D2 teams seem to travel pretty well. Of course the higher seed gets to host so only one teams fan base is traveling but if anything teams seem to travel better in the playoff. That is one of the reason for the regional seeding in D2 so you don’t have to travel that far. I don’t see any reason to go neutral site until the championship.
Mighty oregon!!!
Nm
Not exactly the Quack Attack, but I’ll take it.
I know nothing of D2 but I can definitely tell you about schools like Florida State (who may be relevant in football again one day) FSU has a large alumni base and a lot of them in Florida or Georgia but very few in Tallahassee itself. So the home team alumni have to drive in and the big Florida cities aren’t near Tallahassee so they have to stay overnight especially if it’s a night game. And that’s on top of the visiting team. So, hotel demand in a small city like Tallahassee goes way through the roof and it’s a bitter pill to swallow paying a high price for a Courtyard Marriott in Tallahassee. Sure there’s some alumni with deep pockets or have some sort of corporate deal with the hotel, but the average alum doesn’t.
I’m certainly not going to pretend D2 attendance is anything like D1A attendance but at worst your argument breaks down to so many people come to games they charge a fortune for tickets and hotels so no one can afford to come. If people couldn’t afford to come prices would drop since there would be less demand. In reality, we see professional sports teams fan base turn out for home and away playoff games and we typically see ticket prices increase the deeper into the playoffs you go. Maybe any single fan won’t be able to afford 4 more home games but for a team that is good enough to have four home games (only 2 in the country) I’m sure it will sell out.
Let’s looks at FSU’s 2020 schedule, you’ve got 11 games with 7 home games. The first thing to do is to drop Samford from your schedule and then the alumni can afford to the first home playoff game withing increasing their annual cost. After that you’ve got to be in the top 4 to host a game. If anything I’d guess that home games in round two sell better than the Sun Bowl tickets.
Yeah, it would. Hayward Field is holy ground for track and field.
If they’re going to keep the 4 team playoff, I suggest one tweak: Conferences represented by the 4 teams should be ineligible to provide officiating for any game. This year, the SEC crew working the OSU-Clemson game made a few questionable calls that cost the Buckeyes their trip to the final, allowing LSU to play a weaker Clemson team in the final. It has the appearance of the crew tipping the scales to benefit their conference team, whether or not they intentionally did so. Maybe have D2 conferences provide the crews for all playoff games.
True, but the cupcake games are what keeps those smaller schools alive and able to support an expensive football program.
Also, you’d be pushing the schedule forward into the holiday period.
And it’s interesting, I didn’t think one second about going to the Sun Bowl. There’s nothing appealing about El Paso (except maybe the food) and I wasn’t going to spend the money to see two mediocre college teams.
“Who cares”? The Power 5 conferences certainly do. They saw what the NCAA did with the men’s basketball tournament money - half of which goes to schools based on factors that have nothing to do with how well the men’s basketball team does - and they’re not about to let that happen to the football money. Also note that, strictly speaking, the CFP championship game is not a “bowl game.”
And since when does the NCAA not pocket 100% of the profits (after expenses) of every tournament game in every sport other than FBS football (which it doesn’t run) and Division I men’s basketball?
FSU beating Samford 100-0 does nothing to keep that program alive. There are hundreds of D2 and D1AA schools that didn’t get beat up by a D1A opponent this season and have had football programs for over a century.
The D2 championship game took place on December 21st sure that’s during the holiday season but there were 6 D1 bowl games played the same day. So if anything the tournament would have less of an impact on the holidays then the current set up.
Right most alumni don’t travel to bowl games any how because they don’t matter. Worst case the same thing would happen with a 16 team playoff.
They cupcakes get paid well to get their asses kicked usually.
If they are going to have a full playoff, it should be just the top ten, which would almost certainly include the “power” conferences. I would have four games the week after the Army/Navy game, of 1 v. 10, 2 v. 9, 5 v. 8 and 6 v. 7, followed by a week in which 3 plays the lowest-ranked winner and 4 plays the next-lowest-ranked winner (typically #1 and #2 would get the week off to prepare, unless they lose), then the semifinals, and the final game scheduled for the late NYD bowl.
Or, like, the old way of everybody arguing about the standings was good.
You are correct that NCAA takes in the money and distributes it back to the member institutions but that money doesn’t include parking, concessions, and even a good portion of ticket revenue goes to pay for the venue. Think of it as getting another weekend of utilization on the stadium. I know that when my D2 college almost had to host its playoff game outside of their home stadium it ended up with them building a new stadium so they could reach the attendance and revenue goals.
