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What Does (or Should) It Mean to be Crowned "Champion"? | Smart Football
Indeed, series-based playoff systems, like with MLB or the NBA, are presumably based on the very idea that one-game is not enough to determine the best team. So, if we still think the playoff is the best solution, then it makes no sense to say that Utah can’t be the National Champion just because you think the other teams might actually be better overall. Though, if you subscribe to the Doyel view of "National Champion," then the BCS probably does a better job for you than a playoff would, because the system is all about crowning the perceived best overall team. Although it lacks the precision of a playoff, it gives you fudge-factors so that Florida’s and Oklahoma’s (though not Texas’s) losses can be overlooked.
Right now, few seem to think a playoff is wrong. But just wait until the selection committee picks two or even ... gasp ... three SEC teams in a given year or an undefeated Boise State is left out. Then it is essentially back to the BCS, only exponentially worse. "It won’t be easy to pick those four teams," said ACC commissioner John Swofford, a playoff supporter. "There may be some years where it’s really clear, but more often than not if you’re fifth or sixth, you’re going to wonder, ‘Maybe I should have been there.’ " Until then, be prepared to hear plenty of sniveling coaches perfect that argument during the final two years of the BCS. They will whine that their teams would be in the national championship mix if the playoff were already in place. Yet those same coaches also will be the first ones to criticize the playoff when their teams aren’t picked for it, and before long there is sure to be an outcry for an eight-team format.
Playoffs killed the BCS, but will embrace BCS-style rankings - CBSSports.com
In name, the Bowl Championship Series is about to become an historical relic, the victim of a mercy killing by its creators. In reality, the ranking system that will replace it in two years may not look all that different. According to Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, the as yet unmanned selection committee charged with choosing teams for a four-team playoff beginning in 2014 will pick up where the BCS left off by publishing weekly rankings over the second half of the regular season. Like the rest of the details surrounding the playoff, criteria for the rankings is TBD – one more battle for conference commissioners to fight amongst themselves – but Swarbrick told the South Bend Tribune Wednesday that there is a consensus to create some degree of transparency: "We didn't want the top four teams to just come out of the blue at the end of the season."
Chick-fil-A Bowl to bid for national championship game, playoff semifinals - CBSSports.com
The Chick-fil-A immediately lands on the shortlist to join the playoff's six-bowl rotation alongside the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta. The Cotton could very well claim the No. 5 spot, particularly if the SEC and Big 12 settle on transforming it into the new Champions Bowl. That would leave the Chick-fil-A, Capital One, and possibly other bowls (Holiday? Gator? Famous Idaho Potato?) left to battle it out for the all-important final slot. In that event, the Chick-fil-A might be in the catbird seat. The bowl, its host city, and its facility all have close ties to the ACC and even closer ties to the SEC, and it's hardly a stretch to imagine both Mike Slive and John Swofford pushing to include it in the playoff rotation. On the other hand, the Big Ten and Pac-12 are already sensitive to the issue of other leagues' home-bowl advantage, for lack of a better word, and may push back against a fourth rotation bowl inside the SEC footprint.* Adding the Holiday or a new bowl in the San Francisco 49ers' new stadium would split the six bowls into three East of the Mississippi and three to its West.
Long night ends with former Alabama forwards JaMychal Green, Tony Mitchell going undrafted | al.com
The wait for JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell never ended Thursday night. Green, the 2008 Alabama "Mr. Basketball" winner who logged four productive seasons with the Crimson Tide, and Mitchell, the athletically gifted forward who was suspended for the entire second half of last season, went unselected in the Thursday's 2012 NBA Draft. Twelve former SEC players, including a record six from Kentucky, heard their names called during the two-round, 60-pick event, but Green and Mitchell weren't among them.
Alabama's Brooke Pancake named SEC Female Athlete of the Year | al.com
After a sterling year on and off the golf course, Brooke Pancake might be in the market for a bigger trophy shelf. The departing senior who helped lead Alabama to its first women's golf national championship was named the SEC's Female Athlete of the Year today. Former Kentucky basketball star Anthony Davis took home the male honors. "Anthony and Brooke are true examples of outstanding student-athletes. They have competed at the highest level of collegiate athletics and through their hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence have been successful in their endeavors," SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said in a press release. "They are outstanding representatives of their universities and this conference. The SEC is proud to honor them for their accomplishments and wish them the best in their future endeavors."
A month ago, James Franklin stated, "To think it's just about the X's and O'x and recruiting, it's so much more than that. It's about marketing your program. It's about being able to go and sell the people and why Vanderbilt makes sense. And why we can do something special." He's exactly right.