Don’t Know Bout YOU, But...

[DRU2012]

...But no matter WHAT ends up being the “final position” when the music stops in this weird round of “Musical Chairs” that the multi-conference pseudo (non?-)discussion among the various moving parts that comprise the current NCAA Major College Football cabal, I just cannot see how any kind of comprehensive “College Football Championship” can be resolved from these more and more fragmented pieces...
And THAT IN TURN bodes ill for getting it all back on track in the FUTURE.
More and more this is all building towards a growing problem DOWN THE LINE: If some conferences make good their supposed intention to consider POSTPONING play until the Spring, when will it all be “MADE WHOLE” again??! How will THAT all work?
And that’s just among the obvious IMMEDIATE problems to be solved...It only gets MORE confusing, poses BIGGER questions and problems from THERE...
Who even wants to begin postulating theoretical solutions—WHO WANTS TO EVEN START DOWN THAT ROAD??!
It’s a huge, disappointing mess. At the very least, these university regents should have used their heads, gotten together and found some way of thinking, talking and lo&behold, MAYBE COMING TO A VIABLE, LOGICAL DECISION TOGETHER??!
Too much to ask, it seems.
So we’re left once again with chaos.
The worst of ALL possible outcomes.
I think I’ve shared this saying of my dad’s BEFORE here, also in relation to various such breakdowns in and among decision-making NCAA members:
“A camel is a horse designed by a committee”.

 

[Leakfan12]

I wonder if there's going to be a split championship if the Big 12, ACC, and SEC still plan to play in the fall. Also, why does it that disaster happens when the Gators are contenders? First, there was 2001 and now this season. Also, when the NCAA decided to punish the Gators DURING THE SEASON in 1984.

 

[Leakfan12]

 

[DRU2012]

OK: Since it seems little response is forthcoming thus far—and if there is “blame” to be shouldered for THAT, then I will shoulder it: I guess I was somehow neither clear nor provocative enough to stimulate what I KNOW must be, HAVE to be STRONG FEELINGS regarding the situation and fans’ general need to see and feel a part of this of ALL Fall Returns—I will in turn now take it upon mySELF to comment further...
(Take it as a second, unanticipatedly necessary impression that such effort is after all NEEDED.)
Without solidarity, WHAT HAVE WE GOT HERE? And if “the short version” answer to that question is something along the lines of, “Don’t know—but sure as hell ISN’T a 2020 College Football Season”, well WHAT THEN??!
I suppose all I’m REALLY inviting here, creating for y’all now is a PLACE TO VENT! A space right here and now where fellow GE contributors might freely give their frustration, disappointment and worst fears and frustrations free reign.
Pissed off???
Disillusioned?
For the moment, to HELL with “reason” and/or “balanced, considered dialogue”!!! Just go ahead and VENT! Let it ALL hang out!
I’m certainly not here to “judge”; this ISN’T anything more than a kind of “safety valve”. We are ALL unhappy, deeply let-DOWN by ONE MORE failure in our “systems”, in the supposed “responsible parties” and “powers that be” to simply “do their jobs”, take care of the responsibility to do what we trusted them to DO—and in most cases were well-paid to follow through on.
We NEEDED better-than-THIS!!!
So have at it, my friends. If it brings even just the slightest and minutest short satisfaction or release, well, that’ll be more than we’ve seen delivered elsewhere.

 

[DRU2012]

I wonder if there's going to be a split championship if the Big 12, ACC, and SEC still plan to play in the fall. Also, why does it that disaster happens when the Gators are contenders? First, there was 2001 and now this season. Also, when the NCAA decided to punish the Gators DURING THE SEASON in 1984.

Sorry LF— YOUR post came in while I was composing above; Had it already been up, I would have still invited general comment, but it would have all been based on and flowed OUT of the points you (well) made.
You sure got the historical context right.
But then again, like so many other aspects of this whole mess—not just in college football of course but for the nation and world at large—These are times fraught with ENDLESSLY unprecedented complications.
What do YOU think will happen next?
Will our “conference braintrust” somewhat stubbornly (from a certain point-of-view, “filled with noble and determined zeal”) carry on, have our very OWN “season on the brink”...and what will it resolve or “prove”? What kind of CHAMPIONSHIP will be achieved, aside of course from “SEC CHAMPION”—which some would say is arguably pretty damn close to being the same thing EVERY YEAR now ANYWAY (LOL).
MY feeling all along here has been that we have watched as an “opportunity” has slid by and away from us once more:
The chance to take that huge, momentous “transformative step” aside ONCE AND FOR ALL:
Our program- and conference leaders could have finally stepped up and formally stepped AWAY from the “NCAA-proper” in its toothless-if-self-important “once and former form and guise” and gone off on its own as a “going concern”, the “golden goose” from which all else effectively flows when it comes to the funds that greases all the other wheels, let’s be honest—creates and builds its OWN “Competitive Establishment” once and for ALL: make its own deals with a (MORE than willing) “media monolith” and ultimately present the rest of college sports (not to mention organizations like that “800 lb Gorilla sitting in the corner”, the NFL, etc) with a “fait accomplii”—a done deal that BELIEVE ME, everyone necessary to make it all work will sign on to without effective hesitation.
In the end it’ll be simply a matter of dollars and sense.
But it didn’t happen. Even NOW, when it was all lining up, INVITING such a “reformation”, LONG overdue.
So at THIS point, I don’t know WHAT to say about ANY of it.
Hence, THIS bewildered post.
You all tell ME:
What is to be DONE??!

