After 7 in a row by the SEC, ideas on making the national championship game competitive...

[GaYellowDawg]

1. Let the SEC Championship Game loser play instead of the winner. No, that wouldn't have worked this year, either. Georgia would have rolled Notre Dame. The Dawgs never trailed Alabama by more than 4, and Notre Dame is down by 28 at the half.

2. Automatic disqualifier for any Big Ten team, or any team that played more than 2 Big Ten teams, for weakness of schedule.

3. Let the All-Pac-12 team or the All-Big 12 team play the SEC in lieu of their individual teams. The All-Big Ten team would get rolled, and let's not even discuss the ACC or independents.

4. Allow the SEC's opponent to bring back a few alumni from the pros to play in the game.

Just some ideas. I know all you SEC haters out there are in a pit of despair.

[Lochloosa]

1. Speed Kills...always has...always will

[Iggo]

2. PLAYOFFS!!!

[OriginalGeek]

11. I believe next year the Playoffs are in.

top 4 teams go.

That would have meant this year that Alabama probably would have played Florida.


I agree that ND was over-ranked this year and I think playing any of the top 4 teams would have exposed them in the first round.


I do wish it was the top 6 though, instead of top 4.

[Iggo]

24. Need at least 8.

Four's a joke.

[OriginalGeek]

25. lol you are right

I was still thinking in Fantasy mode - 2 teams got a bye in the playoffs. No need for byes in real world College. 8 is the way to go.

[SCantiGOP]

53. who's the only team to beat Bama by more than a TD in last 4 years??

The Carolina Gamecocks, who will make it four in a row against the Dawgs this September. For those who forgot, we beat Georgia 35-7 this year, with their touchdown coming against 2nd teamers in the last 2 minutes.

[pokerfan]

66. It's a step in the right direction

The tendency in the NCAA is that once playoffs are established, the field eventually expands. There was a time once when the basketball tournament was only 16.

I would like to see sixteen eventually which doesn't seem unreasonable given 120 teams. Conferences would get automatic berths plus a few at-large invitations, seeding could be by committee, computers, polls, whatever.

[Scuba]

82. There was a time with the NCAA invited only 8 teams to their hoops toon-a-mint.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament

[RedCloud]

3. My team is in the SEC

But stop playing all your bowl games in SEC terrority. Get your butts out to Hawaii or California or Arizona. Stop hiding!

And how about national standardized tests for these "superior" athletes. After all, they are supposed to be students first. Surely that would have no affect at all!

[KamaAina]

10. There is only one bowl game in Hawai'i

and in years like this when the UH Warriors aren't bowl-eligible, at least 30,000 fans disguise themselves as orange seats.

[pokerfan]

67. Travel to Hawaii is problematic

considering that it's the holiday season and all the discount seats have already been taken by the time the bowl invitations are sent out.

[KamaAina]

68. This was not as much the case in the glory days of the Aloha Bowl

when the bowl invites actually went out after Thanksgiving weekend. Remember?

[RZM]

4. Preventing stuff like this is why I was pulling for ND

Looking forward to another full year of SEC chest-thumping . . . NOT!

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Then tell me why the SEC schools are going after Big Ten coaches? See Arkansas.

[bamacrat]

57. The schools aren't going after them as much as the coaches are going for the SEC..

Brett Bielema contacted Arkansas at the beginning of the season and let them know he was interested.

[mzteris]

76. Shame, too

He sucks.

[bamacrat]

78. I mean he runs a more SEC style of program and was probably the best Big10 coach...

Outside of Urban Meyer who will not come back to the SEC. Beilema complained about how the SEC recruits.....gonna be hard for him if he doesn't change his attitude. It will be a few years though, considering 99% of the team was recruited by Petrino, the team isn't built the way it needs to be for Beilema's offense.

We'll see though.

[Art_from_Ark]

81. The coach who replaced Motorcycle Man

wasn't that hot himself this year.

[antiquie]

6. SEC 2013

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is pleased to submit our fiscal year (FY) 2013 Congressional Budget request to execute our three part mission: to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.

[NightWatcher]

7. just save time and give out the Championship trophy at the SEC championship game

and to think we (Dawgs) were 5 seconds from getting to play ND last night.

