I don’t think the loser of sec or big 10 will be left out as TV revenue matters to much. Now I do wonder about loser of ACC and Big 12, but don’t think they will leave out ACC or Big 12 loser of that
My compromise would be to freeze the rankings prior to the conference championship games. Only a conference champion outside the Top 12 could bump someone out.
@@gumby7919The effect in that scenario is that Miami would become a de facto autobid. Lose conference championship, yet cannot fall in ranking (ranking is frozen). Whatever that is, Miami’s inclusion would not be by way of an at-large selection.
NO ONE wants to play the same team 3 times, and the conference game not only allows it, but promotes it. The ONLY way is to drop the conference game. Kirby brilliantly avoided it. UGA got booted last year. The game has lost its usefulness.
Punishing teams for making it into the conference championship and losing is going to incentivize not going to them. It’s that simple. What has colllege football come to. It’s delusional to think these teams and conferences are held to the same standards and created equally. They’re not and their schedules aren’t either.
As an A&M fan I’d take that. We beat tu and are all over the national media for getting snubbed, would be huge for recruiting and we’re not sniffing a natty this year anyway. If we don’t like it shouldn’t have lost to South Carolina.
@ Beating texas and getting left out while Texas still makes it in isn’t a good look at all recruiting wise. It’s always lose lose for a&m unfortunately
How it should be: If you are IN without the conference championship, you should be in whether you win it or lose it. If you are OUT before the conference championship, you should be able to play in with a win only.
@@dragonsurge1 to me, no. Bc I don’t think you should punish a team for playing an extra game. Ik the fans of teams looking in will be mad at that. But I don’t think it’s fair.
How do the games not matter? Way more games matter. No team with 3 losses in the regular season is getting in, unless you win the Confrence Championship game
@@tpoli5447 Indiana Ohio State doesn't matter nearly as much as it would have last year. High level games are more about seeding as opposed to being regular season elimination games.
This is not different from punishing UGA for playing a hard schedule and rewarding Texas for playing a weak one. With these rankings, the committee is sending the message that they will punish playing a strong team and losing relative to not playing a strong team. In the future, everyone will want to play a weaker schedule, I guess we will have less interesting games in the future, it is sad.
Here is the issue, if it happens. Aggies beat the espn longhorns, then lose SEC championship. Espn longhorns is in the playoff and aggies sit one week after losing to them.
Last year UGA was undefeated and the lost in the SEC championship game by 3 points, and were knocked out of the CFP playoff. Vegas had UGA as a favorite against the 4 teams in last years CFP playoff. There is no advantage to playing in a conference championship game - you risk injuries and have to prepare for an extra game while other teams sit at home, rest, and have more time to prepare for the playoffs. Based on where UGA is ranked right now and what happened to them last year, I am afraid there is a lot of bias amongst CFP committee members against UGA and SEC schools.
I feel like conference championship for SEC and Big10 are a waste, if I make it and lose I play an extra game, but if I’m 3rd in line I get that time off because I’m not in the conference game but will start back at the beginning of the play off? Or am I off on this; if Ole Miss makes the playoffs but not the conference game they would still have that extra week off it would just come earlier than when the first round bye is?
Yet it didn't matter for FSU, they got the shaft last year. An 8 team playoff where the top 4 seeds are conference champs and the bottom 4 are debated by a committee that wouldn't guarantee the looser of the conference championship game receive a bid. Never understood the 12 team playoff format.
SEC and B1G champs are the only teams that should get first round byes automatically. The big 12 only started doing conference championship to help their teams get into the playoffs.
Josh makes some great points here. The only problem with this, though is that you have to make the conference championship game matter. If the winner and loser go into the game and come out of it the same way regardless of the outcome, the game should not be played at all.
If I was the CFB commissioner, here’s what I would do: -9 regional power conferences with 9 teams each -4 regional group conferences with 10 teams each -Power conferences play 8 conference games, so you play everyone -Group conferences play 9 conference games, so you play everyone. -No conference championships. Champion is determined by record and tiebreakers. -Playoff is a 12 team with the top 10 conference champs getting AQs, and 2 at larges. -Ranking determines who gets a bye. We regional rivals back, countrywide representation in the playoff, and every game matters because you have to win your conference.
What about Notre Dame? They don't even have a conference. So if they are ranked 6 at&t that they would not be in the playoff. Maybe no home game but still they would be in. Personally I don't think that's right.
So Bama loses the SEC championship and has 3 loses. You're saying Tenn (with only 2 loses and beat Bama head to head) doesn't bump them out of the playoff? Dude, you're underestimating the "I hate the SEC" committees decision making inabilities.
If they punish a team for playing an extra game and losing, but reward a team like Penn State and Notre Dame for not making a conference championship or even being in a conference then what’s the point? The NCAA made this mess and now they have no idea how to clean it up.
@@johnmackshighlights8103 well the regular season is more important than ever now. Normally all but maybe 5 teams would have checked out by now but with this playoffs there's still about 20 teams still battling to the end. I love it. Josh was definitely lost on this one.
The media is making "20 teams" still be alive.. same as always theres about 5 teams who can actually win it all. The rest are a waste of space and are there to generate cash .. dont be a casual@jimmyjam5453
Alabama basically did this in 2017 when they lost to Auburn. They got to stay at home while Auburn and Georgia played for the SEC title UA still got to go play for the NC.
@@04tigerfan Yes, Auburn beat UGA and Bama in the regular season, then UGA went on to beat the breaks off Auburn in the SECCG, beat OU in the Rose bowl in the final seconds of a come back win and lost to Bama in the final seconds of the National Championship game.
@jasonbritt2497 Auburn beat the breaks off GA in the regular season game. I think they beat them worse than what GA did in the SEC Championship game. They turned around and beat Alabama the very next week and then had to play GA again in the championship game while UA got to stay home, get their players healed up and rested before going to play for the NC even though they didn't even win their division.
Simple Solution: Order of choice for playoffs WITHIN each conference: 1. Conference Champion 2. Conference Contender (unless blow-out and proven incompetent) 3. Next best team So if Georgia goes to the SEC championship and loses in a competitive game, forget their record they are the second SEC team in the playoffs. This doesn't justify putting 5 or 6 SEC teams in the playoffs, but it just tells you the order of who should make it in.
