I can also see (literally, it will be unavoidable) the local Pgh media finally getting their chance to ooze over the prospect of a “NIT PLAYOFF!!!!!!” Cook will need to buy a new 12 pack of Hanes tighty whiteys.
Expanded playoff coming in 2024
- Thread starter Slick Manager of Champs
- Start date
I think the new format will be more exciting. Also, the conference championship games will be a lot more exciting as well as the final few weeks of the season.
These are the final rankings:
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/...-alabama-michigan-georgia-cincinnati-make-cfp
These rankings would have produced these pairings:
ALA VS. WINNER OF MISS/OKLA ST
BAYLOR VS. WINNER OF GA/PITT
MICH VS. WINNER OF OHIO ST/MICH ST
CINCY VS. WINNER OF NOTRE DAME/UTAH
These are the final rankings:
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/...-alabama-michigan-georgia-cincinnati-make-cfp
These rankings would have produced these pairings:
ALA VS. WINNER OF MISS/OKLA ST
BAYLOR VS. WINNER OF GA/PITT
MICH VS. WINNER OF OHIO ST/MICH ST
CINCY VS. WINNER OF NOTRE DAME/UTAH
If this had been the last 8 years or so I'd agree. But things seem to be changing just from NIL, coaches getting older, etc. There's been something in the vicinity of parity these past two years. This year especially.
But I guess you could argue that an expanded field this year would produce even less parity in the end, because Alabama and Ohio State would probably both find a way to get into the final four if it was 12 teams this season.
my response was tongue in cheek to the post that we just need to schedule crappy OOC teams to be like the Peds. We will never be like them cause we will never be able to recruit like them. We can't even keep our 3 star commits committed.
I think NIL has the potential of spreading the talent around, but still, it appears that the schools with the most NIL resources are the ones that had most of the talent to begin with. Which makes sense, since these schools were paying just the same illegally before and had the funding already in place.
Relatively few schools right now have big dollars available, or at least, the dollars that they think they will need. Michigan just lost a top recruit to Miami because of NIL. Day says he needs $13 million just to hold his current roster together. PSU people think that they are way, way behind in NIL. I realize that it's all relative, but at the end of the day keeping up with Georgia and Bama and USC etc is still really difficult and the same pecking order exists.
Once the schools are allowed to start using their conference payout money, maybe the above teams will have more to spend, but the same will happen to the schools that already have huge booster support. The needle moves the same in terms of proportion.
They can write all the rules that they want, but enforcing anything will be damned near impossible.
Yeah, but OSU and Clemson missed the playoffs last season too. Two seasons in a row not being at or barely being at the party doesn't fly.
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Not to start the propaganda as some would say, but Pitt should be 10-2 at least. Open with Kent state. At cincy and then home Wvu but no ND and have Youngstown to wrap up pre acc. Then have two nc schools and Miami. No Clemson or fsu until potential acc champ game. May be better to start a multi year qb next year then ride out Slovis and start a new qb in 24 with a good schedule for once.
I'm the opposite, if it's some off the wall team or teams, I'm more interested in watching. I'm so tired of seeing the name brands and hearing the announcers and talking heads climbing up into their asses the whole game.
That's terrible if they agreed to that. The semis shouldn't even be played at bowl sites. It's dumb and why would the teams that get a bye not get a home game but seeds 5-8 do? It makes zero sense.
When have the leaders of college athletics ever made any sense!
Need to figure out a way to get them into the ACC and get a new TV contract to bring in more $.
No it won't. Notre Dame's AD was on the committee that came up with this. They were happy to give up the chance at a bye in exchange for access to the playoff and the ability to have a home game in the first round.
This cliches the fact that Notre Dame won't be joining a conference for at least a very, very long time.
I'm sure they'd WANT a bye. But they also want to remain independent, and they wanted access to the playoff.
As someone once said, you can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.
No doubt they want to remain independent, but they had access and made it several times when it was 4 teams. I'm surprised they would agree to it.
Agree. They get their *bye" by not having to play in a conference championship game(which could be a late season loss, which is always judged more harshly than an early season loss).
