MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Well obViously I get why they want it. I wasn't really clear there. I just think its not healthy for the overall landscape of the game.

Because of SEC bias, who really knows how good some of those teams are? They play Athens community college, Albion and western tennessee state for OOC scheduling. Alabama has stepped it up a little bit, but most of the SEC schedules like Wisky does. None of this will ever really matter until games start getting played in the midwest, but we will never see that in our lifetimes.

The SEC's position is so short sighted it is ridiculous. The reason March Madness draws in $$$ billions is because everyone in the country is interested and feel they have a chance for their team or they root for their conference. Hundreds of millions of eyeballs are staring at TVs. The only way to achieve something similar in football is to allow for league champions from the SEC, Big 10, PAC and Big 12 into the "dance". (kinda like the NFL has divisions and makes $$$ billions for the owners and everyone benefits). The NFL gets it. They want parity as that brings fans and eyeballs to the game. The SEC doesn't get it. They (and their ESPN propaganda machine) actively market themselves as THE greatest conference and now want to set the rules so that (at least currently) they will have more seats at the table. For years they have set or bent rules (i.e. over recruiting) to get themselves to the perceived top while other conferences acted within some sense of decency toward the student athlete. The SEC president's and acadamia need to get involved in this a bit like they do in the "respectible" conferences.

The only compromise that I can see is to expand it to 8 teams and allow for four/five conference champs and then "wild cards" based upon a committee selection process rather than an ESPN biased poll.

Maybe. Or maybe it's the gambling appeal March Madness has...?

I don't want to see all of college athletics structured around whatever makes the gambling industry most happy.

Get rid of all polling. Conference champions make the playoff, maybe just top 4 conferences based on OOC scheduling. Every team has a chance to make it to their conference championship game, if one fucks up and trips while at home to the eventual conference champion then maybe they weren't good enough that year. Make the SOS just as important, since the league would need a strong SOS, so if a conference schedules all patsies and D2 teams, they should be punished for it. Also spread out the games, like basketball with 4 regions.

Until a game with national implications is played in the midwest or northeast by a southern team none of it matters.

The easiest way to "force" a team to schedule harder games is to do the conference champ model. That means that non-conference games aren't as important because you can still get into the playoff by winning the conference championship. Therefore, teams are less afraid to schedule quality opponents in those games. Plus, the paydays for such a big non-conference game will get the attention of the ADs and force the issue. Not sure how much UofM and Alabama are getting for the game in Dallas, but I'm sure it's more than what they would get if they played a FCS school.

Money gets people's attention and bigger matchups in the non-conference = more money. Eliminating the fear about not being able to make the playoff if a team were to lose that game can only lead to more of these big time non-con games and thereby increase SOS.

On the flipside here, the silence coming from Notre Dame on what they want is deafening. They know that nobody gives a damn what they want and are now basically at the mercy of the conferences.

We can imagine a scenario like last year where L$U or Bama loses to the other and them both teams run the table. That is what the SEC is trying to protect. The ability to put 2 , possibly 3 team in the Top 4.

For example:
L$U loses to 'Bama in the regular season and then wins the rest of their games
'Bama goes undefeated and wins the SEC Championship game beating Georgia that went into the game undefeated

By SEC logic 'Bama, L$U and Georgia all deserve to be in the final 4 teams if the polls work their way.

I would still like to see the 2 playoffs being played as a Saturday double header (2 sites) a week to 10 days depending on when New Years falls after the traditional bowls and play the Championship game the week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl.

That won't happen because there are conferences beholden to bowl committees.

I think the SEC is going to lose this one. TV execs have yet to chime in, and having an all SEC BCS Title Game bottomed out ratings for ESPN.

Unfortunately, I don't see the $EC declining. Between oversigning, better youth football, better athletes, boosters, and shittier grades, it's a recipe for winning.

But they won't because they have too much money and power. Remember Cam Newton? That shows you where the NCAA stands on the issue of SEC cheating. They'll crack down on the OSUs and USCs from other conferences to give the appearance of not being afraid to hit the big boys, but never for the SEC.

The SEC seems to be the smartest group in the room on this subject...fans want to see the best 4 teams in the tournament, not a collection of conference champions. Fans want the selection process to be meritorious, not political.