College Bowl season - thoughts on what you would change

[RUfinal4]

I for one hope they expand the playoff. i also would add a football NIT tournament.

Some thoughts

Dec 3 - conference championship games

Football championship
Dec 10 - Power 5 champs plus 3 at large in playoff quarterfinals on campus
Jan 1 Semifinals (4 and 8pm)
Jan 2 and Jan 3 - bowls for losers of round of 8 match-ups
Jan 16 - Championship

NIT
Dec 17 tourney of top 8 teams not in the playoff (limit of 2 per conference plus top non Power 5 champ if doesn't qualify for championship 8)
Dec 24 - NIT semifinals
Dec 31 - NIT 3rd place
Jan 1 - NIT finale (noon)

Dec 15 to January 15 - bowls for the teams not in playoff or NIT

based on current rankings:
Championship 8
1 - Alabama vs 11 Baylor (8 seed as B12 champ)
2 - Ohio St vs 7 Louisville
3 - Clemson vs 6 Texas A and M
4 - Michigan vs 5 Washington

NIT 8
Wisconsin vs Miami
Tennessee vs Boise St
Nebraska vs Fla St
Ole Miss vs Houston (top rated non Power 5 champ will auto qualify)

 

[Cheesesteak Vegas]

I for one hope they expand the playoff. i also would add a football NIT tournament.

Some thoughts

Dec 3 - conference championship games

Football championship
Dec 10 - Power 5 champs plus 3 at large in playoff quarterfinals on campus
Jan 1 Semifinals (4 and 8pm)
Jan 2 and Jan 3 - bowls for losers of round of 8 match-ups
Jan 16 - Championship

NIT
Dec 17 tourney of top 8 teams not in the playoff (limit of 2 per conference)
Dec 24 - NIT semifinals
Dec 31 - NIT 3rd place
Jan 1 - NIT finale (noon)

Dec 15 to January 15 - bowls for the teams not in playoff or NIT

based on current rankings:
Championship 8
1 - Alabama vs 11 Baylor (8 seed as B12 champ)
2 - Ohio St vs 7 Louisville
3 - Clemson vs 6 Texas A and M
4 - Michigan vs 5 Washington

NIT 8
Louisville vs Boise St
Wisconsin vs Fla St
Tennessee vs Houston (top rated non Power 5 champ will auto qualify)
Nebraska vs Ole Miss

I'd be open to an eight-team playoff, but just take the top eight teams, especially since you'll need to give the other conferences access, meaning the highest non-P5 team will need to get in. Take teams 1-7 and then Houston, Boise, or whoever.

Totally agree on playing the first round at home sites and then incorporating the bowls for the semifinals and "consolations."

You lost me at the NIT, though. Maybe 50 years from now that will be a more realistic option, but conferences are still too married to the traditional bowls for that to work, IMO.

 

[RUJohnny99]

I'd do a 16 team tournament, including the 10 conference champs & 6 at large. I'd move the bowls to Labor Day weekend, have them seeded by the conferences & they count as OOC games for the following year.

 

[MikeR0102]

8 team tournament, plus other bowls for 7 win teams.

 

[RURM85]

Need a winning record (7 wins or more) to make a bowl game. No more 6-6 or even worse, below .500 records and go play in a bowl. Reward some form of success and that means a winning record, not .500 or below.

 

[Plum Street]

I'd do a 16 team tournament, including the 10 conference champs & 6 at large. I'd move the bowls to Labor Day weekend, have them seeded by the conferences & they count as OOC games for the following year.

Move the bowls to Labor Day weekend ?

 

[orange830]

What is the point of an Nit, do you think any of the teams will care about playing in an Nit?

 

[RU1993]

Make a commitment a binding true commitment and not just a placeholder until something better comes along.

 

[cicero grimes]

I like the playoff at 4. Makes the regular season so important. I would actually like to see fewer bowls and a legit winning record (7 or more) to be eligible. The fact that we would have made a bowl last year if we had beaten Maryland was disturbing.

 

[bac2therac]

eliminate at least 12 bowls and require 7 wins to make a bowl

 

[BoogieKnight]

eliminate at least 12 bowls and require 7 wins to make a bowl

Amen. I'd keep the playoff at 4 too. The degree of difficulty makes it great. 8 teams starts watering it down a bit IMO. You should at least be a top 5 team to play for a national championship. Conference championship games are almost like a defacto quarter final anyway.

 

[mildone]

Only thing I'd change is to terminate the PinStripe bowl with prejudice.

 

[czxqa]

Only thing I'd change is to terminate the PinStripe bowl with prejudice.

Yeah, but their garlic fries are amazing.

 

[AshSaturday]

1) No bowls on December 23rd-27th
2) No school can go to the same bowl more than 2 years in a row. Exception BCS games
and possibly lack of qualifiers.
3) ALL teams are ranked based on record, conference ranking and strength of schedule.
The former are used to place teams.