[dawg]

13. That would've been sweet.

Especially considering 1980.

[shadowrider]

28. I don't know about you

but me and 30 other people watching the game were SCREAMING for Murray to spike the ball.

[NightWatcher]

31. I was only having a heart attack/ stroke/ screaming fit...

[dr.strangelove]

8. The problem this year was that ND got over-ranked

There were FAR better teams out there. When the Ducks played Auburn, the game was decided by a last second field goal, after one of the best (and luckiest) runs where a guy was tackled but rolled over a body and miraculously never touched the ground (but even he thought he did so everyone stopped at looked at the official). I suspect that had the Ducks or Kansas State played Alabama, the game would have been a far better contest. I am not saying Alabama would have lost, but I think it would have been a closer and exciting game.

Let's be realistic, the SEC has their issues too. LSU and Florida were way over-ranked this year and when they played good teams, it showed. The Tide were the best team in the country, so it was right that they won. But the Irish never should have been in it. The Ducks or Kansas State would have put up 100 pts against ND too.

I hope the playoff weeds out these overseeded teams, but this year we had two teams in the top 4 who did not really deserve to be there in Florida and ND, so it was a big clusterF.

[dawg]

14. I knew ND was overrated when Tech whipped USC.

It'll be better once ND is playing in the ACC and must get through a conference championship game. They still have one of the best programs in the country.

[dr.strangelove]

15. Well, USC was a FAR better team early in the season

Injuries and lack of depth killed that team. It was the loss of scholarships that killed them due to that Bush sanction. USC's top 24 could have gone toe to toe with Bama for a qtr or so, but having no depth kills teams. Bama rotated in fresh bodies on both lines all game last night. With 8 guys on the O line that can start anywhere, they are pretty solid. USC will be back in two - three seasons. Next year is their last with 10 less full rides. Also, Barkley being out destroyed their offense. They held a decent Tech offense to 21 points though. That team is far from dead. Still, ND was over-rated based on the love that team still gets from its past. People saw Ohio State as an undefeated team that had an easy schedule and they had problems with average teams. ND had the same thing, but because its ND they got the No. 1 ranking. I still say Oregon or Kansas State should have been in the game with Alabama, and it would have been a far better game.

[dawg]

17. It would have been a better game. Even a rematch with Georgia would have been better.

But ND had the record and I think they deserved to be there.

To me, this just points out the need for a playoff. I'm glad that we will apparently get at least a rudimentary one.

[dr.strangelove]

18. I actually hate the playoff

I hate the whole national championship concept. I favor the old bowl system. I'd rather the Pac-12 play the Big-10 in the Rose Bowl every year, but if we are going to do the whole national champ thing, the playoff is the way to go. I would rather a top 8 than a top 4, since like this year two over-rated teams would have gotten in and Stanford and Georgia would be on the outside, but oh well.

[Whiskeytide]

21. USC will not be nationally relevant until...

... until they get rid of Kiffin. At least that's my opinion. He's an overhyped cancer.

[Yavin4]

34. Amen to that. However...

the school is still under sanctions. A good coach won't touch a school under sanctions.

[shadowrider]

30. ND will not play in the ACC. They're going to remain independent in football although

basketball will be league play.

ND has too much money with their football network and won't share but they have agreed to put 5 ACC teams on their schedule each year.

[dr.strangelove]

36. Notre Dame's big money is now less than the Big-10, PAC-12 teams and SEC Teams get

At least that is my understanding. I believe that Notre Dame's TV deal was the first big deal, but over the past ten years as conferences have set up their own networks and the broadcast/cable network TV deals have gone up in price, the ND deal has become more commonplace. If I recall correctly, when the Notre dame to ACC deal was being discussed, several reports laid out that the ND money on its own deal is still far more than ACC teams get, but is less than the other big three conferences (on a per team basis) get under their deals. So if Notre Dame joined the Big-10, its share under the Big Ten contract would be about equal to what it gets now, and if it joined the SEC or Pac-12 it would get a raise. ND is a huge drawing school in terms of ratings, so it should get a huge payday from a TV deal, but it being a single school, it simply can not compete with a package of monster rating schools, even if it can outscore any one university one-on-one in terms of ratings. I hope ND stays an indie, but eventually the finances may no longer favor it.

