G5 "playoff" thoughts

[Schadenfreude]

Bad idea

It is a terrible idea.

The point of maintaining an FBS program is to play the best and sometimes beat the best. That's what we do here in Bowling Green. Over the years we've beaten programs from the Big Ten, the ACC, the SEC, and the list goes on. We don't always win these games, but we do sometimes. Either way, by scheduling these games we show we expect to win them sometimes -- that we expect to play at the very top level of college football.

A junior varsity playoff? Goodness, no. We might as well join FCS if that's our idea of a good way to spend the post season.

In my mind, either of our last two Motor City Bowl appearances (against Northwestern and Pittsburgh) were probably more meaningful than any a junior varsity playoff appearance would be.

[jpfalcon09]

Bad idea

It is a terrible idea.

The point of maintaining an FBS program is to play the best and sometimes beat the best. That's what we do here in Bowling Green. Over the years we've beaten programs from the Big Ten, the ACC, the SEC, and the list goes on. We don't always win these games, but we do sometimes. Either way, by scheduling these games we show we expect to win them sometimes -- that we expect to play at the very top level of college football.

A junior varsity playoff? Goodness, no. We might as well join FCS if that's our idea of a good way to spend the post season.

In my mind, either of our last two Motor City Bowl appearances (against Northwestern and Pittsburgh) were probably more meaningful than any a junior varsity playoff appearance would be.

Creation of a Group of 5 playoff would not remove FBS status from member schools. The bowl system is currently structured to matchup as few G5 schools against P5 schools as possible, so the wheels are already in motion to separate the two "classes" of football. The MAC doesn't even have a bowl tie-in anymore with any Power 5 conferences, so the days of playing NW or Pitt are long gone. The only G5 conference with that access is the AAC.

We are junior varsity. If an undefeated G5 school can only obtain a #15 ranking then the idea of a program ever making it to the playoff is strongly misguided and frankly delusional. The playoff has ensured that the top 10-12 programs will control college football. As I said before, the G5 is better off being proactive about something rather than having the powers that be make the decision for them.

[hammb]

I'm really torn on this.

On the one hand, I know we're completely not a part of their party. Sure, we are still "FBS" and all that entails, but that mostly just entails racking up massive bills and taking money from the students to pay them. A G5 team will NEVER be a part of a playoff of 4. They will never be a part of a playoff of 8. MAYBE if they went to 16 they'd gift us a single slot in the pool for the best G5 team of any given year. I would be beyond shocked if they ever allowed the G5 conference champs to have automatic berths. The powers that control the sport watch every March as the cinderella teams knock off major powers every year...they don't want anything close to that for their biggest cash cow. I also think the current setup has screwed us over even more than the BCS did. They always have to throw us some bone, but the Cotton Bowl? Who gives a s**t... It's a mediocre bowl with a mediocre payday. Gone are the days of getting a BCS bowl with a $20 million payout.

On the other hand, a G5 playoff? I don't think I'd have much interest. I don't have much interest in our crap bowl games, so what value do I see in a playoff of the irrelevants? It'd be a championship I guess, but it'd be like winning the NIT in hoops, which has no value to me either. Is it going to generate much revenue? If it's going to generate enough revenue to move the needle then I'm all for it, but I'm quite skeptical of the dollars something like this would actually bring in.

The truth is that the sport we play is as unsustainable as "Drill baby, Drill". We can keep forking out the cash to be FBS, but they won't let us in their party (and I'm not even sure we WANT to be). And we are completely and totally irrelevant on the landscape of the sport. Somebody above said that a G5 playoff would MAKE us irrelevant? Nah...we already are. I suppose a G5 playoff would give us something to play for greater than a MAC championship, but I'm not sure it's actually anything worth playing for. Guess, I'm indifferent on the idea.

[Schadenfreude]

the days of playing NW or Pitt are long gone.

Miami played Mississippi State earlier this week in the St. Petersburg bowl game.

We are junior varsity.

No, we aren't. There are about 120 schools in FBS, and we are one of them. We have about as good a shot in any given season of making the four-team so-called playoff as Maryland, Purdue, Indiana, Wake Forest, or Syracuse. These schools don't talk about winning national championships in any given season any more than we do, and for good reason: Such expectations simply aren't realistic. With 120 schools in FBS, less than one national championship is available to go around per century. Thus, most schools rarely (or never) set their goals that high.

The fact is, for most FBS schools, college football has never been (nor should it be) about winning a so-called "national championship." It's about more realistic goals: Winning a conference title, or division, a national ranking, or a bowl bid, or a more prestigious bowl bid, or beating a hated rival.

The last thing we should be doing is create some fake, meaningless, made-for-the-NBC Sports Channel NIT junior varsity playoff. It's a horrendous idea. It would be far more contrived than Arena Football, the XFL, or any bowl game any of us have ever heard of.

[Flipper]

Maryland et al get huge $$$$ from their conference alignment and they HAVE a path to the four team playoff. They can ...in theory...become really good and win. We can play so far over our traditional heads that we go 13-0 with a couple of P5 wins and we still won't make that playoff.

