College Football Playoff

The Damaging Side Effects of the College Football Playoff is Finally Starting to Show

Posted on December 19, 2016 by lloydbaa

12-19-16

2014… “I WANT FOUR TEAMS IN! At least then teams with arguments won’t get snubbed! Plus, that way there are still bowl games of merit to be played!

2015… “LET’S MAKE IT 8! This is better but there still isn’t enough fairness in it! Plus if you keep it to eight you’ll still get those other bowl games in and satisfy the other teams.

2016… “SERIOUSLY. ENOUGH. EXPAND THE PLAYOFFS AND END THE BOWLS! It’s not like the players or fans want them anyways! Ask me, just an excuse for family vacations and something for me to poke at on the television with my paid holiday time-off!

…

It took three short years for a great impact to be made to a long-held tradition that was Holiday Bowl season! Now, its livelihood lays heavily in question following the NCAA’s Division I College Football Playoff birth in 2014. (1) The introduction was like when a sitcom adds a new quirky character to spice the show up, you forget all about the original quirky guy/girl. The CFP WAS/IS essentially that with the Bowl season format. The new quirky character to replace and help us forget the old one. Every now and again you see something that reminds you why you love the old character but in the end you realize the change was for the overall better of the show. That still does not keep the people who fell in love with the original oddball character from being loyal to an almost die-hard’s point of view! Unfortunately, the new characters warrant new dialogue among the existing characters and can change the overall format and outlook the show takes in general. In three short years the CFP has managed to be that new quirky character that has ostracized the quirky character that was Bowl Season and even changed the format to our favorite autumn seasonal show of College Football.

So far, Leonard Fournette of Louisiana State University and Christian McCaffrey of Stanford University have been the biggest characters to opt for the new dialogue of skipping their school’s respected bowl game bids and the explanations as to why follows the bread crumbs back to the introduction of the CFP.

Since the CFP was conjured, there feels to be less reward in a trophy that reads Belk Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl and even some would argue Cotton Bowl. The lure just isn’t there for the players to be as jazzed about a Music City Bowl invite because of the College Football Playoff that has brought with it a mentality of “Playoff or Bust” for big collegiate names like Fournette and McCaffrey.

Before the playoff, the bowl game was something made of respect. Something that players participated in to either go out strong on their college careers, present a case for their program’s strength heading into next year or prove they deserved more credit out of the current season, and the results were some pretty quirky and ridiculously entertaining finishes! For instance, the Boise State vs. Oklahoma epic Fiesta Bowl of 2007! (2) Not to mention it was one final chance for players to prove their stock as NFL prospects before the oncoming spring’s NFL Draft. But for stand-outs like McCaffrey and Fournette, since the addition of the playoff, games like the Sun Bowl and the Citrus Bowl lack beneficial NFL Vitamin D! (3,4) Instead, they see the bowl games as added jeopardy to that very things.

Essentially, this is causing what many college football purists have feared when you mention a “Playoff or Bust” mentality within players. Certainly, each participating team has a few players who actually look forward to their not most glamorous bowl game. Say, you’re a member of the Indiana University Hoosiers and trying to win the school their first bowl game in history to literally make history! (5) Maybe some players just love the “Swag Bags” that each bowl game awards the players with. (6) It could be a change for some to play close to home and let the bowl game double as a family reunion of sorts. And maybe for some players it’s just a chance to enjoy a break from their cold weather surroundings while playing the sport they love in a setting like the Bahammas for the Popeye’s Bowl *cough… Eastern Michigan! (7)

Unfortunately, not all players agree with the benefits of a bowl game and see the bowl game as a possible career-damning game no thanks to previous injury examples highlighted by Jaylon Smith of Notre Dame University in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl. (8)

Yes, there are many reasons to disagree with collegiate athletes adding wear and tear to their bodies via an extra overall “meaningless” game but what did these student athletes exactly think they were signing up for when they chose to participate in College Football? Fact is, they could just as easily be injured performing NFL Draft workouts and get dealt an empty payout with nothing to show for their college days in terms of trophies even if it is from the Foster Farms Bowl that was played in poorly attended NFL stadium along with no NFL future.

