Georgia Football and College Football are evolving. Georgia is coping with coaching and player change, while college football seeks a new playoff format. Georgia will be alright with its issues; college football may not be in good shape.
Today, it was announced that the 12-team playoff will be held in a 5+7 format. Here’s the sophisticated PR lingo used to announce the new playoff structure.
Fantastic! Our concerns have been resolved, and the new 12-team playoff system will finally get it right! No, just kidding. There are various issues with the new playoff, which has only made matters worse. Remember how you felt Sunday morning when Georgia was knocked out of the playoffs after losing to Alabama by three points in the SEC Championship? Prepare for that feeling again.
So nothing was fixed. The issues we encountered in the previous 6+6 format of the 12-team playoff remain with this new 5+7 version. There is little incentive for the SEC or Big Ten clubs to compete in conference championships. Why? Because the schedules of those two leagues are far more competitive than the ACC or Big 12. This idea of automatic bids for the top-ranked conference champions is ridiculous! I promise that the SEC’s fourth best team will be better than the ACC or Big 12 champs.
Another example of how conference championships will be meaningless in the 12-team playoff is last year’s championship. Why would Alabama or Georgia bother playing the game when both will make the playoffs and another team, such as Penn State, is relaxing and watching these two behemoths destroy each other?
The entire system is faulty; honestly, I wish we could back to the previous BCS era. Things appeared a lot simpler and less complicated than they do now. Also, don’t fall into the ESPN trap. They’re pushing this deception on all of us, claiming that it will improve college football. Do you understand who gains from the playoffs? ESPN! Why? Because they are the only network to air the playoffs!
This is unlikely to have an immediate impact on Georgia, and to be honest, this system may not exist by July. But if it does stay, Georgia fans may soon be on the losing end of the stick.
I may be the old man wailing at the skies, but nothing has changed, and all I want is for college football’s regular season to still matter. College football is the only sport whose regular season is so important, and with each new “improvement,” it suffers. Non-playoff Bowl games also count.
Hopefully, someone with some sense will enter the room and resolve all of this. Until then, we’re looking at an NFL-lite.
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