Thank Nick Saban and Alabama for playoff expansion

[Redwood Forrest]

Alabama announced that Saban might never stop coaching on Monday. Three days later the College Football Playoff cartel decided it was time to start discussions about expanding their exclusive party from four to 12 teams. Suddenly, after claiming expansion was years away if it ever happened at all, the CFP now says expansion could happen as soon as 2023.

There are no such things as coincidences. There is only Saban and everyone else trying to carve out relevance in this world that he occupies.

Thank Nick Saban and Alabama for playoff expansion - al.com

 

[tusks_n_raider]

The ongoing discussion is here......

https://www.tidefans.com/forums/threads/stage-is-being-set-for-playoff-expansion.324364/

 

[81usaf92]

The ongoing discussion is here......

https://www.tidefans.com/forums/threads/stage-is-being-set-for-playoff-expansion.324364/

I think the point was more to have the thread title out there than to have a discussion since he has been commenting on both threads about expansion.

 

[tusks_n_raider]

I think the point was more to have the thread title out there than to have a discussion since he has been commenting on both threads about expansion.

Fair enough

 

[Guido]

Should we thank Saban or is he to blame? This lame committee should stick to their contract and redo the deal after it's done. Have we not learned anything from college bball? Nobody cares about the regular season, only march madness. The same will happen to football.

 

[ALA2262]

Just as the addition of the 12th game to the regular season was all about FCS, this format is all about G5. If it was just about Saban and Alabama, they would be talking about 6 or 8 teams. Or not talking at all.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Should we thank Saban or is he to blame? This lame committee should stick to their contract and redo the deal after it's done. Have we not learned anything from college bball? Nobody cares about the regular season, only march madness. The same will happen to football.

I disagree. The college football product is still too finite. There are 30+ regular season games in basketball then a 68 team tournament. In that setup, yes it is way too water down and the regular season has far less consequence.

I agree with a lot of the criticism of this 12 team deal and yes it is totally about the money and legal issues with the G5. But I disagree that interest is going to wane. There are other reasons why that might (and has been) happening, but some of them are outside of CFB’s ability to control.

 

[CraigD]

There’s a good chance we will see more quality games during the season because schools won’t be so afraid of losing one game and therefore being shut out of the playoffs

 

[tlockwood]

There’s a good chance we will see more quality games during the season because schools won’t be so afraid of losing one game and therefore being shut out of the playoffs

I wish this would happen, but I don't think it will.

I think the cupcake games will continue. Those colleges need the money and the big fish are eager to prey on them for an easy win and to pad the stats. This will never change.

 

[CrimsonTheory]

Can't wait till teams that finished the year at 13-16 complain that they are better than 8-12 and people will be hollering for a 24 team playoffs, and so on.

I could have been convince a 6 or 8 team playoff needed to happened, but 12 teams?

 

[TNBama]

I think we will start seeing FAR fewer big out of conference games. Strength of schedule will become no big deal now. We will only see those big matchups in the tournament. 12 is way too many.

 

[crimsonaudio]

There’s a good chance we will see more quality games during the season because schools won’t be so afraid of losing one game and therefore being shut out of the playoffs

That would have already happened if this were true.

Expanding the playoff will only increase the whining from those who have zero claim to being the best.

 

[crimsonaudio]

I wish this would happen, but I don't think it will.

I think the cupcake games will continue.

That Clempson has been a mainstay proves this. Half of the P5 teams would have similar records to Clempson with their schedule.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Can't wait till teams that finished the year at 13-16 complain that they are better than 8-12 and people will be hollering for a 24 team playoffs, and so on.

I could have been convince a 6 or 8 team playoff needed to happened, but 12 teams?

Yes, but it's the inevitability of the reality that you pick one or the other.

You either have bowl games or you have a playoff.
You CANNOT have both.

And once you don't have both, you don't have any choice.

 

[81usaf92]

Yes, but it's the inevitability of the reality that you pick one or the other.

You either have bowl games or you have a playoff.
You CANNOT have both.

And once you don't have both, you don't have any choice.

If they would ever get rid of the group of 5 and go to a system that was universal in rules then this thing would probably solve itself. College football was mortally wounded the moment Utah beat Alabama in 2008.

 

[UAinAthens]

I think we will start seeing FAR fewer big out of conference games. Strength of schedule will become no big deal now. We will only see those big matchups in the tournament. 12 is way too many

I agree. Expand to 12, and now its about endurance as much as ability. Schools are going to decide to manage wear and tear to make sure they stay as healthy as possible.

The irony is that yet again the system will produce the reverse of what they say they want. Before, a midseason misstep could cause one of the top teams to miss the playoff. Now, at the end of the year, there is no way that all of them aren't in the playoff. So now the G5, P12, and other third world conferences will make the playoffs. But only the big boys have the depth and talent to run the gauntlet in a 3 or 4 game path to a title.

We've seen cases where we believed 5 was better than 4, but it will take a special case - injuries costing a top program early games until starters return for instance - for someone with a bottom half seed to win anything.

All this is really about is getting the lame conferences that playoff paycheck.

The only thing I'm looking forward to is the repeat years where the semi bracket has 2 or 3 SEC teams in it.

The only real positive would be if this forced them to add more scholarships.

 

[TideEngineer08]

If they would ever get rid of the group of 5 and go to a system that was universal in rules then this thing would probably solve itself. College football was mortally wounded the moment Utah beat Alabama in 2008.

I'd like to place some of the blame on Oklahoma for choking against Boise State as well two years prior to that.

But you can forget any such split. When you read the details of how this 12 team arrangement came about, it was explicitly for the group of 5 and to a lesser extent, the Pac 12.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

I will say this now (feel free to bring this up again if I am wrong), no 7-12 seed will ever win the playoff

 

[81usaf92]

I'd like to place some of the blame on Oklahoma for choking against Boise State as well two years prior to that.

But you can forget any such split. When you read the details of how this 12 team arrangement came about, it was explicitly for the group of 5 and to a lesser extent, the Pac 12.

Well to be fair to Boise… they didn’t start the nonsense of “we deserve to play for the national championship” even after beating Oklahoma. Utah did and threatened lawsuits and federal legislation. Boise fans really didn’t become a nuisance until the BCS screwed them in 2009. And no I’m not talking about screwing them out of a title game, I’m talking about screwing them out of a big matchup in a BCS game. Really 2010 is when they changed their tune to “ let us play for the NC”.

 

[CrimsonTheory]

Yes, but it's the inevitability of the reality that you pick one or the other.

You either have bowl games or you have a playoff.
You CANNOT have both.

And once you don't have both, you don't have any choice.

I get that. More teams in the playoffs just makes the regular season less important, see CBB.

Ultimately, it would not surprise me to see this set up:

Top 24 teams in the tournament, ala March Madness.

Teams 25-60 play in the bowl games, basically football version of the N.I.T.