Quote :

"How BCS Schools use Cupcakes to impact rankings more than Don King does for Boxing Jan 17th 2011 7:46PM Every boxing fan has complained about the number of undefeated boxers. Seems like any up any coming “contender” has fought the same 12 – 14 record boxer and the same 52-year-old former champs. Whatever it takes to get you wins and keep you un-defeated. It’s the Don King special. BCS Schools have obviously been watching. Here are some fun facts showing just how big an impact cupcakes have on the teams that make it to the BCS Bowl Games: In 2010 regular season, there were 75 Non-Conference games played by the Top 20 Teams in Sagarin’s final 2010-11 Rankings (excluding #19 Notre Dame as an independent) … Inside the Numbers of the 75 Games played non conf by the Top 20: A. 70 = Number of wins (5 losses, including 2 by Virginia Tech) B. 15 = Games played against FCS/I-AA teams — (why does the BCS not penalize in their ratings every team who does this ? This is something the fans should make a PR issue out of !) C. 4 = Games played against each other inside final top 20 (Stanford at Notre Dame, Boise State vs. Virginia Tech (Neutral site), Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (Neutral site) and Florida State at Oklahoma) D. 93.69 = The Sagarin average of all Non-Conference opponents, including FCS schools E. 55 = Home games (14 Away, 6 Neutral) F. 145.75 = The average ranking of Mississippi State’s non-conference opponents (4 games) G. 103.25 = The average ranking of National Champion Auburn’s non-conference opponents (4 games) Comparing Non-Conference Games for Top 10 (per final Sagarin) AQs versus non-AQs… A. Non-Conference Games Versus Top 20: AQs=3; non-AQs=9 B. Non-Conference Games Versus Top 30: AQs=4; non-AQs=12 C. Overall Non-Conference Record: AQs=38-0; non-AQs=30-11 D. Non-Conference Home Games: AQs=30 of 38 (79%); non-AQs 20 of 41 (49%) E. Average Non-Conference Opponent Rank: AQs=103.37; non-AQs=83.20 The Bottom line is that schools , particularly BCS schools, are doing all they can to game the system. And the BCS folks are letting them. If the BCS people truly wanted to make the regular season have value, they would require my in season round robin tournament to happen. There has to be some level of flex scheduling in order for every game of the regular season to mean something and for the BCS ratings system to have any relevance at all. Otherwise the BCS is just lying to itself about truly crowning a champion. Worse yet, using the BCS ratings for a playoff system would be a worthless exercise. The only result would probably be conferences growing even bigger than they are becoming now , further breaking into divisions and only playing division games, resulting in fewer conference games and more non conference cupcake games. Further gaming the system. Feel free to ask Jim Delany what he thinks about this proposal and why the BCS wont step up and stop cupcake games by penalizing teams in their ratings system. Worksheet is here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuexCKkN0n4LdGF1QmtrSzNOYll2MmVrMlMxTW04UVE&hl=en&authkey=CO7diLYM"

1/26/2011 11:46:09 AM

Cuban is starting to get real serious about this from the looks of the this ESPN article. I, for one, hope this succeeds.

Quote :

"Mark Cuban's mission to create a playoff alternative to the Bowl Championship Series has a name: Radical Football. Cuban created that company in late December, registering it in Texas on Dec. 28. That was two weeks after the billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner said that he was "actively interested but in the exploratory stage" of creating and funding a playoff system to crown a champion for major college football. The formation of the company was first reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune. Radical Football has at least one employee: Brett Morris, 40, who has experience as president of a national marketing agency focused on sporting goods and as Notre Dame's promotions coordinator. "[Cuban is] real engaged in this," Morris told the Union-Tribune while in San Diego representing Radical Football as a judge in a contest for college students who pitched plans to change the football postseason. Cuban's basic idea is to keep the bowl system but make it more profitable for programs to qualify for his playoffs than to participate in a bowl. "Put $500 million in the bank and go to all the schools and pay them money as an option," Cuban told ESPNDallas.com in December. "Say, 'Look, I'm going to give you X amount every five years. In exchange, you say if you're picked for the playoff system, you'll go.'""

[Edited on February 18, 2011 at 8:38 PM. Reason : .]

2/18/2011 8:37:45 PM

The one thing that the NCAA never saw coming.....

Someone with more money to throw around then they have.

Although i see the NCAA squashing this by saying if School X participates in "Radical Football" then the NCAA will cut funding/sanctioning to all other sports at said school.... Kinda like either your totally with us or totally against us.

