Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Wolverine Wednesday: My Plan To Fix The Bowl System

There are 40 Bowl Games out there now, which is really over kill.  Here is my take on the issues and plan to fix college football's post season.

The issues:

  • With a month off, the football is pretty poor. 
  • Bowl games are closer to an exhibition then anything else. 
  • Bowl games are now about corporate marketing.
  • The 4 team playoff system has made the bowl system obsolete.
  • Current playoff games have been blowouts
  • NFL prospects are sitting out bowl games. 
  • Many programs lose money on bowl games with guaranteed ticket allocations.
  • Nobody wants to watch a match-up of 6-6 teams.
  • Attendance is declining 
The positives:
  • Two weeks of extra practice for teams. 
  • Young players get more time.
  • Fans get to travel to warm places. 
  • Bowl games are great for TV.
  • Teams get to "bond" out of town.  
Now we know the positives and negatives, how do we fix this mess?

Power 5: 16 team playoff.  All conference champions qualify with wildcards.  Each game in round 1 would be at a regional bowl site.   For example, if Michigan and/or MSU make the playoff and highly ranked, they would host a game at Ford Field.   Miami, FSU, or UF in Orlando or Jacksonville and so on.   Each game would have a corporate sponsor.   No home games. 

Each team would fly in a one or two days before.  No trips to Dave and Busters and steak eating contests, etc.  These are business trips.    As the playoff continues, the bigger bowls hold the later rounds.  

Group of 5: Same 16 team playoff with a few twists.   If one or two Group of 5 teams are ranked in the top 16, they have the ability to join the Power 5 playoff system or be a 1 or 2 seed in the Group of 5 tournament.   Each round will be hosted by the higher ranked teams home stadium, so fans don't have to travel.   The championship game will be at a neutral traditional bowl site.   

These games would be played during the week, so not to compete with the Power 5 tournament.  

Teams that don't qualify for either playoff system:  Get an extra week to Spring Practice.   Two weeks now becomes 3 weeks, or if the team wants to do a week in January they can do that.    The teams that need the work now have an extra week of practice to try to improve.  Teams that make the playoff system, do not get an extra week during Spring Practice.

I know its not a perfect plan and people will yell about finals, starting games in early to mid December,  and the removal of the conference championship games, but I would rather see games with the best teams then a system right now that highlights bad teams.

  • Zach Gentry is heading to the NFL.  Now its basically up to Long and Hudson.  WOTS is that Long is leaning towards the NFL and Hudson is leaning on coming back.    I thought Zach could have used another year in college, but his NFL grade was higher then expected.   I still can't believe he never threw a pass in a trick play at Michigan.  Breaking News: Long has declared for the NFL Draft this afternoon. 

  • Not much info out yet on the Temple re-hire.   Todd Bowles who was just fired as the Jets head coach could be a candidate at his alma mater.   My guess is, if they really wanted Don Brown they would have acted quickly.    They probably watched Michigan's last two games.  

  • RIP Tyler Trent

6 comments:

Goblu said...

I like the idea about getting rid of bowls and conf champ games (not a big deal in Big10 really, since still relatively new). My only thought is 8 teams are better than 16. Solely bc these kids are still young and playing upward for 4 extra games a season is a lot (it’s an nfl schedule).

Goose said...

In my searching the internet I'm not seeing anyone interested in Pep Hamilton. Are you hearing any rumors?

Scott K said...

expanding the playoff would mean Clemson and 'bama get to beat up on a couple teams instead of one before the NC game.

Chase's post game interview (as read on Mgoblog) was quite telling..... If I was reading between the lines, sounded like the beating we took by osu crush many of these young men. There were a few players who announced they wouldn't be playing in the bowl game, but there were others who were there and weren't really playing.
I'm afraid there could be a real problem with the team doubting the coaching... if that's so, it could get a lot worse. Lets hope it isn't the case.

GO BLUE, Onward.

EzmoB said...

Goose either way I think coach Harbaugh is going to interview people for the OC job. I say we bring jedd back. Pep time is over.

Rudy said...

I know Long gets good NFL marks so he's going to take the $$, but he is highly overrated. When he had to face NFL-like talented WRs, he usually got beat. He had the benefit of a good pass rush that didn't allow QBs time to settle. When they did like with the Suckeye game, they burned the DBs. Gentry is good but still way too many drops for a potential NFL TE. Talent at TE doesn't drop off a bit so all is well there. Long is a loss but again, plenty of talent to replace him. Jimmy says he wants to get the team "over the top". That's not happening with his current offensive approach. Look at Bama, Clemson and OK....all of whom can score points in buckets. Have to open the offense up and go and he has the weapons to do that, he just keeps the safety on the gun! Fact is, Bo's approach to game management won't work in today's game. Defenses always keep you in games and will even win a few but you better score points. No excuses next year as most of the offense is back. If Jimmy doesn't win the B10, I suspect it's time for new leadership.

Steve said...

Leave the bowls as they are, the committee is getting it right. Like a popular sportscaster says the playoffs start September 1, win your games. The people who want to expand are the ones who's teams never quite make it into the top 4. Anything more than 4 is a tournament. Regardless of how many teams they make the playoffs, the ones on the outside will always be complaining of some bias or whatever.

I like the bowls and it seems like the teams who win like them as well. If you're not into them and think they are meaningless I respect your opinion and can only say, don't watch. But don't ruin it for those who want to play in them and watch them.