There’s no question that Alabama and Georgia are the top two teams and in an 8, 12, or 16 team playoff they’d likely have ended up playing each other. But the hyperdominance of the SEC is itself a part of the system that produced this outcome.
If you’re a great player in California, you probably go to the Pac-12. But what if the season is reduced to a playoff system that the Pac-12 never even participates in? Well then maybe you go somewhere else. Like the conference that participates in over 50% of all playoff games. So the Pac-12 becomes weaker, and the SEC becomes stronger, precisley because of the system that the SEC dominates. This sort of self-reinforcing success has always been the case for teams, but now it’s the case for conferences to the point that Texas A&M becomes a more attractive destination than top Pac-12 teams. Conferences that aren’t G5 start getting distinctly G5-like problems. This started under the BCS, but the CFP has exacerbated it.
Putting other conferences in a post-season tournament would, I believe, loosen that dynamic somewhat. Pac-12 schools have a lot more to offer than they did. So would ACC schools, and Big 12 schools. And G5. “Come here and we’ll go to the playoffs together” is much more compelling to prospects than “Come here and we’ll make the Rose Bowl” or “Together we can beat the odds and make the playoffs.”
As a G5 program, we have to make a lot of outsider arguments to players who mostly would rather be on the inside looking out. Moving to P5 helps recruiting because you can argue that you are national players. Nationally relevant. In a conference that is playoff-relevant some years. It’s a big step up. Bigger step than that is being in a conference that (more or less) puts a team in the playoffs every year. Just as being P5 gets the ear of athletes that otherwise wouldn’t give us the time of day, being playoff-relevant would give us the ear of any more.
The FCS may have a really dominant team like the FBS, but five conferences have made it to the championship in the last seven years, compared to five total teams for the FBS (those five comprise of five of the only six schools to get multiple 5-star draft picks in 2021 – success begetting success, and access to the potential of success being all-important).
So my belief is that the effect of expanding the playoff would probably occur over time.
I think that the increased ratings for the 2017 game was due to the fact that you had UGA in the game and as a result you had UGA fans who (i) finally, finally got to watch the Dawgs play for a championship and (ii) the Championship game was in Atlanta, which actually triggered more viewing at bars and restaurants and interest from casual Atlantans and Georgians overall. Seems counterintuitive, but a restaurant manager told me that is what generally happens.
Anecdotally I think that he is right; I saw far, far fewer watch parties and bar get togethers this time than I did for the 2017 Championship Game. Same for the World Series games this year, Braves home games actually triggered more outside watching than the road games.
Either way, I think this strengthens the arguments of the Alliance that people want a bigger pool of teams and don’t want to watch SEC v SEC games. The numbers prove it out.
Again, this is why I think that either the Alliance will end up winning out, or, we are going to end up with no CFP and back to a situation similar to the pre-BCS era, where conferences just play in pre-assigned Bowl Games.
I don’t like it, but I think this is inevitable without some movement toward the Alliance position.
Playoff expansion will bring parity and help prevent dynasties just like it has in College Basketball. We will never see a run like Sabans run at Bama ever again.
it takes schools decades to get to the national championship game…except alabama. is it because of their magic grits?
There is no way that should be happening…but I guess folks are ok with it. If they were in the SWC, that would have been stopped many years ago with an investigation.
Talking Heads on sports shows say that Georgia had superior talent at DL and LB. Alabama could not block them.
The result was 30 Net rushing yards by ‘Bama and 57 passing attempts.
Alabama recruiting has leveled off. No more 15 NFL draft picks on every team, every year. Next year more of same. The entire SEC West is improved, LSU will come back. They all will.
This happened to every single College Coach in history. Look at UT. From 1958 to 1973 they won The SWC 10 times and had 3 National Titles.
Then in 1974 Baylor won, then Arkansas in 1975, then UH in 1976.
And then DKR was gone.
Saban is 70. Greatest ever. But not crushing everyone. Yes, still very good. Few losses in 2022. But no Natty.
I’ll bite. Give me the rundown of how North Dakota states decade long dynasty doesn’t apply. Alabama all by itself proves it. And expanded playoff won’t change the amount of money that top programs get to hire the best coaches and the best players. So it will be a continuation with a couple of aberrations
But that’s what the message board is for so share your thoughts
The reality is in the middle, as usual. ESPN is probably happy with the numbers, especially with a rematch game. Factor in decline in cable subscribers and compare to how tv ratings are down everywhere, it looks very solid. Highest rated thing on cable since that 2019 title game, only the NFL had better numbers on any network in 2021. I don’t think a college game will ever get 30 million again unless maybe they go back to ABC/Fox/CBS/NBC but even doubt it with that.