The Athletic - College football leaders ready to discuss eight-team Playoff

[Disco Missile 456]

19 hours ago, satyanash said:

"Regular season games don't actually matter in college football. Now excuse me, I'm going to advocate for a system where an 8-4 Northwestern team that lost at home to Akron is one win away from contending for the national title."

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

[Tex Pete 20430]

13 minutes ago, Disco Missile said:

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

Not nearly as much of a joke as the SEC getting two teams into a four team playoff or Oklahoma (or Florida) getting into the championship over Texas in 2008. 

[ChickenSandwich 9849]

9 minutes ago, Disco Missile said:

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

Then have the conferences change the way they select their representative. Have the two best teams in their championship game. Play enough games to determine your real champion  

In theory, if a conference was incredibly strong and balanced a 4 loss team could very well be the best team in the nation. 

Like the joke of the incredibly deep and strong SEC, so strong they have 1-2 teams undefeated in conference play each year. 

[HOOK'EMHOOAH 1610]

Seems to be a lot of fucks yelling at clouds in this thread...

[ChickenSandwich 9849]

No shit, one confernce of 14 teams representing 50% of the playoff field for 120+ teams is great. 

Whats not to love 

[Dolemite 143]

No, no, a thousand times no.

[Valmy77 13270]

1 hour ago, Disco Missile said:

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

I disagree. But it doesn't look like that would happen in this proposal.

[Vic Mackey 47130]

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

College basketball does it and their method has been completely fine and no one has a problem with it. College football fans of the FBS whine and bitch about any little change that might come. They are dead set on some ridiculous antiquated method to decide teams and would rather a bunch of dorky stiffs decide it in a conference room instead of on the field.

And every year, huh? Name all the fluke teams to win a major conference championship in the last 5 years...

[Huckleberry 33072]

2 hours ago, Disco Missile said:

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

So they're a terrible team that won a fluke game but you're worried about them winning three playoff games and the national championship?

Either they're a bad team or they're not. Pick one. If they're a bad team then being in the playoff gives the #1 team a major advantage, which you should like. If they're not a bad team then there shouldn't be an issue with their playoff appearance.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Huckleberry

[Buzzrock 14936]

13 hours ago, DeadArmadillo said:

You were probably kidding, but there is at last a little bit of truth behind what you said

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
 

Partially kidding. A CFB playoff is a rational solution to an irrational system. It will always have some sort of problem (this year it would be Michigan). The only thing that can be confirmed is conference champs. Anything after that has some element of guesswork.

I'd be in favor of going back to the old bowl system and have them all on New Year's Day again. Why do we need a national champ?

[Anwar Namtut 344]

19 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

So they're a terrible team that won a fluke game but you're worried about them winning three playoff games and the national championship?

Either they're a bad team or they're not. Pick one. If they're a bad team then being in the playoff gives the #1 team a major advantage, which you should like. If they're not a bad team then there shouldn't be an issue with their playoff appearance.

This is why I like the idea of the 16-team playoff. Like basketball, there probably isn't going to be a 16 seed beat a 1 seed. But there's occasionally going to be a 12 or 11 beat a 4 or 5 that would make things interesting. But like Huckleberry pointed out, the team that upsets isn't going to win it all.

[wood 11243]

23 hours ago, slorch said:

I get a kick out of how they make it seem so complex...and dramatic.

 

Should have done it from the beginning...with 16 teams you pootenannies.

Yep. Shit, man, me & my buddies had worked out multiple ways to have 4, 8, 12, or 16 team playoffs back in the late 80s. It's not rocket surgery once the bowl games are on board.

Edited December 13, 2018 by wood

[Guest]

The complexity does not lie in the composition of the playoffs or schedules, but rather in trying to maintain the charade of ‘ championship competition’ while minimizing the number of ways the money is split.

[Catdaddyhorn 3447]

21 hours ago, DanRydell said:

It's easy.  
1.  Every conference agrees to play the same number of regular season games, with the same number of conference games and mandated number of games vs FBS opponents.  Sorry SEC, we're reducing your ridiculous scheduling advantages.
2.  The conferences don't want to give up the money which comes with CCG.  Fine, every p5 conference play one, it happens already, and the champion is the guaranteed bid
3.  5 Auto bids to P5 conferences, 3 at large with 1 guaranteed to any non-P5 team who meets certain criteria (solves your UCF issue)
4.  More destinations involved with playoff in different regionalities will help give back to the economies of places.  Northern destinations need to be in a dome.
Profit.
 


