Still don’t understand why people pay homage to a conference commissioner. Nobody voted this guy Pharoah of college sports.
1 Like
Bingo
I think a lot of people are realizing it by now honestly
But once you give the SEC teams $100+ million/year in media rights to buy the best talent in the sun-belt region of the country, they will dominate the Top 25 rankings. And so if the playoffs include 12 teams without any AQ’s from the lessor power conferences (read Big12 et al) - you would have to think that the SEC & B1G would take at least 10 of the 12 playoff spots with the SEC having at least 6-7 spots each year.
No other conference is going to agree to no AQs…The 12 team playoff will have all the P5 champs and then 7 open…If the SEC get 4 or 5 of them, then they get them…and there has never been a year when B1G could get more than 2 of the top 12…
but that has been before the B1G starts getting $100+ million/year per team in media rights distributions…which will change the trajectory of college athletics
Getting $100 million+ per year won’t turn Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, or Minnesota into regular playoff contenders.
1 Like
The SEC and B1G already outpace everyone else in revenue. That doesn’t change the fact that there’s still only a couple or a few elite teams in each of those conferences. They’re not going to pass up 2 or 1-loss teams from the B12 or ACC to add the 8-4 5th place finisher in the SEC or the 9-3 5th place in the B1G.
So you are saying soon we will see the SEC football powers of Vandy, UK, ole Miss, Miss State in the CFP because the SEC has balance and is not top heavy
1 Like
I suspect that you’re impressed by the fact that three different SEC teams have won the national championship over the past three years. You know that the SEC is not the top-heavy conference you suggest it is. But you refuse to admit what you and everyone else knows.
Right now they are. Can you predict the future? If you do I would love to know the winning lottery numbers.
Do not be so sure Monte. Remember we started with:
No BCS,
BCS
Power five cartel
cfp
Now we are all talking about Power four to power three conferences. This is even before the new cfp contract comes up for auction. Again this is not about sport or merits. It is about cash and…
I love how UT is not picked to win the B12, but has an 18% chance to win the National Championship.
4 Likes
They clearly believe that the Big 12 is an incredible strong conference.
3 Likes
A year ago , i wouldnt have believed it possible to raid PAC 12 into obscurity, but that is what is happening…and that story saying all ACC schools want out and if 8 vote to override GOR, its gone? If true, ACC could be gone in a year… or sooner. unbelievable…
and the three 20 team super conferences become a reality. and Houston is a part of it…
1 Like
Greed - call it like it is folks and accept it
They keep moving the needle every time the gap closes
These sec and big 10 types complain that 60 million a year before you do anything and sell a ticket or sponsorship package is not enough so they want more
But these same folks will turn around with the increase windfalls and overpay coaches with longer contracts and their staffs and then say the 10 year old indoor facility is outdated cause school b added a shooting range in theirs so let’s destroy that and build a football only for now 4 times the original cost
Then you have greedy ESPN up the ante by charging consumers more to cater to their demands - how much is too much?
1 Like
There’s no question that the SEC is the best conference in football, and that there is a significant gap between them and the next best.
Where we run into the “perception” being a problem, though, is their belief that the third, fourth, and fifth program in their conference could probably run the table in any other conference. In any given year, their bench is just not that deep.
But when we talk about which teams should get into a playoff, this is the relevant question because what’s going to be asked is "Is the SEC #4 better than the champion of the Big 12? The champion of the ACC? The AAC? These are the questions a playoff committee would have and the perception of the SEC doesn’t match up clearly with the reality but there’s a good bit of reason not to trust playoff committees there.
(And then beyond that, playoff access shapes competitiveness, in addition to the other way around. A system that decides that a 10-2 Ole Miss is clearly better than an 11-2 Baylor will evolve into a system where the next Ole Miss actually is better than the next Baylor as recruits follow playoff access.)
But when we talk about which teams should get into a playoff, this is the relevant question because what’s going to be asked is "Is the SEC #4 better than the champion of the Big 12? The champion of the ACC? The AAC? These are the questions a playoff committee would have and the perception of the SEC doesn’t match up clearly with the reality but there’s a good bit of reason not to trust playoff committees there.
To be fair, the current national champion, Georgia, didn’t win the SEC.
And in 2017, the national champion (Alabama) didn’t even win its DIVISION!
No other conference can claim a national champion team that failed to win the conference. There is something special about the SEC that is exemplified by its 14-5 playoff record and winning more than half of the CFP-era championships. It is more than perception.
Georgia was a top tier SEC team last year. Projected from the start to win. Alabama was a top tier SEC team in 2017 (only didn’t make the CCG due to a division disparity). That the top tier teams in the SEC are the best is precisely the statement I was agreeing with. That’s why they dominate the 4-team playoff.
Where the self-perception becomes more debatable is below the top couple of teams. That’s not the relevant question when it comes to a four team playoff, but is the relevant question when it comes to an 8 or 12 team playoff, and proud declarations that the median (or at least #4 or #5) SEC team would be a conference champion anywhere else (and therefore should get more playoff consideration than said champion). That’s more of a perception than a successfully tested hypothesis.
1 Like
Ehh the SEC #4 and #5 finished #21 (Arkansas 8-4) and #22 (Kentucky 9-3) in the CFP Rankings in 2021. In 2019, #12 (Auburn 9-3) and #13 (Alabama 10-2). In 2018, #11 (LSU 9-3) and #14 (Kentucky 9-3).
If it’s a 8-team playoff those teams aren’t getting in. In a 12-team playoff they could depending on the year. But even if the SEC gets 4-5 teams in there’s still 7-8 spots remaining. With a B1G probably getting 2-4 spots depending on the year, then that still leaves 3-6 spots for the ACC, B12 and G5s. I just don’t see them including a bunch of 3 or 4 loss teams over a slew of undefeated, 1 or 2 loss teams from the B12 or ACC which right now are decent conferences (and if we get some PAC schools the B12 will be even stronger).