Interesting... SEC/Big 12 setup their own bowl game?

[dpwspringer 0]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/05/mike_slive_secbig_12_bowl_coul.html

"BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A new Jan. 1 bowl between the SEC and Big 12 could be inside or outside a four-team playoff that's hopefully coming to college football, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said today.

The leagues announced a five-year agreement starting in 2014 pairing conference champions from the SEC and Big 12. If one or more champions is in the playoffs, then other SEC and Big 12 teams would be selected for the bowl.

It's unclear how the SEC/Big 12 bowl and the Rose Bowl, which is aligned with the Big Ten and Pac-12, may factor into a playoff format.

... "

[rockfordpi 91]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/05/mike_slive_secbig_12_bowl_coul.html

"BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A new Jan. 1 bowl between the SEC and Big 12 could be inside or outside a four-team playoff that's hopefully coming to college football, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said today.

The leagues announced a five-year agreement starting in 2014 pairing conference champions from the SEC and Big 12. If one or more champions is in the playoffs, then other SEC and Big 12 teams would be selected for the bowl.

It's unclear how the SEC/Big 12 bowl and the Rose Bowl, which is aligned with the Big Ten and Pac-12, may factor into a playoff format.

... "

Not sure how I feel about that.  The first thing that popped into my mind is that it is part of a plan to push for a playoff AND to get leverage with the bowls, maybe to get them on board and keep them from balking.

Notice that they did not say WHO would host the game or even if it would be a new bowl or an existing bowl.

[AUIE 81 0]

The announcement does say it is a NEW bowl...."

[dpwspringer 0]

They did not rule out the Cotton or Sugar Bowls.  Somewhere on the eastern edge of the Big 12 or the western edge of the SEC would seem like a logical site.  Maybe they will rotate it?

On first glance it is political, basically a shot across the bow of the Big Ten/PAC12 position with the Rose Bowl.  But I like it because the big boys, the automatic qualifying conferences need to flex their muscles, break out of the FBS, and take their big post season game/bowls with them. All number of schools with startup football programs are moving up to the FBS to claim a piece of the pie. 

The ACC and Big East need to follow suit and set up their own championship game before someone decides to have a championship game between the winners of the Rose Bowl and SEC/Big12 game and they get left out.  Maybe this will open it up to an 8 game playoff.

[dpwspringer 0]

There is no telling how all of this conference realignment and playoffs will end up, but what are the odds that this SEC/Big12 champions game is a prelude to a breakout from the FBS where we end up with 4 major conferences that have their own 4 team playoff?  You have this SEC/Big12 champions game winner against the PAC12/Big Ten champions game (Rose Bowl) for the championship. 

The ACC could get left out.  This could make FSU and Clemson leaving for the Big 12 talk more serious.

[WarEagle10 77]

I just don't see a scenario where the SEC champ is not part of a four team playoff. It could happen I guess, but it would have to be a fluke year IMO.

[dpwspringer 0]

I just don't see a scenario where the SEC champ is not part of a four team playoff. It could happen I guess, but it would have to be a fluke year IMO.

I have a suspicion that the SEC is trying to force where the playoffs are heading.  This strategic alignment with the Big12 is on the heels of the SEC expansion to 14 teams-- the SEC is trying to set up a scenario with 4 super conferences whose champions are automatically in a four team playoff. 

Is 16 teams the magic number for super conference size... sounds about right to me?  If so there are 16 spots available within the apparent super conferences.  Two in the SEC, 4 in the PAC12, 4 in the Big Ten, and 6 in the Big 12.

[rockfordpi 91]

There is no telling how all of this conference realignment and playoffs will end up, but what are the odds that this SEC/Big12 champions game is a prelude to a breakout from the FBS where we end up with 4 major conferences that have their own 4 team playoff?  You have this SEC/Big12 champions game winner against the PAC12/Big Ten champions game (Rose Bowl) for the championship. 

The ACC could get left out.  This could make FSU and Clemson leaving for the Big 12 talk more serious.

Remember, this is as much, if not more, about MONEY and TV markets as it is about choosing the NC.  This past year's NC game with two SEC teams had the lowest TV rating of ANY of the NC games.

The point being, though the best football may be played in the SEC and Big 12 and TX and FL are very good TV markets to have, the larger overall TV markets are on the east and west coast and in the PAC-10, Big-10, and ACC/Big east markets. That gives those conferences a lot of leverage.

For this reason, I think the end result will be more of a conference champion model that somehow includes the east coast teams. The west, north, and east, just will not watch in the numbers needed if a playoff ends up with 2 SEC teams and 2 big 12 teams.

[autodd03 0]

since we are at 14 already, and look to be in limbo as far as future scheduling, I would think 16 would be an ideal number.