Another bigger concern is the fact that if the conference loser makes the playoffs, they will play an extra game and their opponent will more than likely have had a bye to rest, while they were playing in the conference championship. They lose either way - by missing the playoffs or playing a team that rested the week prior.
Hey Josh question….. does this only apply to SEC or every P4 conference….. if Miami loses to smu in the conference championship should Miami drop out? Or does this only apply to one conference. Also question if a team gets blown out in the championship should they drop then. Would love to hear your thoughts
One exception might be a 6-2 SEC team that loses 1 non conference game and then loses the SEC championship. Do we want a 9-4 team in the playoffs? But I agree 99% of the time.
Title games are worth it. If you are a bubble team, consider it a first round playoff game considering they get a bye if they win. Wanting to opt out of a championship game is stupid - you need to still win 4 straight games!
I don't see a team losing the Big 10 or SEC championship and being left out just for that. However, I can see the losing team having their QB injured during that game and the committee leaving them out.
Just make auto bids for the conf championship contenders for the power 4. Expand it to 16 teams. Top 4 get 2 home games, next 4 get 1 home game. You get 8 conference champ contenders, best of G5 locked, and the rest of the league fights for the other 7 spots
I feel like conference championships mattered less for who won, and more for who lost with the 4 team playoff. With the 4 team playoff, depending on your conference and your record, it would either not matter at all, get you kicked out of the playoffs if you lost, and potentially get you in the playoffs if you won. Now, if you win the conference championship, you get in no matter what. The conference championship arguably matters more now than it ever has before. If both teams are highly ranked than it doesn't matter for who gets in, cause both will get, but getting that first round bye is quite rewarding. With a situation like with the big 12 or ACC this year, the conference championship is pretty much needed in order to get a shot at the playoffs. It's unfortunate for the sec, but the conference championships have for the most part always been high risk, high reward games, so it feels kinda odd to be whining about it now
Break each power 4 conference in half and create divisions that can be rotated yearly. The big ten has 18 teams so that's two divisions of 9 teams. The teams in the division would play each other once, plus play one team from the other division. That's 9 games. They can still have their tune up games or rivalry games with 3 games remaining available. Get rid of the conference championship games and reward the division winners automatic bids. That's 8 guaranteed spots for the power 4. Expand the playoffs to 24 and play the first 16 the same weekend as conference championships. The group or 5 will have 3 guaranteed spots in the tournament if they finish the season ranked. If they finish ranked inside the top 24 they are almost guaranteed to make the 24 team playoff anyways. If the playoffs were set up like this right now, there would be 4 group of five teams in the playoffs. The college football committee would select who gets a first round bye. First round byes are reserved for division champions. They would also select all the remaining teams to make the field and their matchups. They could do a huge segment on TV just like college basketball. If they eliminated the conference championships and added 24 teams, it would make the season at most 17 games. I see no issue with this considering the NCAA will be paying players starting in 2026. If Boise State ends up going 11-1 they would have technically won their division in the way I have it set up. They could still get a bye in the 24 team playoff. Play the first round in the same stadiums the conference championships would have been held. Reward the bye teams with a home playoff game in the second round. The remaining games would all be natural fields just like the first round. The conferences that receive automatic bids all have what I call final four rights. All of these conferences have made the traditional 4 team playoff. The PAC 12 would still have final four rights once they have at least 8 teams in the conference. They can gain a second automatic bid when they reach 16 teams. This will encourage more expansion and growth throughout the final four rights conferences. I wouldn't have more than 20 per conference. The group of five can earn final four rights if a team from their conference reaches the final four. That will grant the conference a automatic bid or two automatic bids if they have 16 or more teams. That would encourage more teams to transfer to a new conference with final four rights. It would control and help direct realignment
It’s funny that the big 10 and the Sec are the only conferences to complain..! Every other conference doesn’t care. So Big 10 and SEC gets 2 auto bids. Lest just do that everything will be fine. But they don’t get a home game.
Fr bruh these mofos getting soft. The days I’m starting to hear people don’t want to play for their conference title is beyond me! I honestly feel the committee is doing it right. I mean geez the point of the playoffs is to give everyone a chance not to see a dam SEC tournament or SEC teams play two three times a year
They don’t complain bc they know they are far weaker conferences virtually soaking up playoff spots that could have went to legit contenders. They are basically DEI hires of the playoffs
@@jasonbritt2497 Yeah so true...SEC is being led by *checks notes* a team that came over from the Big12. Big10's leader is from the PAC-12, and the Big12 is being led by a team that was independent. The ACC is being led by a team that came from the AAC. Clearly there aren't any good teams outside of the SEC and Big10.
Not a ND fan. But, they shouldn't be rewarded with a bye because they didn't play in a conference championship game. Just join a conference, Big 10 or even ACC.
This conversation is based around the SEC, but I actually think it's even more applicable to the other conferences. Most years the loser of the Big 12 and ACC title game wont get in the playoffs. And this year look at Ohio State. If they win out and finish 11-1 they have the 5 seed locked up, which arguably could be the best spot to be in in the whole playoff some years. And if they play in the conference title game and lose to Oregon again, they will almost for sure drop out of the 5 seed. Possibly even out of the home playoff game seed depending on what all happens around them. The conference title games were a punishment for alot of teams since the 4 team playoff started, now it's far worse. And if you lose, even if you don't fall in the rankings at all. You still just had to play an extra game. Which is a punishment in itself.
They should revert back to divisions. This would make schedules, especially in conferences more equal. If you make the title game, you get in the playoff. Winners can qualify for a bye. Losers can get a home game as a reward for making it, then any at large team has to play on the road. Teams shouldn’t be penalized for qualifying for a conference title game. It’s bad when the 5 seed has the best potential chance to make the semifinal.
Easy solution - guaranteed playoff spots for championship games. Winners of the championship games from the P4 get a bye and losers a first round home game. You have less at large teams then but it makes the season in the leagues so much more important.
You win the conference championship you are in. You get blown out in the conference championship you may drop out IF you were already on the edge. It was supposed to be a blow out, but the team took the favorite right to the final play of the game. They MIGHT get bumped up into the playoffs.
