Op-Ed: College Football's Playoff & the Big East
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:58 am
http://www.bigeastcoastbias.com/2012/6/ ... e-big-east
"College football conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick have apparently come to a consensus on the best format for a new college football postseason. The new format will be a four team playoff where the participants are selected and seeded by a selection committee that will give weight to conference champions but will not be limited to them in picking teams. The games will most likely be played in the existing BCS bowl games in a predetermined rotation and the championship game will be bid out to cities like the Super Bowl currently is. This new format is as close to the current format as could be while expanding to four teams, which means it will have minimal impact on the Big East. Nevertheless, there are implications for the Big East going forward, here's a look at how this new postseason format will affect Big East football starting in 2014.
Most Years The Big East Won't Have A Team Selected, So Not Much Has Changed - The Big East in its post-ACC raid configuration came close, but never placed a team in the BCS Championship Game and in this new format, it won't in most years, either. There's nothing wrong with saying that. Every year at least one of the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, and PAC 12 also won't place a team in the football playoff, either. Some years, two of those conferences won't have a team involved. It's even less likely that the Big East will get a team into the playoff than those conferences, but that's how it has always been, so nothing's changed.
An Undefeated Big East Champion Will Have A Good Chance Of Getting In - In 2009, undefeated Cincinnati finished #3 in the BCS standings and in any reasonable selection process would've been invited to the college football playoff. An undefeated TCU team finished #4 in the BCS that year. One loss Louisville finished #6 in the BCS standings in 2006 and most certainly would've been in the top 4 had it run the table that season (it probably would've played for the BCS championship had it gone 12-0). In the event that several other conference champions go undefeated and finished ranked ahead of the Big East's undefeated champion, the Big East champion likely would get passed over for the other conference champions, but I don't believe anyone could argue that depending on the conference's relative strength that year. Still, an undefeated Big East champ will often have a good chance at the #4 spot in the playoff and that might be the best we could ask for in the short term....."
"College football conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick have apparently come to a consensus on the best format for a new college football postseason. The new format will be a four team playoff where the participants are selected and seeded by a selection committee that will give weight to conference champions but will not be limited to them in picking teams. The games will most likely be played in the existing BCS bowl games in a predetermined rotation and the championship game will be bid out to cities like the Super Bowl currently is. This new format is as close to the current format as could be while expanding to four teams, which means it will have minimal impact on the Big East. Nevertheless, there are implications for the Big East going forward, here's a look at how this new postseason format will affect Big East football starting in 2014.
Most Years The Big East Won't Have A Team Selected, So Not Much Has Changed - The Big East in its post-ACC raid configuration came close, but never placed a team in the BCS Championship Game and in this new format, it won't in most years, either. There's nothing wrong with saying that. Every year at least one of the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, and PAC 12 also won't place a team in the football playoff, either. Some years, two of those conferences won't have a team involved. It's even less likely that the Big East will get a team into the playoff than those conferences, but that's how it has always been, so nothing's changed.
An Undefeated Big East Champion Will Have A Good Chance Of Getting In - In 2009, undefeated Cincinnati finished #3 in the BCS standings and in any reasonable selection process would've been invited to the college football playoff. An undefeated TCU team finished #4 in the BCS that year. One loss Louisville finished #6 in the BCS standings in 2006 and most certainly would've been in the top 4 had it run the table that season (it probably would've played for the BCS championship had it gone 12-0). In the event that several other conference champions go undefeated and finished ranked ahead of the Big East's undefeated champion, the Big East champion likely would get passed over for the other conference champions, but I don't believe anyone could argue that depending on the conference's relative strength that year. Still, an undefeated Big East champ will often have a good chance at the #4 spot in the playoff and that might be the best we could ask for in the short term....."