It’s baffling how people refer to SEC scheduling advantages as if the conference/schools are doing something every other conference can’t. It’s not their fault if other conferences/schools shoot themselves in the dick.

People don't have much of a problem with it in and of itself.  The problem people have is the existing dichotomy where the media constantly tells us the SEC is the toughest conference known to man while they simultaneously possess scheduling advantages that as a matter of simple math make that contention fallacious as fuck.  That and the continued brand building that ESPN continues to endeavor in for the SEC at the expense of other leagues.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard "SEC defense" or "SEC speed" in games not involving SEC teams.  12 years ago when all this PR work began the disparity in talent among the leagues didn't exist to the extent where complaining about it was worth the time.  Now after a decade plus of kids constantly hearing the SEC is the best, the benefits of ESPN's PR campaign is reaping ridiculous recruiting benefits.  

Edited December 13, 2018 by Catdaddyhorn

[wood 11243]

Just now, slorch said:

The complexity does not lie in the composition of the playoffs or schedules, but rather in trying to maintain the charade of ‘ championship competition’ while minimizing the number of ways the money is split.

Yeah there are lots of ways to do it, but one that guarantees conference champs a berth before any non-champs is critical to maintain that 'championship competition' feel imho.

[wood 11243]

1 minute ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

... I can't tell you how many times I've heard "SEC defense" or "SEC speed" in games not involving SEC teams. ...

In multiple Texas Big 12 games this year alone.

[gmr548 16607]

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

 

This year: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Washington.

 

Last year: Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC.

 

First question: Which of those is a fluke and doesn't deserve their championship?

 

Second question: Assuming the Pac 12 champ is the 8 seed in both seasons (maybe 7 last year, don't remember where USC and UCF ended up in rankings), what is the real issue with 2018 Washington or 2017 USC as an 8 seed? Who is the clear cut better team that should absolutely be in - but couldn't get one of the two at large spots - over them, thus making it a joke?

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[wood 11243]

2 hours ago, Disco Missile said:

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

So they should sit at home while some team they beat goes to the playoff? Or nobody goes at all from that conference? Ridiculous. Win and you're in. Everything else is bullshit.

[dcar00 14344]

41 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

So they're a terrible team that won a fluke game but you're worried about them winning three playoff games and the national championship?

Either they're a bad team or they're not. Pick one. If they're a bad team then being in the playoff gives the #1 team a major advantage, which you should like. If they're not a bad team then there shouldn't be an issue with their playoff appearance.

exactly, no fluke team is going to roll through 3 games. unless you are the NY Giants.  those super bowls may be the biggest mystery in life.

[gmr548 16607]

exactly, no fluke team is going to roll through 3 games. unless you are the NY Giants.  those super bowls may be the biggest mystery in life.

And just like everyone is happy they did that to the Pats, everyone would love seeing some 10-2 seventh seed win a couple games and finish it off by ruining 14-0 Alabama's year. People will bitch about it in this thread but you know damn well they'd be glued to the TV.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[dcar00 14344]

56 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

Partially kidding. A CFB playoff is a rational solution to an irrational system. It will always have some sort of problem (this year it would be Michigan). The only thing that can be confirmed is conference champs. Anything after that has some element of guesswork.

I'd be in favor of going back to the old bowl system and have them all on New Year's Day again. Why do we need a national champ?

insert Herm Edwards gif.

[rickyspub 801]

56 minutes ago, Anwar Namtut said:

This is why I like the idea of the 16-team playoff. Like basketball, there probably isn't going to be a 16 seed beat a 1 seed. But there's occasionally going to be a 12 or 11 beat a 4 or 5 that would make things interesting. But like Huckleberry pointed out, the team that upsets isn't going to win it all.

But the problem is there are only 16 teams. 4 or 5 teams get that 1 vs 16 type matchup while teams in slots 6-8 get a matchup that is more comparable to a regional final. 

