Playoff System Needed.

[volfan2024]

If we had a playoff system intact we would be looking at this loss in a whole different perspective instead of a death sentence as far as national championships are involved.Just a thought.

 

[vavol87]

i don't know if you really think about it we still have a chance we dropped two spots we didn't drop out of the top 25. There's still time to move up in the polls and if we play like we have been i believe we will. I know it is so hard to run the table but if we do even w/out a sec championship appearence a bcs at large is not out of the question w/ the added bcs bowl game.

 

[thirdsaturday]

If we had a playoff system intact we would be looking at this loss in a whole different perspective instead of a death sentence as far as national championships are involved.Just a thought.

Is it just me or would anyone else rather have an SEC Championship at this point? I could care less what is going on in the other conferences, I just want to stop getting our tails kicked in the best one.

 

[vader]

Is it just me or would anyone else rather have an SEC Championship at this point? I could care less what is going on in the other conferences, I just want to stop getting our tails kicked in the best one.

Agreed!! :salute:

 

[jakez4ut]

If we had a playoff system intact we would be looking at this loss in a whole different perspective instead of a death sentence as far as national championships are involved.Just a thought.

disagree...college football has the most meaningful regular season in all of sports. i don't want to look at a game against UF or Bama in a different light. i like the fact that those games, not only mean something from a rivalry standpoint, but also can be difference makers in the end result of the season...

the best thing about cfb is that EVERY GAME MATTERS.

i can't imagine a life where we could lose to a conf. team and think, oh well, we'll still make the playoffs...or vice versa...we beat them and they still get in...that's part of the fun..ruining the other's season...

 

[Freak]

Too many things have to happen for a national championship anyway. SEC championships are what matter to me. Anything else is gravy.

 

[volfan2024]

If you win the SEC the National Championship might line up as well.But I agree the SEC is first and foremost.

 

[no1g8r]

We need a system where you get the best of both worlds.

1st, every conference needs to end in a conference championship game (although I don't really care how other conferences arrive at naming a team as "champion"). The champions of each conference would then battle it out, in a series of bowl games, to narrow down to the two teams that play for the National Championship.

You give the BCS conferences a bye in the first round, so you'd have Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and WAC playing off to end up with 2 representatives (maybe highest rated gets a bye, other 4 teams slug it out in 2 games to get the other spot.

You then end up with the 6 BCS conferences and 2 other conferences doing a playoff to the NC, which means 3 post-season games to a true NC.

To keep it fair, if a minor conference team beats a BCS conference team in the playofffs, the next year the minor conference gets the BCS bye and the BCS team goes through the minor conference rotation. It probably wouldn't happen very often, but it keeps things more fair for all conferences.

 

[utvol0427]

We have a playoff system right now. For Tennessee it started on Sept. 2 against Cal and goes through Nov. 25 against Kentucky. Lose once and you have hurt your chances, lose twice and you have virtually no shot at an NC.

 

[lawgator1]

Given the problems you saw in the UT team -- no running game, weak offensive line, no defensive adjustments -- I think this discussion is academic for this year for you.

 

[utvol0427]

Given the problems you saw in the UT team -- no running game, weak offensive line, no defensive adjustments -- I think this discussion is academic for this year for you.

I have to agree with LG:BANGHEAD2: I think that our main concern right now should be getting our O-Line and Running game fixed. Championships should be the least of our worries until the team shows that they can compete for them.

 

[lawgator1]

utvol0427, that's the nail on the head. The SECE is still within reach, all things considered. But right now your national position is just not a realistic worry.

I remember when Spurrier came to coach Florida. One of the first things he said was how important it was just to compete to win the SEC. I LOATHED him at the time for that as I thought it was shooting too low. I was used to the Gators being in the national hunt. Granted, we had not to that point won an NC, but still, that was the goal. Saying the SEC was the bigger goal, to me, sounded like we were settling for less than ideal.

Fifteen years or so later, got to admit, the man was right. The SEC is everything. And of course you cannot shoot for higher unless you get there, first.

 

[volfan2024]

Given the problems you saw in the UT team -- no running game, weak offensive line, no defensive adjustments -- I think this discussion is academic for this year for you.

Lets not get too carried away LG.Academic is a little demeaning when your talking about a game whereby one stop,a matter of inches somehwere by UT that night, we wouldn't be having this conversation.I would like to point something out about the game.When Florida was on offense and they had a commercial time-out, the Gators were huddled with Meyer the whole time, this happened twice I know when they had drives going.I actually thought they had used all but one timeout up prior to halftime but I looked up they still had all three.Made a big play everytime.No sour grapes but UF made one play more is all.