I really don't see much value for us in the current set up and I don't know that there's more value in the alternatives. It just may be that we're f**ked no matter what we do.

Unless we seriously entertain the notion of dropping tot he GLIAC level to control costs

[jpfalcon09]

Miami played Mississippi State earlier this week in the St. Petersburg bowl game.

MSU was 5-7 and had no business playing in that game, which is another issue about college football altogether. You made my point though that the MAC doesn't have any direct bowl tie-ins to Power 5 conferences. The Bulldogs were replacing an AAC school.

No, we aren't. There are about 120 schools in FBS, and we are one of them. We have about as good a shot in any given season of making the four-team so-called playoff as Maryland, Purdue, Indiana, Wake Forest, or Syracuse. These schools don't talk about winning national championships in any given season any more than we do, and for good reason: Such expectations simply aren't realistic. With 120 schools in FBS, less than one national championship is available to go around per century. Thus, most schools rarely (or never) set their goals that high.

But we are. The conference has a television deal that sells out the fans to weeknight games during the biggest portion of the season because it has to generate revenue from somewhere. And you're right that those schools will never win a national championship, but they'll piggy back off the success from other programs in their conference to at the very least stay afloat. The G5 has to hope a school like WMU has an extraordinary year to cash in and help their member schools make ends meet.

[Globetrotter]

The G5 will never get a seat at the CFP no matter what format they decide to go with. WMU finished 13-0 and still ended up 15th in the playoff rankings, even in an expanded format they'd be excluded. They need to realize that their own viability lies within carving out space in the college football world and this is a good start.

Face it, the G5 is in college football purgatory. Not quite big enough to eat at the same table with the big dogs, but better than a majority of FCS schools. If they aren't proactive the P5 will easily make this decision for them.

I agree that the P5 will make the decision for them most likely. So why wouldn't you wait until they did it? You don't lose anything by waiting and I am not sure there is anything to gain by hurrying.

[Globetrotter]

the days of playing NW or Pitt are long gone.

Miami played Mississippi State earlier this week in the St. Petersburg bowl game.

We are junior varsity.

No, we aren't. There are about 120 schools in FBS, and we are one of them. We have about as good a shot in any given season of making the four-team so-called playoff as Maryland, Purdue, Indiana, Wake Forest, or Syracuse.

I think this will be interesting to watch. In 20 years many of these teams might be sent packing.

First it will be BG and EMU and other places that don't sell out and are not in larger markets.
Then it could be the other smaller schools in larger markets.
Then the big schools. What does Purdue offer OSU? Wouldn't they make more money playing Texas? Why wouldn't you just take the top 20 teams in terms of attendance and tv deals and let them just play eachother every year. Whats the point of letting any of these teams in. Take the top end of the power 5 conferences and the teams that get you into Giant TV markets you otherwise wouldn't be and shed everyone else.

[Flipper]

They'll never fully split...into a 30 or so team league. They'll blow up the Big 12 and go to four (ACC, SEC, B1G and Pac 16) conferences of 16 teams each. That gets them to a natural 4 team playoff. They could add a weekend and make it 8 with the G5 getting at least one if they're ranked in the top 20. The big question then is do Oklahoma and Texas go PAC or B1G?

But they'd have to split the money more if they included us, so it will probably stay at four

[kdog27]

The difference between us and them is enormous. OSU could have scored 100+on us and they are getting manhandled.

[MarkL]

The difference between us and them is enormous. OSU could have scored 100+on us and they are getting manhandled.

The difference between us in September and us in November when the coaches and players all settled down is enormous. The difference between us in September against us in 2015 is far far greater. The nature of us is to have higher relative peaks and lower relative valleys based on how coaches and players come and go whereas the bigger programs have the budget for consistent top level coaches and recruiting.

[Schadenfreude]

I was at the Memphis game. The reason Memphis hung 77 on us is that Jinks was determined to run his quick strike air raid offense, even when the game was out of hand, just to give the players a chance to learn it. And as we know about our offense is our quick three-and-outs leave an enormous amount of time for our opponents to score.

I respect the decision Jinks made. At the time, he still thought he could get our players going in his offense. I think we know now, based on that Sentinel article, that Jinks would have played it differently if he could go back and do it over again.

My point here is that I don't think Ohio State or Memphis are really 70 points better than we are. Most coaches would never had let it get that far out of hand with our talent. They would have practiced more ball control in the second half just to run clock and avoid further embarasment. Jinks made a decision to not worry about the scoreboard and just give kids time running his offense. It's a defensible decision, but that's why the scores ended up so lopsided.

[Flipper]

We would get killed by Clemson in Sept...November...January...May. We would compete with them on the 32nd of Neveruary.

[guest44]

The BG performance vs. Memphis was the worst coached nightmare I've ever seen BG play. Memphis called off the dogs in the 2nd quarter. Jinks was way in over his head.

[MarkL]

We would get killed by Clemson in Sept...November...January...May. We would compete with them on the 32nd of Neveruary.

I guess we have one thing in common with Ohio State then