NCAA Football '12-13

[Valmy]

How is this going to work next year with the 4 team playoffs?

Man, NCAA football is hard.

I think we still have one more year of the BCS before the playoff.  The first season of the playoff is 2014 IIRC.

There is going to be a committee of some sort that will pick the four teams, like they do for the NCAA Basketball tournament.  There are going to be some elite Bowls hosting the playoff games.  The remaining Bowls will be continuing to make the best matchups they can.

[Ed Anger]

They better not fuck with the Rose Bowl.

[Valmy]

They better not fuck with the Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl is going to be in better shape once the BCS ends I think.  They will have the top ranked Pac 12 team versus the top ranked Big 10 team not in the playoff every year.  No more stupid BCS rules.  The Sugar Bowl is going to do the exact same thing for the SEC and Big 12.

[Ed Anger]

They better not fuck with the Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl is going to be in better shape once the BCS ends I think.  They will have the top ranked Pac 12 team versus the top ranked Big 10 team not in the playoff every year.  No more stupid BCS rules.  The Sugar Bowl is going to do the exact same thing for the SEC and Big 12.

Good. I've paid zero attention to the playoff crap.

[dps]

They better not fuck with the Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl is going to be in better shape once the BCS ends I think.  They will have the top ranked Pac 12 team versus the top ranked Big 10 team not in the playoff every year.  No more stupid BCS rules.  The Sugar Bowl is going to do the exact same thing for the SEC and Big 12.

Yeah, but that to work, they need for the Big 10 to have teams that A) don't suck, and B) aren't under a bowl ban.  Even without the BCS, they'd still have been stuck with a 5-loss Wisconsin team this year.

BTW, the bad part of the La Tech situation is that they probably would have made for a fun bowl game--#1 in the nation in scoring offense, but #119 in scoring defense.  Sounds like they ought to be in the Big 12 or something.

[Valmy]

Yeah, but that to work, they need for the Big 10 to have teams that A) don't suck, and B) aren't under a bowl ban.  Even without the BCS, they'd still have been stuck with a 5-loss Wisconsin team this year.

That is not a requirement.  The Rose Bowl doesn't care about having a good matchup or deserving teams just so long as it is Big 10 versus Pac 12.

BTW, the bad part of the La Tech situation is that they probably would have made for a fun bowl game--#1 in the nation in scoring offense, but #119 in scoring defense.  Sounds like they ought to be in the Big 12 or something.

Dang you are right!  Maybe they should get an invite

[dps]

Yeah, but that to work, they need for the Big 10 to have teams that A) don't suck, and B) aren't under a bowl ban.  Even without the BCS, they'd still have been stuck with a 5-loss Wisconsin team this year.

That is not a requirement.  The Rose Bowl doesn't care about having a good matchup or deserving teams just so long as it is Big 10 versus Pac 12.

I'm not sure how that leaves them in better shape, then.  Yes, the guys who run the Rose Bowl want to match up a Big 10 team against a PAC 12 team, but getting what you want doesn't always leave you in better shape.  The TV audience in general is more interested in seeing a good matchup, I'd think. 

[sbr]

I'd be interested to see a comparison in tv ratings between traditional and non-traditional rose bowl games.  If anyone is bored at work and wants to work the Google machine.

[MadImmortalMan]

Yeah, but that to work, they need for the Big 10 to have teams that A) don't suck, and B) aren't under a bowl ban.  Even without the BCS, they'd still have been stuck with a 5-loss Wisconsin team this year.

BTW, the bad part of the La Tech situation is that they probably would have made for a fun bowl game--#1 in the nation in scoring offense, but #119 in scoring defense.  Sounds like they ought to be in the Big 12 or something.

They'd have had two undefeated teams this year if not for the ban. PSU may have a couple more left, but OSU's ban was only for this season. It won't affect the playoff in the future. Unless they keep getting free tats and selling rings to pay momma's rent.

[jimmy olsen]

Not gonna be as easy in Arkansas as Wisconsin to win the league.  We'll really get to see how good a coach he is.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/04/reports-arkansas-hires-bret-bielema/related/

[MadImmortalMan]

Whoa. Downgrade. Should have stayed where he was.

[katmai]

Big 10 isn't stable.

[jimmy olsen]

Whoa. Downgrade. Should have stayed where he was.

SEC is just so much better than the Big 10 people just don't see it that way anymore. Even if Ohio St. hadn't been banned from postseason, would it have made a 4 team playoff? The Big 10 was so bad this year, it's not a sure a thing, even though they went 12-0.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--as-bret-bielema-heads-for-arkansas--big-ten-s-allure-fades-in-sec-s-shadow--043601844.html

As Bret Bielema heads for Arkansas, Big Ten's allure fades in shadow of SEC
17 hours ago

Bret Bielema grew up on an Illinois hog farm, rising when it was still dark to help feed and care for 2,500-plus animals. Then he'd head to school. There were no frills in that life, just determination. Bielema only received Division III football interest, yet decided to walk on at Iowa, eventually working his way to a scholarship and eventually a team captaincy.