You all remember when the best game of the year was watching two schools in the WAC or Big East go at it for what would essentially be the Conference Title Game in Week 5? We need to bring that back. It incentivizes every single solitary week mattering to every team. Will there be some duds sometimes? Absolutely, yes. There were teams in Pitt and UConn that were in NY6 games since they were in a power conference, but went 8-5. You won the conference, you shouldn't be punished for that because someone wants a 'brand'. Besides, whomever loses the Big 12 or ACC title game will be left out of the playoff, so this just reeks of P2 over-saturation. The same should happen for basketball in the Big Dance. Its like watching a 12 loss ACC or SEC squad get a seed in the tourney while having a team that won a small conference have to play a play-in game in order to even make the dance.
The only scenario I see that the SEC championship Runner Up is left out involves Texas A&M beating Texas, ND losing to Army, Army winning out, and Texas A&M losing in the SEC championship by 4 scores or more. So in other words, less than 1 percent
I agree. The conference championship game should stay and should mean something. But, 12 is still better than 4. It would have been 2-3 Big Ten and/or 1-2 SEC in the playoff anyway.
Conference title games should be like extra-credit assignments in school. If you complete it correctly, you get the bonus points that come with it. If not, you lose nothing for trying.
I agree if you go into Conference Championship with only 2 Losses (SEC and Big Ten Only Conferences) Should still be guarantee a spot if we are going to Guarantee Spot for G5 and Top 4 for ACC and Big 12 Who's Winner might be 10th Best Team Conference.
Idk why anyone thinks a conf title game hurts your odds, even if the loser risks dropping out. View it as a first round game, win and you advance (via 1st round bye). If you don’t make it to conf champ but make playoff, you still need to win a game to advance to second round, where you will face a rested conf champ winner. Still need to win the same # of games
Do it the way I say to do it. What I will do is meritorious and fair. It will be like the original BCS. Losing football games will cost you dearly. Getting to a conference championship game will boost your profile. A team gets one point for making the championship game, another point for winning it. Sort of like hockey and that way.
I mean... it's also a crisis of there are five teams with identical records and near identical resumes in which a team who picks up a third loss by like 42 doesn't move.
People are looking at the Big 10 and SEC CCG wrong. It's a playoff game. Win and you have 3 more games. Lose and you probably get a 2nd chance. It's the other conferences that should worry about CCG.
Not holding losing in the conference championship game is fine as long as it applies to all schools in all conferences. No special treatment for SEC or B1G. The shining example this year is if Miami makes it to the ACC Championship Game with an at large berth in hand they should not lose it if they lose in the champ game.
Agreed, any post regular season games do not affect rankings since coaches might be resting some dinged up players for the national playoffs. Treat it like Army/Navy. Hate to see these entertaining, bragging rights games to go away as well as the revenue it generates.
Having divisions again will make it better. Divisionless conferences with more than 10 teams leads to multiple teams with the same record because they don't end up playing each other
The SEC could do 4 4 team divisions and go to 9 conference games. You play your three division games and you play say the West division 4 teams and two games from the division you're not playing next season
No cause that’s how you have imbalanced divisions, with all the best teams in the B10 East but only one of them can play on the CCG, and they get to play a 3 loss team from the west.
If you have 16 teams do 4 4 team divisions and treat it like how the NFL does in scheduling the division games that way if say your a Texas fan they can play every school home and away in 4yrs. Plus it will make scheduling day the SEC games easier. Then if you want take the top 2 division winners for the conference championship game
go back to Tuesday night when ESPN had the guy from the CFP Committe on, he said, unless I misunderstood, that the conference commissioners asked them to evaluate teams THROUGH the conference championship games, not up to. So that to me means losing that game will absolutely be held in favor if you win and against you if you lose. And as others have said, look what happen to UGA last year. NO team prior to last going into the SEC championship game ranked # 1 or 2 had been left out of CFP win or lose, until they did it to UGA last year. UGA goes into that game having been ranked #1 or #2 all year, they lose and all the sudden not only are they not # 1, but they are out of the top 4. I'll say this, I 100% believe they will hold it against teams that loses the conference championship games, until they don't.
Last year was a very weird year tho. You had 3 p5 teams that were 13-0 and a 12-1 texas team that beat the sec champ winner on the road. Someone was bound to get the short end.
I thought sankey was crazy asking for the big 10 and SEC to have like 7 auto bids for the 2 conferences. I can get on board for those 2 conferences championship teams get automatic bids.
Josh, I may be overthinking this (and get lit up, as a result), but in some ways, isn't a team better off being seeded 5th-8th? Granted, they wouldn't get a first-round bye (and the rust that comes with it), but they would get a home game, while the top seeds get a quarter-final game a neutral site, with little to no momentum... many top seeds in the NFL run into these issues, even WITH a home game!
Instead of just conference championship weekend. What if it were conference standing weekend so everybody plays the same amount of games. 1v2 for the championship, 3v4, 5v6…
So you’re basically suggesting that they’re going to adopt a college basketball model where every team competes in the conference tournament. That’s not feasible because there aren’t 64 spots available in the national championship bracket. If a team like Kentucky were to win the SEC tournament, they would get an automatic bid with 6 or 7 losses. This is eventually going to lead to over 20 games played, which would be horrible for the players’ health.
I think I may have a different, more worrisome problem with title games. Imagine the big 10 title game is Oregon v Ohio State and Oregon loses. Now a 1 loss Oregon has to turn right around and play again against Alabama, Georgia, Miami, etc... losing a championship game is gonna be brutal for the next game.
There really is no BYE for conference champions if you consider the championship game as a playoff game. However the best case for the looser is that they are playing one MORE game than everybody else to win it all.
Those two conferences would have to eliminate at least 2 non-conference games in order to have this semi-pro college league. That's what the NILs makes it, Semi-Pro.
They are more important than bowl games, because all healthy players are participating. Unlike bowl games where draftable players are not risking injury or preparing for combines Today bowl games give teams an opportunity to give young players not only valuable game experience, but allow your next years players another month of practice and conditioning in a league that mandates fewer full on contact days to prepare. Better prep for next year, but not a true valid representation of the 2 teams playing for that season.
