May 20, 2014
4:56:41pm
What about the "why do they have to evaluate BYU at all?" Here's how the whole
thing went down:

The SEC goes into meetings. They realize SOS is now a major issue with the new playoff system. They also realize that most of their members don't play tough OOC games on any kind of a regular basis. In fact, many of their members play 8 homes games in a lot of seasons. This methodology will hurt the SEC. So they come up with a rule that each of their members must play at least one OOC game per year against a P-5 opponent. I'm betting they either didn't discuss BYU at all or it was one of the very last questions brought up. If it was even brought up, they were all like, "I don't want to get into messing with that. If we say BYU is, but Army isn't we look like we aren't patriotic. Then we have to come up with criteria. Let's just not open that can of worms and say BYU doesn't count as a 'plus one.' If anyone wants to schedule BYU, fine. They might help SOS. Whatever." But again, I doubt BYU even entered the conversation.

Then, it leaks that Tom Holmoe wants to talk with Mike Slive to see if BYU can count. Obviously that would be a good thing. Slive says they haven't thought about it.

Then, the ACC meets. They're worried about keeping pace with the SEC. Their world is one where the ACC has been losing power and the SEC has been rising. Of course, FSU winning the NC last year helps. But the SEC won it the previous however many years in a row (six?). So, the elephant in their room is the SEC. BYU is barely a blip on their radar. At the end of the meeting when the chair asks if there are any more questions, someone says, "We're bound to get asked if BYU counts. What do we say?" Followed by, "Grumble, grumble, grumble," from a bunch of people who don't want to deal with the issue. So they say, "I don't want to get into messing with that. If we say BYU is, but Army isn't we look like we aren't patriotic. Then we have to come up with criteria. Let's just not open that can of worms and say BYU doesn't count as a 'plus one.' Plus, the SEC didn't say they count. If anyone wants to schedule BYU, fine. They might help SOS. Whatever."

The other three conferences haven't said anything about a "plus 1" P-5 OOC opponent rule. They almost all already do it anyway. They have no need to specifically address it.
gwalker
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