[madinmaryland]

35. Notre Dame would have had a tough time of winning the MAC championship.

[LP2K12]

9. Um... no.

2. Automatic disqualifier for any Big Ten team, or any team that played more than 2 Big Ten teams, for weakness of schedule.

O-H...

I-O!

[GaYellowDawg]

42. Um... yes.

Ohio State is 1-9 or 1-10 against SEC teams in bowl games, and had to use ineligible players to get that one win.

O-H...
I-O...

S-U...
C-K-S.

[LP2K12]

46. Move on...

Now they have a coach who coached an SEC team to a National Championship.

It's a new era.

They went 12-0 even with sanctions.

The past is just that... the past.

[GaYellowDawg]

51. 12-0 with a terribly weak schedule.

Ask Notre Dame how that worked out.

[LP2K12]

69. Excuses...

Someone always makes them.

Yet, we're ranked (higher than Florida, Notre Dame and Georgia). Good enough for me.

[GaYellowDawg]

71. Reality...

Live in it. Running the table with a Big Ten schedule doesn't mean a thing. There are at least 5 Big Ten teams who would drill OSU and their SEC retread (who, by the way, scooted from the conference when he started being passed by).

[LP2K12]

79. I'd be happy

with Ohio State leaving the B10 and playing schedules with more dominant opponents. I'm not against your opinion there. It's one of the reasons I'm for a playoff. Stop letting the Buckeyes get to the National Championship after undefeated or close to undefeated seasons only to lose it all on the field.

There are flaws in our program as there are in ever program. It doesn't take away from the talent of the coaches and players. The conference makes the schedule except for the few non-conference games which still usually aren't with anyone worth naming.

Unfortunately, Ohio State and Georgia cancelled their series scheduled to go forward in 2020-21. Cancelled due to the Big 10-Pac 12 agreement. They should have just gone forward with the Georgia game. (http://www.fbschedules.com/2012/05/ohio-state-georgia-cancel-2020-21-home-and-home-football-series/)

We did add Texas in 2022-23, but things can change in such a huge span of time. (http://www.fbschedules.com/2012/10/ohio-state-texas-schedule-2022-23-home-and-home-football-series/).

We need to add dominant teams now or restructure the way the Big 10 is allowed to schedule our opponents. However, if the system is revamped don't exclude these guys from playing.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

12. These things go in cycles

there was a time when the SC Trojans dominated the college football scene. This too shall pass....... I hope!

[dr.strangelove]

16. Alabama is gonna be good for some time

unless they get hit with a sanction. Saban is a master recruiter and produces defensive draft picks liek no one else, so all the top defense players want to go to him. Plus he "encourages" them to leave early.

[Whiskeytide]

20. He doesn't really "encourage" them to leave early.

His recommendation is that if you will be a first round pick in the draft, go. If not, come back another year and work to be a first round pick.

[dr.strangelove]

23. I think its more than that

He understands that some kids are simply never going to be a first round pick. He does not stand in the way of a kid leaving early if the athlete feels they will get drafted. Some coaches are known to hate it. He has been rumored to tell kids that he would leave if he were in the kid's shoes. I think its the correct position honestly.

[rurallib]

19. only allow players actually going to school and trying to earn a degree to play

Last edited Tue Jan 8, 2013, 07:44 PM - Edit history (1)

that should even things out a bit.

ETA - I can't remember if Nick Saban won a Big ten title at Michigan State, but I don't think so.

[Grantuspeace]

22. Yes! And along those same lines,

make the SEC adhere to the same academic standards as the Big 10 (or whatever the hell it is today lol), the Pac12 etc.

[GaYellowDawg]

40. Sure, because Maurice Clarett was a Rhodes Scholar.

The idea that Big Ten schools somehow have better students on their football teams is laughable. Georgia Tech tries to claim the same thing down here, and it's always easily falsifiable. Try again.

[GaYellowDawg]

41. That would eliminate most BCS conference schools, too.

Try again.