4 pods of 4 teams with winners of each 4 team pod playing in a conference semifinal and those winners in the conference champ game.  If each conference adopted this strategy, we would have a de facto 16 team playoff with no ranking bias.  Then teams could play strong OOC schedules in place of cupcakes.

for the SEC, it would be difficult to maintain rivalries and keep competitive balance, but here goes one try at it (using NC st and VT as the 2 additions):

SEC pod 1

LSU

Texas A&M

Ole Miss

Missouri

SEC pod 2

FLorida

Georgia

S. Carolina

Nc State

SEC pod 3

Auburn

Alabama

Miss St

Vandy

SEC pod 4

Tennessee

Kentucky

Virginia Tech

Arkansas

The easiest way to schedule would be a 9 game schedule with 3 games againt pod opponents, 3 permanent rivals in other pods and rotate 1 team in each pod that is leftover.  you would play every conference opponent home/home within 6 years and then start the cycle over.  Due to this flexibility, you could put any 4 teams together since travel isn't too much of a concern for football only.  you could do the following if you wanted to allow long time rivals a chance to meet in the postseason( au/al, uf/uga, etc)

SEC pod 1

Florida

Texas A&M

Miss St

Missouri

SEC pod 2

LSU

Georgia

S. Carolina

Nc State

SEC pod 3

Auburn

Tennessee

Ole Miss

Kentucky

SEC pod 4

Alabama

Vandy

Virginia Tech

Arkansas

[HardcoreAU79 0]

This one looks workable, so, it won't happen.

[WarNole 141]

Very interesting article from SBNation:

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2012/5/19/3029685/sec-big-12-football-alliance-bowl-conference-realignment/in/2257972

So the SEC and Big 12 have a new bowl deal together. That's cool. They've basically created their own Rose Bowl. Excellent. But there might just be much, much more to it if we think about conference realignment.

Let's say the Big 12 adds Florida State, who've spent the past two weeks as the subject of realignment rumors. Let's say FSU takes along Clemson and Georgia Tech to ease travel concerns, continue a couple of minor rivalries and give the Big 12 a strong foothold in the Southeast. Let's also include Louisville, who are publicly very interested, have been a reported target for months and almost made it in at the expense of West Virginia.

Are you seeing what I'm seeing? The scheduling arrangement opportunity? Let's try lining up the teams a certain way:

(click web site to view proposed schedule)

The SEC and Big 12 should pair these teams up. Have each team play eight conference games and its permanent cross-conference rival. That's at least nine legit games for each team, which should meet a playoff selection committee's requirements.

Almost half of them already play every year anyway, and more than half would if not for feelings hurt during the last wave of realignment. And this would restore the two rivalries college football lost when the SEC took Mizzou and A&M.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 will soon start up a new scheduling pact, enhancing their Rose Bowl bond. But the Big 12 and SEC have an even bigger reason to pair up and start scheduling regular season games on an official basis.

Among the less obvious pairings, LSU and TCU share a state border, ancient SWC mates Arkansas and Oklahoma are separated only by Tulsa, and Baylor and Vanderbilt are both private schools among football titans. In the loosest of connections, Texas Tech is currently led by Auburn's last coach. That one's a stretch, and I have no idea what the others have to offer, but that's only three games out of 14 we'd have to come up with a story for. All the others sell themselves every year. Maybe we come up with some sort of rotation system for non-essential matchups.

And then there's Alabama-West Virginia.

Think about this. The playoffs are starting in 2014. The new SEC-Big 12 bowl arrangement starts up in 2014. Bama and WVU are set to play in the 2014 Chick-fil-A Kickoff. What better way to introduce a cross-conference scheduling partnership than having two elite representatives play in at a big neutral site? That could even be an annual thing for the first week of every season. Pick two games from the 14-game list and send one to Atlanta, one to Dallas. There's not much any other conference could do to steal the spotlight at that point.

This is also a way around Florida and South Carolina not wanting to give their state rivals a recruiting boost by allowing them into the SEC. Florida and South Carolina don't have much say over who the Big 12 imports.

Big 12 and SEC fans would keep track of how their conference is doing throughout the year -- it would be like the ACC-Big Ten Basketball Challenge, but way, way bigger.

And keep it going. Both conferences would still be two away from 16, the number we're treating as some sort of event horizon. The SEC takes North Carolina, the Big 12 gets Duke? How could we split Virginia and Virginia Tech? Notre Dame continues making NBC money in the Big 12, Miami joins the SEC after being invited in 1990?

That discussion could continue forever, but the way the two leagues could shake out after only a couple realignment moves would make this whole thing so workable I kind of can't believe it hasn't already happened yet.

[bird36 5]

Does this mean the Sugar Bowl is gone, or will the 2nd place SEC team play in the Sugar Bowl???

[bzlivn 0]

Does this mean the Sugar Bowl is gone, or will the 2nd place SEC team play in the Sugar Bowl???

