarios.

I hate the idea of going to a 8 team system. You go forever with the polls picking the champions before bowls (which was stupid), you go to a system with 2 polls picking the title game, which was usually okay, but often times would allow too much bias to leave the best teams out. You go towards computers that incorporate polls (which usually got the 2 best teams, but not always, as there is often 1 team that may have been left out).

You eliminate the possibility of the consensus 3rd best team being left out with a 4 team playoff, which has never left the best teams out. Now we have to care about the 5th and 6th best team, and mid majors getting an opportunity without playing anyone (even though they're guaranteed a major bowl)...so that means 8 teams must play, and the conference titles are obsolete.

Once you get 8 teams, the regular season wouldn't even matter nearly as much, and the 9th and 10th teams will have a gripe, and we'll need to care about their feelings.


4 teams is pure perfection. The regular season matters, a whole hell of a lot, and is very enjoyable. The conference titles matter, but we have a large committee capable of deciphering what they see on the field and not allowing teams like Pittsburgh or Washington, or Northwestern into the playoffs because they won a conference. 8 teams will make it essentially so the hottest team has the best chance, instead of weighing in the entire season. They most likely would make it so that conference champs in the 5 conferences are guaranteed, in, so upsets like Pittsburgh or NWestern could get in...creating worse games, and guaranteeing Mid Major's best champion.

I know the 4th ranked team has won this a couple of times, including us last year, and with the current system we need to care about the 4th team. But, I can't get my underwear in a bunch based on whether the 4th team, sneaks in. In 2014, I think history would've been okay with one of the Big 12 teams getting in over OSU, and last year history would've been okay if Bama didn't quite make it in, based on their last performance in a key game.

I could go on, but bottom line is...if you keep moving the finish line, then there will always be someone that is unhappy. And the game will suffer.

 

[teamplayer]

The conference championship games have been liabilities since they were begun. In 1992, we had to play a Florida team with two or three losses before we were declared SEC champs and got to play Miami in the Sugar Bowl. Winning a conference championship is still very important for many people because we like to see championships won on the field and not determined by the "eye test" that often lies. In 2010, I don't think any team in the country could stay within two touchdowns of us when we played our best. Unfortunately, we didn't play to our best very consistently and lost three times. I don't think Ohio St. has earned their way in this year based upon their terrible loss and having so many close calls against a pretty weak schedule.
The results on the field matter more to me than any "metrics" or grades based on number of five star players. I proposed an eight team playoff way back in the day here on Tidefans with conference champions and a couple of at large teams going to traditional bowls and then playing a football final four with those winners. Yes, there would be times when there would be some upsets that would put an eight or nine win team in, but at least they would have to win their way in. I like the four team playoff, too, but I definitely like conference champions to be determined before worrying about the national title.