Well, we are getting a 12 team playoff next year, which should be an improvement over the current system. Even with that, some deserving team(s) will be left out next year.
I can understand why some might see it this way…but fundamentally I generally believe the SEC champion is in the top 4 teams in the country and this year the 13 person committee saw it that way too. Next year, it will all be different.
FSU’s current QB is atrocious. If FSU was included among the top 4 CFP teams, it would have been a disaster as viewers would turn away during the second quarter.
TCU was a disaster last year but still deserved it. Truth is you could make an argument for six schools. They all deserve to be there.
The issue is that the entire thing is subjective.
I know the SEC is tops and I get the champion belongs.
It’s just a bummer for these kids. They beat Lsu, Miami, UF. Just that the competition was underwhelming.
The qb wouldn’t be the one in the playoffs. But even if so….
CFP and other college football bowl games depend on ratings; if FSU played Michigan, Alabama, or Washington, or Georgia, or Ohio State, ratings would suffer as viewers would tune out early due to a non-competitive game. Unfortunately, FSU’s offense is weak due to injuries to two QBs and the third string QB is terrible.
Like it or not, D-1 college football is about money.
#2 will be back for the next game but yes I know it’s about money.
You’re presuming it’s be a blowout. But that’s why they play. No one knows. Their D is excelling at the right time.
But it’s not subjective. The rankings and 13 person committee look at a wide variety of data and metrics.
They also specifically assess key injuries, which likely hurt FSU too, see last bullet from the principles section, here:
The selection committee will select the teams using a process that distinguishes among otherwise comparable teams by considering:
- Conference championships won,
- Strength of schedule,
- Head‐to‐head competition,
- Comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory), and,
- Other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team’s performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.
hmmmm - it’s subjective.
That a committee is looking and ranking metrics - it’s no different than a college ranking - it may be data based but it’s subjective to the data use and looking at key injuries (to which FSU’s #2 QB would be back).
It may be a way to bring unanimity but it is subjective…
Pac 12 is settled. Whatever legal stuff appears over.
FSU, on the other hand, ACC football is weak although that can change year to year. FSU is impatient. So much for SMU and the two CA schools.
The easy stuff is over, but big picture definitely not over because the pac 12 is a named defendant in the NCAA anti-trust lawsuit.
Time is ticking in terms of OSU and WSU figuring things out for the upcoming season too.
The whole FSU sitch will be interesting to see how it plays out. Not sure they will get out of the ACC until the ACC is no longer. I thought this article summarizes the ACC sitch well. I don’t dislike the deal of unequal revenue distribution.
Expected ratings. Great. As if we haven’t already started down the road of screwing up this sport. I can’t think of anything short of fixing games that would more thoroughly impugn the credibility and legitimacy of the sport than officially accepting that line of reasoning.
And not for nothing, but while FSU is definitely hobbled w/o a QB and vulnerable, it’s a team with elite athletes and a pretty effective defense. Much crazier things have happened in cfb than FSU being competitive in a game against anyone who made the playoff. We’re not talking about some nothing program lacking the requisite level of team athleticism. It’s Florida State. Even when they’re down you need to show up and play or you’ll get your ash handed to you. The saying, “play the game on the field” is a saying for a reason.
Moreover, there have always been, and will always be, teams who are playing lights out at the end of the year who most people believe would soundly beat anyone in the field. Happens all the time, and one of my favorite teams has been that team who nobody wanted to play at the end of the year several times. My team likely has at least 3 more championships if we run things that way.
But if we’re going to have an Alabama rule, which is what this is, then formally write it into the rules above board for everyone to see instead of this back room “eye test” of a bunch of middle-aged+ men - the “Committee” - who want to chant SEC! SEC! every year.
13-0. SOS is hardly an exactly science. They should have been in and allowed to shock the world or get their ashes kicked. That’s sports. Ridiculous.