 

[Escambia94]

If the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 decide to play a season and crown a champion among those three conferences in the fall, it would be the same as if the other conferences played--other than Ohio State from the B1G. The "mythical national champion" worked for 145 years, from the national polls (1869-1991) to the Bowl Coalition (1991-1995) to the Bowl Alliance (1995-1997) to the Bowl Championship Series (1998-2013). Yes, I foresee a split national champion, but unless Ohio State blows out their opponents 222-0 in 10 straight games, most sane football polls would choose the true champion from the SEC, ACC, or Big 12.

The caveat to all this is that this year has found a way to ruin everything. Maybe there will be a last-minute decision to cancel the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 seasons. Maybe there will be an outbreak. Maybe consumers fail to pump money into the system and the season gets canceled due to lack of funds. Just sit back and enjoy whatever we get, if we get anything.

 

[Leakfan12]

Also, if people are wondering the Gators only play one game in 1918, a loss to members of a Naval base.

 

[Leakfan12]

NCAA decided for school (MAYBE)

https://www.espn.com/college-sports...a-championships-fall-due-coronavirus-pandemic

Though there's going to be holdouts.

 

[Escambia94]

NCAA decided for school (MAYBE)

https://www.espn.com/college-sports...a-championships-fall-due-coronavirus-pandemic

Though there's going to be holdouts.

You mean there will be no NCAA-sanctioned champions. If any of the poll services elect to name a champion you can bet that a school like Alabama would plaster that on the stadium wall. That is why I used the phrase "mythical national champion". At least one, maybe two teams will be named the mythical national champion. The NCAA has limited authority to control that, even with the advent of the NCAA-sanctioned CFP. In my mind, if there is some kind of bowl season among the SEC, ACC, and Big 12, there is an argument to name one of them a mythical national champion, and let the other conferences follow suit in the fall. The NCAA cannot stop that no matter how hard they jump up and down and cry. I would even argue that if the AP, Sagarin, or other polls wanted to name a champion for each half of the football season the NCAA cannot stop them.

 

[DRU2012]

If the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 decide to play a season and crown a champion among those three conferences in the fall, it would be the same as if the other conferences played--other than Ohio State from the B1G. The "mythical national champion" worked for 145 years, from the national polls (1869-1991) to the Bowl Coalition (1991-1995) to the Bowl Alliance (1995-1997) to the Bowl Championship Series (1998-2013). Yes, I foresee a split national champion, but unless Ohio State blows out their opponents 222-0 in 10 straight games, most sane football polls would choose the true champion from the SEC, ACC, or Big 12.

The caveat to all this is that this year has found a way to ruin everything. Maybe there will be a last-minute decision to cancel the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 seasons. Maybe there will be an outbreak. Maybe consumers fail to pump money into the system and the season gets canceled due to lack of funds. Just sit back and enjoy whatever we get, if we get anything.

Well, agree with and admire your reasoning—AND “gutsy” call as to the real alt-possibilities still out there...
In other words. I may not “LIKE” the situation, but I agree with and “defend-to-the-DEATH” your right to say it (and bold accuracy) in doing so.
In truth. I don’t really see very many likely avenues all the way through to a satisfactory resolution of any theoretical “National Championship” this year.
But at least we in the SEC have so far preserved the POSSIBILITY of such occurring; it may be small odds, but there ARE still paths and unresolved crossroads and events still ahead that MIGHT still yield a PROPER “season” after all—and unlike the PAC 12 and BIG 10, we and others (like the ACC) have left that possibility still out there...

 

[Leakfan12]

You mean there will be no NCAA-sanctioned champions. If any of the poll services elect to name a champion you can bet that a school like Alabama would plaster that on the stadium wall. That is why I used the phrase "mythical national champion". At least one, maybe two teams will be named the mythical national champion. The NCAA has limited authority to control that, even with the advent of the NCAA-sanctioned CFP. In my mind, if there is some kind of bowl season among the SEC, ACC, and Big 12, there is an argument to name one of them a mythical national champion, and let the other conferences follow suit in the fall. The NCAA cannot stop that no matter how hard they jump up and down and cry. I would even argue that if the AP, Sagarin, or other polls wanted to name a champion for each half of the football season the NCAA cannot stop them.