[Tex Pete 20430]

36 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

exactly, no fluke team is going to roll through 3 games. unless you are the NY Giants.  those super bowls may be the biggest mystery in life.

But that's sports. Injuries, attitude, and even weather are huge factors. The best team in Week One may not be the best team at the end of the season for a lot of reasons. Or the best team could just have an off-game in the championship. It's what makes it so compelling to watch. And why Alabama getting to the championship game every year is so boring.

[Longhorn Fever 267]

On 12/12/2018 at 11:14 AM, Machinator said:

In a statement to The Athletic on Tuesday, an ESPN spokesperson said, “We have no involvement in the competitive makeup of the CFP.”



Ha.

Ha.

Ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Excuse me, what did you say?

[Longhorn Fever 267]

21 hours ago, clapclapclap said:

Of course you'd raise a sore subject.

User name checks out.

Herpes followed up with the triple clap.

[Monster 219]

3 hours ago, Disco Missile said:

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

What's a 'fluke team"?   A team that won a conference championship with less talent than their conference rivals?  Why not just put the top 4 recruiting classes in the invitational every year, then.  Why bother playing the games at all?  *cough* Bama *cough*   

 Baffling to see how many people prefer eye-test champions to actual, on field results.   It's like some of you don't actually like sports.  It bothers you, if a less talented, but better coached team wins.

If you win the most games in your conference, then you've proven, ON THE FIELD, that you're the best team in your conference.  And you go to the playoff.  

How can anyone argue against this?  

 

[C-Man 27254]

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

Dumb

[LarryTT 26]

if I hear eye test one more time I'm going to suggest a visit to your eye doctor for a field vision test. 8 teams please.....

[n64ra 1087]

I'm okay with removing the CCG though I don't think you have to. Let the SEC 'declare' Bama the SEC champion by being 12-0 instead of 11-1 UGA, who Bama didn't play. 

Let me guess, the Big 10 is really pushing the 8 team playoff.

Edited December 13, 2018 by n64ra

[Chuckie Finster 22725]

College football fans are so fucking weird.  

Spend some time on Twitter on a Saturday.  Take a look at TV viewership.  Read any general college football message board.  Aside from whatever team they pledge allegiance to, the game that the average college football fan is most invested in on any given weekend is one where a plucky underdog unexpectedly challenges a good team.  People were losing their fucking minds when Purdue was kicking Urban's ass.  

Yet, for many of them, the idea that a (*GASP*) Pac 12 team might have the opportunity to take on Alabama in a win-or-go-home scenario is unfathomable.  The devotion to the Traditional Powers in college football by fans that have no affiliation to these teams would be one hell of a psychological analysis, especially given that a true playoff works in literally every other sport.

[justinjc7 153]

20 hours ago, Anwar Namtut said:

Off topic - don't you have some year-end planning to do? Lol. Or are you not a tax accountant like me.

I'm a tax accountant as well but mostly doing 706 estate work now, gets me out of doing tax projections. 

 

4 hours ago, Disco Missile said:

Every year some fluke team wins a major conference championship. Seeing a team like that in a playoff with a chance to win the MNC makes the whole idea a joke.

I used to be on this side of the fence but the more I debate with my aforementioned coworker and the more I read on here, I'm starting to come around on it.  I mean, we have the same system in basketball don't we?  I still like 8 teams as the sweet spot but am coming around to the idea of a more inclusive playoff system 

[Al_4_ISU 12477]

College basketball has given us the most popular post season (outside of Super Bowl Sunday) in American sports, and it isn't because they just let a handful of blue bloods play each other at the end of the season.

[wood 11243]

1 hour ago, Monster said:

What's a 'fluke team"?   A team that won a conference championship with less talent than their conference rivals?  Why not just put the top 4 recruiting classes in the invitational every year, then.  Why bother playing the games at all?  *cough* Bama *cough*   

 Baffling to see how many people prefer eye-test champions to actual, on field results.   It's like some of you don't actually like sports.  It bothers you, if a less talented, but better coached team wins.

If you win the most games in your conference, then you've proven, ON THE FIELD, that you're the best team in your conference.  And you go to the playoff.  

How can anyone argue against this?  

