So, all of those anti-playoff folks out there...

[lou v]

...how do you feel now? Do you feel like the regular season was diminished? Did it take away from any bowl games?

I'm not gloating (OK, I am), but to me, the playoff far exceeded my already lofty expectations as a guy who had been calling for one for years. The bowl season was great and the CFP was spectacular. It generated HUGE interest in college football -- that was a Super Bowl-like event last night, with a more college and less corporate feel. Same with the semis -- they were like bowl games on steroids. I just saw a tweet that the game did an 18.5 rating last night, the highest ever for ESPN and a 21% increase over last year's BCS title game. The fact that the B1G claimed the first title was just icing on the cake.

It's a new era in college football.

 

[SmellyCat]

As someone who just likes college football and has no interest in the teams involved, I thought it was fantastic. I watched plenty of other bowl games, and they were good, but I particularly enjoyed these three games, and I still had fun during the regular season as well, despite the fact that MY favorite team didn't do so well.

Now, if Northwestern made the playoffs and I had to decide between going to a semi-final game that is guaranteed or a championship game that my team might never play in, I don't think I would like having to make that decision so much. And of course my preference would be to have enough money and time to do BOTH games potentially, but that's not realistic.

 

[Eurocat]

I was and remain an anti playoff guy.

I feel the bowls and regular season and the bowls were diminished.

I feel we are putting the health of players at risk as well. Too many games for their young bodies. I hate to sound like some wimp but seriously, what about the children?

And OSU having all this extra practice time.........you guys don't think this will help them oodles next year in the regular season?

 

[NJCat83588]

Too many games? It was 1 additional game for 2 teams.

The bowls are dying a natural death. Almost all of them had many empty seats. No one cares other than some of the alums of the respective universities. Bowls live to fill TV (mainly ESPN) programming slots.

 

[olshin]

Having 40 bowl games and allowing 6-6 teams who are 5-6 against FBS competition is what devalues the bowl games. Not having the top 4 teams actually play for a title.

 

[StreamCat]

Oh, no! I didn't even think about the Buckeye's extra practice time. Playoffs bad... very, very bad.

 

[StreamCat]

Originally posted by olshin:
Having 40 bowl games and allowing 6-6 teams who are 5-6 against FBS competition is what devalues the bowl games. Not having the top 4 teams actually play for a title.

Yeah, because the last thing college football fans want is lots of college football. Give us less. We want less!!!!!
(I hope my sarcasm is duly noted.)

 

[hdhntr1]

The real money for bowls is from TV and especially from ESPN. Still could do wiht about 10 less. And I would like to see the BIG bowls more spread out than all on Jan 1.

 

[Deeringfish]

I'm still an anti playoffs guy but that was a great game. I'm not sure it accomplished what it desired as the #4 team won and everyone can argue they just got hot at the last minute or something but I've never been a big fan of crowning a national champ anyway.

I think time will tell how it impacts the bowl games which I love (I could do with about 20% fewer). If the bowls are not rendered totally meaningless and abandoned by the media then I could change my mind.

 

[phatcat]

except - "wait my team didn't make it, have to expand it to 8 teams". Because, you know, the (presumed) eighth best team deserves a shot at the title. oh, and btw, since we have 5+ CCG's, which are defacto play in games, the field is even larger.

There are so few schools involved in the ccg's and playoffs that the bowls WILL become meaningless. Take a step back and look at the games that occurred before 12.31. Not affected?

Might be good for the overall popularity of the sport, but for supporters of a program like ours, that fights annually to get to a meaningful bowl game, that will be less and less important. Instead of being the first round of the NCAA MBB tourney, they will be the NIT.
This post was edited on 1/13 11:27 AM by phatcat

College Bowl Attendance declines - again

 

[PURPLECAT88]

I was anti-playoffs and still am. It was certainly better than the BCS, but that's not a high bar. I like the conference vs. conference bowl match-ups, and got much more enjoyment out of the Jan 1 games than last night. I always liked the idea of bowl game winners in D1 football rather than crowning a national champ as every other sport does.

OSU's massive fanbase mitigated the worry that fans having to choose which round to go to would hurt attendance. Their talent mitigated my worry that the B1G would have trouble winning two games in the south and/or west to win the title. I still worry about those things in the long run.

My feelings, though, are going the way of the dinosaur. Ratings uber alles. The playoff is here to stay.