Sugar is not so sweet anymore.

Chick-fil-a; Outback and Citrus just lost some appeal also.

[dpwspringer 0]

Does this mean the Sugar Bowl is gone, or will the 2nd place SEC team play in the Sugar Bowl???

Great question.  I think this has put the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl on notice and puts the Cotton Bowl back in play among the big time bowls.  There is no telling what the end results may be, all 3 of those bowls would be in play as well as the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. 

But there is an outside chance this could be done outside the traditional bowl games.  Both the SEC and the Big 12 know how to play a big time championship game because they already do it with their conference championship games.  I have felt for years that the SEC Championship Game was bigger than the BCS bowl that followed for the winner unless that BCS bowl was the BCSCG.  This could change that if this bowl was considered a bigger prize... which it might.

[WarEagle10 77]

Does this mean the Sugar Bowl is gone, or will the 2nd place SEC team play in the Sugar Bowl???

I think the Sugar Bowl will be used as one of the games for the upcoming "Championship Tourney" starting in 2014.

[Stripe 5]

The reality is all of this is about as cloudy as a bowl of milk righ now. With the possibility of a playoff in the near future and the SEC/Big 12 adding a bowl game of the higest 2 teams not in the NCG. It even puts the other BCS games in question.

In reality since the BCS ruined the bowl games outside of being in the BCSNCG they are all worthless except for the money the teams get for going to them. So the SEC/Big 12 creating their own game may very well force some hands in the NCAA to get the Playoff deal done. Otherwise it may verywell become bigger than their NCG.

[dpwspringer 0]

The reality is all of this is about as cloudy as a bowl of milk righ now. With the possibility of a playoff in the near future and the SEC/Big 12 adding a bowl game of the higest 2 teams not in the NCG. It even puts the other BCS games in question.

In reality since the BCS ruined the bowl games outside of being in the BCSNCG they are all worthless except for the money the teams get for going to them. So the SEC/Big 12 creating their own game may very well force some hands in the NCAA to get the Playoff deal done. Otherwise it may verywell become bigger than their NCG.

Question:  Is there anything stopping the PAC12, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC from making their own agreement where the winner of the Rose Bowl plays the winner of the SEC-Big 12 Championship game?

[AEAugirl 9,666]

Does this mean the Sugar Bowl is gone, or will the 2nd place SEC team play in the Sugar Bowl???

Great question.  I think this has put the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl on notice and puts the Cotton Bowl back in play among the big time bowls.  There is no telling what the end results may be, all 3 of those bowls would be in play as well as the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. 

But there is an outside chance this could be done outside the traditional bowl games.  Both the SEC and the Big 12 know how to play a big time championship game because they already do it with their conference championship games.  I have felt for years that the SEC Championship Game was bigger than the BCS bowl that followed for the winner unless that BCS bowl was the BCSCG.  This could change that if this bowl was considered a bigger prize... which it might.

The Big 12 doesn't have a conference championship game 

[autodd03 0]

Sorry, but i stopped reading at "ancient SWC mates Arkansas and Oklahoma"

[dpwspringer 0]

Does this mean the Sugar Bowl is gone, or will the 2nd place SEC team play in the Sugar Bowl???

Great question.  I think this has put the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl on notice and puts the Cotton Bowl back in play among the big time bowls.  There is no telling what the end results may be, all 3 of those bowls would be in play as well as the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. 

But there is an outside chance this could be done outside the traditional bowl games.  Both the SEC and the Big 12 know how to play a big time championship game because they already do it with their conference championship games.  I have felt for years that the SEC Championship Game was bigger than the BCS bowl that followed for the winner unless that BCS bowl was the BCSCG.  This could change that if this bowl was considered a bigger prize... which it might.

The Big 12 doesn't have a conference championship game 

Not at the moment because they are down to 10 teams but they had one from 1996 until 2010 and they will again once they get a couple of more teams.  http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/big12/championship_games.php

They do have experience with conference championship games and so does the SEC so they have that card up their sleeves-- that they could stage this game themselves.  They don't have to do it within one of the bowl games.

[norcuron 35]

Well if we end up with 4 super conferences. Each with a conference champ. those are your 4 teams.

Its a playoff that keeps the integrity of the regular season.

only prob is that there are 124 BCS schools? what about the nobodies if they are not picked to go to the prom?

[dpwspringer 0]

Well if we end up with 4 super conferences. Each with a conference champ. those are your 4 teams.

Its a playoff that keeps the integrity of the regular season.

only prob is that there are 124 BCS schools? what about the nobodies if they are not picked to go to the prom?

I think they should split up the Football Bowl Subdivision.  At one time the 6 automatic qualifying BCS conferences looked like a good split.  It probably still is unless we are moving to 4 sixteen team super conferences.  In any case, the big dogs need a league of their own.