 

Yeah I don't get it. Some people are really bothered by the supposed 'better' team losing to a supposedly 'inferior' team and sitting at home while the team that beat them goes on  to the playoff. Mind-bottling, to say the least. Some people just prefer a beauty pageant, I guess.

If we're gonna do a playoff, then on the field head-to-head results and conference championships should matter. If it's just gonna continue to be a beauty pageant dressed up as something else, then we might as well just go back to the old bowl system.

 

[Murfdogg21 4423]

As a policy, I think the #2 (or possibly a qualifying #3) team from a conference should never be seeded above another conference’s champion. 11-2 UGA may be better than 12-1 OU or 9-3 UW, but we know definitively that UGA is worse than Bama who just beat them. We don’t KNOW for a fact UGA (or for that matter Bama) are better than OU, UW, etc. since different conferences may be stronger top to bottom than others in any given year. 

[jinx 2635]

2 hours ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

People don't have much of a problem with it in and of itself.  The problem people have is the existing dichotomy where the media constantly tells us the SEC is the toughest conference known to man while they simultaneously possess scheduling advantages that as a matter of simple math make that contention fallacious as fuck.  That and the continued brand building that ESPN continues to endeavor in for the SEC at the expense of other leagues.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard "SEC defense" or "SEC speed" in games not involving SEC teams.  12 years ago when all this PR work began the disparity in talent among the leagues didn't exist to the extent where complaining about it was worth the time.  Now after a decade plus of kids constantly hearing the SEC is the best, the benefits of ESPN's PR campaign is reaping ridiculous recruiting benefits.  

This shit right here.

I was joking with an Auburn friend a month ago about the SEC being on their 3rd bye week of the season since most of the conference was playing FCS teams in November.  His response was that other conferences do it too.  No.  They don't.  

ESPN even gave them shit about it, and (a guy that is quickly becoming one of my favorites) Mark Packer on XM called them out all week about how pathetic it was.  But that week ended and everyone went right back to praising the strength of the SEC.

It has become a self fulfilling prophecy.  If the SEC only plays themselves (even in MNC games) and we have already given them the sash and crown as the prettiest girls in the pageant, why the hell even play the games?

[Butch Had Not 2992]

My biggest fear of any committee deciding on 8 at large picks will be the same bullshit we get now with ever changing criteria to be selected and the manipulation of polls to prop up a team that they want to be included.  

I don't mind conference championship teams to be included provided the playing field is even from conference to conference.  The entire narrative of a 8-5 conference champ is overblown and is more the exception than the rule. If we get a decent but not elite team like northwestern in because they upset Michigan or ohio state,  so be it. Those teams don't deserve to go if they lost anyway.  

Group of 5 teams wanting inclusion would have a play in game to determine group 5 champ (like Fresno vs cfu). Maybe cut out their conference championship game to keep the total games equal.

Just my 2 cents.

[fattyflattie 4638]

TxAgs was discussing article; my takeaways. 

1) Would be minimum of 3-5 SEC teams. 

2) unilateral hatred of the idea, even though this would be their only chance to ever participate in the playoff (top 5 in SEC?) 

3) bdf should never have a rep anyhow. Vandy and KU would hang a 100 on OU. 

Jfc, the density. 

[wood 11243]

3 minutes ago, Butch Had Not said:

My biggest fear of any committee deciding on 8 at large picks will be the same bullshit we get now with ever changing criteria to be selected and the manipulation of polls to prop up a team that they want to be included.  

I don't mind conference championship teams to be included provided the playing field is even from conference to conference.  The entire narrative of a 8-5 conference champ is overblown and is more the exception than the rule. If we get a decent but not elite team like northwestern in because they upset Michigan or ohio state,  so be it. Those teams don't deserve to go if they lost anyway.  

Group of 5 teams wanting inclusion would have a play in game to determine group 5 champ (like Fresno vs cfu). Maybe cut out their conference championship game to keep the total games equal.

Just my 2 cents.

That's why a real, structured 'system'  is needed, rather than just a beauty contest ever-shifting goalposts. If there's a defined, concrete system, an incontrovertible road to the playoff, based on on-field results & without all the bullshit opinions, lobbying, hype, etc, then the teams fighting it out for those spots will supply all the drama to make it compelling, and more.