 

[BoJERJ]

I loved the championship game though I was in Dallas yesterday for business and had to deal with OSU fans.
Still was cheering for them due to BIG loyalty.

I don't get all the hoping for less bowl games. Let the marketplace decide. If the stadiums are half empty so be it.
The easiest thing in the world is to not turn a game on if you don't want to watch it. Its like any TV programming.
I could due with a lot less reality dating shows but I just don't watch them.
I enjoy watching Big Ten bowl games. Beats poker championship reruns.

 

[Aging Booster]

I just do not see the need for a national championship game of any sort. This is COLLEGE football composed of full-time students participating in extra-curricular activities. Competition is fine, but let's keep it in perspective. What should really matter, in my opinion, is conference titles. A limited number of bowls should be showcase games for the fans and pollsters and rewards for good teams. Anything extra is simply a product of greedy TV networks and school administrators. It denigrates the student-athlete ideal and opens the argument for student-athletes to be paid, exempt from graduation requirements, or otherwise treated differently from other students. These threats will prove very legitimate in future years and cause schools that are unwilling to adopt a semi-pro attitude to simply stop competing at the highest levels. Do we not have enough football without further requiring 19 year old students to play extra games? Really - what is the point other than to make $$ for TV networks and satisfy some bored old guys who have nothing better to do with their time than watch football?
I also hate the current basketball tourney. Nobody cares about conference championships or regular season records any more. Most "fans" cannot even name their conference champ these days, but know the teams that made the "Big Dance". So many teams make the tourney that it becomes a second season - the only one that matters - turning the regular season into an exhibition series for the top teams and a pointless exercise in frustration for teams not good enough to make the tournament. Academicians have to take college athletics back from the media and the fans.

 

[willycat]

Deering, me too and they are already calling for an 8 team play off and then it will be a 16 team tournament because the 9th through 16th teams can't be ignored. Last nights game should have been played in Pasadena in something called the Rose Bowl. Big Ten vs. Pac 10 Jan. 1, right after the Gator, Fiesta, Sugar ,Cotton and Orange Bowls.

 

[CatFanEd]

I watched the two playoff games and the Title game. All other bowl games seemed insignificant. The first bowl season I only watched 3 college football games. I support the 4 game playoff but nothing beyond that. We are going to dilute loyal fan interest but ratings will continue to rise because of an expanding market. If you are rich and retired you can travel to these games. If you are a working class stiff you are out. Corporations will be giving away the tickets to fill up the stadiums.

 

[NJCat83588]

Every single sport, in all divisions (I, II and III) has a championship game. Why should FBS be different? Should the NCAA cancel the championship tournament for basketball? Wrestling? Tennis? Lacrosse? Those are college students participating in extra-curricular activities too, yet no one seems bothered that THEY have a post-season championship!

FWIW, I loved the FBS playoff this season. Make it 8 teams and life will be perfect.

 

[TXnumbCAT]

Originally posted by Aging Booster:
This is COLLEGE football composed of full-time students participating in extra-curricular activities.

More like full-time football players who are also "playing school" when they have to.

 

[NJCat83588]

Originally posted by Deeringfish:
I'm still an anti playoffs guy but that was a great game. I'm not sure it accomplished what it desired as the #4 team won and everyone can argue they just got hot at the last minute or something but I've never been a big fan of crowning a national champ anyway.

That would be a fun argument..........dOSU only won 14 straight games!!! What a "last moment".

 

[NJCat83588]

Originally posted by TXnumbCAT:

Originally posted by Aging Booster:
This is COLLEGE football composed of full-time students participating in extra-curricular activities.

More like full-time football players who are also "playing school" when they have to.

Oddly enough, the NLRB concluded exactly the same thing!!

 

[Aging Booster]

Replying to TX: This is in our control - it does not have to be this way. Colleges are being pushed around by media giants who want more $$$. It is simply wrong. As a university professor, I strongly believe that colleges have to regain control of all sports. We must ignore the dollars to do the right things for the students. The fans be damned! To argue that the perversity of the current system justifies additional perversions is disturbing reasoning.
This post was edited on 1/13 1:59 PM by Aging Booster

 

[AstroCat]

Ever since the BCS system was created, I felt that a four team playoff is the optimal choice for college football. It effectively solves the major problem of the BCS system, without changing things too much. It was great to have a combination of bowl games for the good teams and a playoff for the four elite teams.

