[Austroturf]

My displeasure with Georgia being allowed in the playoff after losing in its conference championship game, is based on several factors, some directly related to Georgia's situation, some in the interest of college football as a sport, and some based on past experience that I'm still bitter about.

First of all, what did Georgia lose by losing its championship game? They are the only team that lost a championship game and suffered no real consequences. You can say that was the regular season, not a part of the playoff and be correct, but with so few teams allowed in, to me, teams should have to win their conference to get in, period. Otherwise, the SEC Championship game was just a practice game exhibition for Georgia, to experiment with things and not take the outcome seriously at all. This is just antithetical to what sports competition is suppose to be about. "Well they were undated..." Stanford basically missed the playoff twice because it had to play Utah and USC games on the road in different years, when if playing Sac State instead would have put them in the playoff.  Meanwhile, SEC teams got to play Chatanooga at home to pad their record and make the playoff.

So we have now established that if you are in the SEC, you get to play by different standards than everyone else. Giving one conference advantages over every other one is absurd. The fact that the SEC gets these advantages further allows Georgia and Alabama to corner the market on the best players. "Want to play for a national championship, then come here!"  At least if the field was expanded to 8 or 12 or 16, many more schools would be able to credibly claim to play for a national championship, the talent would be more dispersed, there would be more better teams, and interest in the sport would grow. The SEC wouldn't get to consolidate its unfair competitive advantages if the system was more equitable.

I remember the 1987 49ers were 13-2, and overwhelming favorites to beat the Vikings in playoffs, having won their last three games by a combined 124-7. The Vikings won the NFC Divisional playoff 38-24. NOBODY saw that coming. The Niners were clearly the best team in the NFL. They didn't get a mulligan like Georgia. Instead, I sat in the stands as a teenager wondering WTF is happening?!?!?!  The next week, the Washington Redskins beat the Vikings team that beat the Niners, and went on to win the Super Bowl the Niners would have won had they played, as evidenced by the fact they had outscored their final three opponents 124-7 and were clearly the best team, right?

These are all excellent points.  My comments:

1) On any given day, major and minor upsets will occur in sports.  Let's think back to the NCAA basketball tourney where #1 Virginia was upended by the #16-seeded University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  Play that game 50 times, and Virginia wins 49 of them.  But not that day.  Virginia was out.  And even though Georgia's performance yesterday was spectacular and showed that they are truly elite, they lost to Bama in the SEC championship game, and that should have been the end of it.  I would have preferred to see Baylor or Utah in the other playoff spot simply to show that winning a conference title means something.

2) Yes, it is important to ensure some level of parity in college athletics, which involves uniform conditions for all teams.  The slate of eight conference games in the SEC is a problem.  Make it nine and even the playing field.  

3) It is clear that the top end of the SEC is better than the the top end in other conferences.  The NCAA should be interested in changing that dynamic and getting better parity between the conferences  Otherwise, we might as well implement three levels in college football (20-25 teams in a super conference with 3 or 4 divisions, 90-100 teams in division II, and today's FCS division). The SEC will win the national championship again this year, which will mean 12 of the last 16 national titles belong to one conference (Florida 2x, LSU 2x, Auburn 1x, Alabama 6x, 2021 TBD).  This is not healthy for any sport.

[Austroturf]

My displeasure with Georgia being allowed in the playoff after losing in its conference championship game, is based on several factors, some directly related to Georgia's situation, some in the interest of college football as a sport, and some based on past experience that I'm still bitter about.

First of all, what did Georgia lose by losing its championship game? They are the only team that lost a championship game and suffered no real consequences. You can say that was the regular season, not a part of the playoff and be correct, but with so few teams allowed in, to me, teams should have to win their conference to get in, period. Otherwise, the SEC Championship game was just a practice game exhibition for Georgia, to experiment with things and not take the outcome seriously at all. This is just antithetical to what sports competition is suppose to be about. "Well they were undated..." Stanford basically missed the playoff twice because it had to play Utah and USC games on the road in different years, when if playing Sac State instead would have put them in the playoff.  Meanwhile, SEC teams got to play Chatanooga at home to pad their record and make the playoff.

So we have now established that if you are in the SEC, you get to play by different standards than everyone else. Giving one conference advantages over every other one is absurd. The fact that the SEC gets these advantages further allows Georgia and Alabama to corner the market on the best players. "Want to play for a national championship, then come here!"  At least if the field was expanded to 8 or 12 or 16, many more schools would be able to credibly claim to play for a national championship, the talent would be more dispersed, there would be more better teams, and interest in the sport would grow. The SEC wouldn't get to consolidate its unfair competitive advantages if the system was more equitable.

I remember the 1987 49ers were 13-2, and overwhelming favorites to beat the Vikings in playoffs, having won their last three games by a combined 124-7. The Vikings won the NFC Divisional playoff 38-24. NOBODY saw that coming. The Niners were clearly the best team in the NFL. They didn't get a mulligan like Georgia. Instead, I sat in the stands as a teenager wondering WTF is happening?!?!?!  The next week, the Washington Redskins beat the Vikings team that beat the Niners, and went on to win the Super Bowl the Niners would have won had they played, as evidenced by the fact they had outscored their final three opponents 124-7 and were clearly the best team, right?

These are all excellent points.  My comments:

1) On any given day, major and minor upsets will occur in sports.  Let's think back to the NCAA basketball tourney where #1 Virginia was upended by the #16-seeded University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  Play that game 50 times, and Virginia wins 49 of them.  But not that day.  Virginia was out.  And even though Georgia's performance yesterday was spectacular and showed that they are truly elite, they lost to Bama in the SEC championship game, and that should have been the end of it.  I would have preferred to see Baylor or Utah in the other playoff spot simply to show that winning a conference title means something.

2) Yes, it is important to ensure some level of parity in college athletics, which involves uniform conditions for all teams.  The slate of eight conference games in the SEC is a problem.  Make it nine and even the playing field.  

3) It is clear that the top end of the SEC is better than the the top end in other conferences.  The NCAA should be interested in changing that dynamic and getting better parity between the conferences  Otherwise, we might as well implement three levels in college football (20-25 teams in a super conference with 3 or 4 divisions, 90-100 teams in division II, and today's FCS division). The SEC will win the national championship again this year, which will mean 12 of the last 16 national titles belong to one conference (Florida 2x, LSU 2x, Auburn 1x, Alabama 6x, 2021 TBD).  This is not healthy for any sport.