[Al_4_ISU 12477]

5 minutes ago, Butch Had Not said:

My biggest fear of any committee deciding on 8 at large picks will be the same bullshit we get now with ever changing criteria to be selected and the manipulation of polls to prop up a team that they want to be included.  

 I don't mind conference championship teams to be included provided the playing field is even from conference to conference.  The entire narrative of a 8-5 conference champ is overblown and is more the exception than the rule. If we get a decent but not elite team like northwestern in because they upset Michigan or ohio state,  so be it. Those teams don't deserve to go if they lost anyway.  

Group of 5 teams wanting inclusion would have a play in game to determine group 5 champ (like Fresno vs cfu). Maybe cut out their conference championship game to keep the total games equal.

Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, 8 team playoff HAS to include the P5 conference champs.

I really don't understand the "meaningless regular season" argument.  You need to achieve certain objective measurements in the regular season to be eligible to play for your conference title.  If you want to be an at-large, you gotta win a bunch of games too.

I fail to see a lack of meaning in these things.

[wood 11243]

4 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Yeah, 8 team playoff HAS to include the P5 conference champs.

I really don't understand the "meaningless regular season" argument.  You need to achieve certain objective measurements in the regular season to be eligible to play for your conference title.  If you want to be an at-large, you gotta win a bunch of games too.

I fail to see a lack of meaning in these things.

Yeah winning your conference means a lot already imho, and getting an automatic playoff berth for winning it adds even more meaning to it imho ... ESP if not winning it means you're guaranteed to sit and watch the playoff. It would give us the polar opposite of a meaningless regular season.

[hpslugga 4062]

On 12/12/2018 at 12:01 PM, satyanash said:

"Regular season games don't actually matter in college football. Now excuse me, I'm going to advocate for a system where an 8-4 Northwestern team that lost at home to Akron is one win away from contending for the national title."

No one is advocating such a system. Northwestern could never get into any 4-team model, and you know that.

And as to this hysteria about 8-4 teams even sniffing the title game, this is a flat out fraud that's worthy of Alan Dershowitz' scholarship.

How many 4-loss teams have won an FCS title in the 40 years that they've held their tournament?
How many 4-loss teams have won a Division II title in the 45 years that they've held theirs?

Not a fucking one. Worrying about a 4-loss team even sniffing an FBS title is like worrying about Mongolian invaders crashing your Sunday BBQ. And even if that could happen, it speaks only to those with finicky and neurotic tendencies that it would bother. Mature adults do not consider these to be real tragedies.

On 12/12/2018 at 10:49 AM, CastHorn said:

That’s alot of games to ask from an amateur student athlete.

Except it isn't, and what you just said is a Zombie Lie. That's another one of those arguments that's rooted entirely in the power of pretend. There is no evidentiary basis to make this claim whatsoever. High School teams have to play as many as 16, FCS teams have to play 15-16, DII teams play 14-15, DIII teams play 15, and NFL teams have to play up to 20. Does an athlete really gain that much stamina/durability between the ages of 22-25? The fact is that there is no reasoned argument free from ignorance, bias, and/or emotion that can explain that a line has to be drawn between 15 and 16 games for 2 FBS collegiate teams, especially when high school already demands that many, and that the pro's demand significantly more. 

I appreciate that some here are very tradition-minded, but it's really time that some of you stop trotting out the same old nonsensical, not to mention discredited, arguments about this subject every year around this time. 

Edited December 13, 2018 by hpslugga

[Guest]

Wait, you want the SEC to play 15 real games?  That’ll go into Feb/Mar with their bye weeks. 

[Longhorn Fever 267]

On 12/12/2018 at 3:08 PM, pops said:

Right now outside of salt lake and Pullman, no.  And those are fairly small stadiums.  But if USC or ucla ever get it turned around, they will get support. Same for Arizona, Oregon and possibly Washington. 

 

On 12/12/2018 at 12:11 PM, ShowmeyourTDs said:

I agree with your first comment.  There are literally thousands of youth league commissioners that come up with playoff formats across the country.  God knows we have enough bowl games and more than enough top facilities to host said games in every region of the United States.  The market and interest is certainly there to make it happen.  I will say that the PAC 12 championship game was pathetic in terms of crowd turnout.  Does anyone even give a shit about football in that part of the country?