One can’t blame McCaffrrey and Fournette, who have seen this year as football purgatory awaiting for their NFL eligibility to clear. But that doesn’t justify things for the diehards that are witnessing the death of the once beloved Bowl Mania Season fade before their eyes!

McCaffrey and Fournette are sitting out of lesser known bowls that don’t have great prestige associated with them. But, how long before it’s players skipping the Rose Bowl or the Cotton Bowl because, “what’s the point of it’s not for the National Championship?”

The College Football Playoff evolved from the BCS National Championship which was an isolated affair between two teams and ONLY two in four different feature games with one understandably being for the true National Championship. The NCAA chose to re-format it to accommodate those that felt excluded from National Championship rights. What may go unrealized is that the idea of the four BCS Bowl games layout it gave those teams dying respect to say maybe we were good enough for a Championship. Now, it’s simply a process of elimination to defy that a team is not more than it is.

At the end of the day the NCAA has gone with a “the more the merrier” viewpoint and finding out that’s far from the reality. All the College Football Playoff has done instead is get more people complaining that they deserve a shot at the title and fewer people interested in the Bowl games that helped generate so much revenue for the sport. Sadly, they’ve made something better but at the some time made something worse.

Hopefully, the Bowl Season can find a way to co-exist with the CFP. That way we can have our Holiday cookies and milk too, indulging in Holiday hibernation watching those marathons of football games that we’re only vested in because we gambled on them in the employee bowl pick bracket without asking ourselves what a growing amount of the participants in the field already are; “Why are we playing this game anyhow?”

I have a feeling even the NCAA doesn’t have the answer for these participants. Carrying with it the fear of why the question was presented in the first place which is; the birth of College Football Playoff!

Sources;

OSU Doesn’t Deserve an IOU!

Posted on September 23, 2016 by lloydbaa

09-22-16

No 60.89%

Yes 38.1%

Other: 1.01%

The percentages above are based off the question; “Should Officials be Able to Overturn the Result of a College Football Game?” A poll conducted as a sidebar for an article on syracuse.com. (1) The poll is based off a college football game played earlier this season between Oklahoma State University and Central Michigan University, where an errant procedure by a referee crew resulted in an extra “illegal” play for the Chippewas who were trailing 24-27, needing a miracle to go the extra 51 yards from the game-winning score.

And… They… Got it! In one of the most elaborate last second hook n’ ladder game-winners ever, CMU pulled off the upset. Here’s a visual aid to make up for my lack of ability to describe it. However, I feel even the color playing greats like Vin Scully can’t do the play’s ludacris action justice.

http://youtu.be/jvbpKycXM0A (2)

The poll incites two arguments for societal scarcity. One is the turn we’re taking in sports as a society via entertainment. The other side of the fear comes to how much meaning college football puts into one game. While one needs to be let go, the other is brilliant and should be embraced, not scrubbed away.

The above poll results suggest there are four out of every ten people that believe that the Cowboys deserve that the loss be negated and awarded back to Oklahoma State.

Let’s address that right away…

Oklahoma State needs to accept the loss and move on!

Sometimes, the sun shines on any baboon’s ass on a given day. Even if that baboon is gold and maroon and from the middle of Michigan, sometimes the World takes a u-ey along the path of expectancy. More times than not the Cowboys demolish a team like the Chippewas but that Saturday they struggled. That struggle led to a procrastination that put Central Michigan in a place where a referee’s mistake could change the final score of the game. Notice, I used the term final score and not outcome. The final score was able to be manipulated by a referee crew’s mistake because OSU’s struggle had already made up the outcome. Is it so wrong that the Chippewas took advantage of that notion and used it to their advantage? There were 137 plays in the big upset; what did OSU do in the prior 136 leading to the game’s ultimate climax of a finish that enabled its presence? (4) Whether the orange and black want to hear it or not, the refs didn’t blow the game — just that one play! The Cowboys poor ability to put the Chippewas away is what blew the game.

