Can someone ask or point out to Swarbrick that ND’s inability to get a bye in the 12 team playoff presents a big obstacle to winning a title. Why did he agree to this? We could hypothetically be 12-0 and ranked #1, and end up with a 5 seed. As a 5, if all the higher seeds hold serve and win their games, we would have to beat a well rested 4 seed in the quarters, the 1 seed in the semis, and the winner of the 2 vs 3 in the finals. That makes it infinitely harder to win a title compared to a top 4 seed with a bye. Jack says giving up the bye puts us “on par” with teams playing in their conference championship game. In my opinion, that’s not a good comparison. Whoever wins the SEC or Big 10 championship games will have a far easier playoff road to a title than a 5 seeded ND team. A 1 seed will play the winner of 7 vs 8, then 4 vs 5, then 2 vs 3. Winning from the 5 hole requires beating 3 of the top 4 seeds in successive weeks.
Sure, ND gets expanded access to the playoff. But they also will have a much harder road to actually winning a title without a potential bye. Am I missing something? This seems fairly obvious that we are giving the farm away, unnecessarily. From my understanding, this was actually Swarbrick’s idea to compensate for our 12 game schedule. Sankey and all the commissioners probably couldn’t believe he actually offered this up if that’s the case.
Is the goal to actually win championships, or just make the playoff? I think we’d be better off with the current system, despite having less access. Maybe I am missing something because this doesn’t seem like a win for ND’s title aspirations.
Sure, ND gets expanded access to the playoff. But they also will have a much harder road to actually winning a title without a potential bye. Am I missing something? This seems fairly obvious that we are giving the farm away, unnecessarily. From my understanding, this was actually Swarbrick’s idea to compensate for our 12 game schedule. Sankey and all the commissioners probably couldn’t believe he actually offered this up if that’s the case.
Is the goal to actually win championships, or just make the playoff? I think we’d be better off with the current system, despite having less access. Maybe I am missing something because this doesn’t seem like a win for ND’s title aspirations.
