Started By
Message

The ridiculous - "Winning your conference no longer matters!" talking point

Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:22 pm
Posted by IAmReality
Member since Oct 2012
12229 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:22 pm
During the BCS era there were 5 (6 if you count the Big East) power conferences and 2 spots.

By my math that means every year at least 4 (and sometimes 5!) conference champions got left out of the national title game every year. And yet through that whole BCS era I never heard anyone complain about conference titles being meaningless, despite that fat that almost every year ALL BUT 2 champs got left out.

And now comes the CFP, there are now 4 spots and we only have 5 power conferences.

Thus far 16 spots have been awarded and 14 of those spots have gone to conference champions.

The idea that winning your conference is irrelevant now is more incorrect than ever. Winning your conference is more relevant in the CFP than it ever was in the BCS.

There were 16 SEC champions during the BCS era and 10 them made the championship game. That's 10/16. During the BCS era you were about 50/50 to make it if you won the SEC.

We are 4 years into the CFP and we're 4/4.

Winning the SEC is still your surefire ticket into the playoffs. If you don't win the SEC you will not make it majority of the time, but occasionally with the right breaks you will.

Every single SEC team controls their own destiny. Auburn was going to make the playoffs as a 2 loss team for the firs time (as the #2 seed!) if they won the SEC.

That's how important the title is.
Posted by TailbackU
ATL
Member since Oct 2005
11074 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:25 pm to
quote:

The idea that winning your conference is irrelevant now is more incorrect than ever.


Ummm, no. No it's not. See Penn St. Ohio St. Bama as examples on both sides of the argument. The conference title is no longer relevant. Only functions as an extra game to be tabulated. It is what it is.
Posted by SquirrelyBama
Member since Nov 2011
6389 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:26 pm to
Solid post

Posted by IAmReality
Member since Oct 2012
12229 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:26 pm to
If you think it's irrelevant in the CFP, it was even more irrelevant in the BCS.

In fact, by your logic it's been irrelevant for the entire history of college football.
Posted by DaleDenton
Member since Jun 2010
42346 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:26 pm to
quote:

The conference title is no longer relevant.


Had Auburn won yesterday they would be in and UGA out.

Sounds pretty damn relevant to me.
Posted by GRTiger
On a roof eating alligator pie
Member since Dec 2008
62850 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:26 pm to
This argument is dumb. The proper argument would be to look at teams in the BCS Era that played in the title game without winning their conference.
Posted by auburn32
Auburn
Member since Dec 2009
2167 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:26 pm to
I agree that winning the SEC is awesome, and I'm sad my team didn't do it this year. But if Auburn had sat at home (like Bama) instead of playing UGA (a team they beat by double digits 3 weeks before), would they not have been in? It just seems punitive to play an extra game when others don't have to.
Posted by Keese187
Baton Rouge
Member since Mar 2005
348 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:27 pm to
Would love to see future teams on the cusp try to opt out of playing conference championship games.
Posted by Tiguar
Montana
Member since Mar 2012
33131 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:28 pm to
I think the biggest issue is how it can hurt you. It obviously didn't help anyone in the big 10. Wisconsin literally would have been better off forfeiting.
Posted by IAmReality
Member since Oct 2012
12229 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:29 pm to
quote:

Would love to see future teams on the cusp try to opt out of playing conference championship games.


Probably forbidden by conference rules and would result in a forfeit and the committee would never reward such.

Eventually I believe the conference championships will morph into the defacto first round of the playoffs whenever the inevitable expansion to 6/8 teams occurs.

But the idea they 'don't matter' is laughable when they matter now more than ever.
Posted by FairhopeTider
Fairhope, Alabama
Member since May 2012
20758 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:29 pm to
If ND has made the playoff, would everyone had been crying about the conference championship not meaning anything?
Posted by IAmReality
Member since Oct 2012
12229 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:30 pm to
quote:

I think the biggest issue is how it can hurt you. It obviously didn't help anyone in the big 10. Wisconsin literally would have been better off forfeiting.


Conference championship games are necessary because of situations exactly like Wisconsin. Conferences are too big now and you can't play everyone. Divisions can get lopsided.

There were 2-3 teams better than Wisconsin in the Big Ten East.
Posted by DaleDenton
Member since Jun 2010
42346 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:31 pm to
quote:


I agree that winning the SEC is awesome, and I'm sad my team didn't do it this year. But if Auburn had sat at home (like Bama) instead of playing UGA (a team they beat by double digits 3 weeks before), would they not have been in? It just seems punitive to play an extra game when others don't have to.


No, that would have meant you lost to bama and would have been ranked closer to 10 than to 2.

Beat LSU and you might have an argument, or if Bama beat UGA in that scenario you likely would have been in too.

All this tells is in the last 6 years two of the top 4 teams in the country have been in the SEC two times.
This post was edited on 12/3/17 at 7:37 pm
Posted by Dawgfanman
Member since Jun 2015
22206 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:31 pm to
quote:

I think the biggest issue is how it can hurt you. It obviously didn't help anyone in the big 10. Wisconsin literally would have been better off forfeiting.



No. The conference championship game was the only hope they ever had of getting in.
Posted by SquirrelyBama
Member since Nov 2011
6389 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:32 pm to
Both times a non SEC champ made playoffs or title game, the SEC champ was right there besides them. We SEC fans should be happy the Nation thinks so highly of us, that simple. Conference perception matters, and its the main reason I go for SEC in OCC games.
Posted by NC1406
Member since Jul 2013
657 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:33 pm to
quote:

I agree that winning the SEC is awesome, and I'm sad my team didn't do it this year. But if Auburn had sat at home (like Bama) instead of playing UGA (a team they beat by double digits 3 weeks before), would they not have been in? It just seems punitive to play an extra game when others don't have to.



Punitive is having a schedule that let's you play 4 games against the 4 playoff teams. The 4 teams in the playoff have zero of those challenges. The team that wins the Natty will have the same number of wins against the final 4 as AU does.
Posted by IAmReality
Member since Oct 2012
12229 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:36 pm to
That's a very important point.

The SEC champion has never been displaced by a non-champ.

The non-champ has made it IN ADDITION to the champ.
Posted by DaleDenton
Member since Jun 2010
42346 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:36 pm to
quote:

The 4 teams in the playoff have zero of those challenges. The team that wins the Natty will have the same number of wins against the final 4 as AU does.



Talk bama into giving up the Tennessee game, give up the UGA game and we can rotate more more often from the other division.

Playing 3 of the top 4 was the only chance Auburn had after losing to LSU, that was a bad loss, no one is losing to LSU or Iowa and making the CFP.
Posted by NC1406
Member since Jul 2013
657 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:38 pm to
Was not complaining. It was a great season. Got to play 4 great games against the final 4 and went 2-2. No complaints about being left out. Didn't earn it.
This post was edited on 12/3/17 at 7:40 pm
Posted by Tiguar
Montana
Member since Mar 2012
33131 posts
Posted on 12/3/17 at 7:40 pm to
They were top 4 before and a team that didn't play was ranked below them.
Page 1 2
Jump to page
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 2Next pagelast page

Back to top
logoFollow SECRant for SEC Football News
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest updates on SEC Football and Recruiting.

FacebookTwitter