UF President to Push for Playoffs, FSU Supports

[Bobcat99]

IF a non-BCS team goes undefeated and is more deserving than a 1 or 2 loss BCS team, they should play for the national championship.  

That is too subjective for an equitable solution. BCS teams will always carry more agency than non-BCS teams, simply because they are more visible. They have more games on TV and they are covered in-depth by the news media.

Case in point? Ohio defeated Akron two weeks ago to win the MAC East and earn their first bowl bid since 1968. This game was televised on ESPNU. That same evening, there was one NCAA football game (Pitt-WVU) and two NBA games. ESPN's 2am ET SportsCenter (the "main" one, the one that runs at 11pm West Coast and is replayed until 11am ET) did not cover the game. The only mention of it was a brief tag by an anchor at the end congratulating Frank Solich on capturing the East. The entire show was taken up by OSU-UM previews. That game, of course, was important, but it's not like ESPN didn't have video of the game. THEY BROADCAST IT. Non-BCS schools just don't get the attention, and thus, if humans are evaluating merit for inclusion into a playoff, inoculation and cultivation theory both point toward the teams with greater media exposure getting the nod.

[bulls96go]

"and one" mini playoff 1 vs4 2vs3 the winners play each other for NC

11-12 game reg season, with bowl games

could use the bowl system if they are willing

[USF03]

What will UF say now that they HAVE a shot at the Champ game?

[Guest Sprtsfn627]

Everyone understands that the season is what determines the NC contenders.  

They play 16 team playoffs at all other levels of college football. I fail to see why that cannot be done for I-A. Any other solution fails to address the major issue with the bowl system, which is NOT that teams like Florida, et al get left out. They chose to be left out by LOSING. The major failure with the system is that UNDEFEATED TEAMS get left out. Boise State and Ohio State are the only two undefeated teams in the country. In any other sports division, conference, or league on EARTH those two teams would be facing each other for the championship. Alas, Boise State is denied a chance -- despite the fact they pay the same NCAA membership dues as Ohio State.

.....

Hence, a 16 team playoff that includes all 11 conference champions and 5 at-large teams. The "it keeps students out of school too long" argument is, of course, laughable, as it someone alleges I-A football players are somehow more studious than those at I-AA, II, or III who play 16-team playoffs yearly.

In I-AA, there are only 6 autobids (sound familiar?) and 10 at-large spots.  Most of the at-large spots are gobbled up by the "major" conferences, with only a few bids going to the "mid-major" conferences.  It is very likely that if a playoff was instituted for I-A, you would see something very similar.

[Bobcat99]

I-AA is complicated. There are 15 I-AA conferences, but one of them (the Ivy League) does not officially belong to Division I for football at all and is basically classified I-AA against their will (they are non-scholarship, and do not participate in postseason play). Eight conferences get automatic bids to the tournament. A handful of the conferences do not issue scholarships; those conferences do not receive automatic bids. The SWAC chooses to opt out of the tournament and plays its own championship game. (The MEAC, it should be noted, does receive a bid.) In the end, only one conference offers full scholarships and does not receive an automatic bid:  the Great West Conference. The Great West only has five teams, and three of them are in Division I transition, and thus ineligible for the playoffs (a shame for NDSU, who went 10-1.)

So, yeah, not every conference in I-AA gets a bid, but all the ones that are fully compliant do. In I-A, all the teams offer the same number of scholarships, so it's a bit more equitable insofar as what the teams put out in that aspect.

[USFPDiddy]

UF might just be crying over how their performances didn't jump them into #2, but the president has a point.  The reason a playoff is used in almost every other sport is that the teams that have proven they're good across a season have had a chance to gel.  Should the 1 loss team that plays OSU pull the upset, we'll have too many 1 loss teams for comfort.

Nobody argues against the playoff system in other sports.  Even if a playoff system also doesn't necessarily crown the best team, what it DOES do is give everyone within a reasonable range a CHANCE.

[Guest]

From the Florida Today...

Arkansas official backs BCS

BY DAVID JONES  (AP Poll Voter, by the way)

FLORIDA TODAY

ATLANTA - While fans, players and coaches of tonight's Southeastern Conference Championship Game opponents, Florida and Arkansas, have been using the "p" word for several weeks, not everyone at the two schools is pushing for a playoff system in major-college football.

University of Arkansas chancellor John White told FLORIDA TODAY on Friday that he does not want a playoff system. White said it's time to accept the Bowl Championship Series and "move on."

Florida coach Urban Meyer has been vocal about the BCS, even saying a couple of weeks ago it was time to dump the system if Michigan plays Ohio State in a rematch for the national title.

University of Florida president Bernie Machen and Florida State president T.K. Wetherell have begun discussing a proposal for a playoff.

But White told FLORIDA TODAY he's not interested -- even if the Razorbacks beat the Gators tonight.

"I do not favor a playoff game," White said. "If you ever needed proof that no reasonable format for a playoff game is foolproof, look at this year's results. If you picked four, at least that same number could argue they deserved to be included. If you picked eight, an equal number would have credible arguments that they should be included."

White said the BCS does the best job of crowning a champion and supporting the current bowl system.

"The current system of bowls scattered across the nation, coupled with the BCS, serves our colleges and universities, as well as the communities hosting postseason bowls quite well," White said. "It's time to accept the BCS with its flaws and move on."

Mike Slive, SEC commissioner and BCS coordinator, said earlier this week he's willing to listen to new ideas. He agreed the current system isn't perfect.

Source Article

[Cubanbull]

If the playoff does NOT include all conference champions then it will be the same crap as the BCS. A four team playoff would mean more restrictions on who gets in. This year the Big East,ACC and Big 12 champs would probably be absent.

So unless they go to a 16 team playoff with all conference champions in + 5 at largest based on highest rankings it would be worthless (also no more than two teams from one conference)

[Cubanbull]

I say let the FOUR BCS Bowls play their games and then have the FOUR winners advance to a playoff. So this year we would have.

Orange Bowl: Wake Forest-Michigan

Sugar Bowl: Florida-Louisville

Rose Bowl:USC-Ohio State

Fiesta Bowl:Boise-Oklahoma

6 conference champions + 1 the highest nonBCS league champion + 1 at large highest rate team not a champion.

After the Bowls you match the Sugar vs Orange winners in a game in the east coast and the winner of the Fiesta-Rose Bowls somewhere in the midwest-west.