They definitely have some work to do but the 12 team playoff is a must Josh if this year was the same as last year you’d have teams like Georgia and Alabama missing the playoffs because they had to play really good football teams and didn’t go undefeated lol that would be a waste of a season
To put it simply, yes, the loser of the conference championship games will be penalized. They were penalized during both the 4-team playoff and BCS eras and will continue to be penalized going forward. Having the loser not be penalized would essentially mean that the game doesn't matter except to determine which team gets a bye as the conference champion. As for teams not going to the championship and being rewarded for it, that's nothing new, as it's already happened at least three times that I recall: 2011, 2017 and 2022 for Alabama and Ohio State. So unless they codify exceptions into the playoff standards, whatever those may be (if there even are any), then things are gonna keep going the way they have been. Not sure why people expected things to go differently now.
If youre not gonna drop teams that lose conference champs you might as well as have a tournament with just the top 2 teams from every conference and then a few at large teams
Get rid of the Conference Champ Game (CCG) In BCS and 4 team playoff, the CCG functioned as a de facto playoff game. But now, with a 12 team playoff - why play it? Can you imagine the NFL having a “Divisional Championship Game” before their 14 team playoff?
Could this just be a timing issue (conference game too close to the start of the playoff)? I don’t see this type of complaint from the basketball side.
Conference Games SHOULD be worth it. But obviously this “committee” believes otherwise. Clearly the fix is in. They use “wins,” not losses as criteria for some teams (their preferred teams), and “losses,” not wins as criteria for other teams. That is empirical evidence that the fix is in. They are LITERALLY not using the same metrics for all teams.
How can you be punished for making the conference championship unless you get absolutely shredded? In all honestly, teams who play in conference championships, the rankings should be set in stone unless expect for those who are playing a team outside of the top 12.
Not too focused on that I want to see what happens with the big 12 if Army ends up winning out 😂 would the top 5 ranked conf champs not include the big 12 if that happens?
Don't forget that 13th data point. That's how the CFP put the SEC in selectively a few times and other teams out so now we want to have special considerations if they lose? The SEC bias is out of control.
I think what people are missing in the bigger picture is the SEC is just not that far ahead of anyone anymore. Still a great conference but with NIL and players going all over, it just isn't what it used to be and the SEC won't admit it. The B1G bottom dweller USC beat a powerhouse LSU week 1. The sethstill thinks their low to middle tier teams can beat other conferences top teir and it's just not true.
@rayserifi8683 I think you are right. NIL openly has knee capped the SEC under the table NIL 💰 🚗 they were doing forever....now they are panicking. Right now they wouldn't even make a 4 team playoff.
As a Georgia fan I’d say whoever losses should be dropped. I think people are quick to forget Georgia was undefeated until our conference championship last year and we dropped out. So yes if a 2 loss team losses in the sec championship drop them out just like they did us last year
Georgia didn’t lose a single game last year until the conference title game. Lost by 3 and was left out… it’ll happen again this year to an SEC team
Last year was a 4 team playoff. This year is 12, massive difference.
@@kevinbond8966 It doesn't matter. Other teams will be waiting to get in, just like the 4-team playoff.
I don’t think the loser of sec or big 10 will be left out as TV revenue matters to much. Now I do wonder about loser of ACC and Big 12, but don’t think they will leave out ACC or Big 12 loser of that
Oh-Josh discussing the power two of SEC and Big 10
@@lisascherer527 ACC and BIG 12 loser has very very small chance of making the playoff.
My compromise would be to freeze the rankings prior to the conference championship games. Only a conference champion outside the Top 12 could bump someone out.
Well said!
ACC SMU wins at Miami ACC championship cause havoc
@@gumby7919The effect in that scenario is that Miami would become a de facto autobid. Lose conference championship, yet cannot fall in ranking (ranking is frozen). Whatever that is, Miami’s inclusion would not be by way of an at-large selection.
NO ONE wants to play the same team 3 times, and the conference game not only allows it, but promotes it. The ONLY way is to drop the conference game. Kirby brilliantly avoided it. UGA got booted last year. The game has lost its usefulness.
100%
Punishing teams for making it into the conference championship and losing is going to incentivize not going to them. It’s that simple. What has colllege football come to.
It’s delusional to think these teams and conferences are held to the same standards and created equally. They’re not and their schedules aren’t either.
I’d bet my house that if A&M makes the Sec Championship and loses they will be left out.
As an A&M fan I’d take that. We beat tu and are all over the national media for getting snubbed, would be huge for recruiting and we’re not sniffing a natty this year anyway. If we don’t like it shouldn’t have lost to South Carolina.
@ Beating texas and getting left out while Texas still makes it in isn’t a good look at all recruiting wise. It’s always lose lose for a&m unfortunately
3 losses should equal out. No?
@@bv7078 How is it forcing a team to play extra game while others have a bye get penalized when those bye teams couldn’t even qualify for that game
@Korey1234 Uhhh. What?
Will someone PLEASE think of the TV Networks!!!
Little Timmy TV is starving!!!
Sorry i forgot about them
Yeah, have a heart and think about how much ESPN has to lose 😂😂😂, and how much work they’ve put into the season
@@lukeburke8997 oh I forgot about them , ESPN needs 10 SEC teams in and you guys can rock paper scissor for the other two spots.
How it should be:
If you are IN without the conference championship, you should be in whether you win it or lose it.
If you are OUT before the conference championship, you should be able to play in with a win only.
@@SJigler The problem is if you are OUT without the conference championship but end up winning your way in, someone has to drop out.
@@dragonsurge1yes but if that happens the team out should get in over the lowest seed
@@AceWillliams and if the #12 team lost their conference champ, should they not drop out?
@@dragonsurge1 to me, no. Bc I don’t think you should punish a team for playing an extra game. Ik the fans of teams looking in will be mad at that. But I don’t think it’s fair.
I’d reward the conference title game loser with a home game for making it. Any at large team should have to play on the road
I'm old enough to remember when regular season and conference championship games really mattered.
So am I. Both really matter now.
Lol. It was just last year.
I’m guessing this was before a computer RNG’d playoff games right old timer?