However, while I think four is optimal (and I might grudgingly accept eight), anything beyond that would be a huge mistake. In order to qualify for the playoffs, a team has to be able to make a case that it is a Number 1 or a Number 2 team. When you start including 16 teams (or more), you wind up including teams that cannot make that case.

 

[TypeO]

Originally posted by Eurocat:
I was and remain an anti playoff guy.

I feel the bowls and regular season and the bowls were diminished.

I feel we are putting the health of players at risk as well. Too many games for their young bodies. I hate to sound like some wimp but seriously, what about the children?

And OSU having all this extra practice time.........you guys don't think this will help them oodles next year in the regular season?

The bowls have diminished themselves by having too many games with undeserving teams that nobody cares about. A bowl invite has become college sport's "participation trophy".

As for your last two points, take it with a grain of salt, but I think Meyer represented that OSU barely practiced last week as they needed to recover physically. As far as player health, if that is your concern reduce the regular season to 11 games. Nice try though.

One thing the CFP did expose is that the SEC's hegemony was a charade, and that's a good thing.
This post was edited on 1/13 1:38 PM by TypeO

 

[Alaskawildkat]

My take as that your view has been vindicated. That said, moving to more than a four team play off would be a disaster for all the reasons those opposed to a playoff had espoused. The bowls have been weakened but not diminished. (The Rose reportedly had difficulty getting seats filled this year though in the end must have given away a lot of discounted or free tickets as it did not look too bleak on TV.)

 

[PURPLECAT88]

Originally posted by NJCat:
Every single sport, in all divisions (I, II and III) has a championship game. Why should FBS be different?

No specific reason. Being different is its own reward.

 

[spartcat]

It seemed to me that the other major bowls had fine attendance, and possibly more on average than last year. That's an empirical question. The cotton bowl (my personal favorite) had quite a turnout. PSU's pinstripe bowl was a total sellout. etc. These "other" bowls were no more or less important than they were last year, but interest did not seem to diminish.

BTW, I would argue that we've had a playoff for many years: a One game Two team playoff is still a playoff by some definitions. This is much better.

 

[Fitz51]

Originally posted by Aging Booster:

We must ignore the dollars to do the right things for the students. The fans be damned!

Remember that the next time the college needs money for something.

 

[StreamCat]

I'm glad you said with a grain of salt. I can just hear Urban now, "We are playing for the National Championship on Monday, boys. No need to practice. Why don't you all just sit around for a week. "

 

[NUCat320]

Hdhntr, I'm exactly the opposite. In my mind, the best part of the new system was the jam-packed NYE and New Year's Day. It felt like I remember New Year's Days feeling like ... 25ish years ago. My least favorite part of the previous system was having a game on 1/2 that I didn't really care about but that was being promoted like i should, and then another on the 4th and the 5th, before the game that mattered.

That is, MSU-Baylor was a great game, but not as a standalone among two teams that weren't going to win the title during 'championship season.' But as game 1 of a full day, it was great. Same with the NYE lineup that included TCU and Boise and Ga Tech - none good enough to be appointment viewing, but all interesting enough to follow all day. It felt much more compact, in general.


I never minded the BCS, because i think the idea of trying to crown a national champion - from a list of 125 (or 60ish 'power five', if you like) in about 15 weeks is simply foolish. The best team I saw over the last 15 days was TCU, so the concept of 'undisputed' is simply silly.

 

[RevCat]

Preach it brother...


Although you will be declared insane

 

[EvanstonCat]

Can't understand at all how anyone could possibly oppose the CFP at least relative to the BCS and what we had before. Maybe you could argue that it should be 8, or something that includes champs from each conference plus at large/other conference.

 

[StreamCat]

Yeah, ECat, the playoffs were great. They ended just the way you wanted them to end.

 

[Gladeskat]

Originally posted by StreamCat:
Yeah, ECat, the playoffs were great. They ended just the way you wanted them to end.

Stream, are you bitter that your two favorite teams, ND and NIU, didn't make the playoffs this year?

 

[StreamCat]

Originally posted by Gladeskat:

Originally posted by StreamCat:
Yeah, ECat, the playoffs were great. They ended just the way you wanted them to end.

Stream, are you bitter that your two favorite teams, ND and NIU, didn't make the playoffs this year?

Yes, my friend. Yes.