Ditching a Playoff to Save the Rose Bowl

I'll take a shot at being in a 16 team playoff every couple years over making sure every team over .500 goes to a bowl game like the Insight or Kraft hunger bowl.

I don't like a 16 team playoff as you probably have someone other than the best team in the country wins the title. See: Super Bowl or NCAA bball.

But it would be fun.
 
In the last 52 years,since 1960, Iowa probably makes a 16 team field about 6 times. So maybe once a decade Iowa gets postseason play...guess that would allow Iowa fans to save our pennies for ten years to attend two or more games that one year we do make it.

Over that same period,I suspect that OSU probably makes it at least 25-30 times...no advantage to the Buckeyes over Iowa there.
 
In the last 52 years,since 1960, Iowa probably makes a 16 team field about 6 times. So maybe once a decade Iowa gets postseason play...guess that would allow Iowa fans to save our pennies for ten years to attend two or more games that one year we do make it.

Over that same period,I suspect that OSU probably makes it at least 25-30 times...no advantage to the Buckeyes over Iowa there.

or you could look and say over the last decade Iowa makes it 4 times.
 
I disagree with the premise that as soon as you have a playoff, the entire bowl system dies. The bowls are meaningless exhibitions right now. If the top 4 teams start playing in a playoff, will the random Iowa Insight Bowl game be any less meaningful?

The bowls exist as stand alone financial entities, so they'll attempt to keep going. They'll extend bids with payouts to schools. Are schools going to turn down these invites?

I can see a small playoff and bowls existing side by side. Maybe a 16 team playoff would kill the bowls, but 4 won't.

The bowl system has been dead for a decade. As it stands, they are meaningless games between mediocre teams, and no one cares out side of a few alumni and compulsive gamblers.
 
Isn't it just hard to believe that after all this expansion, tv network, tv contracts, etc. (which has been ALL about the $$$$) that the leaders of college football would choose to do something that pretty clearly is not the most profitable of the options? These Bowl Games are absolutely stealing from college football programs and yet for some odd reason the conferences stay loyal. If there was ever a chance, it is now.

Just 3 games, not related to bowls, thats all. Right now, only ONE game matters, the rest are "irrelevant dude." The NC isn't a bowl game. Currently, the Rose Bowl is irrelevant every year. Pasadena and the Rose Bowl would be more than welcome to bid for the Championship game. They're calling it a playoff, but its a plus one. Dumb.
 
Isn't it just hard to believe that after all this expansion, tv network, tv contracts, etc. (which has been ALL about the $$$$) that the leaders of college football would choose to do something that pretty clearly is not the most profitable of the options? These Bowl Games are absolutely stealing from college football programs and yet for some odd reason the conferences stay loyal. If there was ever a chance, it is now.

Just 3 games, not related to bowls, thats all. Right now, only ONE game matters, the rest are "irrelevant dude." The NC isn't a bowl game. Currently, the Rose Bowl is irrelevant every year. Pasadena and the Rose Bowl would be more than welcome to bid for the Championship game. They're calling it a playoff, but its a plus one. Dumb.


You are saying they take the top 4 teams off the top of the pile,and exclude them from the bowl games....sorry,but playing the sugar/rose/orange/fiesta bowls without any of the top 4 teams in them would make them all totally irrelevant.

Kill the golden goose that is college football's lifeblood,tradition,and make a pure business venture that might as well become like European pro sports with corporate logos and sponsorship,with academics optional or maybe totally discarded...now that will retain the desire to return to campus for homecoming.

Iowa grossed 44 million in football last year,with a net profit of 24 million.
Do they need to discard all that has been traditional about the game to try for a couple more million? That is killing the goose to get the golden eggs short term. No bowl,no postseason,no hope,and demand will drop and those 44 million in revenues might go away also. Times are good for college football,the big ten is king in revenue,with every single school in the black for their athletic depts for the first time in a long time...now,we need to discard the whole concept just so some fans can get an NFL style playoff? Bull!
 
You are saying they take the top 4 teams off the top of the pile,and exclude them from the bowl games....sorry,but playing the sugar/rose/orange/fiesta bowls without any of the top 4 teams in them would make them all totally irrelevant.

Kill the golden goose that is college football's lifeblood,tradition,and make a pure business venture that might as well become like European pro sports with corporate logos and sponsorship,with academics optional or maybe totally discarded...now that will retain the desire to return to campus for homecoming.

