11/05/24
August 25, 2005
Harris Poll / Does anyone really care?: It is shaping up to be yet another season filled with much discussion about the college football rankings. I dont' understand why they use two polls. Does anyone really care or are you getting annoyed with the system like I am?
It doesn't matter who has a poll. It is going to bring discussion and controversy no matter what. The only way to solve it is to have a playoff. Even then there will be a problem because someone will complain they didn't get in and someone else did. Even with a playoff, how do you pick the top 16, 8, or 4? A poll?
posted by dbt302 at 05:07 PM on August 25, 2005
I wish they didn't even name a national champ. Play to win the conference and go to your bowl game. If you think you're better than somebady else, put themon your regular season schedule. These big programs like LSU who won split the title two years ago open the season against North Texas(GO MEAN GREEN!) then want more respect in the polls at the end of the season. Nothing against the Tigers, that is just an example. If you want to talk about how you are better than OU, USC, etc. then put them on your schedule.
posted by texoma-slim at 08:42 PM on August 25, 2005
college football was great, but i have, over the past 10 years or so, paid less and less attention to it. why? until there's a playoff of at least the top eight teams, it's a joke. an eight-team tourney would be easy ... the winners of the sec, pac 10, big 12, big 10, and acc, as well as two "wild cards" ... talk about TV ratings!
posted by ramon at 09:29 PM on August 25, 2005
err (haha), three wild cards ...
posted by ramon at 09:30 PM on August 25, 2005
A play off system would still have its controveries. You would have to find some way to keep the lesser bowl games. Right now some 50 plus schools benift in the extra monies and recruiting hype the bowls give.
posted by daddisamm at 01:27 AM on August 26, 2005
16-team playoff 11 current Division 1-a conferences. Not sure how many hold their own championship games, at least three (ACC, Big 12 and SEC). Probably at least a couple more that would qualify based on NCAA requirement of 12 teams in order to have conference championship games. Use 5 conference championship games as part of first round in playoffs. That gives you 16 teams total. This way you are getting conference champions battling, as opposed to the BCS crap of having multiple teams from the same conference or teams that don't even win their own conference competing for the national championship. Also, eliminates complaints from lesser schools and conferences, since their champions would make first round (and probably for the most part get squashed).
posted by graymatters at 02:29 PM on August 26, 2005
Wouldn't a play-off cut into the second semester of the college year? Aren't these guys supposed to be getting an education at some point? I believe the reason for the big gap between the end of the regular season and the bowl games is to give the student athletes a break during finals for a semester thay have already sacrificed for the most part for a game. As a society, I think we need to get our priorities straight. Don't get me wrong, I love football, but we have a responsibility to the young people who are playing it first and getting an education later, then not understanding why we chastise them after they're arrested for making poor choices.
posted by texoma-slim at 05:38 PM on August 26, 2005
Tongue in cheek? Or just naive?
posted by graymatters at 06:33 PM on August 26, 2005
I believe the reason for the big gap between the end of the regular season and the bowl games is to give the student athletes a break during finals for a semester thay have already sacrificed for the most part for a game. And I believe the reason for the gap is simply money. More alumni and fans are taking vacation during Xmas and new Years and are willing to travel to watch their team play. I really don't think academics has any role.
posted by panteeze at 09:48 PM on August 28, 2005
I personally think that way too much is being made of the whole BCS thing. I think ESPN is doing what they can to force a play-off system onto D-1 Football when most of the Colleges, coaches and etc dont want a drastic change from the the current Bowl system. The currant system spreads l a lot of money around to alot of school ansd conferences. Can they make the system better--of course. Is it completely broken like ESPN and Many in the media say it is??...no---Lets give this new Harris Poll a chance to work before we write it off as a failure