AP photo / SEC commissioner Roy Kramer is pictured at the league’s headquarters in Birmingham, Ala., on June 6, 2000.Former Southeastern Conference commissioner and Bowl Championship Series architect Roy Kramer believes the College Football Playoff is continuing to enhance interest in the sport.
Kramer could do without the Tuesday night updates from the 12-member committee.
“I guess have mixed emotions about them coming out with rankings every week and starting them in October, because they don’t mean anything,” Kramer said. “I think it’s basically a promotional idea by ESPN to promote their shows. The only time the committee’s rankings mean anything is this week, so who is No. 1 and No. 2 on October 31st is really meaningless.
“My personal opinion is that the speculation would be there whether you heard the committee doing the rankings or not, because they would be speculated through the polls and the media. Now we’ve built up all these concerns about the committee’s rankings and what their criteria is, and the only criteria that matters is what happens this week.”
Having the CFP committee speak once at the end of the season, which is the case in college basketball, would be Kramer’s preference. The four-team playoff is replacing the BCS, which was accompanied by a Sunday night ESPN program that would reveal the rankings determined by the Harris and USA Today polls and several computer services.
Kramer’s system made its debut during the 1998 season, when Tennessee topped Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. It replaced the bowl alliance, which had a three-year run of pitting No. 1 against No. 2 unless those teams were from the Big Ten and Pac-10 (now the Pac-12) conferences, which sent their champions to the Rose Bowl.
Some years were better than others for the BCS, and this season would have provided plenty of controversy given the fact Florida State was the preseason No. 1 but is now ranked fourth by the CFP committee despite being 12-0. The Seminoles would be No. 2 behind Alabama right now if the BCS was still in place.
“The only thing that matters is that you pick the four teams, and then you seed them when the season is over,” Kramer said. “I could see Florida State getting seeded fourth, and I don’t know if we’ve ever had a team that’s had a season like Florida State is having. Every year it seems like there is another wrinkle.”
Kramer is quick to say this has been a great season for college football. He is even quicker to attack a question about whether the playoff should be increased to eight teams sooner than later.
This is the first of a 12-year agreement involving the four-team model.
“It may at some point, but then I think you would lose some things that are so critical right now that wouldn’t mean anything,” Kramer said. “Alabama could lose this week and would still be in the top eight, so you would be taking more glamour away from the regular season and the conference championships.
“Once you’ve done that, then you’ve really lost the regular season. Now it’s really critical whether Alabama wins Saturday. It’s part of the playoff to a degree, but once you start expanding it, the games will become less and less significant.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.