Sure but its not like the teams that don’t take that pounding are folding up shop. It costs about 1 million dollars to run a d2 football program and about 3.5 million for a D1AA school. Mcneese state is getting paid $600k for LSU punching them in the face game 1 next season its not nothing but Mcneese would be much better off with the playoff revenue being split equally amongst all D1 football teams then letting the power 5 get 80% of it. If the $370 million that currently gets paid to the power 5 conferences were split among all 130 teams they would get almost $3 million. That is way better then 600k to get your ass kicked.
Look, I understand that you’re a BIG$0 homer, but for Christ’s sake, you do understand that Ohio State was the underdog in that match-up from the opening line all the way through kickoff, right?
In other words, people who actually put their money on the line thought Clemson was more likely to win.
And there are questionable calls in every game. Your heroes lost the game - so suck it up, buttercup.
Ohio State did get screwed on a couple of calls, but the Buckeyes also should have scored the first round knockout and they know it. Even in the replay era, we will always have controversial calls and non-calls. Replay just reduces the chances that games are decided that way. But as Bill Walsh repeatedly told his players during the 49ers heyday, bad calls are part of the game, just like bad weather or anything else.
Turning attention to the big game between Clemson and LSU, I think LSU probably has the edge in terms of their athleticism, but it’s only a small edge. The game will probably be won and lost on how successful Clemson can be at blitzing and otherwise getting into the backfield, which is something that Brent Venable has excelled at better than anyone I can remember. If there’s a ray of hope for Clemson’s defense, they can look at the 2nd half of the Alabama-LSU game in which Alabama succeeded - briefly - in getting pressure on Joe Burrow. Alabama’s defense had their moments; they were just never consistent in 2019. Clemson is obviously a superior defensive team, so if Alabama could slow down LSU in one half, then surely they have a shot as well. They’ll need to slow them and stunt them in the first half though. I don’t know if Clemson can come back against LSU if they start getting behind early.
LSU’s offense likes to play fast, and their receivers never give up on routes. All of the LSU receivers are good - there’s not any of them that can’t get open and take it to the house. Clemson can’t get into a predictable blitzing pattern. They will have to pick and choose the right time to blitz and have someone covering the short pass or the pass over the middle. If LSU can establish that they can move the ball in short chunks of 10-15 yards early on, that opens the rest of the field and things could get ugly quickly for Clemson if that happens. Based on LSU’s production all year, I tend to think that LSU will almost certainly score a minimum of 24 points, and they could possibly score in the low 40s. Based on what I saw in the OSU-Clemson game, I’m guessing both teams will end up in the 30s and it’ll be a question of which team can execute late and which team’s defense can get big stops late. LSU probably has a slight edge in terms of making big offensive plays late, and Clemson probably has the edge when it comes to needing a big stop (i.e. making them kick a FG instead of getting a TD).
Thoughts on the championship game? Here are mine (I’m an LSU alumni, BTW):
Burrow started slow, but got into rhythm – and once he got into rhythm it was pretty much over. Even when LSU was down 17-7 early I figured that if he got in rhythm we had nothing to worry about. He outplayed Lawrence by a mile. Other than the QBs, I thought LSU was just a step more talented, especially at the skill positions. This was definitely the best LSU team I’ve ever seen, and one of the best college football teams I’ve ever seen.
I was also rooting for LSU.
I thought it was a good game, much better than the final score reflects. I have to admit, I fell asleep at the end, but up until the 4th quarter, it held my attention. IME, these championship games (either NCAA or Pro) are often overhyped letdowns from the coin toss (much like the LSU-Oklahoma game).
LSU has such a powerful team this year, I don’t think anyone thought otherwise. Even Dabo Swinney admitted LSU had the better team. My hat’s off to LSU, their undefeated season and National Championship!
I, also, am an LSU alum and I loved every minute of this season. I was a *little *concerned at the beginning, but like iiandyiiii indicated, that was mostly just getting into the groove (and not starting every drive from like the 4 yard line). Once Burrow and the coaching staff figured out the defensive schemes, it was all over. Clemson gave it their best shot, and were well-prepped, but the sheer imbalance of talent (team talent, not just a collection of individuals) won the day. Clemson found out what everyone else found out–there’s no college team in the country that can cover LSU’s receivers. Not just 1 or 2 guys. But 4 top-tier receivers. Plus E-H out of the backfield.
Clemson threw their best punches early and LSU took 'em. Nothing to add really.
Best LSU team I’ve ever seen - one of the best college teams I’ve seen, in fact.