The Rest of College Football

[entropy]

[Jeff Buchanan]

Dodds may very well be a horses ass but he is major power broker ..... or at least plays like he is.

I mentioned this up thread that Delaney is driving hard to protect the relationship between the Big Ten and the Rose.

Dodds, in making this public statement, is outing Delaney and trying to weaken any leverage Delaney might have in forcing a playoff system where the Rose is central.
There is a huge amount of political maneuvering going on behind the scenes and in public (see mgoblog's piece on the non-nonsensical and idiotic positions articulated by the major conference commissioners or their spokesmen on why there can't be home games in any play-off system .... incredible).

Political theater.

[Rob F]

It's amazing how much more intelligent Dodds looks in the 2nd of the above two pictures. This comparison illustrates well one of the basic rules of photography: Two otherwise identical photos can evoke a much different visceral reaction by their viewers, based solely upon the choice of backgrounds made by the photographer.

[madootra]

LOL

[entropy]

Heh

[iam416]

Slive on campus home games:

"I think maybe it has more disadvantages than advantages," Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said. "One of the disadvantages is I think when you're trying to determine who's going to play for the national championship, what's the competitive environment in which you put a team to play for the national championship."

I wonder he was so concerned about the "competitive environment" when LSU played OSU (and Oklahoma) for the BCS title in New Orleans or when Florida played OU for the title in Miami.

That said, I've always sort of viewed this a bargaining chip the B10 is willing to give on to get some sort of Rose Bowl tie or to limit the 4-team playoff to conference champions.

[entropy]

I want to see LSU in AA in Jan.

[whodean]

Nobody wants to be in Michigan in January.

[hack]

I too would relish seeing those fair-weather boys come up here and play in serious weather. We know why they won't, and it isn't because ``nobody wants to be in Michigan in January''. Detroit has hosted multiple Super Bowls and those were just fine. Plus, the kind of people you want to create an exciting atmosphere are the ones that don't see weather as an obstacle.

[whodean]

Sure, you could find a few places in the country people would prefer January in MI over...but not many. Another big money losing proposition.

[iam416]

Game would still sell out. And it wouldn't affect TV ratings. And the semis are extra games. Would add tons of money.

If OSU hosted an SEC team in late December, I'm guessing 300 minimum to get in from a scalper.

[whodean]

As a semi I could see it working, I thought this hypothetical was the championship game. The Championship needs to be in a travel destination to generate the required ancillary revenue.

[iam416]

Correct.

[hack]

Could be, though the 2 SBs in Detroit seem relevant here. But my point is that ``nobody wants to be in Michigan in January'' is a chickenshit argument. No principles attached to that at all, just craven SEC politicking.

[UMStan White]

I can't remember the last time I saw Michigan play in truly bad wintry weather in November. The worst was the 5-3 victory over Purdue in driving sleet. The two Super Bowls played in Michigan were both in domed stadiums. You could play a semi game in Michigan and play it at Ford Field. As for OSU playing at home when was the last time OSU played a home game in the snow? Big rugged Big Ten teams duking it out on frozen tundra is a myth.