Looking like Notre Dame will have to join a conference

[Bear Pand]

Because they won their conference, I don't see what the big deal is, if the non-AQ champs are as inferior as people like to make out then then its just an easy first round matchup for the BCS champs, they deserve their shot.

Nothing is deserved, it's earned.

And there's no legitimate argument that the winner of some garbage conference earned their way in. Other than stuff like :

"but but they won their conference!" or "it'll make the tournament more exciting!" also "maybe if these schools had an autobid they could recruit better!"

Theres no magic rule that says every conference champ should get in, and especially not with the gap from best conferences to worst.

And the BCS sure claims to give deserving teams a shot at the crown. Best two teams of last season? Supposedly, the played. How fucking exciting was that game again?

Give me a playoff in which teams have to work for it for a little more than a month. I want a brutal gauntlet of games, not some Maxi-Pad tourney that lasts one weekend.

Let all of the shitty teams that had 6 wins and aren't in the Top 32 play meaningless bowl games. Then no one can complain

You can say what you want about the BCS but it at worst gets two of the top 5 teams in every year. Which is far from perfect but much better than putting in 32 teams (the majority of which will NOT have earned their way in, either being mid tier BCS teams or shitty conference champs).

LSU vs Bama > LSU vs (WAC champ) followed by LSU vs (4th place Big 10 team)

[BrntO4Life]

You can say what you want about the BCS but it at worst gets two of the top 5 teams in every year. Which is far from perfect but much better than putting in 32 teams (the majority of which will NOT have earned their way in, either being mid tier BCS teams or shitty conference champs).

LSU vs Bama > LSU vs (WAC champ) followed by LSU vs (4th place Big 10 team)

Wait, so the #32 overall seed somehow didn't earn it if they roll through 5 higher-ranked seeds en route to a National Championship?

The polls are corrupt for the get-go. Preseason polls should be abolished. The BCS is a phony system that rewards cronyism.

This system doesn't need minor modifications, it needs Semtex detonated on the foundation.

LSU vs. the WAC champ is still more exciting than LSU vs. what FBS lowlife they play in non-conference every year. Go down to 10 games and make them all conference games and that First Round game is still better than the trash LSU pounds in the first 4 weeks of the season right now.

[CaribbeanJoseph]

Nothing is deserved, it's earned.

And there's no legitimate argument that the winner of some garbage conference earned their way in. Other than stuff like :

"but but they won their conference!" or "it'll make the tournament more exciting!" also "maybe if these schools had an autobid they could recruit better!"

Theres no magic rule that says every conference champ should get in, and especially not with the gap from best conferences to worst.

deserve=earned

Winning your conference earns you the right to play for a national championship, unlike not even making your conference championship game and then getting to play for the NC.

The 'gap' is always gonna be there because the system is built against non-AQ schools, you can't keep holding it against them.

[Bear Pand]

Wait, so the #32 overall seed somehow didn't earn it if they roll through 5 higher-ranked seeds en route to a National Championship?

The polls are corrupt for the get-go. Preseason polls should be abolished. The BCS is a phony system that rewards cronyism.

This system doesn't need minor modifications, it needs Semtex detonated on the foundation.

Sigh. You earn your way in with your regular season resume. You don't get gifted an auto bid, then earn your way in after the fact. There's no way there should be a #32 overall seed, I don't care how they end up performing. I dont ever remember watching a cfb season where I felt 32 teams earned their way into a postseason.

I agree that polls are corrupt, the preseason polls should go, and the BCS isn't that great. BUT the answer isn't to go from one extreme (letting too few teams in) to the other (way too many).

[Bear Pand]

deserve=earned

Winning your conference earns you the right to play for a national championship, unlike not even making your conference championship game and then getting to play for the NC.

The 'gap' is always gonna be there because the system is built against non-AQ schools, you can't keep holding it against them.

Me: How does the WAC champ earn their right to play for a national championship.

You: Because they're the WAC champ.

Me: :joeybats:

There's no logic behind it, no explanation. Just some imaginary rule that a conference champ must get in.

And the gap will always be there, which is why we shouldn't pretend each conference is on equal footing.

[Atlas]

if you want to include all conference champs, include a caveat that they must be ranked, be it top 15, 20, 25, w/e... b/c i, and few others, have no interest in watching an 8-4 Louisiana Tech team play an undefeated SEC, B12, or PAC 12 team...

[JeremyHight]

Oh yeah? Tell me how many times in the last 10 years a non-AQ school has been ranked in the Top 4 at the end of a season

Really?

Top four conference champions:

2011 - LSU, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Wisconsin
2010 - Auburn, Oregon, TCU, Wisconsin
2009 - Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU
2008 - Oklahoma, Florida, USC, Utah

That's just the last four years and there were mid-majors in three of the four.

Again, a good playoff systems keeps the regular season as important, but allows for things to be settled on the field at the end of the season for the teams that earned a shot. Winning a conference doesn't necessarily mean you earned a shot at the title.

[CaribbeanJoseph]

Me: How does the WAC champ earn their right to play for a national championship.

You: Because they're the WAC champ.

Me: :joeybats:

There's no logic behind it, no explanation. Just some imaginary rule that a conference champ must get in.

And the gap will always be there, which is why we shouldn't pretend each conference is on equal footing.

