R Fox--right, I don't see how the  MAC will have much claim on one of 16 spots.  Jeff McK--I don't know how many 'major' confs will get automatic bids.  But I imagine that there will be 6-8 slots left after those automatic conference slots.  To think that a MAC school is going to get one of those over the runner-ups in such as the SEC, PAC-12, BigTenwhatever, etc is not being very rational.  Probably won't happen once every five years.

What do you think a playoff will mean for the bowl system then?  WIll bowl games still be fun almost no matter what bowl you're in?  Or will they quickly die off because a 16 team playoff system gives you 15 games that will be very greatly followed?  Will there be any room for, or interest in, anything beyond those 15 bowl--oh, sorry, playoff-- games?

I'm very doubtful.  I could be very mistaken.  But I think that most of you are going with emotion and not at all looking at this from a perspective of business.  Big business.

Which states that when no one cares about something (such as bowl games between teams not even good enough to make the playoffs when we have 15 great games to look forward to over a four week period), then that something...those bowl games...die for lack of commercial interest.

Because it's the case in every NCAA-sponsored tournament.

Just got home from a long weekend in Dayton, so I haven't seen the article in question, but as reported here it's clear to me that there's a lot of BS floating around on this subject.  As Flomo has said, the reason we don't have as many BSC teams coming into Peden as they have coming into that God-forsaken black hole called Oxford is that we don't want to sign 1-1s with lower level BCS teams.  We have rejected offers that have come our way, and we haven't tried to look for situations that we could benefit from.  Yes, I have had some very good sources for this information.  If I have the time I may very well do an FOI request to prove it, like I did with the Northwestern contract a few years ago. I would ask for correspondence between Ohio and ESPN (and/or Boston College) prior to Frank Year 2, and then about one year later for the correspondence between Louisville and Ohio.  We are using the go-slow and gradual improvement over time strategy.  After we've beaten up the little sisters of the dead for a few years then we'll consider upgrading things a little.  Perhaps, this is the best strategy.  I'll play along for awhile, but I have my limits for this kind of thing.  If Schaus really implied that we are having trouble getting any BCS teams to play in Peden, he's totally misrepresenting the facts.  I suspect that he was just doing some CYA on behalf of Frank, who really seems to want a dumb-down schedule for the time being.  

Enahance it.

Except if it's a playoff, it's not the conferences that control it, it's the NCAA. And the NCAA has rules regarding this.

I don't think you can take it as read that the NCAA would be running a major college football (or I-A or FBS, etc) playoff. The NCAA currently does not have any control over the BCS system of determining the "Coaches" national championship winner --other than licensing the bowls--and I don't think you can just assume that the I-A conferences are going to cede that power to the NCAA.

Has Ohio had a 1:1 within the last thirty years with any current BCS team? It's my impression that whenever one of those has appeared in Peden it has been as a part of a 2:1 deal, which is a real killer for the budget. When a road game is worth $6-800,000, that is like paying $1.5 to get a BCS foe in Peden.

In full disclosure, I'm AGAINST conference auto-bids in this hypothetical playoff...

However, if your Candyland dreams of a playoff did come to fruition, there might be one, and only one way the MAC gets stronger. Well actually two, but we won't consider contraction in this example.

There might be a couple football programs out there that would accept the reality that they are perennially just outside winning their conference and of receiving an auto-bid. They might, just might, decide their best course of action is to join the MAC. It's the ol' big fish and the small, antiquated, directional-infused pond.

I'm sure the grumblings of their fans of having to watch the Why Pay More brands of football will be loud. But by winning the MAC and getting to the the playoffs, all will be forgiven. The question being: is the pay day is worth it?

Ok, I see your pitchforks, funeral protests and the "Keep Your Government Hands off My MAC" placards. I know that you creamulate your drawers over the unique (to FBS, not necessarily FCS) excitement that MAC football delivers. And I'm sure you are aghast that someone would suggest that another team can just "steamroll" the MAC.

First off, the hypothetical program would be one that is no stranger to the lower top 25. I'm not suggesting UCF or your "pass the Kleenex" faves Marshall. Secondly, they don't have to "steamroll" the MAC. I, of course, am going to assume that a team familiar with top 25 rankings can (and should) beat the current crop of MAC teams a vast majority of times. Yes, I am making an ass out of u and me... hee haw....

Farfetched... maybe. But if that 1/16 slice of pie is worth it's weight in myrrh, than anything's possible. And by adding a perennial top-25 team (instead of a directional or a D1-AA with delusions of grandeur) the MAC will become a wee bit stronger...

I don't really hardly understand a word of what you're saying.  For you have written a screed that is more obtuse and troubling than what I usually put up.  I salute you.

Also, though I am baffled by your soliloquy, I totally agree with it.

Don't know if this was a planned 1:1 but we were at UConn in 2002 when they were moving up to 1A and they came here in '09.  That's the only two times the schools have played.

You forgot about UCONN, which was BCS when they visited Ohio and still are.  They were not BCS when we signed the contract, though.  Oh, I guess you're right. The Big Least is not a major conference! 

Sorry but UConn was a 2:1 the return game to Storrs was canceled several years ago. 

The original series was a 2 for 2 when it was signed 10 years ago and later reduced to a 1:1 by Hocutt I believe. That Ohio would sign a 2 for 1 wth a transitional FBS program, even one in the Big East, is not going to happen. It was around the same time that Boeh signed a now defunct 2 for 2 with the University of Central Florida prior to the school joining the MAC. Once UCF joined the MAC that series was cancelled.