How do the games not matter? Way more games matter. No team with 3 losses in the regular season is getting in, unless you win the Confrence Championship game
@@tpoli5447 Indiana Ohio State doesn't matter nearly as much as it would have last year. High level games are more about seeding as opposed to being regular season elimination games.
This is not different from punishing UGA for playing a hard schedule and rewarding Texas for playing a weak one. With these rankings, the committee is sending the message that they will punish playing a strong team and losing relative to not playing a strong team. In the future, everyone will want to play a weaker schedule, I guess we will have less interesting games in the future, it is sad.
Probably the most meaningful thing Lane Kiffin has ever said and thats saying a lot
Texas and Bama are CLEARLY “the chosen ones!”
They showed us that last year, and they’re showing us that again this year.
Here is the issue, if it happens. Aggies beat the espn longhorns, then lose SEC championship. Espn longhorns is in the playoff and aggies sit one week after losing to them.
🤔
Facts.
Bama will win the SEC
ESPN owns two teams already. Ohio State and Notre Dame. See 8 game osu 2020 season and ND over Texas A&M.
@ ESPN has nothing to do with rankings beyond sharing them and maybe influencing opinions from their takes.
Happened to Georgia last year.. Lost SEC championship and got booted out of the playoffs!
Last year UGA was undefeated and the lost in the SEC championship game by 3 points, and were knocked out of the CFP playoff. Vegas had UGA as a favorite against the 4 teams in last years CFP playoff. There is no advantage to playing in a conference championship game - you risk injuries and have to prepare for an extra game while other teams sit at home, rest, and have more time to prepare for the playoffs. Based on where UGA is ranked right now and what happened to them last year, I am afraid there is a lot of bias amongst CFP committee members against UGA and SEC schools.
I think it goes both ways. There may be a team that has to win to get in. It happens in basketball every year. You might have a 9-3 team in the game.
I feel like conference championship for SEC and Big10 are a waste, if I make it and lose I play an extra game, but if I’m 3rd in line I get that time off because I’m not in the conference game but will start back at the beginning of the play off? Or am I off on this; if Ole Miss makes the playoffs but not the conference game they would still have that extra week off it would just come earlier than when the first round bye is?
Conference champ winners get a 3.5 week break
Conference champ losers get a 2 week break
Everyone else gets a 3 week break
Yet it didn't matter for FSU, they got the shaft last year. An 8 team playoff where the top 4 seeds are conference champs and the bottom 4 are debated by a committee that wouldn't guarantee the looser of the conference championship game receive a bid. Never understood the 12 team playoff format.
SEC and B1G champs are the only teams that should get first round byes automatically.
The big 12 only started doing conference championship to help their teams get into the playoffs.
Josh makes some great points here. The only problem with this, though is that you have to make the conference championship game matter. If the winner and loser go into the game and come out of it the same way regardless of the outcome, the game should not be played at all.
It’s played for a bye
@@tlindner8 the SEC always wants special consideration...what happened to just win.
@@jimmyjam5453that cuz they’re the best, it’s proven facts
I have talking about this for years , and I have never played, coached, or been an AD. Surprising.
🏆 Yeah, it's just common, or perhaps uncommon, sense, hey...
If I was the CFB commissioner, here’s what I would do:
-9 regional power conferences with 9 teams each
-4 regional group conferences with 10 teams each
-Power conferences play 8 conference games, so you play everyone
-Group conferences play 9 conference games, so you play everyone.
-No conference championships. Champion is determined by record and tiebreakers.
-Playoff is a 12 team with the top 10 conference champs getting AQs, and 2 at larges.
-Ranking determines who gets a bye.
We regional rivals back, countrywide representation in the playoff, and every game matters because you have to win your conference.
THE CFB has less power than the NCAA which has less power than either the B1G OR the SEC
What about Notre Dame? They don't even have a conference. So if they are ranked 6 at&t that they would not be in the playoff. Maybe no home game but still they would be in. Personally I don't think that's right.
So Bama loses the SEC championship and has 3 loses. You're saying Tenn (with only 2 loses and beat Bama head to head) doesn't bump them out of the playoff? Dude, you're underestimating the "I hate the SEC" committees decision making inabilities.
Give Indiana SEC schedule and it’s 6-6
The committee is a joke
They say one thing and do another set other thing and do another
If they punish a team for playing an extra game and losing, but reward a team like Penn State and Notre Dame for not making a conference championship or even being in a conference then what’s the point? The NCAA made this mess and now they have no idea how to clean it up.
Yes. It happened last year. The real problem is the committee.
Josh is trying his hardest to not admit he was wrong about expansion. We haven’t had this many big games this late in a season in forever
To an extent Prehaps but u can make a game feel as little or big as u want it’s also year 1 of expansion
To an extent Prehaps but u can make a game feel as little or big as u want it’s also year 1 of expansion
Also, Josh said both times he values it a season because that’s what makes college football so special is the regular season
@@johnmackshighlights8103 well the regular season is more important than ever now. Normally all but maybe 5 teams would have checked out by now but with this playoffs there's still about 20 teams still battling to the end. I love it. Josh was definitely lost on this one.
The media is making "20 teams" still be alive.. same as always theres about 5 teams who can actually win it all. The rest are a waste of space and are there to generate cash .. dont be a casual@jimmyjam5453
Alabama basically did this in 2017 when they lost to Auburn. They got to stay at home while Auburn and Georgia played for the SEC title UA still got to go play for the NC.
That was UGA that played in that NC game
@jasonbritt2497 it was UGA and Alabama wasn't it?
@@04tigerfan Yes, Auburn beat UGA and Bama in the regular season, then UGA went on to beat the breaks off Auburn in the SECCG, beat OU in the Rose bowl in the final seconds of a come back win and lost to Bama in the final seconds of the National Championship game.
@jasonbritt2497 Auburn beat the breaks off GA in the regular season game. I think they beat them worse than what GA did in the SEC Championship game. They turned around and beat Alabama the very next week and then had to play GA again in the championship game while UA got to stay home, get their players healed up and rested before going to play for the NC even though they didn't even win their division.