After the game the officiating crew did the right thing in admitting they made a mistake. They didn’t lie to anyone, they confessed that they (just like you and me) are imperfect humans. (3) Does that negate the fact that Oklahoma State put themselves in a bad situation? NO!

This is the scary side that we’re seeing in sports that a fair amount of people believe the Chippewas should forfeit the win and give it back to the Cowboys… Why?

Is it because you put money on the game you can’t come up with and have a loan shark trying to bite at your heals?

Is it because you truly believe in the plea that the right call needs to be awarded?

Are you that disappointed in the possibility that some people made a mistake they fully admitted to and the World will just have to move on and accept it?

Or are you just that afraid that the Oklahoma State Cowboys possibly just lost their chance to represent the school and perhaps the Big 12 in the College Football Playoff?

All of these lead to this societal viewpoint that the world should be fair, that no one should be done-wrong. One problem with that theory; if you take that win away from CMU how is that fair for them simply utilizing the dilemma put in front of them and going out on that 137th play and winning the game on it?

No matter what happens someone will be done-wrong, and that’s life. With every promotion, with every relationship created, with every decision made; somebody in the end has to be the one getting screwed. However unfair it seems, the Cowboys essentially screwed themselves by not completing what we all expected to happen. The reason most are so mad about it is what makes college football beautiful!

On December 12, 2015 the Milwaukee Bucks pulled an upset over the Golden State Warriors, giving the reigning champs their first loss of the season; 108-95. (5) The Warriors bounced back to go 73-9 that season and returned to the NBA Finals. Imagine had the story gone; sorry for your ONE unfortunate loss, now you nullify your chance to win the title again. In the basketball world that would seem absurd. In the college football world; that’s the way the soda settles!

College football’s playoff system, like the final score of the Septempber 5th long-shot by CMU is imperfect and that’s what makes it great! You can’t afford bad losses if you’re a Cowboy like you could if you were a Warrior. You have to win those games or else suffer the jeopardy of losing a reservation in the National Championship Playoff tree. The flimsiness that the four-team playoff creates gives excruciating meaning to tough breaks like what happened in the hook and ladder finish. Some may say that’s unjust, I’ll simply say that’s great entertainment!

We’re getting to a point in America where we don’t use sports to get away from real life problems but instead see it as a platform to promote them. So why not let the final score of CMU vs OSU promote the reminder of life that sometimes things aren’t just? We have to realize we have the ability to prevent the chaos of upsets by not relying on the expected. The Chippewas certainly did that leading up to the last second game-winning play by putting themselves in a chance to win.

Don’t like the platform that’s been raised? Don’t step up to it! Learn from it! Don’t put yourself in a a dilemma where one unjust moment can have a long-lasting effect on your life.

Oklahoma State might have an appeal case to get the win back in which Central Michigan must agree to accept the loss and have the win taken away. Some have challenged the integrity of CMU in the process. (6)

Dear Chippewas,

For the sake of teaching our society the lesson we need more than fairness, and that the World can throw awkward last second laterals your way sometimes…

DON’T GIVE IN! KEEP THE WIN AND PRESERVE THE TRADITION OF HIGH STAKES SPORTS-ENTERTAINMENT!

Sincerely,

Someone who probably has a lesson in karma coming their way.

Sources:

Creating the David and Goliath Bowls

Posted on December 30, 2015 by lloydbaa

If you love watching college football its pretty hard to complain about much come the end of December due to the perennial holiday that has became known as Bowl Season. From December 19th through January 11th fans get to enjoy a wide variety of different match-ups that feature a consistently wide variety of different teams. Fans get to enjoy the non-traditional contests between teams from all over thanks to the involvement of 78 teams throughout 41 bowls.

The amount of bowl games could leave any college football junkie satisfied in terms of quantity. Sadly, like with Chinese food, dollar general toys and NERDS candy pieces, sometimes a high amount of something causes the amount of satisfaction you get from it to suffer. In other words you get what you pay for.

