Conference Playoffs

[GatorGrad]

Here's a crazy thought that just popped in my head and I was curious as to what you all thought......if we can't get a national championship playoff, would the SEC, or any other conference with a CCG format, ever eventually expand what is essentially a 2-team playoff to a 4-team playoff by taking the top two teams from each division? More money, right? It would be exciting too. Maybe it would take a conference expanding to 14 or 16 teams? Think about it...if the NCAA or BCS never produce their own national playoff, what's to stop conferences from just deciding to operate as their own individual league without care to the "national race" and with their own playoff?

[JamesHowell]

> what's to stop conferences from just deciding to operate as their own individual league without care to the "national race" and with their own playoff?


NCAA rules.

It is not within the rules to do such and the conferences have no discretion.

[GatorGrad]

Do the NCAA rules prevent a conference from staging their own 4-team playoff? Even if they are still part of the NCAA as they are now? Is it a rule that you can't have an extra set of games prior to the CCG? The PAC 10 plays 9 conference games, so why couldn't an SEC team have four teams play a 9th conference game prior to the real title game?

I honestly don't know...just looking for clarification either way.

[EvilVodka]

Whats to stop a conference from pulling out of the NCAA altogether as well? I've read many scenarios where the BCS conferences pull out to form their own league

Anyways...it would be interesting to see the SEC have mass expansion so it can form 4 divisions:

West
Texas
Texas A&M
TCU
Texas Tech
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Arkansas
LSU

South
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Florida State
Miami
South Florida
Georgia
Georgia Tech

North
Louisville
West Virginia
Tennessee
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Pitt
Syracuse
Rutgers

East
Clemson
South Carolina
North Carolina
Duke
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Maryland
Boston College

And with these divisions, have a 4 team playoff...this might be overkill though lol

[CJHawkeyes]

I would love it if the Big Ten joined with others to form an NFL size league with its own playoff. Using EV's example, a playoff involving four division champs would be great.

[JamesHowell]

> Do the NCAA rules prevent a conference from staging their own 4-team playoff?

NCAA allows 12 games. They also allow a conference with at least 12 members and two divsions of at least six members each to match the division winners in a 13th game. The only other games allowed are an extra game for teams that travel to Hawaii.

The only way to do what you are suggesting would be for all SEC teams to play 11 games and then they could match the top two in each division in a 12th game with the two division winners playing in a 13th game. But then, the other 8 teams would be losing the money associated with a 12th game. Thus it is a non-starter.

[buckeyejim]

Whats to stop a conference from pulling out of the NCAA altogether as well? I've read many scenarios where the BCS conferences pull out to form their own league

Anyways...it would be interesting to see the SEC have mass expansion so it can form 4 divisions:

West
Texas
Texas A&M
TCU
Texas Tech
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Arkansas
LSU

South
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Florida State
Miami
South Florida
Georgia
Georgia Tech

North
Louisville
West Virginia
Tennessee
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Pitt
Syracuse
Rutgers

East
Clemson
South Carolina
North Carolina
Duke
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Maryland
Boston College

And with these divisions, have a 4 team playoff...this might be overkill though lol

You must remember that these schools play other sports besides football. If they split away from the NCAA, there would probably be some rule stating that the remaining NCAA schools would not be allowed to schedule non-NCAA schools thus eliminating any non-conference games in ALL sports and that would be BAD.

[GopherGuy]

> Do the NCAA rules prevent a conference from staging their own 4-team playoff?

NCAA allows 12 games. They also allow a conference with at least 12 members and two divsions of at least six members each to match the division winners in a 13th game. The only other games allowed are an extra game for teams that travel to Hawaii.

The only way to do what you are suggesting would be for all SEC teams to play 11 games and then they could match the top two in each division in a 12th game with the two division winners playing in a 13th game. But then, the other 8 teams would be losing the money associated with a 12th game. Thus it is a non-starter.

Well, couldn't you designate the last game of the season for everyone to be a dynamically scheduled one - say you look at the standings of each division and match up #1 vs. #2, #3 vs. #4 and #5 vs. #6? That way everyone would play that last week, so nobody would lose out on a game, although some teams would lose home games while others would gain them.

[happjack]

You must remember that these schools play other sports besides football. If they split away from the NCAA, there would probably be some rule stating that the remaining NCAA schools would not be allowed to schedule non-NCAA schools thus eliminating any non-conference games in ALL sports and that would be BAD.

If BYU's mens soccer team is allowed to play in the USL with no backlash from the NCAA why can't the football teams do soemthing similar.