Iowa grossed 44 million in football last year,with a net profit of 24 million.
Do they need to discard all that has been traditional about the game to try for a couple more million? That is killing the goose to get the golden eggs short term. No bowl,no postseason,no hope,and demand will drop and those 44 million in revenues might go away also. Times are good for college football,the big ten is king in revenue,with every single school in the black for their athletic depts for the first time in a long time...now,we need to discard the whole concept just so some fans can get an NFL style playoff? Bull!

Yeah right...because Iowa football is steeped in the tradition of the Insight Bowl. Eliminate that, and watch the money evaporate...
 
If Delaney and B1G officials are willing to throw away the possibility of hosting a semifinal game on campus just to save the Rose Bowl, than they are F'N IDIOTS! A semi final game in Kinnick in December....that would be amazing.
Another idea is have it at a regional site close to the higher seed. So a team like Iowa would play in Indy, St. Louis....etc.

Your definition of amazing...and my definition....are totally different....Heck I don't even want to be in Iowa City in December....and football isn't as enjoyable if you're spending the entire game trying to not freeze your @$$ off.
 
Isn't it just hard to believe that after all this expansion, tv network, tv contracts, etc. (which has been ALL about the $$$$) that the leaders of college football would choose to do something that pretty clearly is not the most profitable of the options? These Bowl Games are absolutely stealing from college football programs and yet for some odd reason the conferences stay loyal. If there was ever a chance, it is now.

Just 3 games, not related to bowls, thats all. Right now, only ONE game matters, the rest are "irrelevant dude." The NC isn't a bowl game. Currently, the Rose Bowl is irrelevant every year. Pasadena and the Rose Bowl would be more than welcome to bid for the Championship game. They're calling it a playoff, but its a plus one. Dumb.

See I'm of the opinion that ALL post season games are pretty irrelevant....the best team in the nation should be crowned based upon the SEASON. Bowl games are a reward for the players, like Hayden said.
 
This is the problem with any type of playoff. You cannot split this baby.
Either you have a full-fledged playoff and completely junk the bowl system or you reject the playoff crap and continue with the current setup or go back to traditional matchups.

They are trying to split the baby,and the playoff proponents are not satisfied. They want NFL style playoffs ,they want the college game to simply become a minor league NFL.

The college football traditionalists love the unique character of college football,and want to preserve the regular season and bowls that made this game so great in the first place. Playoff fans want to to trash tradition,and make it nothing but a business,with the whole tradition deal discarded.

This is why I am in favor of just stepping back from the BCS..and making the Rose Bowl vs the Pac 12 our national title game....the BCS will come to us very quickly and we end up with the Rose Bowl winner vs the winner of their big game...SEC vs either Big 12 or ACC ...to crown a titleholder. The whole on campus deal was never going to fly. They do not play the NCAA basketball tourny at home campus' either,and that is what playoff proponents seem to lust after....a fb version of the March Madness...yikes.


This is what I think.
 
I'm kinda worried that Iowa will never go back to the rose bowl. My first memory of watching the Hawkeyes was the 91 rose bowl. Never thought 20+ years later and they still haven't made it back. I kinda hope they keep the B1G pac12 tie in forever
 
I'm kinda worried that Iowa will never go back to the rose bowl. My first memory of watching the Hawkeyes was the 91 rose bowl. Never thought 20+ years later and they still haven't made it back. I kinda hope they keep the B1G pac12 tie in forever


Sweet memory,cept for the outcome.

I happened to be flipping around tonite and they were showing a replay of the Wisconsin-Oregon Rose Bowl of last January on ESPNU,and I watched it for awhile.
There is something so remarkable about the sunlight that time of year in that location,I swear...the whole scene is bathed in the most beautiful sunshine. The TV presentation is also beautiful...it almost seems like an art piece looking at the array of bright colors in that sunlight.
Their simply is no event quite like it,certainly not in college sports.

I want the TigerHawk helmet to be out there gleaming in that beautiful sunshine soon...could this be the year? Whoever wins the Legends is going to be the favorite over a very dismal looking Leaders(sans ineligible OSU).
 
Correct or not, Wetzel paints the picture of how the rest of the country sees the B1G.

Of all the love stories ever told, there may be none purer than the Big Ten's undying devotion, commitment and pure heart-throbbing lust to the Rose Bowl.
True love always. Best friends forever. A Romeo and Juliet for the modern ages, complete with suicidal second-guessing because a rose by any other name apparently wouldn't smell as sweet.