 

[Blitz Pakage]

Over half (pushing 2 thirds) of the 128 teams go to bowls. Must eliminate at least 10 bowls which means 20 teams of coarse. 5-7 teams going bowling is a joke. 6-6 teams, I could understand to a degree depending on their SOS. Bowl season is a great time for us and extends the interest of college football, since we have to wait so long to see it again. But it should be a reward for good play and not just for the money makers involved in the towns who host the bowls! But that is what our world has come to.

 

[17Q66]

Max # of bowls = 1/6 number of teams in FBS.

 

[mildone]

Yeah, but their garlic fries are amazing.

Not eating carbs these days, so I remain unswayed. LOL

 

[WhiteBus]

I'd do a 16 team tournament, including the 10 conference champs & 6 at large. I'd move the bowls to Labor Day weekend, have them seeded by the conferences & they count as OOC games for the following year.

Move them to Labor Day??? So how can you determine a champion? You allow pros to return to school for a few games?

 

[ScarletDave]

There are currently 40 bowl games, plus the championship. Yes, 40 games. So 80 of the 128 FBS schools make it to a bowl game. Anyway, I would narrow that list down and get rid of all the new garbage bowls that aren't even really bowls. So you would have:
1st Tier
Rose Bowl - Orange Bowl - Cotton Bowl - Fiesta Bowl - Peach Bowl - Sugar Bowl
2nd Tier
Citrus Bowl - Sun Bowl - Gator Bowl - Liberty Bowl - Independence Bowl - Holiday Bowl
3rd Tier
Cactus Bowl - Tangerine Bowl - Alamo Bowl - Outback Bowl - Music City Bowl - Texas Bowl
Final Tier
Pinstripe Bowl - New Orleans Bowl - New Mexico/Las Vegas/Dallas Bowl(since it's in the Cotton Bowl)

That way you have all the classic bowl games, and just 21 games (so 42 teams) roughly half of what you have now - you would have to have a WINNING record to make a bowl game, so it would truly be something special and a celebration. All games should be like the Insight Bowl was for us. Half empty stadiums and no pep rally/etc is just not a bowl game or celebration. It should be so that everyone in the fan base wants to go.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

eliminate at least 12 bowls and require 7 wins to make a bowl

This. Been saying it for years. No more than 40'ish total bowl/playoff teams. 4-team playoff is enough, too, no need for 8.

40 freakin' bowl games plus a 4-team playoff? That's 84 of 128 teams, or 65%, in the post-season and a complete joke IMHO. There are 6 - SIX - games on Saturday Dec 17th. Get rid of ALL of them other than the Las Vegas Bowl. Pretty much all these new games, featuring the Non-P5 conferences, are drawing flies. The new games featuring MAC vs Sun Belt/AAC, etc., have been disasters for the most part. Who wants to watch a bowl game on TV with 70% empty stadiums? I love - LOVE - this game and struggle watching some of these.

 

[mildone]

For all you folks who want to make it harder to get into a bowl game, I get it, and I agree. But can we maybe postpone those changes until after our program has turned the corner and can realistically achieve 7-win seasons with some degree of regularity?

I'm just saying. The extra practices that come with a bowl could really benefit us right now, given where we are at.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

The one thing I gotta say about The Pinstripe Bowl is that it's been MUCH MORE of a success than a) most here thought it would be, b) most in general thought it would be, and c) than a bunch of these other games.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

For all you folks who want to make it harder to get into a bowl game, I get it, and I agree. But can we maybe postpone those changes until after our program has turned the corner and can realistically achieve 7-win seasons with some degree of regularity?

I'm just saying. The extra practices that come with a bowl could really benefit us right now, given where we are at.

These games aren't going anywhere. ESPN pays for them and they don't give 2 shits if the stands are empty. They'll add another 20-games if they can make advertising $$$ off of them.

 

[RUJohnny99]

Move them to Labor Day??? So how can you determine a champion? You allow pros to return to school for a few games?

Who really gives a F about the Car Care bowl champion?

The actual tournament that counts would be held in December. The bowls are currently exhibitions. Moving them to OOC games the opening weekend they would count in the standings the following year. Essentially what you are doing is you are starting off the season with a opponent the same level as you are based on where you finished the previous year.

 

[mildone]

These games aren't going anywhere. ESPN pays for them and they don't give 2 shits if the stands are empty. They'll add another 20-games if they can make advertising $$$ off of them.

I know. I was mostly being facetious.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

I know. I was mostly being facetious.

Not directed at you buddy; there are plenty here who hate that game lol!

 

[mildone]

The one thing I gotta say about The Pinstripe Bowl is that it's been MUCH MORE of a success than a) most here thought it would be, b) most in general thought it would be, and c) than a bunch of these other games.

Maybe we'll get lucky and, when nobody is there, a giant sinkhole will open up and swallow the stadium. Might be a great place for baseball, I don't know (or care). But it's a miserable, nasty, rotten, horrible place to play a college football game.

 

[Plum Street]

Pinstripe is awful , the 2011 season ended with much disappointment . That Rutgers team had talent but they squandered it away and pinstinked us all.
But even after pinstink things were looking up for 2012 and that was the year schiano was going to finally break through and get us to the BCS. Then Tampa called . We never recovered . The pinstink was the last dinner we had with a fairly hot girlfriend . Then we got well you know , flooded .