 

[utvol0427]

Lets not get too carried away LG.Academic is a little demeaning when your talking about a game whereby one stop,a matter of inches somehwere by UT that night, we wouldn't be having this conversation.I would like to point something out about the game.When Florida was on offense and they had a commercial time-out, the Gators were huddled with Meyer the whole time, this happened twice I know when they had drives going.I actually thought they had used all but one timeout up prior to halftime but I looked up they still had all three.Made a big play everytime.No sour grapes but UF made one play more is all.

This is true as well. We had the ball 1st and 10 at the UF 39 and were driving. If it weren't for that Intentional Grounding, and our O-Line not blocking, we would have got into FG range, ran the clock down, and won the game. That one play cost us the game.

 

[therealUT]

Was someone actually looking for a national championship this season? We still have a good shot to win the SEC East, and if we play out of our minds, the SEC.

 

[orange+white=heaven]

Was someone actually looking for a national championship this season? We still have a good shot to win the SEC East, and if we play out of our minds, the SEC.

I was...and am... thinking 8-3 will be a healthy rebound from a gut ache of a season gone by.

Anything else is gravy.Today 12:26 AM

Freak said that, but I likes me some gravy too....

 

[no1g8r]

I remember when Spurrier came to coach Florida. One of the first things he said was how important it was just to compete to win the SEC. I LOATHED him at the time for that as I thought it was shooting too low. I was used to the Gators being in the national hunt. Granted, we had not to that point won an NC, but still, that was the goal. Saying the SEC was the bigger goal, to me, sounded like we were settling for less than ideal.

Fair point, LG, although the landscape was a lot different back then. You didn't have a BCS. You didn't have a SECCG. You didn't have SEC divisional play. A lot of whether or not you won the SEC back then had to do with whether the subset of SEC teams that you had to play against were more beatable than the subset that another SEC got assigned to. In short, it was a lot less meaningful back then. That's not to say that we wouldn't have loved to have had a few (we had 0 then), but any team that considered themselves to be a competitor on a national basis didn't even discuss winning conference championships.

The NC was determined purely by voter polls. Voter polls were influenced by a combination of play on the field, reputation, and politics, with less emphasis on quality of opponent than we see today (which still isn't enough, imho).

Given the landscape when Spurrier arrived, it makes complete sense that our fans and teams were focused on winning the MNC, because that is all that really counted. Conference championships were virtually meaningless.

That has all changed for the better. The system is far from perfect (FAAARR!), but a lot better than it was back then.

Having said all of that, I do believe that in this day and age, a coaching staff should strategically, plot a course, to be implemented over several recruiting and playing seasons, for getting to the National Championship and set that as a long-range goal. Intermediate goals would include the SEC championship and SECE divisional titles.

Having that long range strategic plan in place, the coaches work towards assembling the pieces that they need in place to assemble what they believe is a NC quality team using a system capable of winning against the highest competition.

During the lead-up to the season, the coaches need to assess where they are in the long range plan, determining realistically where they believe their team is in the overall road map. Based on that assessment, the coaches would set fan and player expectations accordingly "we believe we're good enough to win the SECE this year", or "we believe we're good enough to win it all, if we give it our all".

After setting that expectation, during the season the coaches do the obvious - prepare the team one game at a time, while also doing some advance scouting and preparing (at a coaches level) for the biggest obstacles on the way to the goal.

With this volume as a background, I'd think that the realistic expectation that Fulmer and staff should have set with the fans and players is the goal of winning the SEC East this year. After last year, I believe that any reasonable fan would accept this. Anything beyond that should be considered gravy.

UT is still very much in the running for the SECE divisional title. While an SECCG isn't out of the question, I don't believe that a UT team playing their best would be capable of winning the SECW champion playing at their best. So UT would need to hope to first win the SECE and then to hope that the SECCG opponent doesn't play to their fullest potential.

NC talk is pretty unrealistic at this point.

 

[utvol0427]

We should have beaten Auburn in the SECCG in '04 when they were undefeated and we were playing a 3rd string QB. With the talent level that Tennessee has we are capable of beating any team on any given night. The same could be said for the 3 Florida schools and some of the other traditional powers.

 

[volfan2024]

Was someone actually looking for a national championship this season? We still have a good shot to win the SEC East, and if we play out of our minds, the SEC.

