Fickell GONE!

[xudash]

With a 12 team playoff, it's going to be fine to be outside the Big Ten and SEC. It may well be easier to make the playoffs as Cincinnati in the Big XII compared to Wisconsin in the Big 10. Sure, the Big 10 is going to get at least three bids every year, but those are going to be Ohio State, Michigan and USC. Maybe there's a fourth bid, but everyone else is scrambling for that one. Ditto the SEC where LSU, Alabama and Georgia are going to continue to dominate things until Oklahoma decides to get good again. The real winners if they stay put are Notre Dame, They get to laugh through 5 or 6 ACC games, play Navy, Stanford and a couple of other stinkers, maybe lose to USC and end up #8. Ho hum, another playoff berth achieved.

We will have to wait and see how it all turns out, but you are talking about 32 teams who are going to be stuffed full of cash. 3 to 4 apiece for the B1G and SEC? 25% of the combined group, assuming 4 from each?

Again, anything can happen, but what about this:

SEC
- Bama
- LSU
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- Plus one of A&M, Florida, see where this is headed?

B1G
- Ohio State
- Michigan
- USC
- One of Penn State, MSU, Whisky, parallel to above.

9 out of 10 spots.

Now, Clemson and/or FSU. Oregon.

I’m not sure it’s going to be all that better for UC.

[Xville]

This year as of now the sec and big ten would take 7 of the spots and that includes usc. That leaves 5 spots… pretty good actually. 5 of 12 is better than 1 of 4.

Plus, I really doubt the 12 are going to be selected as you describe. My guess is that big 5 conferences will have automatic bids plus a group of five and then the rest will be at large. Better to have a 100% chance at a playoff shot rather than the about 1% chance uc has now.

[xudash]

This year as of now the sec and big ten would take 7 of the spots and that includes usc. That leaves 5 spots… pretty good actually. 5 of 12 is better than 1 of 4.

I’m not focused on this year. You are making a fair point, but I am of the opinion that things are going to change when these two massive conferences start dishing out about $90 million per school per year. They are simply going to have remarkable advantages, which should result in more than seven out of 32 schools grabbing a slot.

[Xville]

I’m not focused on this year. You are making a fair point, but I am of the opinion that things are going to change when these two massive conferences start dishing out about $90 million per school per year. They are simply going to have remarkable advantages, which should result in more than seven out of 32 schools grabbing a slot.

I really don’t think so. The sec beats themselves up thru the season and the big ten will as well if anyone actually wants to join in the Ohio state-Michigan fun. Theee won’t be enough teams winning enough games to have almost all of the top 12 be in those conferences.

Anyways, I don’t think that’s how it is going to work anyways. My guess is as described above. Top 5 get auto bids, group of five auto bid and then 6 at large. Now, will a sec team win the playoff 95% of the time? Yeah probably but not any different than now, and a 12 team playoff at least gives the illusion of a more equitable distribution of power.

[xudash]

I really don’t think so. The sec beats themselves up thru the season and the big ten will as well if anyone actually wants to join in the Ohio state-Michigan fun. Theee won’t be enough teams winning enough games to have almost all of the top 12 be in those conferences.

Anyways, I don’t think that’s how it is going to work anyways. My guess is as described above. Top 5 get auto bids, group of five auto bid and then 6 at large. Now, will a sec team win the playoff 95% of the time? Yeah probably but not any different than now, and a 12 team playoff at least gives the illusion of a more equitable distribution of power.

Good point about how they are thinking about structuring it (i.e. champion from each conference of 5 conferences, and then go from there).

The “beat each other up” thing may be an issue. However, the flip side is that all of their money may ensure even deeper rosters for the premier programs. Worse yet for the other conferences, all that money may attract much of the rest of the best talent to the other SEC and B1G teams.

One other thing- let’s look at the Big 12, specifically. Do you honestly believe that it could get two teams into a 12 team playoff (its champions plus one more) in the 12 team format? I believe that outcome will be very rare.

[XUGRAD80]

The real key will be this……will the Big 10 and SEC remain a part of the NCAA or will they break away and form their own organization? (And if they do break away, will others join them?) Right now, under current NCAA rules, all schools have to limit how many scholarship players they have. Theoretically that means that no one school, or conference, can stockpile all of the best talent and it theoretically creates some parity. But if they form their own organization, without the scholarship limits, that goes out the window. If there continues to be scholarship limits, and accounting for the idea that players want to play and not just sit on the bench, the talent should be somewhat spread out among the top 50-60 schools (including most BiG 12 schools) and there should be potential for schools outside the B10 and SEC to fill some of the at-large bids in the 12 team tourney.

5 conference champions
1 group of 5 team
6 at-large

6 at-large…..2 from B10, 2 from SEC (which means the top 3 teams in each of those conferences probably makes it) and 2 from all the rest. OOC schedule and wins are going to be important. The B10 and SEC will fill out 1/2 the tourney, with all other schools fighting it out for the other half. Everyone sees that……one reason that Fickell might have chosen to leave now, and for a B10 school.

BUT……college football is different than college BB. It’s not ALL about playing in the national championship tourney. Regular season, conference championships, rivalry games really matter to most fans. The social aspect of game days is at least as important as the games themselves to hundreds of thousands of fans. Even if a school has 0 chance of winning a national championship, as long as they continue to be competitive within their league they will continue to have a large and loyal fan base. This is true for virtually every school playing in a top conference. Game days are an experience that is greater than any single game. College football will continue to be the big dog when it comes to college sports.

[nuts4xu]

Lot of good reasons for Luke Fickell to stay at UC, but Wisconsin is giving Luke an extra 2.9 million reasons a year to move his large catholic family to Madison WI.

I feel for UC and their fans, it is tough to admit your program will likely always be a stepping stone program.

When Matta left for Ohio State, Miller left for Arizona, and Mack left for UofL I felt the same way about X. While I am optimistic Sean Miller is going to be with us for the rest of his career, part of me realizes he could decide to pull a Bob Huggins and end his career at Pitt (his alma mater). We may always be a stepping stone program, and for the exception of the last 4 years, that has worked out fine for Xavier. I would rather have a coach for the long term, but I’m no longer offended when X is called a stepping stone program.

I can give UC and it’s fans a hard time about a lot of things, but this type of news isn’t it.

This will be an interesting hire for UC, stakes are higher than ever for them to get it right. They get this wrong and it could hurl them back to irrelevance.

[94GRAD]

Lot of good reasons for Luke Fickell to stay at UC, but Wisconsin is giving Luke an extra 2.9 million reasons a year to move his large catholic family to Madison WI.

I feel for UC and their fans, it is tough to admit your program will likely always be a stepping stone program.

When Matta left for Ohio State, Miller left for Arizona, and Mack left for UofL I felt the same way about X. While I am optimistic Sean Miller is going to be with us for the rest of his career, part of me realizes he could decide to pull a Bob Huggins and end his career at Pitt (his alma mater). We may always be a stepping stone program, and for the exception of the last 4 years, that has worked out fine for Xavier. I would rather have a coach for the long term, but I’m no longer offended when X is called a stepping stone program.

I can give UC and it’s fans a hard time about a lot of things, but this type of news isn’t it.

This will be an interesting hire for UC, stakes are higher than ever for them to get it right. They get this wrong and it could hurl them back to irrelevance.

*West Virginia

**I'm an idiot

[GoMuskies]

Sean Miller graduated from West Virginia? Weird.

[94GRAD]

Sean Miller graduated from West Virginia? Weird.

I no good with comprehension.