Comments on: SEC Still Has Five Teams In BCS Top Eight; No League At More Risk With Move To Playoff

By: AllTideUp

AllTideUp — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:55:12 +0000

@10Vol85 Florida also beat LSU so it does make sense that they would be the highest ranked of those 4.

By: 10Vol85

10Vol85 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 01:06:17 +0000

Yeah, but being the best of 4 is more satisfying than being the best of 2 and there’ll be less squawking.

By: 10Vol85

10Vol85 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 01:04:34 +0000

I’m not sure I get the logic of the Georgia, Florida, SC order. FL beat SC by a lot. SC beat GA by a lot. GA beat FL by a little. Seems to me that should favor Florida. Coincidentally, that’s the way the computers have Florida on top despite not factoring point spread. The humans have Georgia highest.

By: GatorBuc2

GatorBuc2 — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 22:32:32 +0000

John,

so, would the SEC be better served with an 8 team playoff?

By: MoKelly1

MoKelly1 — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:28:47 +0000

Well, it seems to me the new system can only hurt the best Conference … not help. Its no accident the other conferences were preaching the “conference champion” model. What a slap in the face of other conferences when the #2 team in the SEC gets selected for the championship game ahead of their own conference champion. But, as you say, we will see in 2 years.

By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:15:25 +0000

@I4Bama

Thanks for reading, but I think you’re missing my point.

The SEC Championship Game was an extra step to a national crown, yes, but it actually furthered the league’s perceived strength nationally. We’ve said the same thing about the SEC going to a nine-game conference slate. That wouldn’t hurt the league, it would likely help it if those games replaced the Jacksonville States and Presbyterians of the world.

The playoff, however, will feature a selection panel made up of people from across the nation, across many conferences. Those conferences all jumped on the playoff bandwagon and pushed for a selection committee the instant two teams from the same league reached the BCS title game. There’s a reason for that.

I’m not saying the playoff will damage the SEC’s title hopes because it will require a team to win an extra semifinal game. I’m saying the SEC’s odds of landing a team in the finals will drop when humans are making the choices and computers are no longer a built-in component. Many a conference president has already stated that league champs should get extra love at selection time. If that comes to pass, then the odds of a runner-up from a league — like the SEC — making the four-team field are going to be slim.

A lot can happen in a month and it’s possible the SEC won’t have a team in the top two of this year’s BCS at year’s end. But it’s probably more likely the league will field teams #1 and #2 again. In a four-team playoff, an SEC non-champ could conceivably be left at the altar in favor of three league champions from elsewhere.

Instead of a four-team playoff upping the SEC’s title hopes, I believe the league’s hopes will drop… if the commissioners decide on their selection committee as they’ve said they would.

We’ll see in two years.

Thanks for reading,
John

By: I4Bama

I4Bama — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:24:42 +0000

People said the same sorts of things about the SEC Championship game, but it was begun in the belief that the cream would rise to the top, no matter how many times that cream is asked to prove it and no matter what shape that format takes. If the SEC is truly better, and I believe it is, it will show. I understand the politics of keeping teams out, but think about this – the SEC has singlehandedly given college football a playoff. It goes far beyond the LSU-Alabama Sugar Bowl. Conference title games are essentially the first round, now leading to the second and third rounds. A four-team playoff is actually a twelve or fourteen team deal with several play-in games. Like it or not, the BCS with conference title games is much closer to a true playoff than it is to the old bowl/poll system. It is in this scenario that the SEC has shined. If the SEC is the cream, it will rise.