The more time that passes and this subject comes up, the more I get frosted thinking about it. I was having fun checking the point spread for an upcoming NBA game, but was referred by Nevada Dawg to an article that torqued me off again thinking about the incompetence of those representing our league. The SEC commissioner Greg Sankey actually acknowledges how the four team playoff benefits the SEC in a massive way?
In this article, With College Football Playoff Compromise Rejected, SEC Will Crush the Meek | Opinion, we get a better idea of the big picture and how the Pac-12 blew it again. Sankey admits that the Playoffs being limited to four teams has been a boon to the SEC, but he recognizes that it is bad for college football? And yet we don’t follow his suggestion of moving to a 12 team Playoff immediately? The conferences could not come to an agreement?
I don’t agree with everything the writer asserted, as I do not think that college football has become stale; open up the Playoffs to more teams and things become quite a bit more exciting with the same rules in place. The difference is simply expanding the opportunity to more teams with everything else being the same, and the interest will go through the roof. The SEC commissioner could see that…and the “Alliance” could not?
Georgia and the SEC have cleaned up in the current Playoff structure.
Yet the two biggest National Championship television ratings were when West Coast teams were involved; USC vs Texas in 2005 and Oregon vs Ohio State in 2014. Think about that–the top two in ratings occurred when a Pac-12 team was involved, not an SEC team? My friends, we do have enough eyeballs to make it profitable, but do we have the opportunity, and the will to do it?
Pac-12 football average roster talent 2021-22 pic.twitter.com/POG6INHkCS
— hythloday almond (@hythloday1) May 12, 2022
The chart above was discussed in “the forum with decorum,” but it has implications that tie into my question above. It is evident that the Trojans and the Ducks are very committed to making the Playoffs, and both teams have proven to pull great ratings when they do appear. And frankly the reference to “the Conference of Champions” being one of the meeker ones….doesn’t sit well with me.
What is your reaction to the short article? Were you as surprised as I that the SEC Commissioner wanted what was best for college football–even ahead of his own conference? Whew!
Charles Fischer (Mr. FishDuck)
Eugene, Oregon
Top Photo by Craig Strobeck
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Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 38 years and has written reports on football boards for over 26 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports, and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He is single, has a daughter Christine, and resides in Eugene Oregon where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years.
He now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations in addition to managing his two Oregon Football Websites, of FishDuck.com and the Our Beloved Ducks forum. He is a busy man!
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…