Welcome back! When we last met I had just finished discussing how the SEC East is bad… Like “Indiana is better than half of them” Bad… On to the SEC West!
Like the Big Ten, the SEC has a dominant division and a garbage division. The difference that the dominant division doesn’t have the depth. Usually 90% of their prestige is based on NFL team Alabama*. LSU is Michigan 8-9 years ago. They fired Les Miles (Lloyd Carr) who had them consistently competing but rarely beating the division rival that also happened to be one of the best teams in the country (Bama/OSU). We’ll see if their new coach is Rich Rod/Hoke or if they return to relevance soon. This year Auburn is 2015 MSU or Current/2016 Penn State. One of the best teams in the country but still kinda thought of as the historically 3rd best team in the division. Here’s the thing about this year though… Alabama hasn’t played anyone. They lost to Auburn. I’m always hesitant to pick against Alabama but maybe they’re not an NFL team* this year. They certainly haven’t done anything to PROVE they’re better than any of the other top 10 teams this year.
So here’s my point: The Big Ten has Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan State, and Northwestern all in the top 25. They have Michigan, who’s only losses were to the four best of these teams. That’s #4, #8, #9, and #16… and that’s without a QB. You find me another unranked team with ONLY losses to top 16 teams… At one point 4 Big Ten teams were in the top 10. These teams have been beating the hell out of each other since week 4. Meanwhile the SEC schedules teams you’ve never heard of in Week 10! This is bullshit. Now the SEC is guaranteed to have either 2-loss-Auburn or 1-loss-Georgia in the CFP. Alabama likely gets rewarded for not even making the SEC championship by getting in if #2 or #4 lose their conference games. This would give the a bad SEC 2 teams in the CFP. Meanwhile the Big Ten’s best (and probably only) shot is if Wisconsin (The only undefeated team in the top 10) beats OSU in the Big Ten Championship. If OSU wins, probably no Big Ten team in the playoffs. If OSU wins AND #1-3 all lose then MAYBE they put OSU in… or maybe TCU moves past them with the win over Oklahoma. #9 Penn State isn’t even in the discussion and Michigan isn’t even ranked because the Big Ten East is the best division in the country (and.. you know.. broken quarterbacks…).
Here’s what I hope happens: I hope OSU wi..(dry heave noise) OSU wi (vomits)… doesn’t lose… the Big Ten Championship game by like 3 points. I hope Alabama gets in after sitting out the SEC championship. Georgia makes it after beating Auburn and then kicks Alabama’s ass in the first round. I hope no Big Ten team makes the CFP. And I hope TCU or Miami or someone who never plays any Big Ten teams runs the table. Then I hope that every Big Ten team kicks the shit out of every team they play in their bowl games. Maybe Penn State puts up 50 points on Auburn. Maybe Harbaugh crushes Stanford and Wisconsin embarrasses Oklahoma. Basically I want every Big Ten Team to look like they should have been in the top 4. And I want everyone pissed that the “National Champion” didn’t have to play any of the 5 potentially superior Big Ten Teams. The “rules” for getting into the division are bullshit. The 4 team playoff system has devalued conference championships. But I have a solution!
Many people suggest an 8 team playoff. This would be better but I have an alternate solution:
- 6 Team Playoffs
- All power 5 conferences must have a conference championship game (as of this year they all do)
- Power 5 conference championships get an automatic bid UNLESS: that team has 3 losses or more. In this case the CFP can bypass that entire conference BUT CANNOT select another team from that same conference. This is to cover a) weird situations where all of the good teams are ineligible or b) when a conference just plain sucks that year.
- The remaining spot(s) can be given to any team that the committee chooses. It can be a second team from one of the Power 5, or Notre Dame or undefeated Western Michigan… whoever.
- Order can be decided by the committee.
- #1 and #2 get BYEs. #3 plays at home against #6 and #4 plays at home against #5 (this should probably happen before “Bowl Season”
- The final four play on Neutral Fields during Bowl Season like today’s CFP schedule.
This solution makes conference championships matter. It also encourages scheduling better non-conference games. Now there’s essentially 2 paths to the playoffs: win the conference or have a good overall record. For example: say this year Wisconsin had beat either LSU or Notre Dame. Maybe then they get in to the top 6 even if they lose the conference championship.
Anyway.. Point is if everyone listened to me everything would be better… Too bad I don’t ever spend my time on anything important.
*This is based on salary more than talent… I’m not naive enough to think they could actually beat even the Cleveland Browns… Just like I hope you’re not naive enough to think they don’t make more than the Cleveland Browns deserve.