True Florida does consider themselves number 1 in the SEC in 1984, 1985, and 1990. Granted they were official SEC champs in 1984 for a month or so before the SEC followed suit with the NCAA (never mind that the SWC allowed SMU to win the conference three years earlier and they were punished before that season). I'm sure SEC, Big 12, ACC, and others going for the fall season will find a way to have a playoff.

 

[Escambia94]

True Florida does consider themselves number 1 in the SEC in 1984, 1985, and 1990. Granted they were official SEC champs in 1984 for a month or so before the SEC followed suit with the NCAA (never mind that the SWC allowed SMU to win the conference three years earlier and they were punished before that season). I'm sure SEC, Big 12, ACC, and others going for the fall season will find a way to have a playoff.

If I had to guess, the ACC, Big 12, and SEC are all going to play it by ear for the fall season of men's football. Anyone left behind in sissy conference football will also be watching men's football to see where to go next. Here are some possibilities:

1. ACC, Big 12, and SEC all play more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks. Based on the success of the NFL and Power-3 NCAA football through November, the Power-3 put together an abbreviated bowl season that gives them data points to unofficially crown a mythical national champion--just like the old days. The Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies lay more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks and anoint their split mythical national champion--somewhat like the old days. The NCAA complains that it will not recognized either split champion, but the polls do it any way.
   
2. ACC, Big 12, and SEC all play more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks, but the season ends with conference championships and no bowl season. Polls anoint a mythical national champion among the ACC, Big 12, and SEC in December, and the Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies lay more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks and anoint their split mythical national champion--somewhat like the old days. The NCAA complains that it will not recognized either split champion, but the polls do it any way.
3. ACC, Big 12, and SEC have games cancelled and they all limp into December with a few cancelled games. The Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies starts playing in January or whatever, they also limp into the end of their season with some cancelled games. There are no split champions named by any polls, but fans are happy that they got to see a couple games here and there.
4. ACC, Big 12, and SEC all experience mass outbreaks and the season is cancelled rather early.

I do not see any way the Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies can have a mythical national champion that is not split with the Men's division of the Power 5. If scenario #1 plays out, then I can see something closer to the Bowl Alliance of the 1990s or an abbreviated bowl season. I think one extra bowl game before the peak of influenza season is acceptable risk. Two games going into peak influenza (and coronavirus) season and going into the holidays is probably not going to happen.

 

[DRU2012]

If I had to guess, the ACC, Big 12, and SEC are all going to play it by ear for the fall season of men's football. Anyone left behind in sissy conference football will also be watching men's football to see where to go next. Here are some possibilities:

1. ACC, Big 12, and SEC all play more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks. Based on the success of the NFL and Power-3 NCAA football through November, the Power-3 put together an abbreviated bowl season that gives them data points to unofficially crown a mythical national champion--just like the old days. The Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies lay more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks and anoint their split mythical national champion--somewhat like the old days. The NCAA complains that it will not recognized either split champion, but the polls do it any way.
   
2. ACC, Big 12, and SEC all play more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks, but the season ends with conference championships and no bowl season. Polls anoint a mythical national champion among the ACC, Big 12, and SEC in December, and the Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies lay more or less complete seasons despite a few outbreaks and anoint their split mythical national champion--somewhat like the old days. The NCAA complains that it will not recognized either split champion, but the polls do it any way.
3. ACC, Big 12, and SEC have games cancelled and they all limp into December with a few cancelled games. The Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies starts playing in January or whatever, they also limp into the end of their season with some cancelled games. There are no split champions named by any polls, but fans are happy that they got to see a couple games here and there.
4. ACC, Big 12, and SEC all experience mass outbreaks and the season is cancelled rather early.

I do not see any way the Group-of-5-Plus-Sissies can have a mythical national champion that is not split with the Men's division of the Power 5. If scenario #1 plays out, then I can see something closer to the Bowl Alliance of the 1990s or an abbreviated bowl season. I think one extra bowl game before the peak of influenza season is acceptable risk. Two games going into peak influenza (and coronavirus) season and going into the holidays is probably not going to happen.

You cover a LOT of the multitude of angles here, in DETAIL, E-:
Thankyou, from all of us.
Bottom line, I think, is to be glad that OUR “braintrust”/“powers-that-be”, despite apparently having angered a lot of the Coaches, East AND West, over other issues (pick one—or SEVERAL—but the “unbiased choices” as to who drew whom for their ‘2-additional Conference-teams’ to fill out their “re-engineered 2020 Fall Schedules” appears to have been the most widespread target), DID at least choose a path that preserved the CHANCE at a “season”, with so many potential “game-changers” still OUT THERE in our still-ongoing “spinning wheel of fate” that has been and CONTINUES to be our “lot in life” out here in the “REAL WORLD” of Covid-Unpredictability.