2/18/2011 11:49:41 PM

I really can't see a move like that by the NCAA holding up in court

2/19/2011 5:35:41 PM

NCAA doesnt have money, they just regulate who has money. So they aren't gonna say shit. They will just be trying to get onboard. They also just trying to keep everything fair for everyone, which a lot of people disagree with (for obvious reasons)

OK ya they get some money but its just for the TV contracts. Most of the money for BCS comes directly from the BCS.

2/20/2011 8:56:17 AM

If Cuban really can make it significantly more profitable for schools to participate in a playoff, they're gonna have a hard time not converting to that system.

I, for one, welcome our new football overlords.

2/20/2011 10:00:24 AM

does that mean more football games?

2/20/2011 10:16:50 AM

Quote :

"I, for one, welcome our new football overlords."

2/20/2011 11:36:25 AM

Quote :

"The Fiesta Bowl will be asked to justify its inclusion in the BCS after organizers for the Arizona game fired president and CEO John Junker for "an apparent scheme" to reimburse employees for political contributions and "an apparent conspiracy" to cover it up."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6270459

3/29/2011 10:00:30 PM

pretty sure people don't get fired over "apparent." they know for sure but i guess want to maintain some semblance of credibility

3/29/2011 10:06:02 PM

Quote :

"@schadjoe: Fiesta Bowl executives expensed strip club visits as security research"

lol

3/29/2011 11:34:20 PM

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7248953/bcs-proposes-only-handling-national-championship-game-sources-say

Quote :

"According to sources with direct knowledge of meetings held in San Francisco earlier this week, the suggested change calls for the BCS to sever its direct ties with the so-called BCS bowls -- the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Discover Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio -- and concentrate solely on arranging a No. 1 vs. No. 2 national championship matchup "

11/18/2011 1:11:26 PM

^ from that article:

Quote :

"According to those who were involved in the meetings, this was just one of several format ideas discussed by the 11 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. A pure playoff model was presented, as was the familiar Plus-One model."

11/18/2011 2:06:34 PM

One of the first things they should eliminate is bending over backwards for Notre Dame.

Join a fucking conference or be left out. You haven't been relevant in decades.

[Edited on November 18, 2011 at 2:13 PM. Reason : ,]

11/18/2011 2:13:00 PM

Quote :

"Maybe he should show that the Mavs can win a championship before he tries to remake another sport."

11/19/2011 12:02:02 PM

So no bumps on the recent meetings to add a Final Four to NCAA football?

I know you people love your basketball and soccer, but come on

4/27/2012 8:52:07 AM

I believe you just bumped it for that purpose. So kudos to you.

Here's an article about it: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/stewart_mandel/04/26/bcs-four-team-playoff/index.html?sct=cf_t11_a0

Quote :

"We gather here today to pay our respects to a fallen regime. The two-team BCS National Championship Game, college football's annually frustrating, fascinating and infuriating culmination, will soon cease to exist. Any lingering doubts were put to rest Thursday following three days of commissioner meetings here at the Westin Diplomat. Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS and spokesperson for the commissioners, hailed the news that the 12 gentlemen in charge are officially pursuing a four-team playoff as "seismic change for college football." They must still figure out many details -- Neutral sites or campus sites? Poll voters or a selection committee? -- but they're too far down the road to turn back. The BCS as we know it will be gone in two years."

4/27/2012 8:56:36 AM

4/27/2012 8:58:59 AM

If they do approve a 4 team playoff then great. I wonder if the other bowls might follow along. Form little 4-team-3-bowl tournaments here and there. It'd cut down on the number of teams going to bowls (making them slightly more meaningful again, but I guess no more meaningful than the NIT) and may make for some better matchups once the bowls get a good idea of how to put their mini-tournaments together.

/Hey, if they're not going to put in something better than 4 teams then I can at least hope for SOME semblance of relevance from the other bowls

4/29/2012 11:11:14 PM

Can't wait to go to go to shreveport with southern miss, TCU and Northwestern.

4/29/2012 11:30:52 PM

the semi-finals/first round are supposed to be home games for the higher seed similar to 1-AA playoffs, so its not like you'd have 4 teams all in one city playing games at one stadium like a basketball setup

4/29/2012 11:39:33 PM

Screw the 5th and 6th team that gets left out of the final four! This will be 10x better than the current system and a step in the right direction.

4/29/2012 11:42:00 PM