So, where does the product of college football suffer in the quantity/quality debate? The games become nothing more than those last weeks of regular season conference schedule games played between two teams. Difference being that usually these teams have never/never would have seen each other under regular circumstances. The end result is overall still plausible. Seniors get to end their careers on a win. Young players receive a feeling of incentive to push harder the next season to play for another bowl appearance, being that the game is the same to them as a promotion is to you,=. A promotion that you are putting off so that you can sit on the couch and watch this 6-6 Big 10 team take on an 8-4 Mountain West school. And it’s all just fine and dandy as long as you can pretend the meaningless symbolism of the Tax Slayer Bowl trophy holds precedent to the players and fans.

The extensive number of bowls in 2015 has caused an expansion of what traditionally qualifies an FBS football program for the added “Bowl” game. Usually a .500 season (6 wins) is what is needed as a requirement to earn a bowl bid. However, the 41 bowls require more than that allows so three teams get grandfathered in with 5-7 records alongside the seemingly high number of teams that just squeaked in with 6-6 records. The three 5-7 teams are Nebraska, Minnesota and San Jose State, a Mountain West school and two Big Ten schools that have struggled with FCS programs in recent years. San José State earned their bowl bid without beating one of their other bowl eligible opponents, ands the Gophers and Cornhuskers went a cumulative 5-11 against their power 5 opponents in the Big Ten conference, hence the mediocrity of their involvement with bowl games. This is where the bowl selection committee comes in and saves the day by pairing these programs with similarly even programs that will produce a quality “Bowl”. Let’s just consider them the eHarmony.com of our football loving lives. Again, that’s all okay if you can neglect that you’re promoting just doing the bear-minimum in honor of a reward. However, I just can’t muster the power to do it anymore.

So, what’s a solution to this watered down product known as Bowl Mania?… CHANGE THE NARRATIVE!

With the addition of the college football playoff committee, the top FBS programs will cease to add-on so many Football Championship Subdivision (D-1 AA) early season “tune-up” games in the future. Between trying to impress the committee along with saving face from not losing to lesser tier teams you can’t necessarily blame the schools like Alabama and Oregon for forgoing these games that they seem to handle with ease. Meanwhile, schools like Nebraska and Minnesota have struggled with topping these teams in past seasons like Nebraska did with McNeese State in 2014 or even lost to FCS programs damning their reputations like Minnesota did against South Dakota State in 2010. With the tune-up games vanishing, goes with it is the money that those FCS programs treat like a kid does weekly allowance, all so the Conhurskers, Gophers and Spartans can pretend to celebrate their mediocrity of a possible six win season at year’s end.

Solution: don’t allow it!

Why not reward someone more deserving instead, someone who would have something to play for and would truly benefit from the bowl revenues along with incorporating more pride within the Bowl game? This enables the creation of the David vs. Goliath bowls: bowl games featuring the top ranked FCS programs at the year’s end against the just .500 FBS programs that have merely qualified for their bowl appearance.

The game would cause an incentive for both sides; the FCS schools would be playing for a chance to knock off their upper level opponents like they get to in those coveted tune-up games that will most likely be eliminated from them in the future, while the FBS schools play to prove they deserved to be there, that a 6-6 record isn’t good enough in their eyes and that pride is still a factor of a division one program.

Fans love an underdog spectrum that sports allows, it’s what we love about Wild Cards in the pros and it obviously fuels our joy of March Madness come college basketball season. Why not start spring a little early with some bowl game replicas via a few FCS vs. FBS match-ups.

There just isn’t much upside to trying to pump-up a post season game involving a team that couldn’t even win half of their regular season games, so why not try and solve it? Maybe this isn’t the proper solution, but it’s a possible solution! However, if you belong to the circle of people who enjoy watching these programs take advantage of their simple involvement by default I will leave you to it. While you’re there enjoy your extra large side of rice with your Sesame Chicken, your plethora of toys that will break in a week and your tons of empty boxes of NERDs candy pieces. Just as long as you can acknowledge that you’re swimming in a pool of your own quality/quantity mess that continues to be allowed by us fans.

LLOYD-RAGE!

Sports-rants by Ben Lloyd

College Football Playoff

The Damaging Side Effects of the College Football Playoff is Finally Starting to Show

OSU Doesn’t Deserve an IOU!

Creating the David and Goliath Bowls