Simple Solution: Order of choice for playoffs WITHIN each conference:
1. Conference Champion
2. Conference Contender (unless blow-out and proven incompetent)
3. Next best team
So if Georgia goes to the SEC championship and loses in a competitive game, forget their record they are the second SEC team in the playoffs. This doesn't justify putting 5 or 6 SEC teams in the playoffs, but it just tells you the order of who should make it in.
Another bigger concern is the fact that if the conference loser makes the playoffs, they will play an extra game and their opponent will more than likely have had a bye to rest, while they were playing in the conference championship. They lose either way - by missing the playoffs or playing a team that rested the week prior.
Hey Josh question….. does this only apply to SEC or every P4 conference….. if Miami loses to smu in the conference championship should Miami drop out? Or does this only apply to one conference. Also question if a team gets blown out in the championship should they drop then.
Would love to hear your thoughts
You know the answer to that first question.
Well said my friend!
One exception might be a 6-2 SEC team that loses 1 non conference game and then loses the SEC championship. Do we want a 9-4 team in the playoffs? But I agree 99% of the time.
No, conference champ games are not worth it.
Title games are worth it. If you are a bubble team, consider it a first round playoff game considering they get a bye if they win. Wanting to opt out of a championship game is stupid - you need to still win 4 straight games!
I don't see a team losing the Big 10 or SEC championship and being left out just for that. However, I can see the losing team having their QB injured during that game and the committee leaving them out.
It happened just last year bro
I think the one caveat has to be if Ohio State beats Oregon in the conference championship game. Then the rankings will change for those two teams.
Conference titles importance de emphasized is a natural evolution with the dividing lines between regions becoming blurred
Just make auto bids for the conf championship contenders for the power 4. Expand it to 16 teams. Top 4 get 2 home games, next 4 get 1 home game. You get 8 conference champ contenders, best of G5 locked, and the rest of the league fights for the other 7 spots
Committee has been silent when asked this question and neither confirmed nor denied what they would do. That is scary. It should be an easy answer.
I feel like conference championships mattered less for who won, and more for who lost with the 4 team playoff. With the 4 team playoff, depending on your conference and your record, it would either not matter at all, get you kicked out of the playoffs if you lost, and potentially get you in the playoffs if you won. Now, if you win the conference championship, you get in no matter what. The conference championship arguably matters more now than it ever has before. If both teams are highly ranked than it doesn't matter for who gets in, cause both will get, but getting that first round bye is quite rewarding. With a situation like with the big 12 or ACC this year, the conference championship is pretty much needed in order to get a shot at the playoffs. It's unfortunate for the sec, but the conference championships have for the most part always been high risk, high reward games, so it feels kinda odd to be whining about it now
Simple fix final playoff rankings happen before conference titles! Like how heisman is a regular season award
@@noah.conley then you might as well just cancel the title games.
Break each power 4 conference in half and create divisions that can be rotated yearly. The big ten has 18 teams so that's two divisions of 9 teams. The teams in the division would play each other once, plus play one team from the other division. That's 9 games. They can still have their tune up games or rivalry games with 3 games remaining available. Get rid of the conference championship games and reward the division winners automatic bids. That's 8 guaranteed spots for the power 4. Expand the playoffs to 24 and play the first 16 the same weekend as conference championships. The group or 5 will have 3 guaranteed spots in the tournament if they finish the season ranked. If they finish ranked inside the top 24 they are almost guaranteed to make the 24 team playoff anyways. If the playoffs were set up like this right now, there would be 4 group of five teams in the playoffs. The college football committee would select who gets a first round bye. First round byes are reserved for division champions. They would also select all the remaining teams to make the field and their matchups. They could do a huge segment on TV just like college basketball. If they eliminated the conference championships and added 24 teams, it would make the season at most 17 games. I see no issue with this considering the NCAA will be paying players starting in 2026.
If Boise State ends up going 11-1 they would have technically won their division in the way I have it set up. They could still get a bye in the 24 team playoff. Play the first round in the same stadiums the conference championships would have been held. Reward the bye teams with a home playoff game in the second round. The remaining games would all be natural fields just like the first round.
The conferences that receive automatic bids all have what I call final four rights. All of these conferences have made the traditional 4 team playoff. The PAC 12 would still have final four rights once they have at least 8 teams in the conference. They can gain a second automatic bid when they reach 16 teams. This will encourage more expansion and growth throughout the final four rights conferences. I wouldn't have more than 20 per conference. The group of five can earn final four rights if a team from their conference reaches the final four. That will grant the conference a automatic bid or two automatic bids if they have 16 or more teams. That would encourage more teams to transfer to a new conference with final four rights. It would control and help direct realignment
Georgia got knocked out of the Playoff when they lost to Bama in the conference championship last year.
It’s funny that the big 10 and the Sec are the only conferences to complain..! Every other conference doesn’t care. So Big 10 and SEC gets 2 auto bids. Lest just do that everything will be fine. But they don’t get a home game.
Fr bruh these mofos getting soft. The days I’m starting to hear people don’t want to play for their conference title is beyond me! I honestly feel the committee is doing it right. I mean geez the point of the playoffs is to give everyone a chance not to see a dam SEC tournament or SEC teams play two three times a year
They don’t complain bc they know they are far weaker conferences virtually soaking up playoff spots that could have went to legit contenders. They are basically DEI hires of the playoffs
@@jasonbritt2497 Yeah so true...SEC is being led by *checks notes* a team that came over from the Big12. Big10's leader is from the PAC-12, and the Big12 is being led by a team that was independent. The ACC is being led by a team that came from the AAC. Clearly there aren't any good teams outside of the SEC and Big10.
Awesome analysis. Mega conference champs play for the Natty forcing the other conferences to align with SEC or Big10. ND better align with one.
Norte Dame and that weak schedule playing no conference game should be out. Stop the arrogance and get into the Big Ten and lose 3-4 games a year
Not a ND fan. But, they shouldn't be rewarded with a bye because they didn't play in a conference championship game. Just join a conference, Big 10 or even ACC.
