What If The NCAA Playoff System Looked Like This?

It’s officially now been over a month since the last update on The Meat Locker, to those other than my parents that read this blog regularly, I apologize for my lack of effort. At least my man Dave Myerson, and frequent guest-writer felt the need to step up and bring you another great read. Check out what Dave has to say in regards to the ending of the BCS and how he thinks the playoff system should be set up. 

2013 has been a great year in college football. As we officially come to a close of the BCS era, and look ahead to the 4-team playoff, I can’t help to wonder, what’s so different? The 4-team playoff is a Band-Aid, and everyone knows it. Whether it’s a year or 10, this new system will be replaced with a full-fledge playoff. The fans want it, and it’s a shame the decision makers keep kicking the pebble down the road.

There are many views on how a FBS playoff should look, but in my opinion, everyone is missing one key point. If you win your conference, regardless of conference you should automatically qualify for the playoff. I know all you fans of the teams from the power conferences are shaking your head right now, but I’m a firm believer of this. It’s absolutely absurd that you have teams in FBS that work their butts off for months, and aren’t given a fair chance to compete. The competition in the five power conferences is much tougher, and this proposal will definitely take that into consideration, but the remaining 60 plus teams in FBS cannot be forgotten.

ESPN recently just broke a story that the power conferences are trying to use their power to get the NCAA to give them more advantages! That makes me shake my head. If you want more advantages, then create a new division. I would have no problem with this. That way the smaller schools have something to play for. If the power conferences, and the non-power conferences don’t want to split, then they really need to come up with a way to allow everyone to compete on an equal playing field. A FBS playoff is doable in responsible way to keep all parties involved happy.

The Field

The field will consist of 16 teams. Every team will have to join a conference, and independents will be eliminated (sorry Notre Dame fans). Each conference has to have at least 12 teams, so they can have a conference championship game. A few teams will have to be pulled up from the FCS ranks, but that’s ok. The winner of each of the 10 conferences automatically qualifies for the playoffs.

The remaining six slots will go to six wild card teams. The wild cards shall be the six highest ranked teams in the final BCS rankings that did not win their conference. There won’t be any restrictions on how many teams a conference can have in the playoff. This way stronger conferences are rewarded for having quality teams. Also, you keep in play the ranking system, which is a huge point of contention with people who are resisting change.

The rankings will also play an important part into how the teams are seeded. The winners of the 5 power conferences will be seeded 1-5, based off the final BCS rankings. They will play the winners of the 5 non-power conferences in the first round. The highest ranked non-power conference winner will play the #5 seed, and the lowest ranked will play the number 1 seed, etc.…

This way teams that win their conference are “rewarded” for doing so. More often than not, the winners of the non-power conferences won’t be as quality of an opponent as the six wild card teams. Teams from power conferences should be rewarded for winning their league, and this proposal is a fair way to give the smaller schools a chance, while still accomplishing this.

The six wild card teams will then face off against one another in the first round. They will be seeded 1-6 in order how they appear in the rankings, and the top three shall play the bottom three. The wild card teams will face a tougher test in the first round because they didn’t win their conference.

Moving forward in the playoffs, the highest remaining seed will face the lowest remaining seed. The six wild card teams will be considered higher seeds than the five winners from the non-power conferences. This is so the highest ranked conference winners continue to get the most favorable match ups, as higher seeds should.

If we were to apply this proposal to the current season, the playoff field would look like this:

 

1. Florida State vs. Louisiana- Lafayette		2. Auburn vs. Rice
3. Michigan State vs. Bowling Green		4. Stanford vs. Fresno State
5. Baylor vs. Central Florida		WC 1. Alabama vs. WC 6. Oklahoma
WC 2. Ohio State vs. WC 5. Oregon		WC 3. Missouri vs. WC 4. South Carolina

 

 

The Schedule

Many people argue that a playoff would take too long, and be too many games for the kids. There would have to be some minor adjustments to the schedule, but nothing major that can’t be accomplished.