They've earned the right to compete against other conference champs in a playoff, like I said if the gap in class is as big as people like to make it out to be, it really shouldn't be an issue. Let them prove it on the field instead of just assuming that x would beat y cause of the conference they're from.

[JeremyHight]

They've earned the right to compete against other conference champs in a playoff, like I said if the gap in class is as big as people like to make it out to be, it really shouldn't be an issue. Let them prove it on the field instead of just assuming that x would beat y cause of the conference they're from.

This isn't about saying a team shouldn't be in because they are from a different conference, I don't want to see a 8-4 Big East team just like I don't want to see an 8-4 Sun Belt team. A four loss team shouldn't be in the discussion for the championship. On the other hand, I would definitely prefer a system that would take a 12-0 MWC team over some team from a power conference who didn't even win their division.

[CaribbeanJoseph]

This isn't about saying a team shouldn't be in because they are from a different conference, I don't want to see a 8-4 Big East team just like I don't want to see an 8-4 Sun Belt team. A four loss team shouldn't be in the discussion for the championship. On the other hand, I would definitely prefer a system that would take a 12-0 MWC team over some team from a power conference who didn't even win their division.

A four team playoff is too subjective, if you have every conf champ get a playoff berth then no-one can complain, if you don't win your conference then tough shit you don't get to play for a NC.

[Bear Pand]

They've earned the right to compete against other conference champs in a playoff, like I said if the gap in class is as big as people like to make it out to be, it really shouldn't be an issue. Let them prove it on the field instead of just assuming that x would beat y cause of the conference they're from.

It's not assuming anything, it's looking at their body of work. Who they beat and lost to during the regular season. I'm not saying they shouldn't get in cause they'd lose. Just cause they did nothing to earn it.

The resume for these bad conference champs usually goes like this:

-Get smacked up in their OOC if they play team with a pulse.
-Pick up cheap win vs FCS opponent.
-Run through conference of scrubs.
-Finish season with 0 quality wins.

Clap for them.

[CaribbeanJoseph]

It's not assuming anything, it's looking at their body of work. Who they beat and lost to during the regular season. I'm not saying they shouldn't get in cause they'd lose. Just cause they did nothing to earn it.

The resume for these bad conference champs usually goes like this:

-Get smacked up in their OOC if they play team with a pulse.
-Pick up cheap win vs FCS opponent.
-Run through conference of scrubs.
-Finish season with 0 quality wins.

Clap for them.

Yea cause you would never see the likes of Georgia Southern, Indiana State or Northwestern state on a BCS teams schedule and Vandy, Duke and Indiana are such high caliber conference opponents

[Sportsbuck]

Meh, they've been making an exception for ND for years, I don't really see what would stop them from slipping in an exception just like they have now for the BCS.

Anyways, if ND joins a conference, it will likely be the ACC... TIFWIW.

[BrntO4Life]

Really?

Top four conference champions:

2011 - LSU, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Wisconsin
2010 - Auburn, Oregon, TCU, Wisconsin
2009 - Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU
2008 - Oklahoma, Florida, USC, Utah

That's just the last four years and there were mid-majors in three of the four.

Again, a good playoff systems keeps the regular season as important, but allows for things to be settled on the field at the end of the season for the teams that earned a shot. Winning a conference doesn't necessarily mean you earned a shot at the title.

And what about the six years before that? And how many times is TCU, realistically, going to be the champion in their new conference? Zero sounds very likely. That erases 2 of your 3 points right there.

This is a pointless argument. You want a tiered FBS. I want to open it up. All conference champions deserve a shot. Saying otherwise means you desire a caste-system in college football. Keeping the status quo but putting it under new wrapping, basically.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I think they should just name a champion at the end of every season. No tournament, no BCS, no bowls. Just arbitrarily name a champion. Nothing would be more exciting than finding out who the best team is via ESPN crawl on Monday morning. Who needs more games? I mean, this is SERIOUS BUSINESS, it's not like this is supposed to be entertainment, or anything. Just let those computers do their computations and figure out who to give the trophy to. Shit, let's take this a step further and just have Phil Steele or Rivals or some other geek tell us who the best team is after spring practice, and forego the entire season. We, as fans, do not want our champion determined on the field. Hell no! Fuck these wacky WAC teams, even if they go unbeaten. Who did those pussies play, anyway? They don't deserve shit, because, well, they just don't. Because let's face it, they would never ever ever win. Sports never has upsets. Ever. Experts and pundits are never wrong. Ever. Boise and Utah and TCU winning all those BCS games never happened.

It will never cease to amaze me how a segment of CFB fans are so resistant to seeing the sport join every other sport on the planet and give every team that participates a chance to win, and are so resistant to a decent sized playoff that would generate far more interest and excitement than what we have now. Clinging to myths like the excitement of a regular season which is probably the least exciting regular season in all of sports not called the NBA. No sir, for some reason we have to protect these sacred regular season games that mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to 90% of the teams by the first week of October.

THE CARTEL is dying, people are tired of it, the castle is crumbling. The world evolves, sports evolve, people want to be entertained, ratings for bowl games are sliding, none of the games matter besides the BCS Championship and people are catching on. People are catching on that teams that don't even win their division should not get auto bids to championship games. People are tired of being force fed a system that makes things less fun for everybody involved. It's over. There will be a playoff, and one day it will have 8 teams or more. Accept it. Embrace it. The sport will be much, much, better for it.