 

19 hours ago, DeadArmadillo said:

A lot less than in the South, for sure. But would interest have been higher if a guaranteed spot in the playoffs was on the line?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
 

I agree that  having a playoff spot on the line would have likely helped attendance. Not having the game on a Friday afternoon evening during rush hour in the bay area hundreds of miles from both campuses would probably be helpful, too.

[Big Frog II 511]

All P-5 conference champs make the playoff.  They other three are chosen by computer rankings, not a bunch of people sitting at a hotel at DFW.

All P-5 conferences play the same amount of games against other P-5 teams.

All P-5 teams play the same amount of conference games.

Let the first round be at the home of the top 4 seeds.

[Tex Long 4431]

2 minutes ago, Big Frog II said:

All P-5 conference champs make the playoff.  They other three are chosen by computer rankings, not a bunch of people sitting at a hotel at DFW.

How do you think the "computer rankings" happen? Maybe... maybe computers get programmed by people who sit wherever the fuck they want? 

[Longhorn Fever 267]

1 minute ago, Tex Long said:

How do you think the "computer rankings" happen? Maybe... maybe computers get programmed by people who sit wherever the fuck they want? 

And didn't/don't most of the the computer rankings heavily weight the human polls?

[Al_4_ISU 12477]

The last 3 teams being the result of a beauty pageant doesn't bother me a ton, because they'll prove whether or not they belong pretty quickly.  If the SEC gets all 3, ok, beat the mother fuckers.

The 5 champions at least guarantees that the majority of playoff participants have earned it on the field, through a strictly objective method.

[Hurtlocker 2213]

7 hours ago, HOOK'EMHOOAH said:

Seems to be a lot of fucks yelling at clouds in this thread...

Clouds are fucking assholes.

[kopp0e 1135]

There are currently 5 power conference championship games & 5 in the subset group of non-power schools whom all have title games...
Out of 20 participants, there are 4 selected from by a group of opinions, in an ESPN broadcast program, displayed after selections; not really a bracketed playoff...

AAC may have incentive to sign a GoR's within it's next media deal, possibly with ESPN...
PAC & XII may find reason to form an "alliance" for scheduling/ or merge the best of both regions into a new league that includes all members on PACN...
ESPN may itself find value in content & programing by converting LHN into a league network of 16 peer institutions, including Oklahoma/Kansas/USC/UCLA, ect...
B1G would have a +'s & -'s with the deal, in that the conference champ would no longer be left out of the CFP/ but impetus for OU & UT to join greatly diminishes...
Oklahoma & Texas, along with Kansas could either keep the current league affiliations/ or have a solid scheduling agreement with the PAC in "a lot of games"...
ACC proposal including "division-less" approach similar to XII, with three 5 team groups, adds West Virginia for ACCN/ Notre Dame still flexible/"indy" as now...
SEC no immediate need to expand, waits on if ACCN or a PAC-XII network alliance is successful leading to the end of CFP contract (2024)/ ACC GoR's (2035)...

And the biggest plus for ESPN is that all of this can be done, (including gaining a % of PACN) with the ability to keep out Amazon:

Quote

Disney to Sell Off Fox Regionals Individually

Barrett Sports Media (press release) (blog)-Dec 11, 2018
Disney to Sell Off Fox Regionals Individually ... The company does not believe it can make the $20 billion it was hoping to by selling off all of the networks ... in Sports South, which is the home of the Atlanta Braves and Hawks.

Quote

Amazon reportedly bidding on multiple Fox sports channels

The Verge-Nov 20, 2018
Amazon may try to expand its live sports offering for Prime subscribers by bidding on 20 of Fox's regional sports channels, according to a report ...

Otherwise, Amazon & tech giants as Facebook or Google (Youtube) could make cost of keeping rights on prime XII & PAC schools co$tly for the network...

Edited December 13, 2018 by kopp0e

[kopp0e 1135]

We can't name 68 teams that deserve a shot at the #MarchMadness tournament either, it doesn't detract from the nation paying attention to the "Cinderalla story" in games...
 

The same could be the case in a 16 or 24 team playoff... As is, fans of B1G/ PAC, & G5 schools that have both been shut out 2 years in a row would agree on this issue... #JanuaryJubilee