From the opening weekend of August 27^th until the conference title games on December 7^th there were 15 weeks in the college football season this year. Auburn and Michigan State for example, played 13 games in this 15-week period, eight league games, four out of conference, one conference championship game, and had two bye weeks.

The adjustment would be to lower the regular season games from 12 to 10. Keep the 8 league games, and have 2 non-conference games, but make a rule against teams from FBS playing FCS teams. The occasional upset, such as North Dakota State beating Kansas State this year or Appalachian State’s big win vs. Michigan a few years ago, wouldn’t be possible, but to get a playoff it’s worth it to miss out on the blowout that occurs almost 100% of the time. Keeping the 2 bye weeks, there would then be a 12-week regular season, and the conference championship games would be in week 13, which this year was November 23^rd.

A 16-team playoff would take 4 weeks of games to complete. There should be a week off between the conference title games and the first round of the playoffs, which would start on December 7^th. A week between the semi-finals and championship game would put the title game on January 4^th, the exact same timeline as the current season, so no one can complain about the season running too long.

The final tally on number of games played is 15 for the teams that make it to the title game. Currently, for teams that win their conference and play in a bowl game, they play in 14 games. One extra game is not make or break for these teams, especially if it gets everyone a fair playoff.

Bowl Games

The biggest barrier to an expanded playoff is the current system of bowl games. There is hundreds of millions of dollars generated from bowl games that get paid out to all the different conferences. Many against change cite this as the main reason not to do a playoff. I say why can’t we have both?

As a college football fan, I love bowl season. It’s very exciting seeing some different match ups that one doesn’t typically get to see. That’s why we keep the bowl games, and still have a playoff.

The bowls will act similar to how the NIT tournament works for college basketball. All the teams that are bowl eligible, which don’t qualify for the playoffs, still play in bowl games. The bowls and conferences keep their historical alliances, and the fans still get to see some great match ups. Obviously, since 16 teams are being removed from the equation there might be a couple less bowl games, but that is a fair price for a playoff.

The schedule for bowls can stay the exact same, since the championship game is still set for the same time. The bowls will still generate the revenue they need. Fans of those teams will travel, television networks will stay pay to broadcast the games, sponsors will still pay to sponsor the games, and companies will still buy add time on air.

To make up for the loss of the big time BCS bowl games, the semi-finals and championship game of the playoffs should be played at neutral sites. Currently the 4 team college football playoff is slated to use a 6 site rotating schedule, and I have no problem adopting what the NCAA has already agreed to, since the powers at be seem to be happy with the set up. The first 2 rounds of the playoffs will be played at the home site of the higher seed.

A college football playoff that is fair to every single team in FBS is within our grasp. The NCAA needs to stop punting the issue down the road, and make this happen for the good of the game and it’s fans.

Dabo Swinney: Eternal Sunshine Of The Thoughtless Mind

It’s a slow sports day, why not throw a jab at the eternal, thoughtless optimist that roams the sidelines in the upstate of South Carolina. His Dabo-ism’s normally take a few minutes to digest and understand, but boy are they great material for South Carolina fans. Remember kids, “It’s only unthinkable if you don’t think it.” Thank you, Dabo Swinney.

Stephen Garcia Checks-In On The Clay Travis Podcast

It’s been a while, but friend of The Meat Locker, Stephen Garcia made a rare appearance on the Clay Travis Podcast “Outkick The Podcast.” Garcia provides updates as to where he is currently in his life, where he plans to go and what all he learned during his up-and-down career with the Gamecocks. Give it a listen and catch up with No. 5.

Click Here To Listen To The Podcast

 

Rex Ryan’s Son Is A Walk-On WR At Clemson

Rex Ryan is in the news today after attending the Clemson/Georgia game over the weekend, where his son is a member of the Clemson football team. Seth Ryan is a freshman walk-on wide receiver. Ryan played WR and DB for Summit High School in New Jersey. He’s officially listed as a wide receiver for the Tigers.