Of course it would be capriciuos to say I was looking for a national championship in 98.I rather start at the top and let the team prove me wrong.

 

[milohimself]

When you impliment a playoff, you devalue regular season games and conference championships.

Look at NCAA basketball, or the NFL. A team that has been ho-hum all season can still make it in and if they get hot or lucky, can win it all while just doing mediocre beforehand. It happened both times this last season, I don't think anybody would argue that the Pittsburgh Steelers or Florida Gators were that good during their respective regular seasons, but they sneak in the playoffs, things fall their way and they win everything.

That feels a little less genuine to me. In college football, teams are put to the test. Every time you set foot on the field, it counts. That's what's up.

 

[utvol0427]

When you impliment a playoff, you devalue regular season games and conference championships.

Look at NCAA basketball, or the NFL. A team that has been ho-hum all season can still make it in and if they get hot or lucky, can win it all while just doing mediocre beforehand. It happened both times this last season, I don't think anybody would argue that the Pittsburgh Steelers or Florida Gators were that good during their respective regular seasons, but they sneak in the playoffs, things fall their way and they win everything.

That feels a little less genuine to me. In college football, teams are put to the test. Every time you set foot on the field, it counts. That's what's up.

My thought exactly. You also had people whining in 2001 when Nebraska played for a NC and didn't win their conference, yet they think their should be a playoff and teams that might not win their conference would be playing for a NC. In Div. 1-A College Football THE SEASON IS THE PLAYOFF. Lose once and you have hurt your chances severly, lose twice and you have virtually no shot at a NC. There is your playoff.

 

[volfan2024]

We need a system where you get the best of both worlds.

1st, every conference needs to end in a conference championship game (although I don't really care how other conferences arrive at naming a team as "champion"). The champions of each conference would then battle it out, in a series of bowl games, to narrow down to the two teams that play for the National Championship.

You give the BCS conferences a bye in the first round, so you'd have Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and WAC playing off to end up with 2 representatives (maybe highest rated gets a bye, other 4 teams slug it out in 2 games to get the other spot.

You then end up with the 6 BCS conferences and 2 other conferences doing a playoff to the NC, which means 3 post-season games to a true NC.

To keep it fair, if a minor conference team beats a BCS conference team in the playofffs, the next year the minor conference gets the BCS bye and the BCS team goes through the minor conference rotation. It probably wouldn't happen very often, but it keeps things more fair for all conferences.

Good Points.I always thought it was only fair for all conferences to have a playoff game at the end.Had UT not played LSU a few years back we may have been in the N/C game again.

 

[OWB]

When you impliment a playoff, you devalue regular season games and conference championships.

Look at NCAA basketball, or the NFL. A team that has been ho-hum all season can still make it in and if they get hot or lucky, can win it all while just doing mediocre beforehand. It happened both times this last season, I don't think anybody would argue that the Pittsburgh Steelers or Florida Gators were that good during their respective regular seasons, but they sneak in the playoffs, things fall their way and they win everything.

That feels a little less genuine to me. In college football, teams are put to the test. Every time you set foot on the field, it counts. That's what's up.

In honor of talk like a pirate day, I will translate your reply into pirate speak.

When ye impliment a playoff, ye devalue regular season games an' conference championships.

Eyeball NCAA basketball, or th' NFL. A team that be ho-hum all season can still make 't in an' if they get hot or lucky, can win 't all while jus' doin' mediocre beforehand. 't happened both times this last season, I dasn't think anybody would duel that th' Pittsburgh Steelers or Florida Gators be that good durin' the'r respective regular seasons, but they sneak in th' playoffs, things fall the'r way an' they win everythin'.

That feels a wee less genuine t' me. In college football, teams be put t' th' test. Ever' time ye set foot on th' field, 't counts. That`s what`s up.

 

[milohimself]

:lol: Brilliant

 

[allvol123]

When you impliment a playoff, you devalue regular season games and conference championships.

Look at NCAA basketball, or the NFL. A team that has been ho-hum all season can still make it in and if they get hot or lucky, can win it all while just doing mediocre beforehand. It happened both times this last season, I don't think anybody would argue that the Pittsburgh Steelers or Florida Gators were that good during their respective regular seasons, but they sneak in the playoffs, things fall their way and they win everything.

That feels a little less genuine to me. In college football, teams are put to the test. Every time you set foot on the field, it counts. That's what's up.

Yes, having the NC contestants selected by sportswriters and computers is surely genuine.