If they are ranked highly enough, they will get to play the 12 seed in the opening round of the playoffs. As more conferences go divisionless, playing the 12 seed could be a more favorable match up than playing the runner up in a power 5 conference in a championship game.
Look at the NFL playoffs and how often a team with a bye loses to a hot wildcard team, and I actually kind of envy Notre Dame's position on this setup.
A step on the right direction, but only having 12 teams involved isn't enough. Having 16 would have been much better.
Their AD was one of the people that created this format. I think they were fine with it from day 1.
Want doesn’t have a ton to do with it. It’s going to be those teams regardless. If my love of college football was dependent on Cinderella stories, I never would have fell in love with college football, because they don’t exist.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I don’t think every other conference is judged the same. That’s why some don’t even make the playoffs some years.
Jack Swarbrick was the Chairman of the Playoff Expansion Committee. This was his idea. Its his baby.
He signed off on this over a year and a half ago.
He said that this eliminates the "thirteenth data point" issue regarding ND.
ND thinks that no bye is just the cost of doing business as an independent. ND gets 6 at large bids to shoot for, though.
ND strongly thinks that independence and six at large bids is worth the price of no bye.
ND will likely get to host first round playoff games, too. ND absolutely loves this expanded playoff format.
This clinches football independence for a very long time, assuming that NBC is going to give ND a big raise.
ND thinks that football independence is best for its brand and for the school itself (advertising, attracting students, etc..), so its not just a football issue, but a brand and school identity one.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I don't buy that argument until a school gets to two losses. A one loss P5 school is going to make a 12 team playoff.
I've been a Pitt fan since the 70s, if I wasn't dedicated to watching every Pitt game, I'd watch very little college football, and it's mainly because it's always too predictable, same old same old over and over, no other sport is as predictable, and the post season is always boring, I usually watch parts of bowl games, the entire Pitt bowl game, and never the playoffs or very little, because it's always teams that I hate. and it's even worse now, with the portal, NIL and players opting out. Other than individual games, which can be entertaining it's the worst sport, and champions aren't even decided on the field, but by optometrists doing eye tests. You're probably right that the same teams will always win anyways, the tedious nature of it will continue, but at least with 12 teams, more teams, maybe even Pitt can celebrate getting there once every 20 years.
Everything you’re saying is just college football, and has always been college football. And yet, I’m a college football fan.
That's great, but I thought the object was to win a NC. You're at a disadvantage by never having a bye. That fact isn't remotely debatable.
I would think your AD being "the guy" would get you a better deal. Apparently not.
ND must’ve lowered the bar and accepted their fate. They used to get mad at coaches for not winning a national championship. Not having a bye makes it extremely difficult.
Is it a bigger disadvantage not getting a bye, or is it a bigger advantage to not have to play in a conference championship game?
You can't win the championship if you aren't in the tournament, and this deal makes it more likely that they will be in the tournament. And they don't have to give up their independence to get it. They obviously feel the trade off is worth it, even if you or I might not.
It's irrelevant. Teams in conferences were always going to play their championship game, and Notre Dame was always going to remain independent.
Why would they not be in a 12 team tournament? Good for Swarbick if he's selling access to a 12 team playoff as a win and people are buying it.
It's relevant if Notre Dame is ranked something like 10th in the last regular season poll and doesn't have to risk losing to someone in a championship game. Or if they are 13th and team number 12 has to play one of the top teams in the country in a championship game.
What he's selling people is that they didn't have to give up their independence, which a lot of people there were worried that they would have to, to secure access to the playoff. Heck, there are still people on this board speculating that this plan is going to force them into a conference, which it obviously isn't.
They've secure their independence and playoff access at the expense of possibly every so often missing out on a bye. They got the two things that they care about the most at the expense of something that is unlikely to happen all that often.
ND values independence that much. ND got the deal it wanted.
Independence clinched. Six at large bids. Chance at home playoff games.
Well, there's two sides to every coin. A team could be ranked 13, 14, or 15 and not have a championship game to potentially win and move into the top 12. They also never get the chance to win it and get a bye. You can also lose a championship game and not drop out.
There's no real advantage to not playing.
When was your independence ever at risk? That's all silly talk.
Swarbick had no stroke and you're selling it as a win. You got the same deal as UConn.