How Big Ten is this guy? He was born in Illini Hospital, has a Hawkeye tattoo and eventually became a young head coach, just 36, at Wisconsin – the handpicked successor of Barry Alvarez. He averaged 9.5 wins a year. He was the kind of guy who didn't just play and coach in the Big Ten but represents the Big Ten. He's burly, smart, funny and down-to-earth. He believes in power running, physical defenses and big meals. He was successful in maximizing what he had.

He wasn't afraid to take shots at the SEC and to hold up the supposed ethics of the Big Ten. Yet he wasn't some elitist. He wore wind breakers in the dead heat of summer, dreaded when it got so cold he had to put on socks and looked like a guy who would be quite content knocking down something from G. Heileman, the old-school regional microbrew, if you will.

He won the Big Ten title in each of the past three years. And, sure, this time he was helped by Ohio State and Penn State being in NCAA trouble. Still, there he was Saturday night, with a five-loss team, hanging 70 points and humiliating Nebraska anyway.

The Big Ten isn't going to shut down because 42-year-old Bret Bielema decided Tuesday to head to Arkansas, head to the SEC, whose recruiting culture he once pretended to look down his nose at.

Wisconsin will find a new coach and continue on. The league still has good people and good programs. There's plenty of potential, plenty of momentum at some places. And, at least for national relevance, it can be thankful that Urban Meyer is at Ohio State, where the road to more undefeated seasons just became even easier.

But both the Badgers and the league were better with Bielema. He was supposed to be a Big Ten lifer, a quality coach at a quality program helping add depth to a league in desperate need of anything positive.

Instead he becomes a real-time, real-life example of the pecking order of college football.

"I was very surprised when Bret told me he was taking the offer from Arkansas," Alvarez said Tuesday, which pretty much summed up the feelings of everyone. As sure as you can't imagine Steve Spurrier coaching in the North, you didn't envision Bielema heading South.

The Big Ten understands it isn't the hottest league, or the coolest league, or the best league anymore. It isn't unusual for the CBS broadcast of the SEC to beat Big Ten games in the ratings even in Midwestern markets. But the conference still has a ton to offer, including good football.

So what does it say that suddenly the Big Ten isn't even good enough for Bielema, the kind of Midwestern guy who appreciates the beauty of grey skis and blue collars?

There's hardly any legitimate competition between the Big Ten and the SEC anymore. At least, not on the field. That's just reality. But the Big Ten wants to think it is closer than it is while clinging to the idea that it still has something over southern football, leaders and legends, that type of stuff.

Wisconsin is an incredible school. Madison is a top-line college town. Camp Randall is as rowdy and fun an environment as there is. Bielema was under no pressure, was well-paid and was winning comfortably and consistently

Yet it wasn't enough.

The Big Ten is on an epic run of bad breaks from tragic to comical, from the horrors of Jerry Sandusky, to the 12-0 Buckeyes being barred from the postseason, to endless non-conference humiliations, to a five-loss team in the Rose Bowl, to Jim Delany trading out the league's tradition for the "demographics" that two historically under-performing, debt-ridden football programs might – might – be able to provide.

Arkansas doesn't get to steal Wisconsin's coach. At least, that isn't how the old pecking order went. Bielema had the third-best job in the league, one that was going to get even easier based on expansion, where he was staring at a cake division with only Ohio State a worthy opponent.

Instead, he left for a region he's never recruited, for a cut-throat culture he's previously railed against, to take an Arkansas job that might be the fifth best in its division, one ruled by no less than Alabama and LSU.

The truth is, he has a better chance of winning it all in Fayetteville than Madison. And he'll win games. He's a good enough coach to win anywhere. And, really, how couldn't he go? There's better facilities, richer budgets, closer proximity to talent, the thrill of the big time, huge exposure, monster challenges, fresh rivals, and, of course, more money.

The truth is, Bielema must know if he fails on the big stage, he can always go back and find a big Ten program desperate to hire him.

This is the reality of college football right now. The Big Ten commissioner is obsessed with building a cable network. The SEC commissioner is determined to build the NFL Lite, where even the second- and third-tier programs are budding powerhouses.

The SEC had four job openings this year. It has already hired the champion of the Big Ten (Bielema) and Sun Belt (Gus Malzahn to Auburn) as well as the defensive coordinator from the ACC winner (Florida State's Mark Stoops to Kentucky). And it might get the coach of the Big East champ (Louisville's Charlie Strong is reportedly the top candidate at Tennessee).

Everything just gets bigger and bolder and more competitive down there. It's the greatest show on field turf and the appeal of it all is drawing in fans and television viewers and recruits and, well, even about the most Big Ten coach you could ever find.

Bret Bielema, raised on an Illinois hog farm is going to call the Hogs down South, suddenly too good for the league he was seemingly made to help lead until he became a legend.

[sbr]

Plus he got a 1.5 milling raise.  Then the cost of living decrease in the move from Madison to fayetteville probably adds another 10-15%.

[MadImmortalMan]

Plus he got a 1.5 milling raise.  Then the cost of living decrease in the move from Madison to fayetteville probably adds another 10-15%.

Yes. That's the big thing right there.