His famous daddy is being criticized for not being a part of the Saturday’s NFL cut day, in which teams were required to reduce their rosters to 53 men. Instead, Ryan watched the No. 8 Tigers defeat the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs. Seth Ryan did not see the field for the Tigers and we can make the assumption that “Sexy Rexy” probably ate a lot of hotdogs.

 

The Next Great Motivational Speech Hails From Georgia Tech

The next great motivational speech does not come from the usual suspects. No, it’s not Ray Lewis, it’s not an uncovered speech from Vince Lombardi and no it does not come from Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday. Meet Nick Selby, a sophomore at Georgia Tech who was responsible for welcoming the newest class of engineers at the freshmen convocation ceremony. Selby delivers a hell of a hell of a speech that has been going viral for the last week or so. Hopefully this inspires those braniacs to build the next Iron Man suit, because that would be pretty badass.

Arizona Wildcats Close Camp With A Locker Room Dance-Off

Rich Rodriguez has approached the upcoming season in a variety of strange ways. First we got an odd western movie inspired marketing campaign, now it ends with a locker room dance off, a dance off in which Rodriguez himself even participates. Seems as if the white boys quickly realized they couldn’t add much to the competition and elected to watch from outside the circle.

Hey Johnny Football… Here’s A Glimpse Into Your Future

Hey Johnny Football, keep galloping down that path of dumb-assery and you’re likely to be looking into the mirror five years down the road and seeing this guy.

For those that don’t understand this reference. The man you are looking at is Todd Marinovich. Former phenom, turned colossal bust. Marinovich battled the demons of fame and substance abuse after being deemed the next big thing in football. After several arrests, Marinovich was jettisoned from the NFL and trapped in a dark, dark world of drugs and alcohol.

Marinovich eventually got his head straight and figured out what it was going to take for him to right the ship. Check out the ESPN series 30 For 30 on Netflix and watch The Marinovich Project. It’s a hell of a story.

The moral of this post is that if Johnny Manziel continues to be a complete dumb ass like he’s proven to be over the course of the last six months, it’s not crazy to think that we’ll be watching a very similar 30 for 30 special on him down the road. Wake up kid, you’ve got an opportunity that most kids dream for.

New South Carolina Gamecocks Helmets Revealed?

This photo literally just popped up on the internet and it seems that the secret behind the South Carolina marketing departments “Black Magic” campaign might have been revealed. Gamecocks RB Mike Davis just posted this photo with the caption “new helmets or old helmets?” It appears that we might see the Gamecocks wearing these at some point this season. Could we be seeing a full black Gamecock uniform as well? This again is eluding to the“Black Magic” ad campaigns that have been floating around the Twitter-sphere and internet. What does everybody think?

There’s Vandalism In These Hills: A Gamecock’s View On “Howard’s Rock”

Disturbing news was delivered from the hills of Tiger Town yesterday as reports surfaced of the vandalism caused to Clemson’s famous “Howard’s Rock.” Photos reveal a large chunk of rock missing from the iconic monument that stands atop of the hill that Clemson famoulsy runs down before kickoff  of every home game.

My childhood best-good friend text messaged me earlier today and assumed that I was going to address this topic on the blog. To be honest, I really gave it no thought before he suggested it. Instead, I challenged him to write a little something because for one, I was too tired to write anything thought provoking tonight. Secondly, he’s smarter than me and can probably deliver better than I could on this one. That being said, we present a Gamecock’s view on “Howard’s Rock” and welcome Cameron “Pale Face” Kelley with his first contribution to The Meat Locker. If anybody disagrees and wants to launch a verbal assault on him, I can provide his phone number, his personal address, as well as the address of his mother and father. Enjoy. 

Although, I usually revel in any insult or setback to the Clemson Tigers, I was both hurt and disappointed by the news out of the upstate this morning. Hurt because, having been to numerous games at “Death Valley”, I know what “Howard’s Rock” means to my Clemson friends. Even though I don’t completely understand it. I mean the guy that it’s named for used it as a doorstop before wanting it thrown in the trash, but then some other guy put it on a pedestal and they triumphed over a 4-6 UVA team supposedly because of it. Nevertheless, I can imagine what it would be like if one of Carolina’s traditions was similarly damaged, defiled, or destroyed.

