Postby Eric » Sun Nov 26, 2023 1:21 pm
I like those teams like Liberty or JMU getting into a playoff, just to weed out the teams in the first round that don't deserve it should they lose in a 1st round upset. Plus, I think there is a structural issue at play. By denying them a realistic chance to compete, you're basically cutting them off the get-go. There's a cartel-like element at play with the way big-school college football handles this type of stuff. They're non-competitive because they don't have access to the "Power Five/Four" resources and prestige.
Every time a team makes the leap into a Power Conference, their results don't necessarily get better, but their athletes usually get bigger and faster. Basically what Cincinnati did when they went from C-USA to the Big East, or TCU from the MWC to the Big 12, or Utah into the Pac-12. Then they can use that as a launching pad to compete nationally instead of stringing together some kind of cinderella run. Or in the reverse scenario, watch what happens to Oregon State and Washington State when they are cut off from Pac-12 money, and they morph into looking like a MWC team.
There's not necessarily a good answer to this, because you say the same for much smaller schools like Grand Valley or Mount Union, that if they were in the B1G they would be better at football, so it's unfair? Not really. Just making a point that larger schools are just out to get theirs and try to cut everyone else off if they can--"Deserve" or "fair" doesn't really factor into it, but at the end of the day, outside of the alumni base / TV market / athletic department funding, it is arbitrary on the margins to decide who is a have and who is a have-not. I don't see an issue with the 12-team format letting one non-power champ get a bite at the apple. There's usually one worthy team, or at least there was before BYU, UCF, TCU, Utah, Cincy, and Houston got absorbed into power conferences. But water should find its own level and there will be teams like Liberty or JMU or a revitalized Boise State that should rise up.
Running bowl/MSU/OSU record '05-present: 11-32
