I know it is early but I see bad things ahead for the 4 team playoff with no BCS system in place.

 

BYU running the table, Wisconsin not losing again in weak Big 10, UCLA sliding by every week.

 

Why do 13 people get to decide?

A little to early to start saying the sky is falling.

USC's athletic director who is on the committee confronting the referees? That one has the potential to be a real mess.

Wisconsin doesn't worry me, they played LSU close, if they manage to go 12-1 I can live with them being one of the 4. UCLA will still have to beat USC and a few other decent Pac12 teams to have a shot. Undefeated or not I don't see anyone outside the Mormons rallying for an undefeated BYU to be in.

A little to early to start saying the sky is falling.

 

While I know that the BCS usually worked out in the end to identify the two best teams that most wanted to play for the Championship.........I just don't trust the 13 people will make the same decision.

 

Maybe there will be 4 undefeated teams and everyone else will have two losses..............but I can see a situation where there are two undefeated teams and 6 with 1 loss and there is no way to determine the 3 seed and 4 seed clearly.

I also feel like Boise State will take care of BYU.

With 4 teams and assuming no conferences gets more than 1 in the final 4 then 2 of the 'power conferences' will be left out. And, like the BCS it will take a long shot for a non-Big 6 representative to get in.

 

The 2 Big 6 conferences who did not make the final 4 may end with a case as to why their champion should be there.

 

With the ACC going 11-0 this weekend (with marquee wins by VT and ND) and Big-10 teams losing to Northern Illinois and Central Michigan and barely getting by some other non-Big 6 teams it could get interesting.

 

Next step - 8 team playoff with the Big-6 getting all their champions in there and 2 'wildcards'.

With 4 teams and assuming no conferences gets more than 1 in the final 4 then 2 of the 'power conferences' will be left out. And' date=' like the BCS it will take a long shot for a non-Big 6 representative to get in. The 2 Big 6 conferences who did not make the final 4 may end with a case as to why their champion should be there. With the ACC going 11-0 this weekend (with marquee wins by VT and ND) and Big-10 teams losing to Northern Illinois and Central Michigan and barely getting by some other non-Big 6 teams it could get interesting. Next step - 8 team playoff with the Big-6 getting all their champions in there and 2 'wildcards'.[/quote']

 

That doesn't make any sense because with the BCS system you only gave 2 teams a chance to win, now with the playoff you are giving 4 teams. Someone was always left out in the old system, it'll be he same with the new. The difference is it's decided less on a computer system on who gets to play.

With 4 teams and assuming no conferences gets more than 1 in the final 4 then 2 of the 'power conferences' will be left out. And, like the BCS it will take a long shot for a non-Big 6 representative to get in.

 

The 2 Big 6 conferences who did not make the final 4 may end with a case as to why their champion should be there.

 

With the ACC going 11-0 this weekend (with marquee wins by VT and ND) and Big-10 teams losing to Northern Illinois and Central Michigan and barely getting by some other non-Big 6 teams it could get interesting.

 

Next step - 8 team playoff with the Big-6 getting all their champions in there and 2 'wildcards'.

 

The Big Six is dead. The demolition of the Big East saw to that.

 

There are now a Power Five.

 

Who says there's no relegation in American sports? That's exactly what was done to the American Athletic Conference. BTW, despite BYU's rout of Texas, I think Cincinnati is ultimately going to be the team that grabs the Next Five's spot in the big bowl series (I don't know all the names of all these things yet.)

 

But I think your premise remains true: an eight-team playoff is inevitable.

^ - Got my audit/consulting firms confused with the major conferences. Of course, they also are not the Big-6 anymore...

I'll go a step further. I think everything is primed for the Power Five to bolt the NCAA entirely a start their own organization. With no disrespect intended to the Western's, Eastern's and Northern's of the college landscape the power brokers HATE sharing revenue with them. They have now positioned themselves to have MOST of the elite basketball schools under their umbrella (sorry UConn you may become the very big dog in that small pound) so they can keep 100% of that revenue without giving a slice to every IPFW and IUPUI that recently made the jump to DI to get a piece of that pie. I can honestly see the NCAA tournament become an NIT level event. They could also then make their own football playoff as they see fit as well as control access to the existing bowl games. As far as I know current bowls have to be sanctioned by the NCAA but the NCAA has no real control over them. If the Power Five bolt, the bigger bowls will tell the NCAA to pound sand and go with the new organization.

I'll go a step further. I think everything is primed for the Power Five to bolt the NCAA entirely a start their own organization. With no disrespect intended to the Western's, Eastern's and Northern's of the college landscape the power brokers HATE sharing revenue with them. They have now positioned themselves to have MOST of the elite basketball schools under their umbrella (sorry UConn you may become the very big dog in that small pound) so they can keep 100% of that revenue without giving a slice to every IPFW and IUPUI that recently made the jump to DI to get a piece of that pie. I can honestly see the NCAA tournament become an NIT level event. They could also then make their own football playoff as they see fit as well as control access to the existing bowl games. As far as I know current bowls have to be sanctioned by the NCAA but the NCAA has no real control over them. If the Power Five bolt, the bigger bowls will tell the NCAA to pound sand and go with the new organization.

 

All that is possible along with countless other outcomes we haven't even imagined yet. The next decade is going to be very interesting for big-time college sports.

All that is possible along with countless other outcomes we haven't even imagined yet. The next decade is going to be very interesting for big-time college sports.

 

Agreed.

 

Personally, if the big time schools go on their own, I don't see them leaving money on the table with the cash cow that the NCAA Tournament is. If they're playing by their own rules and players are getting paid, then you'll start to see a lot of "football" schools like Alabama, Auburn, etc. step their game up in basketball as well. I could see a 64 team tournament where everyone gets in and you are seeded roughly according to where you finish in your conference. That would sort out a ton of the "this conference is better" arguments, etc. as well.

 

For the SEC schools like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, etc., you would have a huge recruiting advantage over schools like Gonzaga, Butler, etc. by being allowed to offer more compensation. Those coaching jobs would become more sought after. If nothing else, "Power Five" coaches would just let smaller schools like VCU develop talent for 2 years then poach them by having them transfer in.

I know it is early but I see bad things ahead for the 4 team playoff with no BCS system in place.

 

BYU running the table, Wisconsin not losing again in weak Big 10, UCLA sliding by every week.

 

Why do 13 people get to decide?

So you prefer going with Computer Models? Or do you think there should be a bigger committee?

 

Let's let it play out for 7 or 8 weeks and see where we are at then.

Agreed.

 

Personally, if the big time schools go on their own, I don't see them leaving money on the table with the cash cow that the NCAA Tournament is. If they're playing by their own rules and players are getting paid, then you'll start to see a lot of "football" schools like Alabama, Auburn, etc. step their game up in basketball as well. I could see a 64 team tournament where everyone gets in and you are seeded roughly according to where you finish in your conference. That would sort out a ton of the "this conference is better" arguments, etc. as well.

 

For the SEC schools like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, etc., you would have a huge recruiting advantage over schools like Gonzaga, Butler, etc. by being allowed to offer more compensation. Those coaching jobs would become more sought after. If nothing else, "Power Five" coaches would just let smaller schools like VCU develop talent for 2 years then poach them by having them transfer in.

 

A Power Five split coupled with what's inevitably going to happen because of the O'Bannon case is going to make things interesting. Pair both of those things up with what I believe is about to become a growing sentiment spreading beyond Northwestern for collective bargaining (or at least some sort of representative organization advocating for college players).

 

There are almost too many factors at play to even begin to try and figure out what college athletics will look like two decades from now.