4 Team Playoff Talk, Jim Delany & Interesting Infonuggets Since 1998
Posted By Admin on February 9, 2012
Jim Delany, long time “pro-BCS” champion and Big Ten commissioner, turned plenty of heads this week with his declaration that the Big Ten would stand in support of a four team playoff if the BCS was to be restructured. A full 180 for the league and its leader, a bit of a head scratcher of sorts, but a move that folks pushing for a playoff can truly count as their first step towards having their thirst sated.
The most interesting part of Delany’s push was not that he made this switch, a much hated and berated figure in college football moving to be on the popular side was a smart move to remain entrenched in the fabric of the sport. No, the interesting part was the push for the homefield semifinal sites for the games as opposed to involving the BCS Bowls in the playoff.
For starters that’s not a bad move, as a guy who has never been anti-BCS the plus-one or a four team playoff was the compromise that I’ve been open to accepting all along. Playing the games in the BCS Bowl sites would be a tall task with regards to placing the burden on fans to travel or folks with no allegiance attempting to sellout the stadiums that would be involved. Instead put the games on the home sites of the top two teams where the higher seeds get the advantage of not traveling and you have a built in sure sell to the fans.
The thought of a four team playoff does differ from the plus-one idea that was bandied about that could have pulled the wool over everyone with the BCS just playing a title after the dust settled on the conference bowl tie-ins. This isn’t a move I’m truly opposed to and as it moves forward with the support of other leagues my interest lies in the rules enacted, the process of selection and what happens to the 34 other bowl games teams play in.
Do the losers of the games play for the third spot in a BCS Bowl? Do the other conference champions go about their business in their slotted BCS games? When would the game be played and how much prep would be given?
And, of course, the biggest question is what requirements would need to be fulfilled to participate?
Those are questions for another day as the seemingly inevitable future draws nearer, right now? Let’s have some fun and look back at the trends and winners or losers of this system had it been in place since the 1998 inaugural BCS season.
Comments
Leave a Reply