[Blue_Tires]

26. Allow other conferences to have a salary cap as high as the SEC's?

[center rising]

27. Can't stand Nick Saban

Because he bailed on the Dolphins a little while back. The man is a coward!!

[harmonicon]

29. The Securities and Exchange Commission has a championship game?

What does it determine?

[Yavin4]

33. It Sure Does and the Banksters Won 718 Billion to 0 n/t

[Jokerman]

37. Had I known this was about football I would have never opened the thread.

At least I'm not the only one who thought SEC=Securities and Exchange Commission.

Thanks!

[GaYellowDawg]

43. Right...

Because the Securities and Exchange Commission has anything to do with a national championship game.

Sometimes people astound me.

[Jokerman]

44. People who get worked up over a silly game astound me.

[GaYellowDawg]

50. People who denigrate the hobbies of others astound me.

You've probably got some hobbies or interests that a lot of people would consider silly, too.

[bamacrat]

58. +1 n/t

[bamacrat]

59. Do you like sports?

If not, your opinion means nothing.

[trof]

32. Could I hear a ROLL TIDE!?

My alma mater.
ROLL TIDE!

[Whiskeytide]

48. How 'bout a ROLL TIDE and ...

... a "Rammer Jammer" for good measure!!? '83 and '86 grad here.

[trof]

64. YELLA HAMMAH! GIVE 'EM H E L L ALABAMA!!!

[Logical]

49. Hate your asshole coach!

[bamacrat]

56. The jealous usually do. n/t

[trof]

63. Lemme guess. LSU fan?

[bamacrat]

55. RMFT!

As an alum myself I say good day to you.

[OriginalGeek]

61. I never had strong feelings one way or t'other

regarding Alabama but I like Trof a lot so ROLL TIDE*


*(as long as it doesn't hinder Florida State )

[trof]

62. Why thank you OG.

I like you too.

[MrScorpio]

38. Here's my proposal…

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018275190

[GaYellowDawg]

39. Don't like it.

There's a tacit assumption there that the regions are roughly equivalent. They aren't. When you take a look at the final AP poll, you see half of the SEC in the Top 25, and 4 SEC teams in the Top 10. If you divide the playoffs regionally, then you'd have some SEC teams eliminated from the playoff earlier than they deserved. It'd be comparable to putting North Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky in the same regional year after year. It would just mean the same thing: a complete blowout in the title game after the Southeast survivor came out of their region.

What's needed is an 8-team playoff system with no limits on conference inclusion. This would have likely meant that the SEC would have grabbed 4-5 spots this year. Well, sorry if the rest of the nation doesn't like it, but excellence deserves to be rewarded in sports.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

47. RE:

It'd be comparable to putting North Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky in the same regional year after year

Although this year, I'd like that set up

[kudzu22]

45. Probably in the minority here

but I'm not sure why we even need a national champion. I say let the college season end after the conference championships, and have prearranged bowl games like the old days, when the Big 10 champ played the Pac 10 champ in the Rose Bowl. Leave it for everyone to argue over who the best really was.

[dr.strangelove]

54. I agree 100%

I miss the old days.

[Spike89]

80. National Championship means nothing and never will

The biggest, most obvious problem is that you simply can not play enough football games in a single season to decide a truly complex matter. Football has way too many variables as well--turf or grass, home or away, tight or "let ;em play" refs, weather and of course, injury. Scheduling as it currently sits only makes any argument even more absurd.

Sure, the SEC is a powerful conference, but it also has some pretty weak teams every year and it only plays 8 conference games allowing an artificial number of schools to come out with good records, especially considering that the conference is notorious for relatively weak OOC schedules.

I'm not slamming the conference, but there is an obvious feedback effect from its reputation. SEC defenses ARE good, but overall their offenses are not that great, so you get the best SEC defenses racking up fantastic defensive stats. Two examples of how things are perceived strangely--In 2010, Auburn's offense "tore up" the SEC and they ended playing Oregon for the NC. All the SEC folks (most media actually) ranked Oregon's defense way below even mid-tier SEC teams. In the NC game, Oregon held Auburn to its lowest point and yardage totals of the season and lost by 3 points after a disputed "non-tackle" run and last second field goal.

