SEC Warms Up to Home-Field Playoff Idea

[DuckTownHusker]

The Big Ten (and Pac-12) have been proposing that should a 4-team playoff model take effect, the initial rounds would be played at the home field of the top seeds. (#4 at #1) and (#3 at #2).

It was long anticipated that the SEC would oppose this, but now they seem at least willing to listen. Part of the problem with "neutral" sites is that they are seldom neutral. Most major bowls are in the southern half of the country, which greatly favors SEC schools plus a few other southerners like Texas or California schools.

Personally, I'd love to see a team like LSU or Alabama try and play a December game in Lincoln, Madison or Ann Arbor with 2 feet of snow and a -5 degree wind chill.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/...tes-in-playoff

[joncarl]

The Big Ten (and Pac-12) have been proposing that should a 4-team playoff model take effect, the initial rounds would be played at the home field of the top seeds. (#4 at #1) and (#3 at #2).

It was long anticipated that the SEC would oppose this, but now they seem at least willing to listen. Part of the problem with "neutral" sites is that they are seldom neutral. Most major bowls are in the southern half of the country, which greatly favors SEC schools plus a few other southerners like Texas or California schools.

Personally, I'd love to see a team like LSU or Alabama try and play a December game in Lincoln, Madison or Ann Arbor with 2 feet of snow and a -5 degree wind chill.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/...tes-in-playoff

The only way I would be for a playoff is if it was this right here. Home field NOT "neutral site". I would also see Nebraska playing Florida State at Arrowhead or Soldier Field that would be ok.

[DuckTownHusker]

An alternative would be to select two of the BCS Bowl locations - Pasadena (Rose), New Orleans (Sugar), Tempe (Fiesta) and Miami (Orange).

For example, last year would have looked like this:

#1 LSU (v) #4 Oregon
#2 Alabama (v) #3 Oklahoma State

Clearly the Sugar Bowl is a defacto home game for LSU. In that case, move the LSU-Oregon game to the Orange Bowl in Miami. The Bama-OSU game could be played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

There are a few reasons for this setup - first, you need big stadium venues to host these games. You could randomly bid out 3-4 cities and then pick whichever ones didn't have a home-field interest but that creates a logistical nightmare. Why not use pre-existing venues that routinely host these big games?

Personally, I favor the home-field model. But if we're forced into neutral site play, then there needs to be a mechanism preventing teams like LSU, the 'Canes or UCLA from playing in their own backyard and calling it "neutral." Ridiculous.

[70county]

Get rid off 'at large teams' and we have a huge boost in regular season and post season play....

[The Big Red Lebowski]

IMO, a 4-team playoff with hosted semi-final games would be the beginning of the end of the bowl system. I still have not decided if this is good or bad. I just think it's inevitable.

Presumably, the powers-that-be are going to make every effort to have a seat at the playoff table for at minimum 4 conferences (ie, you will have to win your conference to make the bracket). Fans are not going to accept 2 teams from one conference in a 4-team playoff unless you elminate the CCG's (and that cash genie is out of the bottle).

Thus, the playoff will feature the 4 highest ranked champions from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, ACC, Big East plus Notre Dame. In most years, this means a Rose Bowl without the Big Ten/Pac 12 Champion (and at times without either). The Rose Bowl is really the last bowl game worth preserving, and I don't see how it holds its caché long-term as a consolation game of sorts.

It also means that 2 league champions from a BCS conference will be left out of the playoff every single year. This will not fly for long. The playoff will move to 8 teams within 5 years. This really will be the coup de grâce for any remaining bowl games. The smaller bowls will become more irrelevant than they already are, and the idea of using bowl games as playoff sites will never fly economically. Neither teams nor fans will want to travel to "bowl sites" on consecutive weekends.

The top-tier of college football is on a very slow train (it will probably take 10 more years) to a D2-style playoff system. It's up to you to decide whether that is good or bad.

[MyBraska]

I know old habits die hard, and it surely will take a decade or more to get a home-field semi or a full-blown D-2 or I-AA style playoff, with only the championship game at a neutral "bowl" site. I agree it will eventually kill the bowls (but name any other sport at any other collegiate level that has a similar post-season arrangement).

I'm long over the bowls, and can't wait for the molasses-speed wheels to turn that direction.

[bilsker]

The PLAYOFFS ARE COMING!!!! The PLAYOFFS ARE COMING!!!!

It's unfortunate that college football will lose a couple fans but this will be a great thing. Can't wait.

[The Big Red Lebowski]

I know old habits die hard, and it surely will take a decade or more to get a home-field semi or a full-blown D-2 or I-AA style playoff, with only the championship game at a neutral "bowl" site. I agree it will eventually kill the bowls (but name any other sport at any other collegiate level that has a similar post-season arrangement).

I'm long over the bowls, and can't wait for the molasses-speed wheels to turn that direction.

I guess I still prefer the old conference tie-in bowl system above all else. I know most don't share this view, but winning the Big 8 and going to the Orange Bowl had meaning to me. Along similar lines, I get why long-time Big Ten and Pac 10/12 fans have such affection for the Rose Bowl. But those days are long gone. The 'Bama v. LSU rematch finally pushed me fully into the pro-playoff camp. A remtach of teams from the same conference was an abysmal way to end the season.

[MyBraska]

An alternative would be to select two of the BCS Bowl locations - Pasadena (Rose), New Orleans (Sugar), Tempe (Fiesta) and Miami (Orange).

For example, last year would have looked like this:

#1 LSU (v) #4 Oregon
#2 Alabama (v) #3 Oklahoma State

Here's the problem with neutral bowl semis - most fans would not be able to travel great distances two weeks in a row. A higher-seeded home-hosted semi would have incredible excitement and attendance, and the financial payout would break records. Seems like a no-brainer to me. The folks most against it would be the "executives" of the various bowls who have been sucking up the profits for years at our expense. A pox on all their houses.

[blkshrts]

I would like to know why the schools allow the bowls to dictate to them when they will arrive to a venue and how many tickets they are required to buy and what hotels they stay in etc. etc....I understand that a bowl game is a reward for the players but a school shouldn't have to go in the red for a bowl game. It's just a little unseemly to me I guess. Btw the sooner we have a playoff the better and if that means that 25 teams, or however many teams go to a bowl, will not do anything after Dec. 1 fine w/ me.

[70county]

the bowl games will not go anywere as they are essentially 'winter' practice....that is why year in year out schools continue to lose money going to bowls, but rarely turn down the chance to go. a team that quailifies for a bowl (any one with a pulse) can get in 2/3 weeks of work and basically a second spring practice...

[Trojan Husker]

Personally, I'd love to see a team like LSU or Alabama try and play a December game in Lincoln, Madison or Ann Arbor with 2 feet of snow and a -5 degree wind chill.

+1,000,000