lol i remember that undefeated ball state team, everyone knew they sucked even their coach. I remember him coppin' pleas trying to avoid undefeated Boise in the Humanitarian Bowl.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=jn-ballst120408
They only beat 3 teams with winning records, ducked a bowl matchup with Boise, then got blown out 45-13 by Tulsa in the GMAC bowl.
The reason for having a 16 team playoff field should be because there are 16 deserving teams that have a legitimate shot at winning a championship. Not including teams just for the sake of it, because it's "fair" or just because they won a bad conference. Sure the 1 in 100 times, or 1 in 500 times a team like Troy beats Oregon it'd be exciting, but the other 99.9999% of the time it's just a complete waste of time. Yeah the bowl games we have now are also a waste, but if a playoff system is going to be implemented why not set it up so all the games are meaningful and competitive? I don't see how it's possible to do this with a 16 team structure, just way too many teams get in.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=jn-ballst120408
They only beat 3 teams with winning records, ducked a bowl matchup with Boise, then got blown out 45-13 by Tulsa in the GMAC bowl.
I don't know, I just don't really see the big deal about a 16-team playoff.. whether or not the MAC/Conference USA/Sun Belt champs are included or not. IMO, if Troy shocked Oregon.. that'd be as exciting as any postseason game in recent memory. Think about how often we watch 1-16, 2-15 matchups in March for basketball.. in the long run, sure it probably kills that glamorous matchup of the top two teams playing each other or something.. but in that moment, there's nothing better than a possible upset.
And if Oregon took care of business in a 16 team playoff against a low level team? Guess what.. their next game is against the 8th or 9th best team in the field. And so on.
The reason for having a 16 team playoff field should be because there are 16 deserving teams that have a legitimate shot at winning a championship. Not including teams just for the sake of it, because it's "fair" or just because they won a bad conference. Sure the 1 in 100 times, or 1 in 500 times a team like Troy beats Oregon it'd be exciting, but the other 99.9999% of the time it's just a complete waste of time. Yeah the bowl games we have now are also a waste, but if a playoff system is going to be implemented why not set it up so all the games are meaningful and competitive? I don't see how it's possible to do this with a 16 team structure, just way too many teams get in.