The Playoffs Are Here, But…
I can’t believe it has finally happened. Then again, College Football changes so much from week to week, it’s crazy to think that something like this couldn’t happen. I mean if WVU is going to the Big 12, who says we can’t put a bowl game on the moon?
But if you are like me, as an ACC fan, I am a bit disappointed in the 4 team format. Don’t get me wrong, it beats the old way, but why do I get the feeling that come playoff time, the ACC is going to be on the outside looking in. And if that begins to happen year in and year out, how long can it happen until top recruits start spurning Clemson, FSU, and Miami, for the SEC?
It makes me just a tad nervous. You can already see that the SEC will be represented each year. You can’t blame them for that, they control college football now and they are fielding some great teams and programs. So that is one spot locked in each year. I also can’t really see the Big 10 being left out, nor the Big 12. So that leaves the PAC-Whatever, the ACC, and the Big East (who is even more on the outside looking in than we are) shuffling for that last spot. If a PAC team emerges as a power, like USC was not too long ago, consider us (The ACC) screwed.
What makes this worse is that in order for our conference to again be relevant, we need either FSU, VT, or Clemson to step it up and put together an undefeated season (read: cup cake out of conference scheduling), and as a Maryland fan, who among us can really stomach that? It would have been much more tolerant to have the ACC Champ automatically in, but that didn’t happen. So now we face the possibility of irrelevance on the gridiron (and the possibility of defections).
But the good news is we have a playoff, and it should be exciting, and it should be successful. And as an ACC fan we need to hope it is REALLY successful, so successful that they realize how awesome an 8 team playoff would be and that would get us a seat back at the table, and possibly stabilize the whole college football world*. We aren’t there yet, but like I said before, a year ago even this seemed impossible.
*Though the current set up is for 10 years, from the research I have done, it appears that if everyone decided to expand to 8 teams, the deal could be re-worked, so we wouldn’t necessarily have to wait another 10 years for a possible playoff expansion.
This entry was posted
on Friday, June 29th, 2012 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 29th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
My prediction for the immediate future is 2 SEC teams and the other 2 teams will be a rotation of teams from the Big 12, PAC whatever and possibly an ACC team on that given year when someone has a special season. Look at last season, it was technically a 2 team playoff and they were both from the SEC. I think that there are and will be seasons where 3 of the top 5 teams are all from the SEC.
June 30th, 2012 at 10:12 am
I forgot to mention the possibility of the SEC taking half the playoffs, which only makes things even worse for us. In fact the more I think about, the more we may be in trouble!
Maybe we can start an NIT!!
July 2nd, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Happy to see the playoffs are a reality. But you’re right: ACC doesn’t get a team in unless/until they are expanded. Let’s face it: the top 2 teams in the PAC are more consistent on the big stage than FSU, VT, or Clemson.
July 5th, 2012 at 6:53 am
Doesn’t strength of schedule factor more into the team selection? If so, I’m not sure a cupcake OOC schedule would help the ACC or Big East.
Also, recruits in the already pick SEC teams over ACC teams. It’s one reason why the SEC didn’t pursue FSU or Clemson, ie teams like South Carolina and Florida didn’t want to give up that recruiting advantage.
July 5th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
The SEC will one day come back to the pack and another conference will rise up and take the cake as the most elite conference. How long will it take for that to happen? Who knows but it will happen someday. Don’t plan on 2 SEC schools ever year. There are a lot of good players out there and they can’t all go to the SEC. You will be surprised by the schools that make the playoff over the next several years. Just enjoy the fact that they actually agreed to do it. The old complaint about it affecting kids exam scheduling was ridiculous so at least they gave up on that argument for keeping the bowl system. Good news about the Orange Bowl. ACC has a tie in and it will be on New Year’s Day!