Rolling Stone Article on ESPN SEC Bias

[MLD Woody]

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-worldwide-cheerleader-espn-and-the-college-football-playoff-20141028

 

 

Good article. I'm happy to see ESPN's obvious bias towards the SEC is gaining grounds in other media outlets. Many people have known this has been going on for years though.

[jrb12711]

Here's the thing: Obviously the SEC is the strongest overall conference in the country and has been for a decent while. BUT, a playoff system HAS to represent the landscape of the sport, not just a small part. There's no way to know if the top BIG10, PAC12, BIG12 etc would beat an SEC team without that base. That's how all playoff systems work across any sport. To just say "the best 4 teams" is so stupid, short-sighted and blatantly lends itself to bias.

 

Is it really hard to devise a playoff system where: each championship winner from the major conferences are represented, and 3 wild card teams with a requirement of one being the highest rated non-power conference school. That puts it at 8 teams, no problem. Each school takes one of the stupid games they win by 70 off the schedule to accommodate. I would have no qualms then if the two wild card teams were both SEC.

[The Gipper]

The root of the SEC bias is two fold: A. and most importantly is that SEC and ESPN are now locked at the hip with their broadcast contracts. and B. They probably also think the SEC is the best conference. They are arguably right but that doesn't mean that they should be on their knees for the SEC ready to unzip their pants every time the SEC winks.