It’s a basketball fan’s read on things, but also true. It’s also the reason Florida State, Miami and Clemson need to leave. They are misfits. Miami and FSU may make a little basketball noise once in a great while, but they’re not basketball schools, and the basketball schools are nobodies in football. It was always an ill-advised marriage.
Long-term, SEC expands or jettisons some of its lower performing teams (Vandy, the Miss schools, Ark, etc) and Miami and FSU join. Too much history and national following of both programs for them to be left out to twisting in the wind.
ACC is dead man walking. At least as a football conference.
Don’t agree. Too many prominent programs. But a bad tv deal which is FSU’s main issue and this year, they took it on the chin but if the revenues were there, they’d not be looking to leave.
Also don’t agree with the core four. Football, not hoops, drives the bus. No one is paying to see Wake…as good as they are. Maybe sub UVA in for WF.
Still it’s a football conference and with so many good names. Yes a down year vs others. But the long contract vs the recent ones in other conferences is the driver.
I could see the SEC expanding but not kicking out Vandy, the MS schools and certainly not Arkansas which was a fantastic pick up. I could see a Mizzou going Big 10. Syracuse too if the ACC disbands.
I don’t think you can kick out anyway. Leave but not kick out.
Agreed. It’s dead when Big10 negotiates a new contract when the current one ends in 2030.
I also don’t expect the big 10s new deal would approach the revenues they have now, at least based on the current status of network and streaming platforms.
Obviously much can change before 2030.
But then what was the point of bringing in the three schools - which obligate the media companies to pay more and those schools are giving back their share for years.
I think the cross country thing is going to end bad. On all conferences that are doing. Why would you want to be out west with continual long trips as an athlete. .
IMO that’s a non issue. Certainly a non issue for football.
Over time there will be enough schools in the big 10 (or whatever we call the few big conferences that will ultimately have the 65 former power 5 teams as members) to have a west coast division. IMO we are getting down to 2 or 3 conferences for those 65 teams.
I acknowledge I haven’t researched the contract provisions of each conference to know what can and can’t happen, and how much it’ll cost. But based on what just happened to the P12 and the ensuing law suits, it seems that if there is a compelling ($$) reason to do something, programs and conferences will just do it and damn the torpedoes. And as that idea relates to the SEC, I think anything is possible if Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida and now Georgia want it to happen. You know, the old, “we may not fire you, but we can make you want to leave.”
On the ACC, I think we basically agree. My assumption behind “ACC is dead” is sans Miami, FSU and Clemson. After those, what are the prominent programs? The North Carolina schools (all 3), UVa and Wake are basketball schools. Boston College is neither really.
You have G Tech, they have a natty but are mostly a middling program. Pitt has some history to be sure and can flex here and there. Go ahead and add them as a solid member. Va Tech, same. They’ve been really good but have reverted to their historical mean and have been back there for a long time. Still, a solid member. But the programs with elite ceilings and history are FSU, Miami and Clemson. Miami and FSU, with their recruiting bases, have shown before that they are but a coaching hire away from running the whole show. Anyway, those programs go and you’re left with a pretty mediocre conference.
Don’t get me wrong. I hate these “super conferences” and have no idea what they’ll do for or to the sport. Losing regionality, for example, will be a long-term negative I think.
One thing all people in sports need to consider but often fail to consider is this: if enough of us lose interest because the tinkering does away with the things we care about, then they are all at risk of becoming normal people making normal money. There is a scenario long-term where people just stop caring about it. Add continual demographic changes due to immigration patterns and generational preferences, and there is nothing permanent about any of this.
That’s right. And the non-revenues will continue to play regionally and just have two or three at most big travel games. The funny part is that their regional schedules will likely include OOC games against old conference rivals. I think you’ll see Oregon baseball play Stanford baseball, Arizona baseball play Oregon State baseball, etc. It just makes sense.
You forgot the most important ACC school - the Cuse 
I think we belong in the Bog 10 instead of Rutgers.
Of course our hoop relevancy is long gone.
I just don’t understand what options FSU thinks they would have, if they get out of the ACC for the $130m withdrawal fee?!