Big Ten players and fans can forget seeing a playoff game in their stadium, or even in the Midwest (Getty Imag*…
It's wrong to criticize someone for who they choose to love.
Instead, just marvel at the depth of the relationship. The Big Ten has abandoned its smart, savvy push for a playoff that featured on-campus semifinal sites and a title game open to bid by cities across the country, including the Midwest, because it just couldn't bear the thought of cheating on a bowl game.
There are still details to be hashed out on how college football is going to stage its postseason. There are still plenty of sober voices out there who think outsourcing hundreds of millions in postseason games is at best illogical and at worst corrupt. Many more think playoff games on campus would be glorious.
But forget it.
If the Big Ten, which has the most to gain on the issue yet is trying to lose, then campus playoff games aren't happening. In an effort to help the Rose Bowl, the conference is willing for a playoff to also be staged in Miami Gardens and Glendale, and so on, rather than Columbus and Ann Arbor.
A playoff will be great no matter where the games are played. It'd just be better on campus. But the bowl lobby has won, and a select few of them are about to become even more fabulously wealthy off the labors of student-athletes. Leave it to the inevitable congressional investigation to sort out how the no-bid deals were reached.
At this point, it's still a romance novel because the Big Ten really, really loves the Rose Bowl … no, I love you more … text me when you wake up … no, you hang up first.
"For us it's critical to keep the Rose Bowl in the equation," Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis told reporters Tuesday after Big Ten meetings hashed out the conference's likely preferred plan.
How critical? Well, so critical that they're willing to make business decisions based on emotion, willing to give up on competitive advantages, logistical ease and monetary benefits.
Possible home-field advantage for Big Ten teams? We love the Rose Bowl.
Making the elements, which Big Ten teams are presumably better equipped to handle, a factor in the playoffs? We love the Rose Bowl.
Showcasing the incredible game-day environment of Camp Randall, Happy Valley or the Big House? We love the Rose Bowl.

Mark Hollis and his fellow ADs remain steadfast in their support for a broken bowl system. (AP)
Not requiring fans, students and players' families to continue to make lengthy postseason trips? We love the Rose Bowl.
Creating economic impact in the league's hometowns? We love the Rose Bowl.
Not taking discretionary spending out of the region and into California or Florida? We love the Rose Bowl.
Not playing games in opponents' home regions, states, cities or even stadiums? We love the Rose Bowl.
If you hate campus so much, how about compromising and staging neutral-site semifinal games in Indianapolis or Detroit, where the money would be so welcome? Sorry, we love the Rose Bowl.
Other than loving the Rose Bowl there isn't a single reason for the Big Ten to support this plan. Of course, what they love is what the Rose Bowl was (Big Ten champ vs. Pac-10 champ), which is not what it is or certainly will be. This is a playoff blueprint in sepia tones.
It's lunacy. But then again, love's crazy, right?
Somewhere Mike Slive of the SEC and Larry Scott of the Pac-12 are kicking back with a cackle of delight. These guys are angling for every possible edge while the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl sit in adjacent bathtubs, holding hands and waiting for the moment to be right.
Wait, the rest of college football has to be asking, you're not even going to fight and try to make us look like wimps for arguing against football in the cold?
Wait, you seriously are going to ask the same fan base to travel three times in a month – Big Ten title game, semifinals and championship game, the last two at least via airplane? And you think we won't end up with the majority of the crowd?

The Rose Bowl's power over the Big Ten is something to behold. It makes normally intelligent men say ridiculous things.
"It would be a competitive advantage to have semifinal games at home fields … but the bowls have been good to us," Nebraska AD Tom Osborne said.
If rampant profiteering, indictments charging corruption and millions in unnecessary expenses passed onto the schools counts as "been good to us" than the Big Ten may be the battered spouse here. Even so, exactly how good would a bowl have to have been to be better than a Nebraska playoff game in Memorial Stadium?
"If you took them out of the playoff, it would pretty much destroy the bowl system," Osborne said.
Ah, no, it wouldn't pretty much destroy the bowl system. In fact, it wouldn't destroy it at all.
But, hey, love is blind. So blind apparently that no one can be bothered to actually look at the financial statements and business models of how bowl games operate and realize that line is complete garbage.
"From kids' perspective, the bowl experience is the one thing they want to keep," Hollis argued.

