24 replies to this topic

[greenminer]

Just take the conference champ from each Conference. Logic says that the "big boys" will most likely defeat the "smaller" schools, but at least they have a chance. The rest of FBS gets to go to bowls.

Problem solved.

Strong possibility for two national championships: AP + whatever...

[Mark Gommesen]

So if the conference champion from the C-USA or MWC is rated in the top six, they would be an automatic qualifier to the playoffs and a chance at a National Championship. That's a BIG change boys and girls. The independents should be left out. BYU and Notre Dame have monopolize television money to the disadvantage of the conferences.

[gksmith]

This may be too early for some in this crowd, but the NCAA D1 Basketball tournament used to be only 32 teams...and only conference champions went to the tournament. In 1972 (I think), Maryland lost out to UNC in the ACC tournament. Maryland was #2 in the nation. Maryland did not go to the NCAA tournament. The following year the tournament was expanded to 64 teams to allow at large bids and teams that win the regular season but lost in the conference tournament. This eliminated the chance of a highly ranked from being snubed.

If football is going to do the same mistake, then when the #2 or #3 team in the nation gets left out, smarter heads will prevail and the situation will be corrected the following year.

So who will be the #2 or #3 team to be left out in the cold? (PLEASE be LSU...)

[CMJ]

This may be too early for some in this crowd, but the NCAA D1 Basketball tournament used to be only 32 teams...and only conference champions went to the tournament. In 1972 (I think), Maryland lost out to UNC in the ACC tournament. Maryland was #2 in the nation. Maryland did not go to the NCAA tournament. The following year the tournament was expanded to 64 teams to allow at large bids and teams that win the regular season but lost in the conference tournament. This eliminated the chance of a highly ranked from being snubed.

Not exactly true. The history of NCAA expansion was much more gradual.

• 1939–1950: eight teams
• 1951–1952: 16 teams
• 1953–1974: varied between 22 and 25 teams
• 1975–1978: 32 teams
• 1979: 40 teams
• 1980–1982: 48 teams
• 1983: 52 teams (four play-in games before the tournament)
• 1984: 53 teams (five play-in games before the tournament)
• 1985–2000: 64 teams
• 2001–2010: 65 teams (with an opening round game to determine whether the 64th or 65th team plays in the first round)
• 2011–present: 68 teams (four games in the "first four" round before all remaining teams compete in the second round)

[DT 90]

Boise wasn't a conference champ either.

Nope! TCU was.

No Division 2nd place team should have ever been allowed to play in the National Championship game.

Edited by DT 90, 04 May 2012 - 01:08 PM.

[Baby Arm!]

No, it would have been LSU, OK State, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Alabama would have been out.

Wisconsin wasnt ranked in the top 6 at the end of the season.

[Mark Gommesen]

Nope! TCU was.

No Division 2nd place team should have ever been allowed to play in the National Championship game.

Under the proposed formula, It is only true if the top six ranked teams were also conference champions. If a conference champion is not ranked in the top six they do not qualify. The slot would be filled by the next highest ranking non-champion team. which could be a 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th place team. In theory all of slots could be filled by one conference if the six of the teams were ranked in the top six. I would not be opposed to restricting a single school from each conference participating in the playoffs. I would also not allow the independents to participate.

[untjim1995]

This actually makes some sense--get the conference champions in the foursome, but leave room for an outlier. I'm sure that ND and BYU would get consideration as a "conference champion" if they were ranked that high. To me, you just take the top 4 teams, but no more than two teams from one conference. So if Alabama and LSU are ranked in the top 4, then they both make it, along with Oklahoma State and Stanford. Those four were the best teams last year, so they would have all be included.

Here's the best part for the Mean Green. Now, being in CUSA, if certain things worked out, you can get ranked highly from this conference, especially if you beat a tough OOC schedule. Not saying that the CUSA champ could realistically get included, but its certainly more of a possibility than the champ of the SBC would get. Heck, its probably as good as the MWC or the Big East, which brings me to the funny part. So SMU just jumped ship from a regional conference that didn't really draw many fans already to the most far-flung conference that man has ever created. If I was a SMU fan, I like getting a game against Boise State and still like playing Houston, but when they play San Diego State or UConn, I doubt very seriously that there will be any more butts-in-seats at Ford Stadium than when they played in CUSA, but the travel bill will be extremely higher than before when they travel all over the country. The Big East AQ TV money is a lot better right now, but I am not sure that will stay that way when the conference loses its other top teams (Louisville, USF, Uconn, Rutgers and Cincy will all be targets of the Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12) and when the BE basketball powers finally decide to start their own basketball-only league again (see Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, St. John's, DePaul, Seton Hall, and Providence add a few other CAA or A-10 teams). Those CUSA departees will probably have to look again at what makes sense for them as conference members. SMU probably just pissed away any chance of getting back here, since UNT has the support of Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, and UTEP, along with UTSA and La Tech. How ironic would it be to finally get the chance to be the one that gets to determine if SMU can join a conference we are a member in? Its not that crazy to see this outcome occur over the next 5-10 years.

Edited by untjim1995, 04 May 2012 - 03:06 PM.

[UNTflyer]

So if the conference champion from the C-USA or MWC is rated in the top six, they would be an automatic qualifier to the playoffs and a chance at a National Championship. That's a BIG change boys and girls. The independents should be left out. BYU and Notre Dame have monopolize television money to the disadvantage of the conferences.

If I'm reading this right, then yes we would have a chance.

We need to promote this model, because eventually it will expand to include all conference champions.

Edited by UNTflyer, 04 May 2012 - 04:51 PM.

[gksmith]

Not exactly true. The history of NCAA expansion was much more gradual.

• 1939–1950: eight teams
• 1951–1952: 16 teams
• 1953–1974: varied between 22 and 25 teams
• 1975–1978: 32 teams
• 1979: 40 teams
• 1980–1982: 48 teams
• 1983: 52 teams (four play-in games before the tournament)
• 1984: 53 teams (five play-in games before the tournament)
• 1985–2000: 64 teams
• 2001–2010: 65 teams (with an opening round game to determine whether the 64th or 65th team plays in the first round)
• 2011–present: 68 teams (four games in the "first four" round before all remaining teams compete in the second round)

I must have been asleep between 1979 and 1984. I don't remember the NCAA going 40, 48 52 and 53 teams. I may have the dates wrong on Maryland but I do remember the story. Point is - the #2 team in the country should be in the tournament regardless of losing in the conference tournament.