Fortunately for Clemson, the tradition can continue; “Howard’s Rock” wasn’t destroyed and it wasn’t stolen. However, I am still disappointed (and not because it wasn’t destroyed or stolen). As a Gamecock fan and Carolina alum, I don’t want to see our rival diminished (unless it’s at the baseball regionals, for instance), much less victimized (unless we’re talking about what Swearinger did to Ellington last year). A good rivalry requires an appropriate amount of respect and contempt. Too much of the former and everyone’s a winner for trying. Too much of the latter and setting fires and overturning cop cars is expected after a loss.

Now, as of my writing this, authorities are still investigating. No suspect has been named and no motive has been given. Regardless, whoever did it was an idiot and any motive they might have had was, truly, idiotic. If it wasn’t Dabo for use in his altar to the Greats of Clemson Past, but was a Clemson “fan”, then I hope, in addition to the legal comeuppances, they get the “Death Valley” death penalty, that is, a lifetime ban. Likewise, if it turns out to be the work of some rogue with a hammer, the same penalty will suffice. However, if the perpetrator was a Carolina “fan”, which I fear he/she/they is/are, then not only should a lifetime ban at “Death Valley” be administered but also at Williams-Brice (in addition to the court ordered laser removal of any gross and conspicuous Gamecock tattoos that they probably have).

I love beating Clemson and whatever insults I might hurl at my friends I do it only because I get the same, but nothing more. I respect the Tigers and I only hope that this incident is resolved quickly and satisfactorily for Clemson, its alums, and its fans, because that’s what I would want if it happened to Carolina.

Gameday Traditions: Howard’s Rock

(A Clip From Dabo’s Uncle Rico Fantasy Camp) No. 95 Didn’t Rub It Hard Enough…

A Plea To Kenny Chesney: Please Stop Ruining Football

This is a plea to country music star, Kenny Chesney. For the love of God, please stop ruining the game of football for us. It’s not enjoyable for actual football fans to troll their favorite sports blogs and highlight shows to watch you frolicking around in your “team of the month’s” uniform and pads, catching passes and running routes. It’s time to grow up Peter Pan and put your high school football days behind you.

Not only is it painful to watch you catching passes from some of the greatest quarterbacks in the league. It’s even more embarrassing for you that you have no loyalty to one particular team. One day its the New Orleans Saints, the next days it’s the Seattle Seahawks. Hey, while you’re at it throw on a Gamecocks helmet while playing in Williams Brice Stadium and do the “gator chomp” with Tim Tebow while playing in Gainesville. Let’s keep in mind that Chesney is a self-proclaimed, die-hard Tennessee Volunteers fan. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Darius Rucker, a loyal Gamecock fan throw on a Volunteers helmet while playing in Knoxville.

So, in closing. Kenny Chesney, you may keep your crappy song lyrics about umbrella drinks, drinking Smirnoff Ice on the beach, and island “girls” to yourself and anybody else that considers that “good music.” All I ask, on behalf of football fans everywhere, please… just let us have football back and stop ruining it for us.

Here are several examples of what I’m talking about and Kenny Chesney’s inability to stay loyal to one team.

Exhibit A: Kenny Chesney “Practicing” With The Seattle Seahawks.

Exhibit B: Kenny Chesney Wearing A Gamecocks Helmet.

Exhibit C: Kenny Chesney “Practicing” With The New Orleans Saints.

Exhibit D: Kenny Chesney Wearing A Dallas Cowboys Helmet

Exhibit E: Kenny Chesney Wearing A Gator Helmet And Singing With Tim Tebow

Exhibit F: Kenny Chesney Wearing A Texas Longhorns Hat

Exhibit G: Kenny Chesney Providing “Insight” On Jon Gruden’s Quarterback Camp.

Exhibit H: Kenny Chesney Wearing An Eagles Helmet

Have I Driven Home My Point?