When you are dealing with the SEC, Pac 12, and the BIG 10, there is no such thing as a cupcake schedule, in my opinion. There is, however, a few schools who do really well in recruiting, coaching and reloading year after year and at times appear to be dominant and give other schools in their Conference hissy fits year in and year out. B1G 10 for example. The Buckeyes on any given Saturday are in for a fight. If you run the table in a conference like that, you've done something.
Keep in mind, I'm a Notre Dame alum - not a hater. I really wish they would join a conference (any conference with a championship game) and take the "cupcake schedule" monkey off their back. Cool Lyman I did not know you were Alumi.........have you ever been to a game @ South Bend ??? I do agree with you about joining a Conference......it would be nice.
I lived in north central Indiana for six years. I've been to many ND games in South Bend. Unfortunately, they were in Jerry Faust era.
They have essentially joined the ACC. 5 games vs the ACC, plus Stanford, USC, of course Navy and then usually 2-3 more power conference teams. This year it was Michigan, Northwestern and Vanderbilt. Next year it's Michigan and Georgia. They only have cupcake schedules when their usually strong opponents have collective off years or they get the bad ACC teams at once.
no it wouldn't VV. then kiss goodbye their rivalries with USC, Stanford, Navy and if they don't join the Big 10 Michigan and Michigan State. ND has been through this conference thing before and either they wanted to join the big 10 and were told no or turned them down. as of 2000 that door has been closed after Michigan not wanting them a part of the conference. So now they remain Independent and play whomever they want.
They need to be in a conference. The only way to fix that is to only allow teams that play in a conference championship game to make the playoffs. Yes bama would have missed altogether last season. But Georgia was in the same boat a few years ago and they decided to push them down anyways even though they were the number two ranked team going into the conference championship week. I still don’t understand how a team can drop out of the top four when they were number two and didn’t play a game. Why didn’t Bama get left behind? Favorite system.
Hogwash... You are playing off the "soft schedule" argument you tried to make earlier. I have already debunked that. Once you go to a conference schedule, ALL conferences then schedule soft games to compensate, the SEC choosing to use the Sun Belt and Southern Conferences for their "off" games. Notre Dame schedules perennial BCS conferences, with the exception of Ball State, who is in the MAC which is considered a much better conference than the Sun Belt. Move Notre Dame to the ACC (which is where all their other sports reside) and they lose credibility. If you are in the ACC, the ONLY way to get into the playoff is too go undefeated...If Clemson loses the conference championship game against Pittsburgh, then BOTH will be left out of the playoffs...even though Clemson's only loss was in their conference championship. On the flip side, had ND lost to Michigan, and Michigan's only loss was to tOSU, then they would still be in the hunt for a playoff birth. Leaving out an Independent is moronic. To say anything of a soft schedule is calling out ignorance. As an independent, they play a "National" schedule. What other team in a conference plays teams from all over the country? The SEC plays teams in the South, the furthest they travelled was a 1 hour plane ride, which was probably done on a bus. Notre Dame traveled to the West Coast to play USC in Los Angelos CA and Navy in San Diego CA, traveled to the East Coast to play Virginia Tech in Blacksburg VA and Syracuse in Bronx NY, traveled to the North Coast to play Northeastern in Evanston IL, and South to play Wake Forest in Winston-Salem NC. No other college team in the country travels as abroad as Notre Dame. "Soft schedule" is in the eyes of the ignorant. No other teams in the country has any larger number of "quality wins" as Notre Dame. To state the SEC is full of quality wins is also ignorant, as splitting these power conferences into divisions leads to the top teams in the conferences not always playing each other. The fact is, the Notre Dame schedule is full of teams that have a rich history in their football program, but 2018 happened to be a down year for many of those teams. There is no way to know that a Stanford or a Florida State will have a down year when you schedule them 4 years in advance.
If you make the stipulation that only a team playing in a conference championship can make the playoffs, then you also need to put in the stipulation that they WIN that game. Only one thing would come out of this being made a rule... 1) the Irish WOULD join the ACC, then every non-conference game would include the likes of the Citadel and others not worthy of playing in South Bend IN. Every other top program would also cease scheduling ANY power programs in their our of conference schedule, because what is the point of taking on a game that could keep you out of the conference championship in case of a tie in your division? 2) With the "win" stipulation, you would make the winner of the SEC an automatic participant and you would eliminate all other SEC teams. This would probably be true of the Big 10...What would you then do if you get an upset by Northwestern in the Big 10 Championship...they would become a de-facto playoff team. 3) Other lower conferences would automatically become more important. The Central Florida team would become a 2019 playoff team, simply by beating the Memphis in the AAC Championship game...even though the loss of McKenzie Milton is a damning loss as far as the playoffs are concerned. Basically any lower conference that manages to get an undefeated team through the year, would have a much higher consideration. Thus, they would start refusing to play the power conference teams in the off chance of winning a conference championship undefeated. You just haven't thought out the repercussions of what you are stating.
gid- CBS had a better idea. do away with conference title game as not every conference has them and have the top 8 teams play in a playoff. those games would be much better than many of these lopsided conference games. clem-pitt ? osu-northwestern? yikes.
I dont think when some of the larger conferences decided to go to a Championship Game it was meant in any way to hinder a schools chance at a National title... that's what the CFP is supposed to do, kinda sort things out. What kills me is the 4 team format in a system that has so many teams, factors, divisions and un-answered questions when all is said and done. I wanna see UCF play, or get a chance to play, the Georgia's, Alabama's and Buckeyes, then we would all know what kind of caliber team they really are. The way the system works now the UCF's of the country or a MAC team isn't going to get that opportunity unless they change to an 8 team playoff, in my opinion. For a few years now, this to me, has been obvious. More games is doable and would just make more revenue for all those money grubbers wanting to line their pockets, lol... and let alone the schools involved. At the end of the day it would be nice to not have any controversy or 'what if' scenarios. Let them decide this on the gridiron.
^^ agreed Will. the final or top 8 teams play in the big bowl games- Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange Bowls and other Bowl games will host the Final 4 and Finals. Huge tv money there vs lame conference title games besides the SEC game.
I have always said we should have 8 teams in the playoffs. You know that the morons that run the NCAA took like 100 years to finally decide they needed a playoff system in the first place. Maybe they will move a little faster than that, but that still doesn’t mean it would happen in our lifetime.
Moving to an 8 team playoff format won't change that much. Right now, with the 4 team format, the teams in 5 and 6 are bitching and moaning. Move to an 8 team format would only mean that teams 9 and 10 will bitch and moan.
there has to be a cutoff somewhere. 9 or 10 or 13 and 14. the bracket has to begin and end somewhere. 1-4, 1-8, 1-12 - someone will always be left out.
I agree, but the teams around 9 & 10 are usually about 3 loss teams, I think. I was just trying to address the UCF or unbeaten to 1 loss teams that are at 5 n 6 should get a shot. You do have to draw the line somewhere, tho.
and a 8 team playoff vs regular bowl games would generate so much more money. im shocked the NCAA, which is a money vacuum, doesn't jump all over that.