This conversation is based around the SEC, but I actually think it's even more applicable to the other conferences. Most years the loser of the Big 12 and ACC title game wont get in the playoffs. And this year look at Ohio State. If they win out and finish 11-1 they have the 5 seed locked up, which arguably could be the best spot to be in in the whole playoff some years. And if they play in the conference title game and lose to Oregon again, they will almost for sure drop out of the 5 seed. Possibly even out of the home playoff game seed depending on what all happens around them. The conference title games were a punishment for alot of teams since the 4 team playoff started, now it's far worse. And if you lose, even if you don't fall in the rankings at all. You still just had to play an extra game. Which is a punishment in itself.
They should revert back to divisions. This would make schedules, especially in conferences more equal. If you make the title game, you get in the playoff. Winners can qualify for a bye. Losers can get a home game as a reward for making it, then any at large team has to play on the road. Teams shouldn’t be penalized for qualifying for a conference title game. It’s bad when the 5 seed has the best potential chance to make the semifinal.
Easy solution - guaranteed playoff spots for championship games. Winners of the championship games from the P4 get a bye and losers a first round home game. You have less at large teams then but it makes the season in the leagues so much more important.
You win the conference championship you are in.
You get blown out in the conference championship you may drop out IF you were already on the edge.
It was supposed to be a blow out, but the team took the favorite right to the final play of the game. They MIGHT get bumped up into the playoffs.
You all remember when the best game of the year was watching two schools in the WAC or Big East go at it for what would essentially be the Conference Title Game in Week 5? We need to bring that back. It incentivizes every single solitary week mattering to every team. Will there be some duds sometimes? Absolutely, yes. There were teams in Pitt and UConn that were in NY6 games since they were in a power conference, but went 8-5. You won the conference, you shouldn't be punished for that because someone wants a 'brand'. Besides, whomever loses the Big 12 or ACC title game will be left out of the playoff, so this just reeks of P2 over-saturation.
The same should happen for basketball in the Big Dance. Its like watching a 12 loss ACC or SEC squad get a seed in the tourney while having a team that won a small conference have to play a play-in game in order to even make the dance.
The only scenario I see that the SEC championship Runner Up is left out involves Texas A&M beating Texas, ND losing to Army, Army winning out, and Texas A&M losing in the SEC championship by 4 scores or more. So in other words, less than 1 percent
I agree. The conference championship game should stay and should mean something. But, 12 is still better than 4. It would have been 2-3 Big Ten and/or 1-2 SEC in the playoff anyway.
A loss is a loss. If a win can get you in then a loss can get you out. 👍🧐
Then why play the game? Decline the game
Conference title games should be like extra-credit assignments in school. If you complete it correctly, you get the bonus points that come with it. If not, you lose nothing for trying.
Not a deep thinker are you bud 🤦♂️ Might wanna look into getting some wrinkles on that smooth brain 😂
Delete this
@Jay205-qx5iy why ? Because the CFP committee might see it?
Each conference needs two divisions, if you win your division you are in the playoffs, the conference championship determines your seed
I agree if you go into Conference Championship with only 2 Losses (SEC and Big Ten Only Conferences) Should still be guarantee a spot if we are going to Guarantee Spot for G5 and Top 4 for ACC and Big 12 Who's Winner might be 10th Best Team Conference.
@@davidcole2337 nope... this ain't everybody gets a trophy 🏆.
Existential predicament -as you solve one problem -you create new more difficult problems!
The only answer, imo, is to get rid of conference title games. I don’t see where it could go other than that.
Should be a 10 team playoff Power 4 conference title game teams are in, best G5 team and the next best record (if tied sos decides)
Idk why anyone thinks a conf title game hurts your odds, even if the loser risks dropping out. View it as a first round game, win and you advance (via 1st round bye). If you don’t make it to conf champ but make playoff, you still need to win a game to advance to second round, where you will face a rested conf champ winner.
Still need to win the same # of games
Do it the way I say to do it. What I will do is meritorious and fair. It will be like the original BCS. Losing football games will cost you dearly. Getting to a conference championship game will boost your profile. A team gets one point for making the championship game, another point for winning it. Sort of like hockey and that way.
Bigger concern is potential injuries from the conference championship game going into the playoffs
I mean... it's also a crisis of there are five teams with identical records and near identical resumes in which a team who picks up a third loss by like 42 doesn't move.
People are looking at the Big 10 and SEC CCG wrong. It's a playoff game. Win and you have 3 more games. Lose and you probably get a 2nd chance.
It's the other conferences that should worry about CCG.
Not holding losing in the conference championship game is fine as long as it applies to all schools in all conferences. No special treatment for SEC or B1G. The shining example this year is if Miami makes it to the ACC Championship Game with an at large berth in hand they should not lose it if they lose in the champ game.
Easy fix, announce the 12 teams before the conference championships. Fixed it for you.
Agreed, any post regular season games do not affect rankings since coaches might be resting some dinged up players for the national playoffs. Treat it like Army/Navy. Hate to see these entertaining, bragging rights games to go away as well as the revenue it generates.
Having divisions again will make it better. Divisionless conferences with more than 10 teams leads to multiple teams with the same record because they don't end up playing each other
The SEC could do 4 4 team divisions and go to 9 conference games. You play your three division games and you play say the West division 4 teams and two games from the division you're not playing next season
No cause that’s how you have imbalanced divisions, with all the best teams in the B10 East but only one of them can play on the CCG, and they get to play a 3 loss team from the west.
If you have 16 teams do 4 4 team divisions and treat it like how the NFL does in scheduling the division games that way if say your a Texas fan they can play every school home and away in 4yrs. Plus it will make scheduling day the SEC games easier. Then if you want take the top 2 division winners for the conference championship game
go back to Tuesday night when ESPN had the guy from the CFP Committe on, he said, unless I misunderstood, that the conference commissioners asked them to evaluate teams THROUGH the conference championship games, not up to. So that to me means losing that game will absolutely be held in favor if you win and against you if you lose. And as others have said, look what happen to UGA last year. NO team prior to last going into the SEC championship game ranked # 1 or 2 had been left out of CFP win or lose, until they did it to UGA last year. UGA goes into that game having been ranked #1 or #2 all year, they lose and all the sudden not only are they not # 1, but they are out of the top 4. I'll say this, I 100% believe they will hold it against teams that loses the conference championship games, until they don't.
