44 Days Until Kansas Football: Looking Ahead to the new College Football Playoff

This offseason has been full of huge information and surprising developments. USC and UCLA shifting to the Huge Ten has taken up a variety of the eye of the nation. The truth is, individuals are so preoccupied with the realignment shenanigans, that they shortly misplaced curiosity within the SEC Media Days after we did not get a repeat of the earth-shattering information that broke final season.

With realignment on the mind, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey simply needed to point out that the SEC has no additional enlargement plans at the moment to get the nationwide media to just about flip away. It in all probability does not harm that Pac 12 reporters are so readily occurring their convention sunshine pumping tour.

However earlier this week, Sankey made an announcement that ought to fear followers of the Huge 12 (and actually anybody not within the Huge Ten or SEC).

That quote needs to be terrifying, given the present bias of the nationwide media (aka ESPN) for the SEC. If an expanded playoff didn’t have any computerized qualifiers, then there’s a good probability that the SEC would obtain three or 4 spots each single 12 months in an expanded format, particularly after Oklahoma and Texas be a part of the league. Add in one other three or 4 spots for the Huge Ten, and out of the blue the School Soccer Playoff would find yourself being the 2 convention invitational that numerous individuals are anxious about because the eventual way forward for the game.

So what is the resolution? What’s going to be the simplest technique to stop one thing like this from occurring? I see two potential choices for the Huge 12.

Strengthen the Huge 12 as a lot as attainable

Choice 1 is to do completely every thing attainable to make the Huge 12 as sturdy as attainable, with the intention to drive severe consideration of the highest few groups for inclusion within the playoffs. This could seemingly embrace additional enlargement by taking groups from the Pac 12.

The draw back to this method is that it does nothing to restrict the variety of spots that the SEC and Huge Ten get. In a 12 group mannequin, it is seemingly that the Huge 12 would get at most two spots, with the Huge Ten and SEC every getting 4 or 5, leaving yet one more spot for the Pac 12/ACC/Group of 5 groups. That may solely serve to extend the hole between the highest and backside.

Protect as many conferences as attainable

This may appear counterintuitive, however there’s an argument to be made that the most effective guess is to not consolidate energy into your convention, however as an alternative ensure there are as many viable conferences as attainable.

Extra conferences imply that there are extra votes in how the subsequent playoff construction is about up. And regardless of the concerns that the Huge Ten and SEC will simply break free to type their very own playoff, I do not assume it’s practical to assume that they’d forfeit the remainder of the advantages of being a part of the NCAA, at the very least not till these conferences resolve to develop a lot additional than they have already got.

In the end, I do not assume there’s a good reply to positively shut the hole between the Huge Ten/SEC and the remainder of the NCAA. However the silver lining is that these two conferences appear content material to carry tight for some time. The remaining conferences have to resolve what their most suitable choice could be to maintain the hole from rising too massive, and that would come with ensuring that the subsequent playoff construction ensures as a lot entry as attainable.

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