Much more recently...this season to be precise...a new SEC team, from the offense-dominated Big 12, Texas A&M pretty much tore up defenses in league play and beat Alabama with a freshman QB.

Again, not disputing that the SEC or Alabama are a great conference and deserving winner of the one-game tournament. I'm just pointing out that if Alabama had to face Texas A&M style teams (and arguably, A&M wasn't even the best spread-option team with a highly mobile QB) they might have had 2 or 3 losses.

Haven't even touched on the whole concept of "getting better" or hot at the end of the season, nor the artificial nature of having to navigate a 12 or 13-game season playing virtually every week, then deciding the champion after a 5 or 6-week layoff.

[NCTraveler]

52. Create a system with 8 national conferences.

Each conference will have a conference championship game. The 8 conference champions will then have a playoff. Shorten the regular season by 2 games. Get some of the bs out of conference games off the schedule.

[bamacrat]

60. I refrained from posting my joy right after the game (first half)...

because there are so many on here who try to belittle the intelligence of someone who gets into sports. As if being passionate about something you cannot directly affect is stupid. If it were DU would cease to exist.

[mythology]

65. Start enforcing the college eligibility and violation rules more stringently

For example, Nick Saban has had multiple years where he's had some mysterious oversignings for his available scholarships. Or Cam Newton's dad shopping his kid around to the highest bidder.

Since 1992 the SEC schools have had more major rules infractions than any other conference.

So it seems they are just better at cheating than the other conferences.

[GaYellowDawg]

74. The Big Ten would be equally screwed then.

Over the past ten years, conferences with major violators:

1. Big Ten: 5 teams (Ohio St., Michigan, Nebraska, Penn St., Illinois)
1. Big 12: 5 teams (Baylor, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kansas)
1. PAC 12: 5 teams (Southern California, Arizona St., Colorado, Washington, Oregon)
1. SEC: 5 teams (South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi St., Louisiana St.)
5. ACC: 4 teams (Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Florida St., Maryland)
6. Big East: 1 team (Cincinnati)

And wow, it's been over the past ten years that the SEC has had its most success. 7 in a row doesn't mean that the SEC has been cheating any more. 7 in a row means that the SEC has better players, better coaches, plays better football. And we also have better fans, more beautiful stadiums, and more beautiful women. We have it ALL, and the rest of you just need to bow to your superiors.

[LiberalFighter]

70. Have all games played in inclement weather.

[GaYellowDawg]

72. So, in other words...

everyone else has to have an assist from the weather because they can't hack it on their own? Sad. I know the Big Ten game would love for the championship game to be played in the snow with a convict waiting on a snowplow for a field goal opportunity, but if you get your ass kicked in perfect weather, it's only going to repeat in inclement weather.

[LiberalFighter]

73. It would at least be more fun to watch.

[GaYellowDawg]

75. What, a 3-0 game in the snow? More fun?

I don't think so. If, by "more fun", you mean "the weather means that the predetermined win by the SEC is only a little less predetermined," then I guess you've got a rationale. But really, isn't depending on the weather as an extra player pathetic?

The three major fallbacks for SEC haters are academics, probation, and weather. It just demonstrates that you can't win on the field - and the run for the SEC is far from over, with Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, and South Carolina bringing a lot of great players back. You can probably count on at least an SEC decade before things change.

[xmas74]

77. Instead of making it all so elaborate

just do what's done in D2 football - one and done playoffs. Sure, there are bowl games but they tend to be throwbacks to another time and do not decide who the national champ will be.

FWIW, I'm a hardcore Big Ten fan and wildly hardcore MIAA in DII.

[Scuba]

83. Impose a "graduation rate" requirement for a team to be bowl eligible.

If 80% of your players don't graduate in 5 years (yes, include the ones who go pro early) then you're not eligible for a bowl game.

Either that, or quit pretending that it's "amateur" athletics and admit it's the NFL's minor league. Pay the kids for bringing in all that money. They're the ones with the concussions and broken limbs.

[av8rdave]

84. Allow only SEC teams to be eligible for the National Championship game

SEC Championship pretty much equals National Championship, anyway.