Last year was a very weird year tho. You had 3 p5 teams that were 13-0 and a 12-1 texas team that beat the sec champ winner on the road. Someone was bound to get the short end.
I thought sankey was crazy asking for the big 10 and SEC to have like 7 auto bids for the 2 conferences. I can get on board for those 2 conferences championship teams get automatic bids.
what about a locked first round spot, maybe alternate 6 & 7 every year for the big 10 and sec champ runner up?
Josh, I may be overthinking this (and get lit up, as a result), but in some ways, isn't a team better off being seeded 5th-8th? Granted, they wouldn't get a first-round bye (and the rust that comes with it), but they would get a home game, while the top seeds get a quarter-final game a neutral site, with little to no momentum... many top seeds in the NFL run into these issues, even WITH a home game!
Yes, they're worth it. If they're set up correctly.
Instead of just conference championship weekend. What if it were conference standing weekend so everybody plays the same amount of games. 1v2 for the championship, 3v4, 5v6…
So you’re basically suggesting that they’re going to adopt a college basketball model where every team competes in the conference tournament. That’s not feasible because there aren’t 64 spots available in the national championship bracket. If a team like Kentucky were to win the SEC tournament, they would get an automatic bid with 6 or 7 losses. This is eventually going to lead to over 20 games played, which would be horrible for the players’ health.
I think I may have a different, more worrisome problem with title games. Imagine the big 10 title game is Oregon v Ohio State and Oregon loses. Now a 1 loss Oregon has to turn right around and play again against Alabama, Georgia, Miami, etc... losing a championship game is gonna be brutal for the next game.
There really is no BYE for conference champions if you consider the championship game as a playoff game. However the best case for the looser is that they are playing one MORE game than everybody else to win it all.
Those two conferences would have to eliminate at least 2 non-conference games in order to have this semi-pro college league. That's what the NILs makes it, Semi-Pro.
They are more important than bowl games, because all healthy players are participating. Unlike bowl games where draftable players are not risking injury or preparing for combines Today bowl games give teams an opportunity to give young players not only valuable game experience, but allow your next years players another month of practice and conditioning in a league that mandates fewer full on contact days to prepare. Better prep for next year, but not a true valid representation of the 2 teams playing for that season.
What if 12 looses while in a conference championships, and 13 wins a G5 conference champ, and they look like the better team?
NEW IDEA: 5 auto bids to conference champs but only guaranteed first round byes for the 2 highest ranked conference champs.
They definitely have some work to do but the 12 team playoff is a must Josh if this year was the same as last year you’d have teams like Georgia and Alabama missing the playoffs because they had to play really good football teams and didn’t go undefeated lol that would be a waste of a season
To put it simply, yes, the loser of the conference championship games will be penalized.
They were penalized during both the 4-team playoff and BCS eras and will continue to be penalized going forward. Having the loser not be penalized would essentially mean that the game doesn't matter except to determine which team gets a bye as the conference champion.
As for teams not going to the championship and being rewarded for it, that's nothing new, as it's already happened at least three times that I recall: 2011, 2017 and 2022 for Alabama and Ohio State.
So unless they codify exceptions into the playoff standards, whatever those may be (if there even are any), then things are gonna keep going the way they have been. Not sure why people expected things to go differently now.
It's on the commissioners of the sec and big ten for making into super conferences
They need to have divisions in conferences. Never understood why they did this. The conferences are also too big anyway
Coaches, and Nick Saban most notably, were highly critical of conference championship games as far back as the BCS. This isn't new.
If youre not gonna drop teams that lose conference champs you might as well as have a tournament with just the top 2 teams from every conference and then a few at large teams
Why is nobody talking about what it means to the players to be a conference champion 5+ years down the road. Not everybody goes to the NFL.
what if a teams starting qb gets hurt in the conference championship game? gotta leave them out right?
Get rid of the Conference Champ Game (CCG)
In BCS and 4 team playoff, the CCG functioned as a de facto playoff game.
But now, with a 12 team playoff - why play it?
Can you imagine the NFL having a “Divisional Championship Game” before their 14 team playoff?
Could this just be a timing issue (conference game too close to the start of the playoff)? I don’t see this type of complaint from the basketball side.
Conference Games SHOULD be worth it. But obviously this “committee” believes otherwise.
Clearly the fix is in. They use “wins,” not losses as criteria for some teams (their preferred teams), and “losses,” not wins as criteria for other teams.
That is empirical evidence that the fix is in. They are LITERALLY not using the same metrics for all teams.
How can you be punished for making the conference championship unless you get absolutely shredded?
In all honestly, teams who play in conference championships, the rankings should be set in stone unless expect for those who are playing a team outside of the top 12.
Not too focused on that I want to see what happens with the big 12 if Army ends up winning out 😂 would the top 5 ranked conf champs not include the big 12 if that happens?
This guy!
wish josh would’ve put a shirt on for this clip
I BEEN saying taking divisions away would help cause this
Don't forget that 13th data point. That's how the CFP put the SEC in selectively a few times and other teams out so now we want to have special considerations if they lose? The SEC bias is out of control.
It sure is fun watching the sec fans panic!
@@sesupanchick it sure is fun watching SEC teams win natties while others complain
SEC bias is justified. Completely.
I think what people are missing in the bigger picture is the SEC is just not that far ahead of anyone anymore. Still a great conference but with NIL and players going all over, it just isn't what it used to be and the SEC won't admit it. The B1G bottom dweller USC beat a powerhouse LSU week 1. The sethstill thinks their low to middle tier teams can beat other conferences top teir and it's just not true.
@rayserifi8683 I think you are right. NIL openly has knee capped the SEC under the table NIL 💰 🚗 they were doing forever....now they are panicking. Right now they wouldn't even make a 4 team playoff.
If the selection committee does it right, they shouldn’t even consider a conference championship loss in the convo unless it’s a total blowout
As a Georgia fan I’d say whoever losses should be dropped. I think people are quick to forget Georgia was undefeated until our conference championship last year and we dropped out. So yes if a 2 loss team losses in the sec championship drop them out just like they did us last year
I agree the loser of SEC or Big 10 shouldn’t be punished for the loss unless they get boat raced by 50 which never happens.