The Big Ten is so committed to the Rose Bowl it ceded playoff venues to the SEC and Pac-12. (Getty Images)
Yes, the vaunted bowl experience must be protected for the players. It's cool. Bowls are fun. Except in the same meeting the Big Ten proposed moving bowl eligibility from 6-6 to 7-5, which means maybe half a dozen smaller bowls will, indeed, be destroyed and the experience of those players apparently isn't worth protecting.
If only those games were as loveable as the Rose Bowl.
[Wetzel podcast: Hammering out the playoff details]
The athletic directors talk about trying to maintain or improve the meaning of the regular season, but then they want to take out the incentive of home-field advantage so it really doesn't matter whether you finish first or fourth.
And do players really value the chance to engage in some pie-eating contest more than potentially getting any edge on winning the biggest game of their life, getting one more chance to run on the field of their own stadium or, even playing on the road in one of the nation's other spectacular campuses? Playing at Bryant-Denny, even as the road team, is also a pretty sweet experience.
And what about the chance for the Big Ten to finally stop playing games in SEC/Pac 12 country, maybe see if one of those sunshine programs can handle a few flakes of Midwest snow? Yes, it sure sounds good, but did they mention they love the Rose Bowl?
"There's a part of me that wants to play a team from the Southwest or the Southeast in five-degree weather," Ohio State's Gene Smith told the Sporting News. "But is it really right for the game?"
The NFL thinks all weather is football weather and adheres to the crazy idea of playing games in places like Lambeau and Solider Fields.
If only they had something like a Rose Bowl to love. Then Roger Goodell would immediately get smart and try to move the NFC title game to the Alamodome or something.
There's no question Big Ten fans love the Rose Bowl, although not as much as they once did. They also like to win, also would like to shut the SEC up and also really like showing off their legendary stadiums and great cities, fighting against the idea that they live in some inhospitable, rusted-out region.
Plenty of them could use the economic impact of staging these massive events in the Midwest too. But you can't put a price on love.
And all these years later, that old Rose Bowl sure can cause the Big Ten's heart to flutter. Kind of like Juliet once did.
Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
• Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg has bad experience with 'Hot Stuff' ointment
• Concussion worries lead Andrew Sweat to choose law school over a shot at the NFL
• Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose may need a year to return from knee injury
• Shine: World champion swimmer Ryan Lochte credits mom for success
 
Last edited:
The best thing for college football and it's fans would be less neutral site games.
And yes, these bowl organizations are stealing from the Universities and kids. There was a great HBO doc about the ridiculous salaries these bowl reps pay themselves. Only to have half empty stadiums that garner little national attention and fans have to break the bank to try and go support their team. Bowls had their time and place, but the sport has evolved. These old timers need to wake up.
 
Correct or not, Wetzel paints the picture of how the rest of the country sees the B1G.

Of all the love stories ever told, there may be none purer than the Big Ten's undying devotion, commitment and pure heart-throbbing lust to the Rose Bowl.
True love always. Best friends forever. A Romeo and Juliet for the modern ages, complete with suicidal second-guessing because a rose by any other name apparently wouldn't smell as sweet.

Big Ten players and fans can forget seeing a playoff game in their stadium, or even in the Midwest (Getty Imag*…
It's wrong to criticize someone for who they choose to love.
Instead, just marvel at the depth of the relationship. The Big Ten has abandoned its smart, savvy push for a playoff that featured on-campus semifinal sites and a title game open to bid by cities across the country, including the Midwest, because it just couldn't bear the thought of cheating on a bowl game.
There are still details to be hashed out on how college football is going to stage its postseason. There are still plenty of sober voices out there who think outsourcing hundreds of millions in postseason games is at best illogical and at worst corrupt. Many more think playoff games on campus would be glorious.
But forget it.
If the Big Ten, which has the most to gain on the issue yet is trying to lose, then campus playoff games aren't happening. In an effort to help the Rose Bowl, the conference is willing for a playoff to also be staged in Miami Gardens and Glendale, and so on, rather than Columbus and Ann Arbor.
A playoff will be great no matter where the games are played. It'd just be better on campus. But the bowl lobby has won, and a select few of them are about to become even more fabulously wealthy off the labors of student-athletes. Leave it to the inevitable congressional investigation to sort out how the no-bid deals were reached.
At this point, it's still a romance novel because the Big Ten really, really loves the Rose Bowl … no, I love you more … text me when you wake up … no, you hang up first.
"For us it's critical to keep the Rose Bowl in the equation," Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis told reporters Tuesday after Big Ten meetings hashed out the conference's likely preferred plan.
How critical? Well, so critical that they're willing to make business decisions based on emotion, willing to give up on competitive advantages, logistical ease and monetary benefits.
Possible home-field advantage for Big Ten teams? We love the Rose Bowl.
Making the elements, which Big Ten teams are presumably better equipped to handle, a factor in the playoffs? We love the Rose Bowl.
Showcasing the incredible game-day environment of Camp Randall, Happy Valley or the Big House? We love the Rose Bowl.

Mark Hollis and his fellow ADs remain steadfast in their support for a broken bowl system. (AP)
Not requiring fans, students and players' families to continue to make lengthy postseason trips? We love the Rose Bowl.
Creating economic impact in the league's hometowns? We love the Rose Bowl.
Not taking discretionary spending out of the region and into California or Florida? We love the Rose Bowl.
Not playing games in opponents' home regions, states, cities or even stadiums? We love the Rose Bowl.
If you hate campus so much, how about compromising and staging neutral-site semifinal games in Indianapolis or Detroit, where the money would be so welcome? Sorry, we love the Rose Bowl.
Other than loving the Rose Bowl there isn't a single reason for the Big Ten to support this plan. Of course, what they love is what the Rose Bowl was (Big Ten champ vs. Pac-10 champ), which is not what it is or certainly will be. This is a playoff blueprint in sepia tones.
It's lunacy. But then again, love's crazy, right?
Somewhere Mike Slive of the SEC and Larry Scott of the Pac-12 are kicking back with a cackle of delight. These guys are angling for every possible edge while the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl sit in adjacent bathtubs, holding hands and waiting for the moment to be right.
Wait, the rest of college football has to be asking, you're not even going to fight and try to make us look like wimps for arguing against football in the cold?
Wait, you seriously are going to ask the same fan base to travel three times in a month – Big Ten title game, semifinals and championship game, the last two at least via airplane? And you think we won't end up with the majority of the crowd?

The Rose Bowl's power over the Big Ten is something to behold. It makes normally intelligent men say ridiculous things.
"It would be a competitive advantage to have semifinal games at home fields … but the bowls have been good to us," Nebraska AD Tom Osborne said.
If rampant profiteering, indictments charging corruption and millions in unnecessary expenses passed onto the schools counts as "been good to us" than the Big Ten may be the battered spouse here. Even so, exactly how good would a bowl have to have been to be better than a Nebraska playoff game in Memorial Stadium?
"If you took them out of the playoff, it would pretty much destroy the bowl system," Osborne said.
Ah, no, it wouldn't pretty much destroy the bowl system. In fact, it wouldn't destroy it at all.
But, hey, love is blind. So blind apparently that no one can be bothered to actually look at the financial statements and business models of how bowl games operate and realize that line is complete garbage.
"From kids' perspective, the bowl experience is the one thing they want to keep," Hollis argued.

The Big Ten is so committed to the Rose Bowl it ceded playoff venues to the SEC and Pac-12. (Getty Images)
Yes, the vaunted bowl experience must be protected for the players. It's cool. Bowls are fun. Except in the same meeting the Big Ten proposed moving bowl eligibility from 6-6 to 7-5, which means maybe half a dozen smaller bowls will, indeed, be destroyed and the experience of those players apparently isn't worth protecting.
If only those games were as loveable as the Rose Bowl.
[Wetzel podcast: Hammering out the playoff details]
The athletic directors talk about trying to maintain or improve the meaning of the regular season, but then they want to take out the incentive of home-field advantage so it really doesn't matter whether you finish first or fourth.
And do players really value the chance to engage in some pie-eating contest more than potentially getting any edge on winning the biggest game of their life, getting one more chance to run on the field of their own stadium or, even playing on the road in one of the nation's other spectacular campuses? Playing at Bryant-Denny, even as the road team, is also a pretty sweet experience.
And what about the chance for the Big Ten to finally stop playing games in SEC/Pac 12 country, maybe see if one of those sunshine programs can handle a few flakes of Midwest snow? Yes, it sure sounds good, but did they mention they love the Rose Bowl?
"There's a part of me that wants to play a team from the Southwest or the Southeast in five-degree weather," Ohio State's Gene Smith told the Sporting News. "But is it really right for the game?"
The NFL thinks all weather is football weather and adheres to the crazy idea of playing games in places like Lambeau and Solider Fields.
If only they had something like a Rose Bowl to love. Then Roger Goodell would immediately get smart and try to move the NFC title game to the Alamodome or something.
There's no question Big Ten fans love the Rose Bowl, although not as much as they once did. They also like to win, also would like to shut the SEC up and also really like showing off their legendary stadiums and great cities, fighting against the idea that they live in some inhospitable, rusted-out region.
Plenty of them could use the economic impact of staging these massive events in the Midwest too. But you can't put a price on love.
And all these years later, that old Rose Bowl sure can cause the Big Ten's heart to flutter. Kind of like Juliet once did.
Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
• Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg has bad experience with 'Hot Stuff' ointment
• Concussion worries lead Andrew Sweat to choose law school over a shot at the NFL
• Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose may need a year to return from knee injury
• Shine: World champion swimmer Ryan Lochte credits mom for success

Skip- It is against board rules to copy and paste enitre articles.
 

Latest posts

Top